It's a Bad Day of Diving When...

[jetblast00]

You get up at 4am to meet your dive buddies and get organized. The beautiful cool morning weather turns into the nicest, warmest morning in months as the sun rises. You and your buddies get to the dive boat at 6am to be told, "Nah, boat's not going out today... Chop's too rough..." ;-0

 

[Paul168341]

When you wake-up completely clear-headed, nose good, ears clearing properly, feelin' good. Drive 2 hours to site. Gear-up, descend. Proceed to map dive site. Start ascent from 60'. Realize that you have sinus blockage (right between the eyes, just above bridge of nose) Get worst Reverse Block of all time. SLOWLY bounce like a yo-yo between 35-45' to try to clear blockage. Run low on air. Figure that no air is worse than excruciating pain in sinuses. Make direct ascent (with 15' 3min safety stop of course) Upon reaching 15' hear an ear-splitting SCREEEEEEEEEEEE coming from inside head. Block gone. Exit water, remove mask. Watch with amusement as 4 classes of OW checkout students gasp while what feels like 5 pints of blood flows out of nose. End up with bad sinus infection as a result.

No, I still refuse to take decongestants.

 

[sharpenu]

Squeeze. Infection. Been there.

How about, you go out diving for mini season. July, south Florida bug hunt. Arrive to do your first dive. Find out that there has been an upwell and at 15' there is a hard thermocline that takes the water from the warm 83deg at the surface to a harsh (no wetsuit-not expecting it) 66deg.

 

[MSilvia]

After trying out my new BCD in a pool, and having never used my new computer (I read the manual), I added a bunch of new equipment (backup knife, safety tube, whistle, etc.) to my usual setup the night before a dive with seals (first dive of the year). I was up late doing it, and up early to pack and leave.

Halfway through the hour drive to Gloucester, I realized I had forgotten my weight belt, and worse had forgotten how much weight was on it. I was running late, so couldn't go back for it, and arrived at the boat stressed out. I put a new weight belt together by fastening two shorter belts together and ballparking what I would need. I wasn't happy about it, but had no one else to blame.

We got close to the site, and I started getting into my 7mil two piece wetsuit, and was told I was "brave" for not wearing a drysuit by at least 3 other divers. I knew I was used to it, but it added to my stress. Two other wet suit divers offered to buddy up as a threesome.

I pinched my finger in my drybox as I got the last of my gear ready, and they both entered the water as I was getting the blood to clot. When I finished my equipment check (sans buddies) I entered the water, got the "OK" from both buddies, and struggled underweighted to descend while they slipped from view in the 10' vis. They didn't resurface to check on me.

I got some more weight from the boat, and decided to descend solo in the hope that they were waiting down the anchor line. I saw a seal swim by, but they were nowhere in sight.

I tried to get my camera out of my pocket, but being unfamiliar with the BCD, I couldn't find the velcro flap, and dropped my flashlight when I finally got it open. Meanwhile, the safety tube that I put next to my inflator kept bobbing in front of my face, the backup knife's placement made it difficult to get to my bouyancy controls, and I realized just how unfamiliar I was with my computer.

On top of all that, the sea was surging with 3' pulses, and the bottom temp was a cheek reddening 38 degrees. Fortunately, I was right about my exposure protection, and was comfortable.

With so many stress factors building, I aborted the dive after about 15 minutes and returned to the boat. It wasn't a "good" dive, but I learned a lot in those 15 minutes. I did see a seal too, which was pretty cool.

 

[Paul168341]

Matt,
It takes you an hour to get from Bahstin to Gloucestah? It takes me 2 from central CT. If you're coming down this summer for some B.I. dives, I suggest you leave the day before.

But seriously, Who'd you go with for the seal dives? When in Gloucestah I usually dive with Cape Ann Charters. The only seal dive I know of is up in York, Me.

 

[MSilvia]

Okay, more like 45 minutes from my door to the boat, but it seemed like an hour. I was out on the Cape Ann II, diving the Little Salvages off Rockport. They do seal dives from October until May... the seals are there for the winter.

I'm told there's good seal diving in the summer off the Isle of Shoals as well, but I've never done that dive.

I'll talk to Funky_Monks at our club meeting on tuesday, and let you know when we figure out some good times for a visit.

 

[Spectre]

Originally posted by Paul168341
But seriously, Who'd you go with for the seal dives? When in Gloucestah I usually dive with Cape Ann Charters. The only seal dive I know of is up in York, Me.

Along with the dive Matt went on, I know Captain Rob's in Rye, NH run a one tank seal dive. check www.captainrobs.com.

-Jeff

 

[voidware]

There is never a bad day of diving,

...unless it's done in a chamber,

...and you didn't plan for it,

...and you were unconscious for most of it.

 

[Manogr]

MSilvia great story and informative !!

What happened when your supposed buddies came up ? In my opinion they were unacceptable....



End your story pls

Manogr

 

[MSilvia]

Well, they asked me where I was (Where was I???), and I told them simply that I had run into some bouyancy problems and had to go back to the boat for more weight. When asked why they didn't wait up or resurface to find out where I was, neither of them had a good answer. "We figured you did such and such..." I won't be buddying up with either of them again anytime soon. I prefer to put my safety in the hands of people who won't just assume things are fine and abandon me.

I thought I was pretty safe with those two, as one of them just got certified as a DM (hooray for your piece of plastic), but you just can't beat diving with someone you know and trust.

It's tough to not have regular dive buddies... hopefully I'll be able to get a few friends on board when it feels more like summer, and not have to rely on random strangers when I go out on group dives.