Things I learned the hard way

[Web Monkey]

• There is an undiscovered law of physics that attracts all loose line within 20' of you to anything on your body that you can't reach.
• Snorkels suck once you get more than a few inches underwater.

 

[sandmanz32]

i've learned that while diving in the ocean the "trick" of sucking a lil water in to cure dry mouth doesnt work as good as it does in the lake.

in life if it sounds to good to be true it usually is. i learned that the VERY hard way

 

[Peter Guy]

Scuba hard lesson -- If it isn't working right on the surface, it won't get better under water! That lesson was learned from this one: Seal saver does NOT make for a good mask defogger.

 

[Ben_Ayers]

Dive - When disassembling 1st stage from tank, make sure you have bled the system of air! Happened at the end of pool session #2, with 2 people ending up in the water when everyone bailed .

Life - Before quietly making fun of someone who's back is to you, make real sure they can't see you reflected in anything! I walked into a patients room to speak to a coworker, patients back was to me, made some lewd gestures, then noticed patient was watching me in the reflection of her window!

Ben

 

[DeepSeaDan]

Hmmm....so many to pick from. Evidently, I'm very fond of learning things the hard way

Diving: If you take your mask off while on the surface, make sure it's secure somwehere...I made the mistake of hooking it around my wrist, then I reached back to adjust a hose...and there went my mask! From now on, I'm just going to leave the darn thing in place when on the surface...I don't care how dorky it looks!

...your forehead - nice n' comfy & easy to slip back into place.

...Everybody does it.

DSD

 

[In10se]

Diving lessons learned:
Not shaving my upper lip I before dive = a leaky mask.

-----------------

I've learned the following in my own way but it was best told by Henry Fonda in and old spaghetti western titled "My Name Is Nobody":

Try to read this with a Henry Fonda voice if you can.

"A little bird was late in the season flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird eventually froze and fell ito a cow pasture. While he was lying there freezing, a cow came by and dropped a steaming cow pie on 'em. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung getting warm he came to his senses and realized where he was. He began to chirp out the displeasure of his situation attracting the attention of a passing wolf. Of course the wolf dug the little bird out, cleaned him off ... and ate him.

The moral of the story is that not everyone who dumps on you is your enemy, and, not everyone that comes along and helps you out of a jam is your friend. Finally, when you’re in it up to your neck it’s best to keep your mouth shut!"

 

[mikerault]

With a back zip drysuit always make sure the zipper is closed before entering the water....

Non- No one ever got rich because of an African bank officer.

Mike

 

[under water]

..Non- No one ever got rich because of an African bank officer.

Now I am curious. What actually happens when you reply to those emails?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

How about when they say open water divers should not dive in caves, believe them.

I had been diving for years but had been into only a few caverns in my life. Decided to take my girlfriend on a cavern dive, no lines, no redundancy for air but we each had 2 lights (I think). She was very apprehensive before the dive and demanded that I agree to turn the dive if/when she said so. I explained that we were going pretty far back in this tunnel maybe 250 feet? And that we needed to stay together because there was no way to swim out if your tank/reg failed. She agreed that we would stay VERY close to each other. We were diving in a place called Orange Grove (I think). It was many years ago.

This spot has a tunnel that is maybe 12 feet in diameter and at a depth of maybe 30-40 feet that goes a long way to another spring. I was told it was a few hundered yards. We were going to go just a “little way” until it got too dark for us to see light and then turn around. If my recollection of the system is off, I apologize.

What could go wrong? We were experienced (many hundreds of dives), the visibility was like 150 feet and we knew to not kick the bottom up. We slowly proceeded down the tunnel and went pretty far and I kept checking on the girl and she was having a great time..not scared at all. I was getting a little nervous and kept looking back down the tunnel to the exit as the sliver of light became fainter and fainter. I knew she was depending on me to keep her safe, so I was more nervous than her. She totally trusted my judgment. We were staying within 10 feet of each other the whole time.

We were back maybe 250-300 feet and I turned around to check on the sliver of light and confirmed I could still see it, just barely. This took me 3-4 seconds. I turned around and she was GONE. I shined my light down the tunnel both ways and could easily see 100 feet. How could she disappear? No bubbles, no nothing! A moment before she was right by my side. I was completely freaked out!

I spun around once, twice, three times, who the hell knew.. there was absolutely no where that she could have gone!? I stopped spinning and looking for her and reminded myself not to kick up the bottom and then looked down the tunnel for the light. There was NONE in either direction.

Now I was totally freaked, she is gone, the water is crystal clear and I can’t see the exit light. I then realize that I have spun so many times that I really don’t know which way is out! The entire situation just got completely out of control in like 15-20 SECONDS. I had lost her and now I was completely lost myself! I was really scared.

Then all of a sudden she pops up within a few feet of me. She came out of a vertical crack that she had decide to drop into. It was small and I never even noticed it. She breathes almost no air and I guess every time I spun around, I missed seeing any of her exhaust bubbles. I immediately grabbed her in a panic and signaled which way?

She was completely calm, could not understand what I was so frantic about and signaled to swim “that” way. She was not lost in the least bit. I still could not understand why we lost the light from the entrance. We started to swim and rose up a few feet and I could immediately see the light re-appear.

Apparently when I was first swimming. I was very near the ceiling and this allowed me to see the light, however when I started spinning I descend just a few feet (not to the bottom) and due to the meanderings of the tunnel just a few feet of descent TOTALLY cut off the light!

It was a very eventful day. We had fun in the spring, but later three divers jumped in with half full tanks and within 30 minutes two of them were lost and drowned. The whole day just freaked me out. The one victim’s wife and 5 yr old kid were at the site camping with their Dad. It was pitiful to hear the wife wailing for the other diver to retrieve her husband’s dead body and the little kid was a mess too. We went for a drive, I couldn’t bear to watch the bodies being recovered.

 

[goldenbear01]

diving related: if you confuse the inflate button with the inflate purge on the bcd, you might soon find yourself shooting up to the surface like a balloon. luckily, this was at the beginning of one of my ow checkout dives and i was still around 15' when this happened so i was ok.

non-diving related: buying clothes for your girlfriend is never a good idea. if you get something too large, your girlfriend thinks you think she's fat. if you get something too small, your girlfriend thinks you think she's fat. if you happen to get something that fits just right, she'll think it makes her look fat.