What is your worst dive?

[Pook-60]

I posted this a while back: (abridged) My worst dive to date was my best learning opportunity so I'm showing my skidmarks to whoever reads this so you can either learn or just nod with a knowing smile.

Here's the dive situation:
- Dive Location is Myrtle Beach SC, 27 Feb 07
- Dive site is the Pinnacle (an artificial reef area with a barge and some APCs)
- Dive Operator was Coastal Scuba: this was a day dive
- Water temp = 51 F
- Visibility less than 2 feet (fine particulates stirred up from storm 2 days before: found this out after guide made the initial dive to tie off anchor and wreck reel line)
- Depth = 59 ft
- Current ~ 1 Knot

Here's my set-up & experience
- First time diving my drysuit in open ocean conditions (3rd time with the suit overall: 19 dives total = a newbie)
- First time diving in low visibility conditions
- First time diving with any weight in new trim pouches on shoulder (6 lbs, 18 lbs in lower BC area)

Here's the context
I didn't test the new trim pockets (and the chosen weight) in a pool or quarry. I instead chose the Atlantic.

Now I was certified in Apr 05 but haven't had any night dives. So, upon hearing that the vis was 2 feet I chose to go first-time zero-vis in the Atlantic.

Having acquired the Drysuit of my dreams and completed the PADI class to properly employ said device, in the best spirit of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players I giant stepped into the Atlantic. Never mind that I couldn't hover but instead compensated by what could be best described as a combination of breath control and hand/fin flicks reminiscent of a puffer fish. Never attaining the perfect horizontal profile because of legs that sunk deeper than the rest of me. But that's OK, it's just the Atlantic!

Here's the results:
Though properly weighted overall, my choice to dive with >25% of the total weight by my clavicles meant that my legs were no longer the lowest part of my profile. Bonus was that since air rises my feet were well ventilated inside the drysuit. And since I've never experienced a constant headsdown profile in a drysuit; I've never had the need to use my bottom dump valves on the BC so imagine my surprise when I reached for them and they weren't where I expected them (I was about 30 degrees off with the added bulk from the suit). Let's throw in the low vis and spatial disorientation looms as a potent specter throughout the dive along with a fairly healthy current tugging at my sleeve.

So there I was:
Approaching exhaustion fighting buoyancy issues; working against the current; tilted head down at a 30-75 degree angles; spatial disorientation; consciously suppressing panic at least twice; had to grab the dive guide once to keep from floating away; task saturation; did accomplish one somersault to get the air out of my feet; not nearly enough.

And the results:
I didn't call the dive. I survived it, tired, mentally exhausted. But when faced with the no-kidding decision on a go/nogo for this dive, I did not recognize how deep the doodoo was and failed to pull the Ejection handles when I should have. Pride played a role too; as did outright stubbornness.

The epilogue:
Back to the pool; and back to the quarry and thanks to Drewski and Rad Diver I'm better prepared.

The lesson:
If you can't master the skills in a pool or a quarry; it's damned unlikely you'll master the skills in a more hostile environment.

The Bottom Line:
Having the best equipment money can buy doesn't stand up against conditions demanding skills; instead of tools.

Thanks for reading; hope this helps somebody

Dane

 

[xjeslesx]

Water temp = 43F
Depth = 80ft
Vis = 0-6inches

Didn't catch any scallops or lobsters. Then struggled to get back on the boat - no assistance since I was first back.

 

[Jupiter31]

a bad day of diving is still better than a good day at work!

Read my post - don't think at least one person on the boat would agree....

But for the most part, I tend to agree with you!

 

[James R]

My worst was my first dive with my girlfriend as well. We were with an instructor at the time - she was doing Peak Buoyancy and I was just there to dive and get some practice. Situation: cold water, very rough conditions at shore entry (wind, rough water etc), and pretty poor visibility, She freaked and made a very rapid ascent after a few minutes from 41ft. She just looked towards me, shrugged, and kicked hard all the way up. Unfortunately I was about 1' too far away to grab her to slow her down. Luckily she didn't hold her breath.

