your worst dive experience ever?

[laurelgsc]

I agree with you, I wasn't that thrilled with us going on the Speigel. I had done some deep diving, but he had not. We did have 3 uneventful dives in between those dives and he felt like he was ready. We did go glued to an instructor, I insisted. We stayed within in sight of the anchor line. The seas were flat, there was no current, but still I was really nervous. He did fine, but if I had it to do over again, I would not have taken that risk. I was suprised that they let him do that dive given that he only had only done 8 dives. I guess because we were with an instructor from the shop. Although like I said I was not impressed with this dive op.

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

so..do you turn into a sea anchor? sounds terrible.

So, Jennifer what was the main lesson? (sounds scarey!)

Let see...right after that I bought a storm whistle, a smb, a flashing tank light, and one of those neon die packs that floats on the surface.

Most importantly don't panic, I made it way worse than it really was.
And never do anything you don't feel like your ready for

There was soo much done wrong on that dive and it wasn't all me.

 

[RiverRat]

.....he still gave me an earful about his stupid theory which summed up as, BCD, Buoyancy Compensator Device, shouldn't be used to help you adjust buoyancy, because you should leave it empty and never add any air in it underwater, the only time you could puff it is when you are in surface.
What is BCD for then? Life jacket?

Actually it's not a stupid theory. Good divers soon learn that in warmwater diving you should be able to get to the point where you use lung volume only to control your buoyancy. You should not really need to add much air, if any, to your BC unless you are overweighted. But to get to that point, I would say, you have to be close in your weighting, say off by no more than 1-2 pounds. Don't forget your lungs can swing your buoyancy by as much as 8 - 12 pounds! He could have explained it better, especially dealing with a new diver.

Now cold water diving is a different story. Heavier wetsuits (compress more losing buoyancy at depth), drysuits, steel tanks and such divers are typically "heavier" at the beginning of the dive and need to compensate by adding some air to their BC's on decent, then vent it on ascent as the suits expand etc.

 

[airsix]

Respectfully, Even diving an Al80 in your skivvies you can't maintain perfect buoyancy throughout the whole dive without using your BCD since your tank increases in buoyancy by 6 pounds as you go from full to empty. To end neutral you must start heavy & use your BCD to compensate. You can't just use your lungs to buffer a 6 pound deviation from neutral.

-Ben

ps - Catherine, if your drysuit floods you won't have buoyancy problems - you'll just be very cold. I had a neck-seal separation on my last trip (my fault). San Juan Islands near the Canadian border. 48F. Brrrr. That was the first dive. By the third dive it was Brrr^3.
<-- blue like this guy.

 

[tedj01]

Worst ones for me have been when I sit out a dive for whatever reason (time to fly too close, tired, not enough dive time - need longer SIT, ears, etc.) and everyone that did the dive comes up and talks about amazing things they saw (whalesharks, male yellow-headed jawfish with eggs, hammerheads, seahorses, sailfin blennies mating, turtles, turtles mating, are some that come to mind).

 

[mikerault]

According to the charts the swing in buoyancy is -3.4 to +2.5 pounds for an AL80, so while the swing in buoyancy is close to 6 pounds the tank itslef is only 2.5 pounds positive and that is usually all you have to allow for when considering end of dive neutrality. That indicates that if you can control 8-12 pounds on your lungs then the tank alone isn't the issue. That is why some divers have problems with the safety stop at the end of a dive if their tank is down to 500 pounds and they have done the "loat at eye level" check with the tank full.

Mike

 

[RiverRat]

To end neutral you must start heavy & use your BCD to compensate.

Agree on number 1 - you must start a little heavy.

Disagree on number 2 - you can use your 12 pound lungs to compensate.

I always get in a debate over this all the time. Talk to some of the "old timers" here on Scubaboard. You know, the guys that were diving BEFORE BCD's were invented.

You basically strapped a tank on your back (using the "dreaded" backplate) and had a "horse collar" around your neck for positive flotation at the surface if you needed it.
No BC's, you just used your lungs and went diving. I actually had a guy on my boat in Cayman with a horse collar. I thought it was so cool. That crew of old timers were some of the best divers I saw out there. They actually helped my poor newbie *** out and gave me some pointers on getting squared away in my new dreaded BP/W setup.

 

[airsix]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but...

