Well, at least I didn't have to clean my wet suit and I am alive?

[PerroneFord]

It seems to me you guys are nitpicking over something that wasn't even a problem. I don't advocate that any new diver head to 160ft, but that in itself is no reason for panic. Simply ascending to a safe depth at a reasonable rate would certainly mitigate any issue.

The things that concern me about this dive are really more what I mentioned. Failure to stay with a buddy being the most concerning. The second being the failure to to do any safety checks. I realize most divers may not do this in practice, but stopping briefly at 25ft with your buddy to determine whether they are ok is really good practice. It ensures you are actually WITH your buddy, it ensures you actually communicate with your buddy, and it ensures that you and your buddy are responding normally under the conditions of the dive.

Had that simple procedure been followed, it's unlikely the diver would have descended so far, and most certainly, they would have had better buddy contact.

Perhaps Scared Spitless might benefit from part of my basic routine which includes a quick brief of the dive before getting in the water, a short pause at either 10ft or 25ft depending on the nature of the dive. At that pause I make sure my buddy is ok to proceed, I check my dive computer, I check my pressure guage, and I check my buddies and my backup regulator to make sure it's working properly.

These basic safety checks have prevented more than one issue underwater over the years. Sometimes I've found out that I've forgotten to plug up my light. Sometimes I realize I've forgotten my reel or something else. Sometimes I just learn that my dive buddy isn't 100% and we call the dive or modify the dive plan.

I am never in too large a hurry underwater to do a basic safety check. Once you are, you're inviting trouble.

 

[RJP]

Well here it is for anyone who wishes to comment. I hope someone else reads this, remembers this and doesn’t make my mistake...

Must have been clearing your ears like crazy, huh? This might serve as a clue to how fast and how far you were descending.

You didn't mention what gas you were breathing, but I'm guessing 21% air. If you had been breathing 32% EANx this may not have had as happy an ending.

Glad you learned from this, and thanks for sharing with all.

 

[jviehe]

Since weve been having this argument for a while, in regards to taking the AOW course, this is not the primary solution to this problem. The AOW course will indeed give you some tips on deep diving, and give you some exeperience with various conditions, but primarily this problem would be solved with simply more experience diving, which will give you more comfort in the water.

You basically just had some stress resulting in tunnel vision on whatever you were doing, and didnt think about the things you needed to be doing. And your computer can only do so much. You still have to actually look at it and process what its telling you.

 

[divin'dog]

Again I hope someone learns from this. And I would like to hear others thoughts on what I screwed up.

I guess this dive gets chalked up as experience for you... better than the alternative! You did something a lot of people have done including me and that's not checking your gauges and being deliberate with everything you do. Not sure how you were descending, my guess is that you were headed down feet first. If so, then I would just recommend that you try "swimming down" to your planned depth rather than dropping down as it gives you more control and makes you more deliberate in your actions. Glad everything worked out fine.

dd

 

[lamont]

Was I narced? I don’t know.

Yes. Particularly at 160 you were narc'd.

I wasn’t watching my gauge, perhaps that would be one indication of being narced. I did recognize the signal from the DM, and ascended. I don’t drink (due to meds for arthritis) and it’s been a while since I have had a drink, but I didn’t feel like I was drunk.

Narcosis isn't like being drunk. You don't lose your co-ordination first, you lose your short term memory and attention first.

Maybe I did feel like everything was “fine.” My dive computer is set to sound an alarm at 130 ft. (changed to 120 FT after this dive), it should have sounded for ten seconds unless I canceled it by pressing a button for two seconds (which I don’t recall.) Maybe I missed the alarm. I wish the alarm would let me choose the alarm length*. At times I feel like my computer is alarming too often. Turn pressure, end pressure, and most of all ascending too fast.

This is an attitude which leaves you prone to over-reliance on technology.

The fundamental problem here is that you weren't paying attention to your depth. That probably indicates that you had so much else going on in your head that you didn't have enough cycles left to watch your bottom timer. Adding alarms just means that you're vulnerable to missing the alarms.

You need to pay attention. You also probably need to get more experience.

 

[HateCheese]

I agree with the others that you shouldn't look towards your computer to solve the problem. It is only a tool.

