Scariest diving incident -- Lightning!

[Pavao]

I’ve got caught in some storms too over the years, but wanted to comment on a specific occasion
I was guiding out of Jupiter, storm came in, it was about 15-20min into the dive, boat came over and captain rev the engine 3 times, I got the message and agreed, yep, we’re out of here.
Luckily the group I had was all still together, about 10 divers, so I gave a thumbs up to everyone and besides a few puzzled look, we all started heading up, when we got to 20-15ft everyone stopped for a safety stop, I’m frantically signaling to everyone to ascend and pointing to the lightning, one older gentleman who always did 5 minutes safety stops did 5 minutes, I’m not sure he was increasing danger to himself from the storm or me

After we all surfaced and got on the boat, I was chatting with some of them and found myself surprised to learn everyone thought doing a safety stop, thus remaining in the water longer, increasing chances of being hit by lightning was safer than skipping safety stop in order to get out of the water as fast as possible

Even more surprised to find out, a number of them were cave/tech divers. I told them, even on a tech dive, I’d be willing to shave off some deco time in order to get out of the water faster.

Getting hit by lightning won’t be fixable!

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

I'd be interested to know about thunder. I assume it is heard underwater and it is much faster in water than above the surface "one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, cadence" so wouldn't tell you much re: distance.

@Angelo Farina ?

 

[MrChen]

I’ve got caught in some storms too over the years, but wanted to comment on a specific occasion
I was guiding out of Jupiter, storm came in, it was about 15-20min into the dive, boat came over and captain rev the engine 3 times, I got the message and agreed, yep, we’re out of here.
Luckily the group I had was all still together, about 10 divers, so I gave a thumbs up to everyone and besides a few puzzled look, we all started heading up, when we got to 20-15ft everyone stopped for a safety stop, I’m frantically signaling to everyone to ascend and pointing to the lightning, one older gentleman who always did 5 minutes safety stops did 5 minutes, I’m not sure he was increasing danger to himself from the storm or me

After we all surfaced and got on the boat, I was chatting with some of them and found myself surprised to learn everyone thought doing a safety stop, thus remaining in the water longer, increasing chances of being hit by lightning was safer than skipping safety stop in order to get out of the water as fast as possible

Even more surprised to find out, a number of them were cave/tech divers. I told them, even on a tech dive, I’d be willing to shave off some deco time in order to get out of the water faster.

Getting hit by lightning won’t be fixable!

Interesting. I wonder what has higher odds, someone in the group getting an undeserved DCS hit for a faster ascent to the surface (not speed of ascent, but time from ascent to surface) or getting hit by lightning in a lightning storm? Let's not test it out

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I’ve got caught in some storms too over the years, but wanted to comment on a specific occasion
I was guiding out of Jupiter, storm came in, it was about 15-20min into the dive, boat came over and captain rev the engine 3 times, I got the message and agreed, yep, we’re out of here.
Luckily the group I had was all still together, about 10 divers, so I gave a thumbs up to everyone and besides a few puzzled look, we all started heading up, when we got to 20-15ft everyone stopped for a safety stop, I’m frantically signaling to everyone to ascend and pointing to the lightning, one older gentleman who always did 5 minutes safety stops did 5 minutes, I’m not sure he was increasing danger to himself from the storm or me

I too would not have been happy about no safety stop. Not sure how I would have responded, but I would probably not have skipped my 3 min safety stop.

Typical recall procedures, including for lightning, are to always do your safety stop. That is the procedure I've always heard articulated in Palm Beach county on all dive boats I've used. At 15' you aren't at risk of a lightning strike. Those on the boat would want to stay sheltered inside the boat and not on the back deck. Then complete your safety stops, come up together and get back onto the boat ASAP. That is the procedure I've always heard articulated by local boats.

 

[Pavao]

It’s not the odds of getting one or the other I’m playing, it’s the consequences of one versus the other, I’ll take a DCS hit anytime over getting hit by lightning.
But let’s be real here, what do you think is the likelihood of getting bent from skipping a RECOMMENDED safety stop? And even if you in the extremely odd chance do get bent, how severe would you think it’d be?
Now, how about lightning, how bad do you think it’d be if you do get hit?

