Panicked Diver Stories

[neil]

How about a near-panic?
A couple of months ago I was diving with my wife at Catalina. I had taken a second mask with me to try on that dive, so at one point I motioned for her to wait as I switched masks. I took my mask off, something I've done thousands of times, and immediately felt BAD. Like, I-don't-feel-right-and-wish-I-were-at-the-surface-with-my-mommy BAD. I think I even looked up. Being the consummate pro, I signaled "something wrong" and "wait", got my breathing under control and carried on.
I think I just got a little shock from the cold water. Usually I put my unmasked face in the water at the surface to get used to it. Can't remember if I did it this time, but lesson learned. Mask R&R every dive, kids.
Neil

 

[Gunrock]

I'll share a story that may be instructive. We all know that panic induces a physiological response that can include elevated heartbeat and shortness of breath. I had an experience where the reverse seemed to be true.
I had been diving for over a dozen years and had at least 700 dives when I went out on a friend's boat to a local spot. It was a rough enough day that I was surprised he persisted instead of picking an alternate site in a different area. After freediving for the mooring my friends handed me my rig and my big camera. Getting into my gear in the water and waiting for the other divers at the surface while getting batted around by the swell and current left me out of breath. I thought it was no big deal and everything would be fine once I dropped down but I was wrong.
Once underwater we had to descend to about 50' to enter the cave we had come to see. My friends proceeded but I froze because I hadn't been able to catch my breath once I was underwater. I was already very uncomfortable and I was breathing so hard from exertion that I started overbreathing the regulator, which led to a rising feeling of panic that I struggled to control. I had an internal dialog where I tried to assure myself that I had the necessary training and experience to handle the situation, that I just needed to stop, relax, and breathe, but I could tell the reptilian part of my brain just didn't care. I remember feeling like I didn't know what was going to happen next; that either my forebrain was going to win and allow me to dive or the lizard brain would win and I'd be bolting for the surface even though I didn't want to.
I did eventually calm down and the rest of the dive was uneventful. Now I'm very conscious of my breathing and heart rates before starting a dive, and when leading dives I make sure my buddies have a chance to catch their breath after any degree of surface swimming or other exertion.

 

[Julius SCHMIDT]

Now I'm very conscious of my breathing and heart rates before starting a dive, and when leading dives I make sure my buddies have a chance to catch their breath after any degree of surface swimming or other exertion.

Smartest thing I've ever heard

 

[Gone for diving]

Not a panic story, but could have been...

We where diveing in a northern lake on a wreck 65ft. My brother and I just diving, and an instructor doing advanced course with a father and his 2 sons... last dive for the course, I think...
It's a very tea colored lake. At 25ft you can't see the surface... pitch black.
Well we came around the bow and one of the son was on his knees with the weight belt on his calf's... nobody missed him... we put on his belt. And caught up with the group... now one ever noticed....

 

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[Gone for diving]

Wow. Someone is in over their head....

 

[Akimbo]

Anyone interested in this subject will find this thread worth reading:

Question - Panic in the experienced diver?

It would seem to me that, as we gain experience and go through some minor glitches on dives, we should increase our capacity to tolerate issues underwater. I'm wondering what could cause an experienced (say, more than 200 lifetime dives) diver to become distressed enough to lose rational...

scubaboard.com

 

[Gene]

Most of my dives are overhead/fresh-water caves, but sometimes we're out in open (salt) water.
Once I was diving with a family member off West Palm swimming to a wreck. We were at around 110 feet for a handful of minutes on the bottom. All of a sudden, she takes off for the surface. I followed her up, trying to slow her down but to no avail. Once we broke the surface, I told her we HAVE to get back down to 15 feet ASAP for a safety stop. We did, and all was okay. We were drift diving from a private boat.
On another dive, in a cave, one of the divers indicated he was low on air and was given a fresh stage bottle to breathe from as we exited. He quickly swam off and lost us and ended up not making it out due to taking the wrong turn in a passageway.
Lastly, I was cave diving at another popular site, and I had an IPE (Immersion Pulmonary Edema) incident that started in the cave at 100 feet but got really worse while at 15 feet on a short deco. I felt that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get enough oxygen in my lungs. This turned out to be due to a virus that had weakened my heart muscle. I surfaced and it got even worse, and I felt like I was going to pass out. After I quickly realized I couldn't deal with this myself, I told a couple passing me in a kayak to please call 911 and other local cave divers came to my assistance and got me to shore thankfully. I tried to keep calm, but that feeling of not getting enough air while breathing, and feeling like you're about to pass out, kind of took over. If I had been diving elsewhere solo, I honestly don't know if I could have made it to the shore. I doubt it. I had a deco bottle of O2 with me but wasn't even breathing that. That would have made a difference.
I've been back diving in the overhead since, but not deep nor solo.

 

[Raphus]

Most of my dives are overhead/fresh-water caves, but sometimes we're out in open (salt) water.
Once I was diving with a family member off West Palm swimming to a wreck. We were at around 110 feet for a handful of minutes on the bottom. All of a sudden, she takes off for the surface. I followed her up, trying to slow her down but to no avail. Once we broke the surface, I told her we HAVE to get back down to 15 feet ASAP for a safety stop. We did, and all was okay. We were drift diving from a private boat.
On another dive, in a cave, one of the divers indicated he was low on air and was given a fresh stage bottle to breathe from as we exited. He quickly swam off and lost us and ended up not making it out due to taking the wrong turn in a passageway.
Lastly, I was cave diving at another popular site, and I had an IPE (Immersion Pulmonary Edema) incident that started in the cave at 100 feet but got really worse while at 15 feet on a short deco. I felt that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get enough oxygen in my lungs. This turned out to be due to a virus that had weakened my heart muscle. I surfaced and it got even worse, and I felt like I was going to pass out. After I quickly realized I couldn't deal with this myself, I told a couple passing me in a kayak to please call 911 and other local cave divers came to my assistance and got me to shore thankfully. I tried to keep calm, but that feeling of not getting enough air while breathing, and feeling like you're about to pass out, kind of took over. If I had been diving elsewhere solo, I honestly don't know if I could have made it to the shore. I doubt it. I had a deco bottle of O2 with me but wasn't even breathing that. That would have made a difference.
I've been back diving in the overhead since, but not deep nor solo.

ipe is very scary!
I really like to get mor educated about IPE and the causes. Most divers never heared about it

 

[wgw04024]

Well, this is a very short story, but here it is.

On the benwood with one of my kids in Key Largo. He got cert'd when he was 15 or so (i think). Always good in the water, extremely calm, seems like a natural. I've also never seen anyone as good on air as him. Anyway....we're on the Benwood, I look up at him he's a tad up/right of me, and I see him just laying there, as though he's asleep. I make like 3 quick strides to get to him, and all of a sudden, he just looks at me. He was checking his horizontal buoyancy, and I just happened to see him just as he started to just 'float'. Ugh...