I read/heard this somewhere and have worked it into my dives - don't just check your gauges, have an idea of what depth and psi you have before looking. Make this 'game' part of your routine and you will find that you are more aware of your depth, workload/gas use, and your overall environment. Personally, I am disappointed in myself when my 'guess' is more than 100psi or 5ft off what the guage is displaying.

Glad you are alright. The questions you are asking are good, they will make you a better and safer diver by thinking about them and the solutions that work for you.

 

[scubadiver888]

Well here it is for anyone who wishes to comment. I hope someone else reads this, remembers this and doesn’t make my mistake.

Details: gauge started timing at 12 ft. (2956 PSI), hit 166.2 at 2:06 (2606), was back at 130.8 at 2:34 (2478 PSI), stopped ascending at 100 ft at 3:12 (2392 PSI). There were portions of that ascent which were faster than 60 FPM. Gauge shows one fourteen second section of the ascent was over 60 FPM, followed by four seconds at 51-60 FPM and sixteen seconds over 60 FPM. I am a bit of a Hoover, SAC range over last twenty or so dives is .605 to .943 FT3 per minute, dive in question says .843 FT3 per minute (according to my VT3 Oceanlog ver. 2.2.)

Ack! How do you drop that quickly. I usually have a hard time getting down. Didn't you feel the pressure changes in your ears? For me I have to descend rather slowly. If I go to quick, I cannot equalize my ears fast enough. When I just start feeling the pressure I slow down, clear then start going down again.

I'd like to think I wouldn't do this but thanks for posting... I'll keep it in mind for all my future dives.

 

[mfigaro]

I am a very new diver but I am lucky enough to have access to a lake where I can do what is essentially a wall dive from shore. I've never lost track of depth like you did but, I have been astonished at the amount of buoyancy loss which made it difficult for me to stop once I reached my planned depth. This phenomenon is somthing they just don't prepare you for in Open Water Certification when diving in shallow water with a floor. If the first time this happended to me, I was in open water with no visual reference, I probably would have ended up at 160' too. I try to make sure that I am frequently adding buoyancy during me descent now. I am looking forward to taking AOW so I can find out what the usual technique is for descending rapidly but in a controlled safe way.

 

[farsidefan1]

I am a very new diver but I am lucky enough to have access to a lake where I can do what is essentially a wall dive from shore. I've never lost track of depth like you did but, I have been astonished at the amount of buoyancy loss which made it difficult for me to stop once I reached my planned depth. This phenomenon is somthing they just don't prepare you for in Open Water Certification when diving in shallow water with a floor. If the first time this happended to me, I was in open water with no visual reference, I probably would have ended up at 160' too. I try to make sure that I am frequently adding buoyancy during me descent now. I am looking forward to taking AOW so I can find out what the usual technique is for descending rapidly but in a controlled safe way.

Interesting methodology. I start out with no air in my bc and end with no air in the bc. I rarely add air to my bc during the dive. Proper weighting and breathing control minor ups and downs (yes, I do take a big breath and hold it to go over a coral head then release it and drop back down, eek holding breath eek). Clear blue water decent and acent have at least one eye pretty much pegged on my computer. If I'm in a hurry to get down (ie in strong current conditions a slow decent may put you somewhere Waaaay away from the dive site) I , and my buddy point head down and swim straight down, clearing ears as we go.

 

[jviehe]

I am a very new diver but I am lucky enough to have access to a lake where I can do what is essentially a wall dive from shore. I've never lost track of depth like you did but, I have been astonished at the amount of buoyancy loss which made it difficult for me to stop once I reached my planned depth. This phenomenon is somthing they just don't prepare you for in Open Water Certification when diving in shallow water with a floor. If the first time this happended to me, I was in open water with no visual reference, I probably would have ended up at 160' too. I try to make sure that I am frequently adding buoyancy during me descent now. I am looking forward to taking AOW so I can find out what the usual technique is for descending rapidly but in a controlled safe way.

FYI, the technique, which is taught in OW as well, is to always use a visual reference. You should be looking at your guages as you descend as well. Other than in drift diving, descending rapidly is not a good idea.