Sealife sucking you into the deep (or the danger of getting overly focused)

[spt29970]

Hi all, on my recent trip diving in Alaska, I had an "event" that I thought I would discuss. On one dive with Stellar sea lions I was at about 60ft, with the animals above me, trying to frame silhouettes I was having a great time and really focusing on the viewfinder. Then things just starting going wrong. The first thing that I noticed was that I was getting a headache and my air was getting thick. I then realized that I had neglected to inflate my drysuit and was getting squeezed pretty hard. Worse, I was finning hard, breathing fast and shallow, and still sinking. I checked my depth and I was at 100ft, which isn't that deep, but was deeper than I had planned on. The worst thing was that the friendly goofball sea lions suddenly seemed huge and menancing and it really seemed like they were sucking me down into the deep. I know that sounds silly, but that is what I was thinking at the time. I am normally a very calm and level headed diver but I realized that I was experiencing classic narcosis systems; anxiety and confusion compounded by CO2 buildup. I really had to fight down rising panic.

I think I dealt with it okay. I had plenty of air and I concentrated on slowing my breathing and inflating the drysuit. It seemed to take forever to take the squeeze off, but I was able to swim over to the wall and steady myself while making a slow ascent to around 60ft, where I found my buddy. My head cleared and I calmed down, but it really freaked me out. The water was pretty turbid and the sea lions were dashing around everywhere so it wasn't surprising that we got separated.

In retrospect, it doesn't sound like a big deal. I went a little deeper than I wanted and made a controlled ascent, but at the time the rising panic really surprised (and scared) me.

 

[alcina]

Sounds scary!

I'd like to hear what lessons you learned and what plans you now have in place to avoid this kind of situation in the future as I think that would be very helpful.

 

[drbill]

I've had similar things happen while videotaping. One of my first deep dives occurred unintentionally when a hawksbill turtle dragged me down the wall at Lighthouse Reef on Half Moon Caye, Belize. I always keep an eye on my gas, whether by looking at my gauge or mentally estimating (which I'm pretty good at after 5 decades).

 

[gustele]

I agree that it is easy to loose track of where you are in such an interesting environment. The lesson learned should be to always check your depth and buddy especially when taking pictures. And ask your buddy to warn you in case such things happen. It is one of the lessons we learn during rescue/instructor training to watch out for people that unintentionally going deeper following an interesting subject (turtle, manta, etc.). Nitrogen narcosis is kicking in and before you know you have a disaster at hand. Luckily you were able to correct yourself even while being in an upcoming panic but apparently your buddy was no longer near you. So you were on your own and that is never good being under water. This was a good experience provided you realize what could have gone wrong and what you should do to avoid it from happening again.

Regards

 

[RockyHeap]

My lessons learned, you're there to dive and survive, put the camera down, don't focus on the sea life so much to put your life in danger.

Several times I've seen the "perfect" sponge, fish, and so on....yeah lets go check it out..and it's only "a little bit deeper" Still you're at 85-90 feet, and that little bit deeper could be another 40-50 in really clear water. Nope, I went to 150 foot deep on 80 cu ft tank of air doing a 120-130 foot dive plan that way in the blue hole of belize.

 

[RonFrank]

Something I try and do when taking photo's is to be very aware of my Buoyancy. 100' is certainly not a dangerous depth, but obviously you were not paying attention, and did not hold your depth. As you descended, you got suit squeeze, and were likely heading down more rapidly as you sank.

Glad you noticed and got things under control. For me the lesson learned from the post is that one needs to always pay attention to the diving first, and photography second. This is sometimes harder then it seems.

I screwed up my middle ear chasing critters around last year, and my depth was only changing maybe 15 feet at a depth around 100'. This turned out to be a minor incident, but it's easy when doing photography to loose site of what is more important, and that is paying attention to all aspects of the dive.