those pesky careless moments ...

[MXGratefulDiver]

Had an incident the other day that reminded me in a rather unpleasant way how even a very experienced diver can occasionally do something really dumb.

I'm currently in Florida, taking a cave class. Now, being from the Seattle area this is all new to me ... we don't have anything like caves where I normally dive. So in some respects, it's like starting from scratch.

Anyway, we were coming back out of the cave after doing our first dive involving "jumps". The instructor was throwing successive failures at us ... which any good instructor will do to see what you can handle. We'd exerted ourselves pretty well getting into the cave, and were now riding the flow out ... and were just coming out of a restriction at about 75 ffw and about 300 feet from the entrance when he had my buddy do an OOA. I was tired, and a bit upset with myself for how I'd responded to the last couple of failures, and just got careless. I handed off my primary, pushed my backup into my mouth, and forgetting to purge the reg inhaled a bit of water.

Now, here's where it got interesting ... I've done that before and just coughed a bit and proceeded. But this time, as soon as I inhaled that water my larynx spasmed and my ability to breathe got shut down. I was, at the time, already breathing hard from the exertion of working multiple failures in a high-flow cave ... and was considerably CO2 loaded ... so that didn't help matters.

I was reduced to laying on the bottom, giving my team (and two instructors) a HOLD sign ... and just trying to remain calm while my windpipe decided whether or not it wanted to let me breathe. I signaled my buddy to give me back my primary reg. I wasn't sure whether I'd banged and somehow damaged this backup during the dive, but I wanted back the reg I knew was working ... even though at the moment it wasn't going to help me. All I knew was that when my ability to breathe returned I wanted the reg I knew was going to give me air without water in it. My buddy obliged.

After what my dive buddy later told me was about a minute (seemed a lot longer than that to me), I was finally able to get a tiny, wheezing bit of air into my lungs again ... that was the sweetest air I think I've ever breathed. A few seconds later I signaled OK and HOLD ... took a few more, successively fuller, breaths ... then got up off the floor and indicated that I was OK and we should exit the cave.

It's amazing what will go thru your head at a time like that. At first I was pissed that I'd do such a stupid thing ... I teach Open Water students how to not do that. Then I was thinking that Jim (my instructor) was gonna think I'm an idiot who doesn't belong in a cave. Then ... when my body started DEMANDING air I couldn't deliver ... I started thinking I was gonna die in that cave. Then I pushed that thought away because I knew my best chance for survival was staying calm and concentrating on "fixing" the problem (which in this case meant just relax and let the spasm pass). When that first breath finally came, my thoughts returned to what my instructor would think ... and whether he was gonna let me finish this class. That thought stayed with me for the rest of the exit, although I forced myself to pay attention in case he threw another failure my way (he didn't).

In more than 2400 dives, that's the first time I honestly thought I might die underwater. In retrospect, it was a valuable lesson on several levels. Experience can sometimes lead to a casual attitude, which has no place underwater ... especially in an overhead environment. It's amazing how overconfidence can cause you to do things you KNOW not to do, and how quickly even a simple little mistake can incur a heavy price for what, from the safety of not being there, can seem like something any diver should be able to avoid.

But the most valuable lesson, perhaps, is in looking what goes through your mind and how hard you have to work at staying calm ... letting your mind work through what will be your best chance of getting back to the surface under your own power.

This class has been eight days of some pretty intensive training ... and at times I've felt like a newbie all over again. It's been humbling in some respects, and valuable in lots of respects. But one of the most important lessons I'm taking away from it is that there's no place in a cave for complacency ... not even for a moment. Just because you've done something a thousand times, doesn't mean you can't still screw it up. You need to pay attention every time you do it.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[openmindOW]

Thank you for the excellent and honest post.

Cave training is challenging.

It's great that you, as a true Dive Professional, are willing to admit that you got scared underwater - albeit temporarily. We tend to forget that anyone can get scared. Imagine how scared a newbie can get. You'll be an even better Instructor now.

Just out of curiousity, what cave system?

 

[TSandM]

It was at Ginnie, at the cornflakes.

Laryngospasm is a terrifying thing, because there is nothing the victim can do to relieve it. HOWEVER, ventilating someone with positive pressure can get air through the spastic vocal cords. I don't know if it would be enough, but in that situation, one's buddy might try blocking the exhaust valve on your reg and purging it into your mouth, to get a little air past the obstruction. The problem is that they'd have to figure out there were no bubbles coming out of you but you were conscious, which means you want to breathe but can't, and remember to try this. But it is a thought.

I actually made the same error during my class, for the same reason -- tired, CO2 toxic, stressed -- but I didn't get laryngospasm. But it really does show that even automatic things can get screwed up when you're on overload.

 

[BTravlin]

Glad you worked that out successfully. The pub can't afford to lose a rational member.

 

[irishsquid]

Thanks for that post. It sure makes one think and re-evaluate the "what ifs".

 

[DevonDiver]

Sounds like a great course! Very demanding....and offered you some self-discovery!

Being occasionally reminded of your mortality is a healthy thing in diving...and in life in general

 

[Scott L]

That had to be horrifying. A lesser experienced diver may have succumbed in a rush to remedy the situation. My incident two weeks ago pales in comparison but it was also my scariest event while diving since certified in 1983. After having just defended the ease of deploying a 6' closed circuit SMB at depth by using multiple breaths to inflate on this forum 3 weeks ago I inadvertenly inhaled water after my 3rd or 4th exhalation into the SMB on a recent dive. In that I was virtually out of breath I immediately gave myself a 50-50 chance of successfully clearing the water and reinserting my reg. I obviously did somehow but have since sold that SMB and replaced with one having an open bottom baffled system so that I need not huff and puff to inflate. I love this forum for the sharing of such stories which makes us all much better informed as to avoid problems or contend with them as they occur...

 

[BabyDuck]

a very similar thing happened to me in cavern, though in the open water part, and i was coughing coughing coughing instead of laryngospasm.

still, i remember thinking that while i was *not* going to bolt for the surface i could see why it seemed like an attractive option to many! actually, i was composing my epitaph - 'she died in orange grove but her buoyancy while she died was awesome!'

very glad you're ok, bob.

 

[divin'dog]

... so maybe Darwin doesn't want you dead?

Glad you made it out of there. You did something you know you shouldn't have done, but your experience pulled you through. You knew what to do as soon as that happened. A less experienced person may have panicked...

 

[fairybasslet]

Wow Bob. I'm sure glad it had a happy ending. You know you are loved by many people.