Went to the local quarry for a dive today and had an issue

[scottb27]

So I went out today to do a couple dives at the quarry; the first one went great. I got buddied up with a DM in training and after about 25 good minutes surfaced and all was well. Though I do seem to go through air (1400 lbs at an avg depth of 26ft or so).

We then planned a 2nd dive to go a bit deeper to see a plane the dive was to be to 70ft. This was going to be my first dive below 40ft and also was the first time I wore a hood as it was going to be about 38* at 70ft.

So we start to decent and all is good, we get to 50' and its pretty damn cold and thats when I started having problems. My mask flooded abd I got it clear for a second and it flooded again. At that time I sucked in a lot of water and almost threw up. I reached to my buddy and told her I needed to go up, so I started to ascend. I screwed up and ascended pretty quickly as I was struggling to breathe.

When I told the my old instructor (who was in the dive as well) he said it was smart to ascend if you have any issues but said to be more mindful of going up slowly. Im just not sure the way I was having trouble breathing would have allowed me to go slower; what is the best way to handle something like this?

 

[Splitlip]

ok..I'm still trying to process what you mean by "old" instructor. That aside.
When were you certed and by which agency. How many dives have you?

 

[spectrum]

scottb27

Scott you need to train as you will dive for one thing. A hood can wreak havoc with your mask and that may have happened. Just the thickness of the hood can disturb the all important strap tension. In my case all pool work was done in hoods and mitts after the first night. To wear a hood for the first time concurrent with a deepest ever dive was the beginning of the incident. For instance a hood especially if making a heads down descent can catch air that will mess with your mask strap when a bubble forms in the hood. You can also need some time to figure out just where the strap wants to ride on the back of your head. You may have had a face seal on the hood that needed trimming. Some hoods do not have venting and in some postures you need technique to make it work.

In short, donning a hood does not a cold water diver make.

Difficulty breathing could be from taking in some cold water and maybe some "went down the wrong pipe". If you were ascending head up your lungs were at an instant disadvantage. With all you had happening and being a heavy breather you may have been hyperventilating and getting poor air exchange. Put it all together and the ascent was stressful to say the least.

Was your regulator a cold water design? At 38F you were ripe for a free flow, especially if breathing anxiously.

Being your first time past 40 by definition you have not done AOW. I'm not going to wave the 60 foot rule but those that do it without some deep dive instruction really need to be well mentored and do their own homework.

I will give you kudos for maintaining some level of control and getting out safe despite a more rapid than desired ascent. Did your buddy stick with you and help manage things?

Pete

 

[XxMerlinxX]

Don't know if you have any facial hair, but I have a goatee and the mustache part right below my nose will sometimes cause my mask to seal poorly. A quick trim off the top of it the morning of the dive normally does the trick, I've also been told a little bit of chapstick can be a good substitute as well.

As far as having trouble breathing, just remember that as long as you have that reg in your mouth, you can breath. Even if you suck in some water, you can cough it out through the regulator no problem. Even if you threw up, you could've done so through your regulator and you would've been fine, a little uncomfortable maybe, but fine.

 

[scottb27]

old instructor = the instructor that I did my OW cert with.

Regulator was the same reg I had done all my dives with an aqualung titan. It is what the LDS uses as rentals.

My instructor said something about the 60' dive and we spoke about it before we went down. Knowing that I wanted to do deep dive cert, he said that we would count this as one and I would come home and do the book and next week do the second deep dive.

I did ascend head first, is this not something you should do if you have problems breathing? I didnt know that it caused more problems/make it harder to recover from the inhaliation of the water.

My buddy made sure I was good up till about 30' and then she let me go and continued. I was ok with how this went down, do you think she should have done something different? What would someone expect of a buddy in this case?

 

[Garth]

the best way to handle this? well, ,, in a drysuit. period. 38 degrees.
i dont care if a fat diver says he can handle it, that dive should have been in a drysuit and thick undergarments.

 

[divemonkey33]

I have had a very similar thing happen to me doing my AOW dives. You did the right thing or at least that is also what my instructor told me as well. From what I figured was that it was either a overexersion issue or the cold or both. What has worked much better for me is to slow down my descents and even stopping to get more used to the temp and relax. Also I think Garth may be right 38 degress in a 7mm wetsuit is no way to dive anything below 50 is abit much. As for the mask you might want to bite the bullet and try another one. Hey just curious what quarry did you go to I'm always looking for places.

 

[Frosty]

Scottb. I think spectrum has it nailed regarding diving with a hood.The first time I dived (dove?) with a hood it was fairly disconcerting. It just diddn't feel "right" Combine that with a deep dive and cold temps and you have a big ol task loading going down.
I'm not sure why with a flooded mask you'd have a mouthfull of water unless you were maybee accidently breathing in through your nose.
Incidently as others have hinted at hoods can play havoc with mask seals.-Ie the hood pushes the seal,lifts the seal or rolls the seal a bit Before stepping off the boat I'd suggest next time with a hood ask your instructor to check you have a propper seal.
My advice is to tackle one new thing at a time. Do a shallow (30feet or so) dive with the hood on and play with strap tension.
Once thats sorted do a cold dive to get used to mask flooding in the cold THEN try a deep

 

[scottb27]

I dont doubt it was 2 cold. It was me and 3 DM's going down in this dive. One of them was testing a new dry suit and the other two went down knowing that they probably wont feel there fingers for a couple days. Honestly being a noob I probably never should have attempted it, but I did.

The quarry is in Haymarket Virginia, Millbrook Quarry. Nothing special at all, lucky if you get 10ft of visibility down there.

 

[scottb27]

Scottb. I think spectrum has it nailed regarding diving with a hood.The first time I dived (dove?) with a hood it was fairly disconcerting. It just diddn't feel "right" Combine that with a deep dive and cold temps and you have a big ol task loading going down.
I'm not sure why with a flooded mask you'd have a mouthfull of water unless you were maybee accidently breathing in through your nose.
Incidently as others have hinted at hoods can play havoc with mask seals.-Ie the hood pushes the seal,lifts the seal or rolls the seal a bit Before stepping off the boat I'd suggest next time with a hood ask your instructor to check you have a propper seal.
My advice is to tackle one new thing at a time. Do a shallow (30feet or so) dive with the hood on and play with strap tension.
Once thats sorted do a cold dive to get used to mask flooding in the cold THEN try a deep

When the mask flooded the second time I sucked it in through my nose, not sure exactly what I did to make that happen but in the end thats where a whole lot of water went. I might go look at other masks as I have had small issues with water getting in, but never to this extent. But this mask seems to fit fine, how would I go about checking to see if its the shape of the mask or the strap tensions?