...walked in the snow uphill, both ways!

[King_Neptune]

Ok, since EVERYONE had to walk 40 miles to school in the snow, barefoot, uphill, both ways, while on the way to kindergarden, I thought it might be kinda entertaining and even enlightening to have everyone break out their HORROR stories book and share their WORST diving experince for a change.

Ya know, the ones where while on a family vacation to Death Valley a Typhoon struck your favorite secret dive hole while you were using your backup reg (a garden hose attached to Grandpa's Buick's exaust system) because you forgot to replace all the O-rings in your main reg after the neighbors kid used them because they were out of rubber bands for their braces. And everyone got sick after eating your catch of the day which turned out to be the last of a now extinct and highly toxic creature that resembled something from the movie Aliens.

Anyone care to share?

=-)

 

[Greg G.]

When I think about it, my worst dive isn't really a horror story, just rather embarassing.

The place was Edmonds, Washington, a shore dive known as the Edmonds Jetty. The "jetty" is really the breakwater rocks surrounding the marina. (NO, you don't dive INSIDE the marina, dive on the OUTSIDE, like, in the ocean?) Anyway, my buddy Eileen and I planned the dive to take advantage of the slack currents, a must when diving in Puget Sound. Conditions when we arrived were great, only ripples on the water, and it was a sunny November day.

The dive itself went just fine, but when we surfaced, the fickle NW wheather had turned into a howling squall. A strong wind was blowing out to sea at about a 45 degree angle to the shore. Eileen signaled to me she was tired and having trouble. I swam over to her, and told to link arms and we would both kick together to try to get to shore. Didn't work, the wind had kicked up a strong surface current. Being the petite gal she was, she used much less air than I did, and still had a good 1000psi left, so we submerged in an attempt to escape the surface current. The squall caused the visibility to go to crap, and we lost each other on the way down, even though the depth at that point was only around 20ft. I got to the bottom and turned on my dive light hoping she could see it. I was exhausted, and only had 500 psi left, I knew it wouldn't last long. After a minute of fruitlessly searching for Eileen, I surfaced again. Eileen had also surfaced when she couldn't find me underwater. The wind and waves were howling fierce. We were about 50ft apart, and I could not make any head way against the waves and current. I yelled at her that I was just going to do what I was trained to do, drop my weights, inflate my suit and just go with the flow. By this time I was totally drained, I couldn't even do two kicks. Although I wasn't far from the breakwater rocks, the waves were slamming them pretty hard and there was a lot of debri such as logs near them, so I opted not to attempt for the rocks.

I drifted along for a while, and could see that the wind-induced current blew me straight into the ferry lane. At this point, I was worried more about encountering a ferry's "diver-grinders" than I was anything else. By this time I was a good 1/2 mile out to sea. Sure enough, I saw the ferry in the distance making the return trip to Edmonds. I held up my dive light hoping to hell they would spot it through the squall and not make me into pureed diver chum.

As the ferry approached, it slowed to within just a few yards from me (I was off it's starboard side). On the deck, I could see a large crowd all watching the rescue. At this point, I was wishing I could sink, it was that embarrassing. The ferry crew launched a skiff and came out to me. At the same time, the Edmonds fire dept had also launched a skiff and got there at the same time. I climbed aboard with the fire dept for the ride in (I didn't have any money on me for the ferry anyway, ha!).

Mean while, back on shore, Eileen made it in, stripped off her gear and called 911. The fire dept showed up with a life ring and 40ft of line. When they asked where I was, she pointed to a spot on the horizon and said "he's yonder, about 1/4 mile and still going!"

I was none the worse for wear, just very exhausted and minus my weights and dignity.

That was 3 years ago. I have not dived that sight since.

Side note: I was using Force Fins at the time, and IMO they aren't worth a **** in a current situation.

P.S. A site description and pic can be found at:

http://members.aa.net/~mbdive/divesites/marinabeachjetty.html

Originally posted by King_Neptune
...I thought it might be kinda entertaining and even enlightening to have everyone break out their HORROR stories book and share their WORST diving experince for a change.

[snip]

Anyone care to share?

=-)

[Edited by Greg G. on 11-17-2000 at 03:21 PM]

 

[Damsel Fish]

Ok, my horror story isn't really mine although it could very well have been.

We went to the Flower Gardens (off the coast of Texas)on the Spree a couple of years ago in February. I wanted to see the hammerhead sharks and eagle rays that sometimes school there that time of year.

When we got out there I should have known we were in trouble because the divemaster who was trying to tie us off to the bottom (and she had been out there lots of times) came up exhausted and unable to tie us off. She said "It's just too much for me". Should have known then that something was up.

