Worst dive day?

[Scott]

After over 35 years I can say the worst dive Day was just over a week ago while vacationing in Fiji.
Our group was slated for a three tank dive. Conditions were a little sporty as they say in Florida so getting back on the boat after dive one was ‘fun’. Everyone appeared to be ok.
Heading to site two, the conditions hadn’t changed but were still acceptable.

I’m staying back near the boat looking for macro and staying out of the current. About 20 minutes in I look toward the surface and notice my wife kicking back to the boat with my son. He’s not an avid diver and had some issues thr first day and he dives are fairly short. Signaling my wife “OK” I get no response and I’m not sure she even sees me.

I wait a few minutes and make the decision/hunch to end the dive early. As I climb the ladder I see my son in some type of pain in the chest and my wife telling the crew lay him down and get the O2!
Knowing the profile of the previous dive and the last dive we didn’t suspect DCS, but sure as hell wasnt going to rule it out.
Turns out somehow he damaged the cartilage at the sternum, possibly when climbing the ladder and it really didn’t manifest itself until the second dive.

Good outcome but having a relative laying on the deck of a boat, on O2, 45 minutes from transportation on sporty seas was not my best day by any means.

 

[Bubblesong]

It does seem that, by training as divers, we step up to experiencing hard situations for other people that can be a personal sacrifice for ourselves, and we hope other divers will step up for us, if needed. I thank those, like the examples above, that have been ready to help others.

 

[TMHeimer]

First dive trip after certification. Was diving the Sherman, an old steamer sunk sometime around the 1880's lying 10 miles off shore of Little River, SC in 50 feet of water. I was in the process of shopping for my own equipment but only had my own mask, fins, and boots at the time so had to rent everything else from the Dive Op. Everything fit okay except I had trouble finding a weight belt that was long enough. Finally found an old one that would reach around me but it was actually much too long. I had no other choice but to use it.

Second dive of the day, I had been on the bottom for around 20 minutes, fanning the sand around the wreck looking for artifacts. Suddenly, I felt the weight belt slipping off my waist. Somehow, it had come unbuckled. I don't know if I had not gotten it locked in properly, it had accidentally caught on something, or the buckle was just too worn to lock in properly. All I do know is that as the last bit of it slipped off my waist, I was able to grab the end of it and I found myself hanging fins straight up towards the surface with the rest of me wanting to follow and me hyperventilating like crazy. After a few seconds, I was able to calm myself and get my breathing under control. I got the weight belt back around me, but due to it being so long, every time I started trying to get it back into the buckle, the weights would drop from my waist and my feet would start upward again. I looked around and naturally, my insta-buddy was nowhere to be found and there were no other divers in sight. The only thing I could do was hold the belt around my waist with both hands and go to the surface. I was not able to see the console computer I was using so the only thing I could do was ascend slowing by watching my smallest bubbles. I came up about 20 yards in front of the boat and had to swim to it. When I got to the boat I was able to hand the weight belt to the captain to free my hands.
I've actually dived the Gen. Sherman twice back in 2011. Thought I lost my watch (again.....) there, but the DM found it in some odd place on board. Anyway, I've seen some interesting problems students (and others) have had with the standard weight belt. Along with 20 lbs. in the BC, I use a pouch weight belt and suspenders. I'm not gunna fool around with tightening a belt enough to bust a gut or watching weights tumble off it.
Fortunately, I suffered no ill effects from the adventure. Just a crash course in emergency management, I suppose.

I've actually dived the Gen. Sherman a time or two in 2011. Thought I lost my dive watch (again.....see OP), but the DM found it in an odd place on board. I've seen a few interesting episodes students (and others) had with the standard weight belt. Along with 20 lbs. in the BC, I use a pouch belt with suspenders. Not gunna tighten those standard belts so tight to bust a gut, or watch those weights tumble off the end.

 

[JamesBon92007]

So far my worst dive day was last December at Isla Mujeres. After the first dive I was shivering so much that I didn't do the second.dive. That's the only time I've ever wimped out on a dive in 49 years of scuba diving. I think I'm getting old. On the plus side the first dive was good. It was one of those days when the port was closed but then they opened it just in time. The DM said he was moving back to Puerto Vallarta and that he'd never gotten cold there.