She didn't even try to dive again that weekend. The following weekend, though, we went to a different site (Aquareana Springs) and she was able to finish up her PPB course, her Nitrox course a few days later, and then she did 4 days and a night dive worth of boat diving in Cozumel. I guess it all works out.

Lessons learned were many. Most important, I think, is that she didn't feel OK with the dive, but didn't say anything even after I asked her many times and ways if she felt OK about the dive all the way up to when we made our entry. Now she knows that if she doesn't feel OK about a dive, it is absolutely not a problem because I am not going to get mad or make her feel weird about her saying "no dive" which was her fear/worry.

 

[foxe]

My (like a few others) not-really-that-bad worst dive out of a short and happy diving history so far:

On a recent dive in Wales; doing a guided shore dive (because I've done almost all my diving and training O/S so far and think I'd have to be pretty idiotic to jump into the UK sea without some sort of orientation and further training), using rented equipment. Dive School and instructor absolutely great, so no fault to them that I had a couple of problems on the first dive; it was pretty much a few little problems adding up to being much less comfortable underwater than I'd ever been before, but I learned some things, so I figure it's worth sharing -- even if only for newbies like me!

First slight hiccup: regs configured a bit differently to what I expected. Every single dive I'd been on to this point, with dive schools/clubs in four countries, I'd used regulators with both primary reg and octopus on the right hand side. Trying to get this regulator attached to the tank and having massive difficulties getting it aligned properly; turned out the octopus was set up to go on the left, which the instructor came and pointed out to me and had me set it up right. I said I was used to it being on the other side; he said their SOP was on the left, which left me wondering whether I was just muddled! Not a massive problem, although I did eventually decide that with BCD inflator and gauges already on the left having octopus hose over that side as well led to too much hassle with getting tangles and repeatedly pulling the AAS loose from its fastening.

Next problem: floaty feet. I already know I have this problem in a dry-suit, so was wearing ankle weights; but just couldn't get them fastened tight enough to squeeze all that pesky air out of my feet, so ended up in a permanently knees-bent position as the rest of me was horizontal but my feet kept on wanting to be as 'up' as possible. This was not helped any by the third problem:

My rented dry-suit was too small. It felt more or less ok in the shop and when I was walking round, but as soon as I got in the water and stretched out horizontal, I realised that actually I _couldn't_. I was either hunched forward or, given the floaty-feet problem, once we descended, bent backwards. What's more, I couldn't raise my arm (it was a cuff-dump) anywhere past about 60 degrees. Venting (and getting rid of the excess air surrounding my ankles, even when I was head-up) was exceedingly difficult. I ended up ascending, venting as much air as I could and then going back down using my BCD for buoyancy instead, adding tiny amounts of air to the suit to avoid squeeze and hoping like hell I didn't end up over-inflated and unable to vent.

And to add to all of that, the BCD low-pressure inflator was some weird type I've never seen so far, on which the inflator button was on the wrong side so I had to use both hands to inflate it, and the exhaust button was a small round button in the middle of a really big round plate, which was rather difficult to press with gloves.

So in summary, tiny things individually, but they added up to a really uncomfortable dive! On the second dive, I tightened my ankle weights and adjusted my tank position to get better trim; and used my BCD only for buoyancy from the beginning, and it was MUCH better.

What I learned:

1) Small problems can make a BIG difference -- to how your dive goes, but also to air consumption! I'm usually pretty good with air; being female and medium-build helps, and in general I come up with about as much as anyone. On the first dive, I got down to 60 bar and the other student on the course, who was a burly well-built guy, was still on 100.

2) Unfamiliar equipment can be a real problem. Ok, on this dive I was dealing with all-rented gear and quite a few unfamiliarities; but still, just that little extra pressure added up to what felt like a lot of hassle!

3) I _can_ do things myself to address problems, and overcome some minor difficulties in the field. Under ideal circumstances I wouldn't have to struggle with unfamiliar gear; yes, I'm trying to get all my own stuff, but it takes a while (and more money than I have in one go). However what the second dive showed me was that there are things that can be done to fix these difficulties. If it had been TOO stressful or challenging, I might have called it and bailed on the second dive; but I judged that I could handle it, and made some changes to improve my form and the dive experience, and those changes worked.

