I'm posting this question because I'm curious about the cause since I haven't been down at 130ft.
A co-worker and her friend, both AOW, came back from Belize 3 weeks ago. My co-worker couldn't wait to talk to me about what happened to her and her friend at the blue hole at 130ft.
According to her, the friend at 130 ft, in panic bolted for the surface. Good thing that the DM with them saw what happened and went after the panicked diver. The DM, finally caught up with the diver at 70 ft and calmed her down. It turned out that her mask kept on flooding and this made her anxious, which turned into a full blown panic attack. My co-worker was surprised at this incident because as far as she knows, this friend is a much better and experienced diver than her. For her friend to have an attack like this is disconcerting for her. Her friend is Ok after all this, thanks to the DM.
Now, for my co-worker, her incident happened at 130 ft also where everyone was hanging around. While her friend bolted for the surface, she was having problems with her regulator. According to her, no matter how much she inhaled she coudn't get enough air. She tried switching to her octopus for a better flow, but still the same. She did this several times and still the air coming out wasn't enough for her. Throughout this ordeal , she never thought of ascending at all.
She also admitted to me that this was the first time, since she was certified years ago, that she tried switching regulator for the octopus. On top of that, she forgot the signal for having a problem with your air supply. There was another couple near her, but not closed enough. By luck, when she looked up, the DM was signaling everyone to come up. As she got shallower, her air flow from the regulator got better.
On the surface, she mentioned her problem with the regulator and the couple that was near her at 130ft told her that they knew what was happening with her when they saw her switching back and forth, but they couldn't do anything because they were also having problems with getting enough air from their regulator at that depth.
Now, my question is-is this a normal occurance with regulators in general at 130ft or a equipment malfunction? My co-worker asked me, but I couldn't answer because I don't know enough about regulators or what occurs at that depth.
Let me know what you think, so I can relay the explanation to my co-worker.
I'm just glad that she came back fine. She also promised to do over some basic skills before her next dive trip.