 

[drbill]

Hmmm... have to think about that. Maybe the time my DM/dive buddy miscalculated on the tides and we were blown off the King Cruiser wreck in Thailand and had trouble finding our way back due to poor visibility. Maybe the time a strong (3.5 knot) current kicked up off Catalina. I surfaced upstream from the boat but the current almost dragged me past the current line. I grabbed on at the last second with little air in my primary tank and my pony bottle got caught in the line so I couldn't reach it while holding the line with one hand and my video rig with the other. Maybe the time we were attempting to dive the Rosalie Moller in the Red Sea and the boat captain tied up to the mooring line too tightly and rough sea conditions caused the mooring line to snap. The dive boat kept crashing down on us causing me to lose one wrist computer and almost one of my video lights. I made it back to the boat's swimstep without serious injury but a few divers were hammered by the boat's up-and-down motion.

 

[Steelyeyes]

So far my worst dive day was last December at Isla Mujeres. After the first dive I was shivering so much that I didn't do the second.dive. That's the only time I've ever wimped out on a dive in 49 years of scuba diving. I think I'm getting old. On the plus side the first dive was good. It was one of those days when the port was closed but then they opened it just in time. The DM said he was moving back to Puerto Vallarta and that he'd never gotten cold there.

My wife and I were on Cozumel last December. Norte blew in and closed the harbor. Waves on the west side were impressive. 70 or so foot sailboat broke of it's mooring and went aground in town.

We were diving with Aldora and they'd moved boats to the east side. It was still windy but diving was possible. 5 mil suit wet from the time we got in the boat until I took it off after three dives. The wind chill topside dropped my body temp. I was shivering for most of the last dive. I was hypothermic until the middle of the night under an extra blanket. I never thought I'd get hypothermia in 80 degree water.

That wasn't my worse dive. In fact I enjoyed all of the dives that week.

In 1978 I was diving in rental gear off of Day Island in Tacoma WA. I'd had a cold two weeks prior but thought it was long gone. I could clear my ears topside. My buddy checked the tide tables and we were good to go, or so I thought. Current was running close to two knots. We managed to get down to 50 feet or so and found an eddy so we weren't being swept under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. We decide to surface and have a conversation. Part way through the ascent I had trouble venting my BCD while I had an ear squeeze going on. It felt a lot better after my left ear drum burst. We made it to shore and scrubbed the rest of the day. Then I found out that the keys to the car were locked in the trunk. While we were working on breaking into the trunk I asked Mike about those tide tables. He looked at them again and they were for 1977.

That was probably the worse dive day that didn't involve a rescue.

The good news is that I'm a lot better at reading water for currents, wave cycles, etc. so even minus a tide table I would know what I was dealing with before getting wet.

 

[sara v]

Feb 2018 - Belize Barrier Reef - ten foot swells outside the reef - 20 foot dive boat (that probably should have stayed inside the reef) - of the seven divers on the boat, five of them threw up (I was not one of them but my husband was) - two did not make the dive because they were so sick (my husband was one of those, too) - strong currents - viz ok, but not great - very scary boat ride out and back in... should've known we were in trouble when we were instructed to suit up before going outside the reef - one of the divers got sick under water and surfaced without telling anyone so we spent most of the dive looking in vain for him

 

[ScubaSteve85]

Dive 143, June 2010. My wife and two others were swept away by a current while I was getting my camera from the boat. Waited at the anchor as agreed after crawling on the rocks to get there. When she didn't show I retuned to the boat. It was a long hour until they were found by a fishing boat, bouncing in six foot seas about a mile offshore from Saba. I think she handled it better than I did.

The funny side of the cooin... When we got back to the room the next day CNN as doing a promo for a story about divers being swept away. Different divers, different ocean. But the expression on her face was priceless.

A scenario like this is maybe the only reason I don't want my wife to get certified. Scary!