What's the most intimidating dive you've done or thing that happened to you?

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Eric Sedletzky

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For me it was when I was called to go out to the harbor about 45 minutes west to the coast to unfoul a prop for a crab boat. When I got there I saw a group of very large male sea lions hanging around the boat around and under the pier. I asked if they were Okay and the guy said they shouldn't bother me, they were pretty mellow. So I got in, and the whole time I had a 900 Lb sea lion staring me down from about 5 feet away. That was a little unnerving.

The other time a buddy and I went south out of Bodega Bay in my boat to go dive Tomales Bay. I had never been there so after about 25 minutes of full throttle heading for the furthest headland sticking out I could see I realized it wasn't getting much closer. Turns out it was Point Reyes I was aiming for and we completely bypassed Tomales Bay by miles already. No problem, we decided to keep going and check it out. Getting past the two colliding currents that meet off the point was quite a thrill. It spun me 180 in an instant and put me up on quite a lean in the confused sea. I throttled it up and managed to get up and over the wash and we tucked back inside of the point on the south side. For a description, this place should be the definition no mans land. Everydody who views Point Reyes does so by driving out there and visiting the lighthouse. There would never be a reason why anybody would attempt to dive this short of just being crazy. If anybody knows about Pt. Reyes it's a lighthouse point that juts out into the Pacific and is north of the Golden Gate by 35 or so miles. It has claimed many ships in it's day and is one of the roughest windiest places on all the west coast besides Cape Mendocino. We happened to just catch it on a semi calm day.
The diving was absolutely on steroids! I had never seen anything like it anywhere. It's a reserve so no fishing, hunting, commercial take, nothing. I saw some of the biggest fish ever on the west coast. The cove is face with sheer cliffs that tower up to the lighthouse. Just south is one of the largest seal rookeries on the west coast too. That raised to pucker factor considerably in anticipation of running into whitey. We never did see whitey that day but we did see one very nervous sea lion buzzing by us once and then no more sea lion sightings, which is not a good sign. The dive, the location, the sea current collision, and the high probability of seeing whitey all were pretty intimidating.

The last one was once when we planned an expedition up just below Cape Mendocino to explore the Delgada Trench. We camped out in Shelter cove and lanched my boat then headed north for miles up the coast to find it. That was also a butt pucker and one of the most intimidating dives I've ever done. Murky green water made for horrible vis on top and made for a night dive below. The visibility opened up to 30 or 40 feet below the green line. Sheer walls, pitch black that just swallowed up our biggest lights. The bottom of the ocean just dropped out and was gone. We never did find the bottom. The canyon starts right from shore and withing a short 100 yd surface swim a diver could be in 300 feet of water. The sides of the trench are sheer walls with small shelves filled with millions of spotted shrimp. We found scallops 8 and 9 inches in diameter. Nobody as far as we know ever scuba dove this site before.
The conditions and typography all made for a very difficult time maintaining situational awareness, keeping track of buddies, keeping track of depth, time etc. Getting Instruments up in your face to see them and getting your buddy up in your face to communicate was the only way to keep track of things. Very intimidating dive indeed. We all maintained our cool and everything went off without a hitch.


What's your story?
 
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Great idea for a thread!

Intimidating dives for me have tended to relate to situations I haven't been in before with additional challenges. I guess that is the way with most of us.

My first tropical dive trip we had to do stride entries from quite a high boat. It was 6 t 8 feet to the water and the first couple entries were a bit intimidating. We were also going to do deep dives and fairly strong current. I found it intimidating when we surfaced and there was no boat in sight. The other group had gotten lost and surfaced in the wrong spot. The boat went to get them before us as the other group was made up of the least experienced divers. Our dive guide was quite matter of fact about the whole thing and there was an island in swimming distance so I found that helped me mellow out about it.

Next in order would be my first surf entry in California. We do a lot of shore dives but mostly off of rocky bottoms or rock ledges. We count sets and if a wave hits us, lean into it and wait. When you are on sand, that doesn't work well. Of course we also don't tend to be entering sites where surfers are catching waves either! I am smart enough to follow the advice of the locals. I got trashed on the entry but after a few dives I was doing ok.

Two exits also come to mind.

First one was a boat dive where the expected storm turned up unexpectedly a few hours early. We were underwater and when we surfaced the seas were huge! The boat crew threw us a line and towed us some distance into a more protected spot to attempt the exit. The seas were still nasty and catching the ladder on the right time as it was heaving up and down in 8- 10 foot was a challenge to say the least! I'll admit my heart was in my mouth on that one.