Anyway we finally got tied off and all of us got geared up to go. Then they told us that there was a little bit of a current so when we did our giant stride off the boat we should grab the line immediately and start pulling ourselves down. I still didn't have any clue about what they were talking about.
So I did my stride, hit the water & bobbed up and made a wild grab for the rope as it was swiftly passing by. I got hold of the line & turned my head to look for my buddy and the current started to peel my mask off my face. I was flying like a kite in the wind on a string and I couldn't pull myself against the current down the line because the palms of my gloves (that were teflon coated) were sliding. I decided then that that was too much for me and told my buddy to go with another diver whose buddy felt the same. We (the other wise dive & I) finally managed to pull ourselves back to the boat and get out.

My buddy told me later that there current all the way down till just about 10 to 20 feet off the bottom. But they managed to get down and did a fair dive, although they never saw any pelagics. Then the fun started because instead of going back to the line & pulling themselves up they just went to 15 feet to do a safety stop and were then planning to go to the surface & swim to the boat. At 15 feet the current got them good and by the time they got to the surface they were already a good 200 yards past the boat and heading south for Mexico. The crew got out the zodiac and managed to catch up with my buddy before he got out of sight but we lost sight of the other diver except for a brief flash every once in a while when he waved his neon green fin above his head.

One of our friends who used to be a merchant marine climbed to the highest point on the boat with a pair of binoculars and a compass and got a heading on him. Then they cast the boat loose and headed that direction. We finally got close enough to where the guys on deck could see him & they picked him up in the zodiac. All the time they were looking for him I could just picture us telling his wife that we lost him. They told us later that the current was around 3 knots. Needless to say that just about finished the diving although a few hardy souls did try 1 more time (including my buddy & our Mexico bond friend).

Everytime the merchant marine would get in, someone would yell for help & he would end up pulling them out instead of diving. Later that day they aborted the trip because a storm was brewing. But it was still fun.

 

[King_Neptune]

Greg,

I haven't laughed that hard in quite some time! Not AT you of course, but WITH you. I think what caught my funny bone so much was that story just sounds WAY to much like something that would happen to me!

I am never so lucky to just have one thing go wrong, sometimes I feel like good ol "Murphy" (Murphys Law) was an optimist, hehe.

I have a REAL killer of a story to tell but I'm waiting to see if Ladydiver wants to tell it, since when my Horror story of all Horror stories happened it just so happens that it was while DiveMastering her Open Water Class when she was first certified. I "Private Messaged" her to see if she would like to tell it or if I should.

=-)

 

[SubMariner]

I guess my worst diving experience was a mini-dive vacation I had taken one long weekend in '93 in Ft. Lauderdale.

I flew down from Toronto to meet & dive with some friends who I had met on a dive BBS (yes, way back then). Although we talked a lot online and on the telphone, we had never actually met or dove together. During this time one of the people, who was an Instructor, was to put me through the Rescue Diver course.

The first dive of the trip was a twilight dive from a boat. What the divemaster & captain neglected to tell us was that there was at least a 2 kt current. The only briefing they gave us was "swin towards the front of the boat and go down to the reef".

Well, my buddy & I jumped off. We started to descend, but I had problems clearing my ears. Eventually I got them clear, but by then we didn't know where we were. So up we came to take a look. On the way up, my ears began to hurt like hell and clogged up.

When we surfaced we found ourselves well astern of the boat, and getting farther away by the second. We tried to descend below the surface current, but I couldn't because of my ears. So we inflated our BCs, blew our whistles, waved, did big cirlces with our lights... you know the drill.

No response. Meanwhile, my head felt like it was exploding from the pain in my ears. I dropped my weightbelt to make sure I stayed positively bouyant, because I was only wearing a dive skin and I didn't want to take any chances. There was still no response from our increasingly frantic signals to the boat. We were being swept out towards the Gulf Stream and dark was setting in...

FINALLY the DM from the boat shows up with a rescue line, which we were BARELY in range of, since we had been carried 1/4 of a mile from the boat. I couldn't really hear, or swim: I was exhausted from trying to signal AND fight keep warm in the increasingly cooler water. So she started towing me back to the boat. Apparently, she had neglected to put her snorkel on her mask, so she asked for my octo. However, Mr. Murphy worked his magic on it, and the mouthpiece came off in her mouth. At the time I remember this hazy thought: "serves you !@#$!@ right for not being properly prepared & taking so !@$!@% long to get to us."

