State of Panic! Lesson learned...

[CaptainNemo]

In hindsight, this will be the best dive of your life. Years ago, I had a similar experience in a cave and I too was lucky to get out alive. I remained calm until a few days later when I realized how close we came to feeding the fishes. It turned out to be the best dive ever because I will never allow myself to get into that situation again. Glad you made it also.

 

[do it easy]

Going in and out of an over head in great vis and staying where you can see the entrance at all times is one thing. but in those conditions another.

I would say that these are the same thing- overhead is overhead, regardless of how far you can see going in. You can easily silt up a cavern and be in the same no vis situation!

Edit: Glad you made it out alive.

 

[Misplaced Priority]

I just don't even bother diving in low or no vis anymore. Last time I was diving in 12" of vis in fresh water, I came nose to nose with a very large gator. Lucky for me, I scared him as bad as he scared me and he took off in a flash! Now I was in zero vis with a large gator I did not know where he was. Time to go!

 

[Diver0001]

One thing I learned was diving in virtually zero vis is no fun. I also should have never even considered entering an overhead enviorment in those conditions. Going in and out of an over head in great vis and staying where you can see the entrance at all times is one thing. but in those conditions another. I was not the only one to get shaken up. Three of the other guys were pretty shaken up too. By the way the water temp was 60 F.

There might be a little more to be learned that that:

Here are a couple of questions that occurred to me when I read your first post:

Did you have a compass with you? If so, did you set it before descent? Did you refer to it during the dive? Having a compass and knowing how to use it is invaluable poor viz.

Did you have a good mental map of where you were? Did your buddy have his bearings? Had you been there before? Were you and your buddy able to communicate taht you were both lost? Maybe only one of you was turned around... Being able to communicate clearly what's going on in these kinds of circumstances can save you from a lot of stress...or more.

Was it possible to swim into a cave at that point or would have following the wall with it on your right/left side have gotten you out? Sounds llike a no-brainer with 20/20 hindsight maybe but taking a minute to think of a logical response to the situation is always better than panicing...

What were you thinking going in there in bad viz? That struck me as pretty risky given the conditions. I think you got the lesson out of this already but as Mike suggested (albeit rather indirectly) if you're likely to find your way into these kinds of situations, more training might give you more options.

R..

 

[av8er23]

I did have a compass but did not set it before decent. lesson learned
I did have a good mental map of where i was because I had dived the location several times before.
Me and my buddy did communicate and know we both wanted the hell out of there pretty quickly.

Following the walls could have led me farther in or out.

 

[MikeFerrara]

A continuous guid line to the surface is a big part of the answer...along with the ability to use it by feel of course.

If I found myself in an overhead on accident, the first thing I would do would be to tie off a line. From there I could search for the exit always having a reference to my starting point and not having to wory about searching my way further into the cave/overhead.

 

[do it easy]

I don't mean to keep picking on you, av8er23, but I think that there is a great lesson for others who might read this thread. This is a link from someone who was in a similar situation as you- just as close to the exit, although a little bit deeper and with a rebreather.


http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15220&highlight=close+call

 

[av8er23]

No offense taken.. the link asks me to log in. I would like to read it.

 

[DennisW]

Interesting. I don't think I would have made this dive, but you never know. There is always that peer pressure thing that is out there. If you feel the peer pressure to make a dive, it is a great big warning and it is time to call the dive. Never make a dive because of peer pressure.

I am glad you and your buddy made it out ok. This dive will make you a better diver for the experience. You controlled your panic feeling. That is never easy to do.

 

[av8er23]

Well I guess the pressure was it was part of my nitrox certification dive. I could have easily said no though.