We had a shore dive exit where we were in the process of climbing up on the rock ledge when a big set of waves came in out of nowhere. I already had my fins off but we could see the waves coming would be tossing us around on the rocks. We both jumped back in to the channel. I had my fins tucked under one arm and grabbed onto a good strong stalk of kelp and hung on. I got tossed around like a flag on a pole. White water all around me. My buddy (hubby) did the same thing. When e stopped getting thrown around and the water cleared we both surfaced to check on each other. In the midst of that turmoil there was no way we could do anything for each other till it settled. It was only that one big set and things settled to the normal.. go figure. My instructor taught us to keep mask on and reg in until clear of the water so you couldn't fall back in. He also stressed to "Mother Ocean is unpredictable .. NEVER turn you back on her or she will get you!" That advice has saved my hide many times :)
 
One was during my full cave training. We were doing a lights out (blindfolded), air sharing exit in a high flow cave. With the current pushing us along, the long hose got wrapped around the isolator valve of my doubles, forcing me to crane my head hard to the side to maintain the regulator. About that time, I hit a rock with my mask, partially dislodging it & flooding it. My stress went through the roof & my "fun meter" went way down. My buddy felt me fidgeting & found the wrapped hose. He untangled it, which allowed me to straighten my head & clear my mask.

The other was in the Galapagos. It was at Wolf Island & the current there was insane. I was the only one in our group wearing a drysuit. I got caught in an up current that sent me from 70 ft to 40 ft very quickly, where I latched onto a rock. I tried, to no avail, to get back down to my group, but the current was far too strong. I lost my grip on the rocks & the up current then sent me from 40 ft to the surface in only a few seconds. I could only "blow & go" & hope for the best. The good thing was,.. it was at the relative beginning of the dive, so I luckily did not get DCS. It had my heart racing, though.
 
When the first Suunto computers were introduced they had a depth limit of 199 FSW. On a SeaQuest company dive to the Bahamas myself and a comrade decided to take the computers to 199. We did so with single Aluminum 70's,. It was a foolish dive. We made a very slow ascent and cleared the computers with about 200 PSI left in our tanks.
 
We were attempting this dive from a location on the south end of the island at San Carlos Mexico which is usually subject to some current and that day was no exception. Since we were diving from a boat filled with recreational divers and some open water students the boat was anchored in the shallows and our plan was to go down the anchor line and swim for the deep blue. Once we swam away from the little cove where the boat was anchored we found ourselves fighting the current just to get far enough out to make 140’ where we hit our 15 minute time and had to turn the dive. I was a little surprised that as we ascended we hit a second current running counter to the current we had been swimming into during the deep portion of our dive. I had experienced this once or twice but never at this end of the island and now after this wild ride we both were less than sure of where we were. I shot the bag and got ready to do a drifting deco and possibly a long swim back to the boat. I kept thinking to myself you may be lost but you must complete the planned deco and surface safely before anything else. So while I kept an eye on the time, depth, the deco schedule, and ran the reel Eric kept an eye compass as we swam back toward the island hoping that once we got closer to the island we would get out of the current. Suddenly as we reached the 40’ stop the current disappeared and we spotted our boat’s anchor line. We were able to complete the rest of our deco next to the boat watching the sea lions play among the divers
who had invaded their island home. Once we cleared deco and surfaced I asked my dive buddy if he was as surprised as I was to find the boat he said he would have been happy just to find the island after a dive in that current.
 
Then there was the time... :D :D :D

My first dive was in Lake Underhill, a spring fed lake that was just inside Orlando's city limit, during early summer of 1969. If you've never dove a Central Florida lake, the first 20 or 30 feet is blackwater. That can be anywhere from 5-10 feet of murk down to derepmet visibility (when all you can see is "tempered" written backwards in your mask). Below that thermocline is wonderfully cool, 100 ft vis water. No SPG, but a J Valve. No depth gauge, but a bright red ribbon. No BCs either. John has an "at pack" and I had tied a rope harness with the help of the Master Chief. Training consisted of being thrown into the pool with the expectation that we wouldn't drown. A Master Cheif from the local Navy Base knew both of our fathers from Korea, so he was teaching us to dive... in his own way. That consisted of cobbling together a couple of regs with a brief description of breathe in, breathe out and repeat.He actually never got in the water with us.

A few feet off the dock we descended. This was maybe ten foot of water. I immediately lost contact with John. and started looking around. This was actually pretty cool. I was on the East side of Lake Underhill, probably under where the the East/West Expressway now sits, by the Herndon Air Field. I had gotten deep enough that I had gotten into clear water. It was dark, but you could really see the bottom. I remember coming across a tire embedded in the mud. Soon, I was back in the black water and then I ran into bullrushes. My ribbon looked pretty red, so I surmised I was in shallow water and ascended with the reeds. As my head cleared, I found myself face to face with the biggest moccasin I have ever seen sunning itself on top of the rushes. It was longer than I was and it was bigger around than my thigh. The tongue flicked out once and I descended by pulling myself down those reeds and kicked out into the lake. My breathing was so hard, the reg couldn't keep up. So, I ascended once more and was relieved to see that lazy snake still curled up on the bull rushes. Having had enough adventure for the day, I eye balled where the dock was, descended to the bottom and swam in that direction. I found one of the concrete pilings with my head. I think I can still feel that bump. I was on the dock fielding questions about my dive when I saw John break the surface about thirty feet out. He had run out of air, but forgot to pull the rod, so he had to swim in on the surface. That was no small task as we did not have BCs back then. Later that week, I coughed up for my very own at pack. The ropes didn't work that well. :D :D :D
 