1. Swing is swing. If you are neutral with a full tank you will be positive with it empty. It doesn't matter if that tank starts out -10 or +10. A 6 pound change in buoyancy is a 6 pound change in buoyancy.

2. You do NOT want to buffer a 6 pound deviation from neutral with your 12 pound capacity lungs! You DO control buoyancy with breathing, but it should be normal breathing. Nobody should be taking shallow half-breaths (6 pounds according to your numbers) to keep neutral. :shakehead

-Ben

 

[RiverRat]

To get back on topic I guess one of my most bummer moments was diving wrecks in North Carolina. We dove one day, great dives. U352. Next 2 days were hurricane city. I think 2 or 3 hit all around the same time, within weeks. 4th day we went out and got some good dives. The captain decided to go out one more time that afternoon. There was a squall blowing in but he felt he could "get around" which he did very well. Of course I setup right in the middle of 2 yacking divers. The seas were rough getting out and divers sick all over. I'm so glad I don't get seasick. Anyway while everyone was below I was up on deck in the front corner and bammmmm!!!! there goes a tank. Turns out to be MY tank. After we sort it out I realize the 1st stage hit the deck. It's a little marked up so I mount it anyway. 10 minutes later.....ppppssshshhhhhhhhhh!!!!! there goes the o-ring. I wasted the yoke (bent) went it hit. Good thing it went there and not at 120 fsw So I plan on bailing but the guy I promised to dive with keeps plugging me to dive. Peer pressure won over (2nd mistake) so I bum the captains reg, actually tore it down and used his 1st stage (actually was an awesome thing for him to do) and proceeded to do the dive. By now I was steamed and should have never done the dive regardless. Just not in the right frame of mind. Anyway me and this guy from the LDS dive the Indra (I think, big *** ship upside down) and I actually calmed down and enjoyed it once in the water. Little did I know my chain smoking buddy was not liking the dive (vis was about 20-25 fsw). Anyway we end up doing a free ascent at the stern (cause it's such a long ship, not enough air to dive it all the way back), I screwed up by snooping around at the top, mid ship and couldn't figure out which way was which. So we do an ascent from the stern but my buddy is not liking it (I think the no reference point mid-water was freaking him out) and wants to blast up. I got close to him and convinced him to stay together, relax, do a 3 minute stop and ascend. Turns out that was a GOOD thing especially for him as I'll tell you soon. We get to the surface and yes, the boat looks really far away But I expected that, we drifted a bit in the current during our stop and ascent. But buddy was not liking it. He didn't look good at all. All red in the face and exhausted looking. I offered to tow him in but he said he was alright. I kept my eye on him though, he didn't look good. I'm thinking about now that Rescue class was a good thing. Anyway we get back to the boat and all is good until he starts talking about how his arm keeps hurting on the way back. Anyway he calls DAN (a good thing) and I bring him to the local chamber when we hit shore. Chainsmoking between dives is not a good thing and Hurricanes suck...

 

[H2Andy]

Andy, how did you get out ???

Did help arrive??

I had to ask, as your story would be my worst nightmare and scare me more then any other possibility!!

well... at first, i didn't know why i couldn't move. i just felt this force holding me back.
i couldn't turn to my right because the rock/crevass/thing i was wedged in wouldn't let me. i could only turn to the left, but when i moved a few inches, something held me back.

so i yanked a few times (pretty much clueless still) and i'm like ... dang... i'm stuck...

small pause

f-word

i was, i am afraid to admit, pretty freaking scared all of a sudden. i mean, i didnt' have to think through the chain of events here: i had just a little air left, i couldn't move, and nobody was coming to look for me (did i mention i was solo?)

so i yanked a few more times ... then it occurred to me that it must be one of my hoses tangled in something. i looked down and my octopus was missing from its "ball" octo holder.

so i tried to trace the hose, and it went behind my back to my right and below my waist. it went into a crack.

i tried lifting it. no good. i wiggled and jiggled and tried to get my hand in a position (behind my back) where i could free the thing, but it was pretty hard.

so i thought ... what if i cute the hose? then i thought, there is no way i can cut through that hose with my dive knife. and if i did, i'd be out of air before i could get out of here and to the surface.

so ... back to messing with the octopus. after some more wiggling and jiggling, i pushed back with my tank and up with my hand and finally the thing came free

that felt pretty darn good, let me tell you what

i then motated out of there, very humbled by what an idiot i can be