Bent in Belize--Blue Hole Incident

[wtcreaux]

If nothing else, this story prompted me to sign up for DAN insurance. .

BINGO! Too many times we read stories and don't REALLY know if behavior was changed in others.......Many thanks to the OP for posting as there is now at least one subscriber who has changed their behavior for the better.........

 

[beaverdivers]

extrapolations, best estimates, and approximations

Wouldn't it be better to stay out of the water for 48 hours after a deco dive if your computer fails?

 

[flots am]

This will be a long story, but it was expensive. Sometimes you don't get to hear what the story is,because not everybody lives to write about it.

I'm not going to throw you under the bus because you already know most of what you did wrong, however I will mention that this could have been headed off much earlier by simply not doing the Blue Hole dive. The best emergencies are the kind you don't have.

Calling the dive when you discovered that you had no redundant air source and that the gas calculations didn't actually work for an AL80 and no buddy, would have prevented the whole incident.

flots.

 

[Hawkwood]

...however I will mention that this could have been headed off much earlier by simply not doing the Blue Hole dive...

Yup. Beg off the Blue Hole dive and just do the ones that follow.

 

[redacted]

Wouldn't be better to stay out of the water for 48 hours after a deco dive if your computer fails?

safer - yes. better - maybe not. for some of the trips i do, i am prepared to venture a little ways into a safety grey area to continue my planned diving with minimal interruption. remember, the computer failure occurred after the dive was completed.

it is always safer to not do your next dive.

 

[beaverdivers]

When asked on my last dive trip in the Sea of Cortez why I was wearing three dive computers. I replied " If you have redundant computers, then

it seems your computers never fail. They tend to fail at the worst time if you only have one. "

You just have to remember to wear them on every dive.

Actually, I was wearing my Meridian ( my third computer ), because it was fairly new and I wanted to get to know it better.

 

[TechDeep]

When asked on my last dive trip in the Sea of Cortez why I was wearing three dive computers. I replied " If you have redundant computers, then

it seems your computers never fail. They tend to fail at the worst time if you only have one. "

You just have to remember to wear them on every dive.

Actually, I was wearing my Meridian ( my third computer ), because it was fairly new and I wanted to get to know it better.

This is why I always have a backup computer, and always dive with both. I don't understand why anyone would leave one on the boat.

 

[Herb-alaska]

I am glad that the OP is ok and headed home. When he gets home I hope he does these three things.

1 call and pay for the best DAN coverage possible.

2. Fix or replace your computer

3. Kick yourself in the head if you ever think about doing anything like this again. Never switch computers in the middle of a group of dives. On vacation I carry 2 computers on every dive and if on was to fail I would have another one with the correct dive profile for the past dives.

Now move on and count yourself lucky and blessed and enjoy a safer dive plan

 

[tracydr]

How do you plug those profiles into a dive table?

Lack of bottom timer would have been an issue but if somebody had a dive watch he could borrow, he could have planned his last three dives ( or two, I lost track of when he dropped the battery) with his tables or easier, yet, the eRDP.

---------- Post Merged at 04:27 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 04:24 PM ----------

Wouldn't it be better to stay out of the water for 48 hours after a deco dive if your computer fails?

Of course. But, we did dive with tables, way back in the dark ages. Just saying. I couldn't afford a computer until I got done with internship. As a lowly medical student, I dove for 5-6 years on tables. Had a blast, did lots of dives in Puget Sound on tables with a cheap timex waterproof watch.

 

[redacted]

This is why I always have a backup computer, and always dive with both. I don't understand why anyone would leave one on the boat.

i rarely carry a 2nd computer on a dive unless one is being tested or it is a dive that i am not very familiar with and/or i expect to be pushing limits. [the blue hole would have been a 2 computer dive.] in fact, for many easy dives i don't bother with any computer/depth gauge/timing device. my spg provides all the status info i need in a dive less than 25 feet with an 80 or 63. for most dives, a single computer is quite adequate as i am prepared to revert to tables for a while while i load the backup from my saave-a-dive kit.