60plus
Contributor
I was on a dive a while ago as part of a group of strangers and we had been to about 25 meters or a little more, duration of dive would be about 40 to 45 minutes. At the end of the dive whilst I was around 15 to 20 m and rising slowly up the shot line a diver made what appeared to be an uncontrolled ascent in a stream of bubbles. At the surface he was fine and later on as we were finishing changing I asked him what had happened - here is his reply
"I don't really know, I realized I was in a sitting position with my head tilted forwards and my knees a bit up towards my chest, The reg was not in my mouth, I had not taken in water and was not trying to breath. I tried the reg recovery but could not do it, my arm would not move properly, I then tried for my octopus which was on my chest but my arms would not work properly or respond, it was as if my movements were sluggish and uncoordinated or the water was syrupy. The water was not its normal colour it was green, dark in places but lighter in others,I could sort of make out the lightness from the surface. Realizing I could not get my regs I my mind sort of blanked, drowning crossed my mind but I did not feel panic or real distress, I just sat there. The next think I knew I burst into the air at the surface and gasped in breath, other than a being a bit breathless for a short while I felt OK."
The only part of this I witnessed was what appeared to be an uncontrolled ascent and after thinking about what I had seen, his regs, hands and feet were trailing, he was upright not in sitting position as described.
"I don't really know, I realized I was in a sitting position with my head tilted forwards and my knees a bit up towards my chest, The reg was not in my mouth, I had not taken in water and was not trying to breath. I tried the reg recovery but could not do it, my arm would not move properly, I then tried for my octopus which was on my chest but my arms would not work properly or respond, it was as if my movements were sluggish and uncoordinated or the water was syrupy. The water was not its normal colour it was green, dark in places but lighter in others,I could sort of make out the lightness from the surface. Realizing I could not get my regs I my mind sort of blanked, drowning crossed my mind but I did not feel panic or real distress, I just sat there. The next think I knew I burst into the air at the surface and gasped in breath, other than a being a bit breathless for a short while I felt OK."
The only part of this I witnessed was what appeared to be an uncontrolled ascent and after thinking about what I had seen, his regs, hands and feet were trailing, he was upright not in sitting position as described.