I’d expect my captain to recall us from the dive, BEFORE that storm band is over us, so that we can get out BEFORE it’s on top of us, delaying surfacing will only increase the chance you’d be under it by the time you surfaced.

 

[Pavao]

I too would not have been happy about no safety stop. Not sure how I would have responded, but I would probably not have skipped my 3 min safety stop.

Typical recall procedures, including for lightning, are to always do your safety stop. That is the procedure I've always heard articulated in Palm Beach county on all dive boats I've used. At 15' you aren't at risk of a lightning strike. Those on the boat would want to stay sheltered inside the boat and not on the back deck. Then complete your safety stops, come up together and get back onto the boat ASAP. That is the procedure I've always heard articulated by local boats.

Then why recall the divers to begin with? If you’re in for a 1 hour dive and the boat recalls within 15 minutes of dive time, you might as well let them stay under for the remaining 45 min if you think it’s safer underwater, it’s FL, 45 minutes later that storm will be long gone.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Then why recall the divers to begin with? If you’re in for a 1 hour dive and the boat recalls within 15 minutes of dive time, you might as well let them stay under for the remaining 45 min if you think it’s safer underwater, it’s FL, 45 minutes later that storm will be long gone.

To prevent a bad situation from getting worse if the storm worsens. I've NEVER had a boat brief that on recall you should skip your safety stop. Not a single one. They actually typically emphatically emphasize to NOT skip your safety stop.

 

[MrChen]

It’s not the odds of getting one or the other I’m playing, it’s the consequences of one versus the other, I’ll take a DCS hit anytime over getting hit by lightning.
But let’s be real here, what do you think is the likelihood of getting bent from skipping a RECOMMENDED safety stop? And even if you in the extremely odd chance do get bent, how severe would you think it’d be?
Now, how about lightning, how bad do you think it’d be if you do get hit?

I’d expect my captain to recall us from the dive, BEFORE that storm band is over us, so that we can get out BEFORE it’s on top of us, delaying surfacing will only increase the chance you’d be under it by the time you surfaced.

We obviously have some assumptions. If it were dive 1 and I was only down to 70 ft for 20 minutes, then I wouldn't be as concerned. If it were dive 3 and we've been doing 100ft dives all day, then I'd be concerned, especially if I had a high surfGF. Chances of being hit by lightning are pretty low, even in a lightning storm.

But to your point, if the captain is recalling everyone, it could be an emergency DCI incident and every minute for that individual matters. But again, it's better to only have one victim and not multiple. I'd prefer not to be another victim, ditch us in the water and get the person help (I can always catch another ride or activate my locator device), but this is another topic that doesn't have anything to do with lightning. Part of the problem is not knowing.

This is an interesting statistic:

CDC: About 40 million lightning strikes hit the ground in the United States each year. But the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are less than one in a million, and almost 90% of all lightning strike victims survive. Lightning Strike Victim Data.

Do they survive while swimming though? How many divers do we know that have ever been hit by lightning while diving?

Struck by lightning while diving?

We've always discussed that if we got caught in a serious thunderstorm offshore that we couldn't outrun we would just anchor and go to the bottom and wait it out. Having a PLB significantly reduces the risk of being lost at sea if the boat went down or the anchor line broke. But seeing this...

scubaboard.com

Lightning strikes scuba diver off Florida

Lightning struck a diver's air tank as he surfaced off Florida's Atlantic coast, killing him, authorities said.

www.nbcnews.com

Odds are more people get the bends though. Reference our recent local event with PBS.

 

[MrChen]

To prevent a bad situation from getting worse if the storm worsens. I've NEVER had a boat brief that on recall you should skip your safety stop. Not a single one. They actually typically emphatically emphasize to NOT skip your safety stop.

My hope would always be that the storm blows over. Often, we get those 20 minute thunderstorms and the sky clears back up. I'd rather stay deep.

 

[MrChen]

@Pavao, you work on a dive boat, right? I'd be interested in hearing what your captain says about it. Would you mind bringing up and sharing?