This is probably old hat to most experienced divers out there, but I felt that I learned more from this one (to me) challenging dive than from my most 'fun' dives in warm water with good vis, easy conditions, loads of fish etc... and I hope this post is useful to any other newbies out there!

 

[farsidefan1]

Open water certification dive. Blue Lake on Utah Nevada border. November, 7 mil suit. Vis about 3 feet. Nuff said? I dropped down and went right into a silt out reducing vis to nothing, And I made it worse . We were supposed to follow the DM aroud the lake but after one minute or so of looking at nothing and not knowing where anyone was I surfaced. The other 2 students were already on the surface. 15 minutes later our DM popped up and said, "What are you guys doing over there?" He had finished the dive of exploration without realizing we were not with him. It got better in Belize the next week.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Black warrior wreck dive nyc, 7 foot plus seas 1-3 foot viz and no fish but I did see a tire float by

 

[Ardy]

This happened in Mystery Bay southern NSW Australia. I was getting married in 2 weeks and we did a shore dive that I had done many times but my partner hadnt.

The sea was a bit choppy but within limits for a shore dive. We did about 40 mins in a surging sea at about 40ft. On exit the sea had risen to about 4-6ft and was crashing on the rocks we had to get out on. I explained that we would wait for a break then swim for it and grab a rock as high up as possible and hold on then climb up and out on the backwash.

I hit the rocks and grabbed a hold only to see my partner shooting 8ft up the rocks and back down again. Her wetsuit was sliced like a razor had been at them by the barnicles and she was bleeding from legs and an arm. I told her to line up with me and then on the next wave come in and I would grab her. She did this and missed me but I managed to grab her as she was going down and then we scrambled up the rocks to hold on again as another wave hit us. We then managed to crawl out.

After this I am very careful about entry and exit on shore dives and If the sea is up at all I treat them like a nightmare about to happen.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I don't know if I've had any "worst" dives. I've had a few that weren't fun. This one probably tops the list ... at one point I momentarily (for about 10 seconds) lost both the line and my dive buddies, which is not a good feeling at 200 feet. Fortunately, it was a momentary thing caused by the line getting snagged on the wreck we were looking for, and we were quickly reunited (were only ever a few feet apart in the murk).

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[paddler3d]

First off I think my dive will be the day the wife gets to cash in the life insurance policy on me. Let me retract that one...when I cash in her life insurance policy.

This wasn't a bad one, but a memorable dive, and not in the good way.

The ocean forecast off of Ocean City Maryland was calling for less than 2ft seas with a Easterly wind less than 5 knots. Typically good conditions.

We wanted to dive this wreck called the AT Hull. It is a CG Bouy tender sank as part of the artificial reef program. It is 165ft long and lies in 95fsw.

I had heard that it was loaded with muscles on the conning tower. Very exciting.

The wreck lies 23 miles off OC.

Me, my dive buddies (husband and wife team), load up the boat, convince his father to come be the boat tender and off we go.

A few miles off shore the swells picked up.

By the time we got out there, 6-7ft swells.

We find the wreck on the sonar and we're pretty sure we hook into it.

We were all starting to get a bit woosey trying to get suited up in or gear in the swells.

Finally we get in, float around, relax and cool off. When we feel better, we descend the anchor line.

The first 20ft had good vis, 60-70ft. All of a sudden it was pea soup. Somehow I got the short straw and had to go down the line first and I hate that.

I know Steph is on top of me because she is holding on to my tank.

All of a sudden I start to see the bottom! I'm at 95ft. No wreck. We decided to take the dive reel, and tie it off the the anchor line. Again, I'm in the lead. We swim at the whole line on the reel and do a 360 circle. When we don't find the wreck, I turn to Matt and Steph. I change my orientation to vertical. I'm fed up at this point in time. I give them the thumbs up.

The two look at me with real large eyes and give me four (4) thumbs up.

We did our safety stop and they were obsessed with looking down.

As soon as we break the surface the first thing I hear out of Matt's mouth is "did you see those sharks!" Not what you want to hear.

I don't think I've exited the water that fast.

Apparently a 'bull shark' swam between my legs.

I'm still here, so no harm no foul. I didn't get any lobster or muscles.