Scariest diving incident -- Lightning!

[heftysmurf]

So I've been swamped with prepping to move overseas and haven't been on here or done much diving in the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, a few buddies and I went to Ft Lauderdale so I could get one last dive before moving. I forget the name of the street but it's basically a dozen parking spots and then million dollar homes on either side. Weather was fine at the moment though we expected storms later on.

After an hour or so of diving, I noticed it got considerably darker. We turned back to shore and then it came. Unbelievable lightning everywhere! We tried to get as much out of tanks as possible and I'm sure they'll need a tumble. We got to where we could stand but still, we were a bit further south than where we started so we tried to stay as low as possible. I have zero problems expressing how terrified I was. Once we saw a house that wasn't fenced, we high tailed it to their porch and rode out the storm.

As we got back to our cars, right in front was a wedding arch, chairs and flowers so I've no doubt that the storm was earlier than what weather reports stated,

Nonetheless, my last dive in South Florida did not disappoint! My buddy I was with is an instructor and he said in 35 years of diving, that was the worst lightning he has been in.
Next stop, the cold lakes of Europe!

 

[Jonah Kowall]

Wild story, glad you made it out okay.

I am just north of there, and it was so dark before the storm, I was ready for it. It was crazy the amount of lightning, I haven't seen such frequent strikes in a long time. I was out on a boat, but luckily had gotten back to dock earlier. It's actually safer to be at depth than out of the water. The lightning doesn't go deeper than about 10 feet, so I would have just stayed under for longer to avoid the lightning.

Enjoy the cold lakes (I guess).

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Florida lightening is the real deal. It is my #1 fear being outdoors in Florida. Must always be vigilant. I've come up in the middle of a lightning storm before. Pretty terrifying. Thankfully in that instance I was the last diver up and the boat was RIGHT THERE. They got me on board faster than I've ever gotten on a boat before!

 

[tekkydiver]

With weather radar readily available via mobile phone it is not difficult to run away from impending storms.
It's also important to have a way to signal divers to come up to avoid weather. That said there was a time
in Florida Bay when I waited too long and while watching storms pop up I got us completely encircled. Took off south and made it back to Islamorada with rod tips sizzling from electricity. Never took a chance like that again.

 

[scubadada]

My son and I did a night dive at Turtle Reef on Grand Cayman while my wife and daughter were inside at the Cracked Conch, eating dinner. There were very many lightnings that lit up the everything underwater. We did not think that much about it and enjoyed the show. When we surfaced, we heard it was actually quite the thunderstorm. We headed home and enjoyed our takeout dinner from the Cracked Conch, doesn't get that much better.

Of course, on August 3, 2013, I surfaced from a dive in Delray, FL in a tremendous thunderstorm and was struck by a boat racing in for weigh in from a fishing tournament. A whole other story that I have told before.

 

[Fred A.]

So I've been swamped with prepping to move overseas and haven't been on here or done much diving in the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, a few buddies and I went to Ft Lauderdale so I could get one last dive before moving. I forget the name of the street but it's basically a dozen parking spots and then million dollar homes on either side. Weather was fine at the moment though we expected storms later on.

After an hour or so of diving, I noticed it got considerably darker. We turned back to shore and then it came. Unbelievable lightning everywhere! We tried to get as much out of tanks as possible and I'm sure they'll need a tumble. We got to where we could stand but still, we were a bit further south than where we started so we tried to stay as low as possible. I have zero problems expressing how terrified I was. Once we saw a house that wasn't fenced, we high tailed it to their porch and rode out the storm.

As we got back to our cars, right in front was a wedding arch, chairs and flowers so I've no doubt that the storm was earlier than what weather reports stated,

Nonetheless, my last dive in South Florida did not disappoint! My buddy I was with is an instructor and he said in 35 years of diving, that was the worst lightning he has been in.
Next stop, the cold lakes of Europe!

A few years ago off a boat dive we were about 50 ft.deep and about 40 minutes into the dive when I noticed a nearby diver was taking a lot of pictures using a flash. A minute or two later I realized he had no flash! The flashes were lightning! When we surfaced conditions were pretty crazy but we all got on board ok. The captain took us 20 minutes south (the storm was heading north) and we made our next dive in perfect weather. Such is diving in south Florida!

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

I think it's a rite of passage to have a lightening storm and diving in Florida. I have a few stories of my own which are much better recited with a few beers (or rum!) around a campfire.
Of particular was as a new diver, doing the dash similar to what you did. Had to get out (low on air) and make a mad dash to safer location..

 

[MrChen]

I got my lightning dive on video... It was insane.

 

[MrChen]

The crazy thing about that day, I captured only half of the lightning strikes around the boat. I was facing south, and lightning was striking on the north side as well. Watch the video until the end.

 

[ColoDale]

In 2004 my father in law was making a crossing at night from the Bahamas to Florida a few days ahead of hurricane Frances when lightning struck the boat and caused electrical problems which included knocking out the lights. They used dive flashlights and arrived in Florida safely. He managed to get one of the last flights out of Miami airport before Frances came in.