Once onboard I spent the next 5 minutes "feeding the fish" off the leeward side of the boat. I was exhausted, in pain, and, needless to say, quite upset. My dive bud's son had to drive me back to the hotel, where I spent the next day or so trying to recoup my strength before seeking out a Dr. He told me there was trauma to both my ears: lots of blood behind the eardrum, swelling, etc. (A trip to my diving physician back home yielded a diagnosis of severe baurotrama in both ears, which meant about 3 months out of the water.)

Eventually I learned that not only had the Capt of the boat gone diving with part of the group (a big no-no, esp since it's against the law in FL) but because the DM had been "pre-occupied" with her boyfriend on the BOW of the boat, she hadn't noticed our distress until it was almost too late.

As far as I know, BOTH the Capt and the DM were fired. But that didn't make me feel any better about the experience....

~SubMariner~

 

[Iguana Don]

King_Neptune

You forgot in your opening post about killing a grizzly bear with your loose leaf notebook, I did.

 

[Dee]

Cat...that's one reason why I'm not real wild about diving the Gulf of Mexico! We've made lots of trips out to the oil rigs but 80% of the time we deal with 4-6ft. seas and/or strong currents. You've really got to have all your rocks in one sock to dive in the Gulf most of the time!

We have booked 10 trips out to the Flower Gardens over a 2-3 year period, at all times of the year and had all 10 get cancelled by bad conditions. I had the chance to try again this last September and decided I'd give it one more shot. I was amazed that we not only went, but the seas were flat as a pancake with little to no currents at all! Plus I saw my first Whale Shark!

My worst dive took place in the Gulf of Mexico on the site of the V.A. Fogg. It's more of a rescue story than anything else. After battling 3-4ft waves for two and a half hours to get to the site, everyone was just eager to get off the boat. There were 4 of us there to do some training dives for our wreck class, with 5 others of varying experience levels. The Instructors girlfriend, an inexperienced diver, was along. Having experienced the Gulf before, I had set-up my gear and put on my wetsuit before we left the jetties, so I was ready to help the others if needed. Everyone was a bit queasy at best and some already feeding the fish when we stopped to anchor the boat. The GF had heard that you'll feel better as soon as you get into the water. So while the Instructor was down trying to set the anchor (try is the operable word here) and everyone was setting up their gear, she decided to get in the water and wait on everyone! You do not wait on the surface in the Gulf! Taglines hadn't been deployed yet so when she hit the water, the strong current started taking her towards Cuba and she had nothing the hang on to. I could see the panic on her face as she was swept away and knew she was going to need help so I quickly donned my gear and entered the water. I got to her just as she was starting to strip off her gear...so she could breath better! I won't go into rescue techniques here, but I finally got control of her and had her attention. At this time, we were almost 1/2 mile from the boat. Everyone on the boat knew about where we were but they had to send someone down to release the anchor on the boat before the boat could come get us. Luckily we were the only ones in the water.

Neptune was smiling on us this day because the Sea Seacher II was in the area. (The Sea Searcher II is a 95 foot converted crew-boat liveaboard who frequents the Flower Gardens and the rigs.)One of the DM's on the SS saw us in the water, with our boat on the horizon, and launched their Zodiac to pick us up. Boy was I glad to see him! Even though we weren't fighting the currents, I was fighting a diver whose panic attacks kept recurring and I was getting tired. We were in the water about 30 minutes. We were taken back to our boat by an angel!

I learned several things on this dive...

1. Never go out on a fishing boat with a captain who has no clue about scuba diving. In fact, I shouldn't have left the dock on that boat. If someone else has made the arrangements, do your own research before committing to the trip.

2. Never go out in the Gulf with divers who aren't experienced enough to handle it. I should re-phrase that. I won't go out in the Gulf with divers I've never dived with before and/or that I know nothing about their diving skills.

3. Never go out in the Gulf in a boat under 50 ft long!

4. Keep your rescue skills sharp, you never know when you'll need them.

 

[King_Neptune]

Dee,

Originally posted by Dee ...

Neptune was smiling on us this day because

hehe, I'm always smiling!

=-)

 

[Ladydiver]

Well Folks,

The greatest horror story of my diving career actually happened while I was getting certified. I think I will let King Neptune tell this one as it involves him as well and he tell it much better than I do.

Happy Reading,

 

[Damsel Fish]

Dee,
I still want to go back to the Flowers Gardens. If I keep trying, maybe one time I'll get to actually make a dive there. Only problem is I have to go solo because my buddy absolutely refuses to go again. You see, not only did the current get him but he stayed seasick the whole time we were out except when he was diving. I would also like to make a rig dive at least once. I'm willing to dive anywhere at least once.

But I agree with you about keeping your skills sharp. Odds are you'll never need them but if you do, then you prepared.

I also learned when someone who is more experienced and in better shape than I am is having trouble with a dive that I should keep my fanny on the boat.