I did a shore dive once up on one of our local sites that's usually only dived by abalone freedivers because of the hike down goat trails to get to the water, and the overall ruggedness of the rocky coastline in that region.
So my buddy and I decided to do a tank dive at this spot one day because we figured it had to have some totally cool stuff way out.
The dive certainly didn't dissapoint as there was some amazing structure, lots of fish, great visibility, etc.
We were so caught up in the dive out far that we decided to run our air low out there and skip the coming in on the bottom part, and just surface swim in on the surface. Well this was a mistake. The current on the surface had picked up and when we finished our stop we came up to big seas and a ripping current pulling us out to sea. So we fought the current for what seemed like hours just to make a little headway. We had to grab kelp and hang on to rest and to pull ourselves along when we had a chance. Finally we get close to our exit point which was a passage into a protected lagoon. The problem is the swell picked up and seering the backside of some of those rollers from eye level at the waterline was pretty intimidating. We staged up just outside of the break and said to each other "Okay, every man for himself from here in, see you on the beach", and we went for it.
I was all DIR configured at the time and had a drysuit, wrapped hoses, the whole bit. My buddy was ahead and made it in fine. I got caught up in a bunch of stringy feather boa kelp right at the break which was growing off a rocky reef underwater. I was trying to get in finning on my back and the kelp grabbed onto my tank valve. This caused me to get pinned down facing up while huge waves were pounding over me. My wrapped reg got ripped out of my mouth from behind (kelp grabbed it from behind my head) and my mask was dislodged and completely flooded, while the whole time I'm tied to the rock upside down. The next wave was slightly bigger and had enough force to tear me loose and send me tumbling into the cove ass over tea kettle into less than waist high water. It all happened pretty fast so luckily I didn't have time to get totally overwhelmed. Next thing, I looked up and there was my buddy dragging me to shore as I was coughing and sputtering.
I learned from this dive to always check tides, conditions, and swell reports when attempting this spot.

I also abandoned the DIR configuration for north coast shore diving. I made a determination that it wasn't appropriate for those conditions.

Since then I've had many amazing dives at this same spot.
 
That would be my first dive in Deception Pass. Here's an aerial shot of the dive site ...



When doing this from shore you start on the beach right behind where that boat's at in the picture, drift under the bridge and along the wall until the current turns, then drift back. Timing is everything. When doing it from a boat you have a bit more leeway. My first dive was from a boat, and we did the "near" side in the picture, dropping in just upstream from the headland. But we mistimed it, and the current had its way with us. On a normal tidal exchange you can't dive here ... currents are strong enough to eat boats. This was a mild exchange day, and the current was still too strong to do anything other than just go with the flow. It took me about a minute to decide to clip the camera off, so I could use both hands to fend myself off from the rocks the current kept trying to push us into. We went up, down, and in vigorous circular motions as the water eddied around rocks and other obstacles ... and it turned us every which way but loose. To make matters even more interesting, all that moving water had the visibility down to maybe 5 feet, which wouldn't be so bad if we hadn't been moving so fast. I had a real hard time staying in visual contact with my dive buddy, and have no idea how I'd have been able to reach him if he'd suddenly needed my help ... the current was just too strong to go anywhere except where it sent you. After a fairly short ride the current took us out away from the structure and into deeper water. At that point we both tossed a thumb and headed for the surface, hoping the boat would be able to maneuver in that mess to pick us up. Fortunately it did, and by the time we got on board we were both pretty tired. A fellow diver best summed it up as we collected the rest of our divers ... "That dive sucked!"

This is about what it looked like when we ended the dive ...



Predictions had us going in at slack, but I guess that's why they call 'em "predictions" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
I also abandoned the DIR configuration for north coast shore diving. I made a determination that it wasn't appropriate for those conditions.

Since then I've had many amazing dives at this same spot.
This is interesting to me. I've just started using a DIR configuration after a long time in a neoprene drysuit and a stripped down rig (single tank, no BC, no octopus, all instruments and knife mounted on a forearm unit, nothing dangling anywhere). I'm committed to learning how to use the DIR system. There's a lot to be said for it, especially redundancy, but by comparison it seems very slow in the water, and limiting in terms of mobility and the body orientations in which one can still execute tasks. The good DIR divers have obviously accomplished amazing things with this system, but I've wondered if a sleek configuration is as good or better for shallow non-deco diving, especially in moving water or around entanglement hazards. I didn't come up with the minimal configuration on my own, by the way -- in the 1990's, this was the standard taught at UC Berkeley.
 
That dive sounded like fun Bob!
We don't get river rapid currents here per say, but sometimes a pretty good surge if the waves are timed just right. I remember plenty of low vis dives and getting swung around and pulled in out out of derp crevices when the surge was bad. I had a buddy get an ass full of urchin spines through a drysuit once by getting swung onto a rock full of them. Not much we could do about it other than not dive that day.
 
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