violinfather
Registered
Just got back from Cozumel where I had 26 dives in two weeks. On my very last day I was at Columbia Deep and got into a situation where my training worked out but it was a close call.
When we dropped over the reef we immediately saw a very large group of divers below us at approximately 80 feet. The dive leader who has thousands of dives and is like a fish decided to fin hard over the top of the group so that we could drop to our max depth of 110 feet without the other dive group around us. I found myself getting out of breath trying to keep up with the leader as did my teenage daughter which I later found out. Instead of adjusting the air flow on my second stage I continued to try and keep up. I found it was like running on the surface but without the ability to get a good exhalation or deep breath. Instead of just stopping I continued to follow and then dropped down to 110 feet. Immediately upon reaching our max depth I found I could not catch my breath. This resulted in a panicked feeling and even more rapid and shallow breathing. I signaled to my daughter to advise the dive guide that I wanted to surface immediately. At one point during my rapid breathing I felt like I was going to black out. This kicked in my training where all I thought of was STOP, try to calm yourself and breath slowly or you might die. I managed to do this and continue my dive.
I probably should have scrubbed the next dive as I did find myself starting to breath rapidly during a swim through where there was a very narrow exit and a fair amount of silt obscuring visibility. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I then decided to switch to my Octo and breath through it for the remainder of the dive as it felt like I was getting more air that way. I was actually too nervous to adjust my 2nd stage G250 given my earlier incident so that is why I used my Octo. My Octo is a second stage regulator that I use as an Octo.
This incident occurred after two weeks of not stop diving including dives such as the Devil's Throat. It taught me four things. One I need to increase the amount of diving I do so that I can respond to such incidents in a calmer fashion, two I should have adjusted my airflow valve or stopped chasing the dive master before I started to hyperventilate, three if you are at the back of the group like I was and not close to your dive buddy this will be an issues if you ever need immediate assistance, fourth and most importantly stop and try and remain calm and use the training you have received.
When we dropped over the reef we immediately saw a very large group of divers below us at approximately 80 feet. The dive leader who has thousands of dives and is like a fish decided to fin hard over the top of the group so that we could drop to our max depth of 110 feet without the other dive group around us. I found myself getting out of breath trying to keep up with the leader as did my teenage daughter which I later found out. Instead of adjusting the air flow on my second stage I continued to try and keep up. I found it was like running on the surface but without the ability to get a good exhalation or deep breath. Instead of just stopping I continued to follow and then dropped down to 110 feet. Immediately upon reaching our max depth I found I could not catch my breath. This resulted in a panicked feeling and even more rapid and shallow breathing. I signaled to my daughter to advise the dive guide that I wanted to surface immediately. At one point during my rapid breathing I felt like I was going to black out. This kicked in my training where all I thought of was STOP, try to calm yourself and breath slowly or you might die. I managed to do this and continue my dive.
I probably should have scrubbed the next dive as I did find myself starting to breath rapidly during a swim through where there was a very narrow exit and a fair amount of silt obscuring visibility. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I then decided to switch to my Octo and breath through it for the remainder of the dive as it felt like I was getting more air that way. I was actually too nervous to adjust my 2nd stage G250 given my earlier incident so that is why I used my Octo. My Octo is a second stage regulator that I use as an Octo.
This incident occurred after two weeks of not stop diving including dives such as the Devil's Throat. It taught me four things. One I need to increase the amount of diving I do so that I can respond to such incidents in a calmer fashion, two I should have adjusted my airflow valve or stopped chasing the dive master before I started to hyperventilate, three if you are at the back of the group like I was and not close to your dive buddy this will be an issues if you ever need immediate assistance, fourth and most importantly stop and try and remain calm and use the training you have received.
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