No air at 40' at night

[billt4sf]

This incident happened to me more than a year ago but I am new to ScubaBoard. Thank God for dive instructors!

We were doing the famous Manta Ray night dive in Kona and no rays showed so we started swimming around, following the instructor at around 40'. My wife and I each had maybe 15 dives each at the time. Wife and I both reached 1500 psi so I kicked steadily for 6 beats or so until I caught up with Matt, the DI. I signaled him 1/2 tank, he signaled "OK" and he turned around to continue leading the group. Just then I gave a big exhale and when I inhaled -- no air!

Just water in the mouthpiece. I thought to clear it, and reached for the purge valve but couldn't find it.

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I swam a few strokes in near panic and grabbed Matt. I shone the light onto my face and I'm not sure what else I did but he removed his reg, grabbed the mouthpiece out of my mouth, and stuffed in the reg as he purged it. He also grabbed onto my BC. I started breathing heavily to convince myself it was OK to breathe. We exchanged OK signals, he signaled to go up and we did, me breathing heavily most of the time. It just felt SO GOOD to breathe!

When we reached the top he had me inflate my BC. I was confused about how my tank still had air until he explained that all that had happened was the my mouthpiece had disengaged from the reg. He made sure I could go back to the boat OK and he went back down to the rest of the group. Shortly afterwards my wife popped up because she didn't know what happened to me so she came up early (and alone).

When I got back to the boat several people said that such a thing had happened to them. Looking closely at how those mouthpieces are attached it seems clear why. Personally I think it should be part of OW training.

A large part of my confusion at the time was simply not understanding what happened -- it's a simple problem to remedy if you know what was wrong -- and it was night so it would be harder to see any reg floating around but we probably would not see it anyway. I saw that I could still breathe from my reg (even without a mouthpiece). Not easy, but could be done. Of course later I realized that my secondary was right there but, since I had the mouthpiece in, I thought (ASSumed) the reg was still in. Before you ask, no we never trained for this.

Please feel free to comment on anything that we did that could be improved.

Given the outcome, I am glad it happened. It made me a better diver, both to have just a little more confidence to survive a frightening experience and to understand the source of a new problem.

Thanks Again, Matt!!

 

[TracyN]

I've had this happen to me twice while diving in a cave. Nothing worse than having your next breath be nothing but water. The first time I was confused momentarily for the same reason you were, the mouthpiece was still in my mouth. Initially I didn't realize either that I could use the reg without a mouthpiece. I just immediately went to my backup reg.

 

[Fish-R-Man]

I have never had a mouthpiece come completely off, but I can sure imagine the shock of getting a mouthful of water for a new diver. I just recently had one get torn between dives. Probably when moving gear around on the boat. It just felt strange in my mouth for a bit and then it started to leak in water. No, problem I just switched to my second and changed it out later.

I don't know if you were diving your own gear or rental equipment, but what I normally do when I am packing my gear to head out on a dive, I give everything a pull-tug test (among other things). Mask straps, fin straps/springs, zippers, BC inflator valve, etc. Also go over my regs to make sure all looks tight and no visible damage. It only takes a few minutes to do, but could have possibly made a difference with your situation.

 

[DandyDon]

Sounds scarey! I had a problem Saturday with a bad snorkel drain valve in 3 ft water in a pool and came up choking hard. I'd hate to have had that at 40 ft in the dark!

 

[BabyDuck]

you handled that really well! if matt could have found your wife when he went back down & sent her up, that might have been nice, but seems she also did what she was supposed to do - search for a minute then ascend.

 

[chrpai]

I'm curious, this dive was a year ago. Have you had a chance to reconsider what you should thank an instructor for? While it's great Matt stuck a reg in your mouth and purged it, the real job of an instructor is train you in self rescue skills. You should have learned:

Alternate Air Source
Buddy Air Source
Buddy Breathing
CESA
Buoyant Ascent

The very first item on that list would have quickly relaxed you without the need to race over to the instructor. (You should be really close to your buddy anyways. )

FWIW, I did a night dive the other day and on descent I forgot to put a reg in my mouth. I didn't realize it and tried to breath. My lips instinctively puckered up and prevent water from coming in. I just grabbed my bungied second from under my chin and gave it a quick purge and carried on. No one else was ever the wiser of what had happened.

 

[drbill]

Glad that you were able to resolve it quickly. However, I've never had a mouthpiece separate from a reg in over 50 years of diving. Curious as to whether it was secured properly? Of course I've bitten through mouthpieces, causing holes which could allow water in but breathing slowly overcomes that.

 

[socaljohn]

I appreciate this post. It never occurred to me this could happen and the confusion that it would cause. I will be sharing this with my regular buddy. I sure learn a lot on SB.

---------- Post Merged at 07:18 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 07:12 AM ----------

Of course I've bitten through mouthpieces, causing holes which could allow water in but breathing slowly overcomes that.

Curious about what startled the world famous drbill into biting through a mouthpiece. (BTW nothing but respect for you bro)

 

[DandyDon]

Curious about what startled the world famous drbill into biting through a mouthpiece. (BTW nothing but respect for you bro)

I'm thinking he was gritting & grinding his teeth waiting for the perfect shot.

 

[nimoh]

I have never had a mouthpiece come completely off, but I can sure imagine the shock of getting a mouthful of water for a new diver. I just recently had one get torn between dives. Probably when moving gear around on the boat. It just felt strange in my mouth for a bit and then it started to leak in water. No, problem I just switched to my second and changed it out later.

I don't know if you were diving your own gear or rental equipment, but what I normally do when I am packing my gear to head out on a dive, I give everything a pull-tug test (among other things). Mask straps, fin straps/springs, zippers, BC inflator valve, etc. Also go over my regs to make sure all looks tight and no visible damage. It only takes a few minutes to do, but could have possibly made a difference with your situation.

thanks, I will be adding my mouthpieces to my pull and tug pre-dive routine