Two less than perfect dives...

So I'm here in Bali with the husband, in Tulamben.

We we did dive 1 yesterday, which was fine. Dive 2 I had a bit if a panic ( this was only my 24th dive) due to being an idiot. I forgot to dump a bit of air as I ascended because it expands. I panicked as I couldn't control my ascent. My husband and the DM had to grab me to hold me down a bit until I dumped the air. So stupid of me. Needless to say, I began getting short of air after this and had to go on the DM's octopus. I was so irritated at myself and had trouble sleeping after because I know better.

Dive 3 we did the USS Liberty wreck. We were fairly deep for most of the time, but I got to 40 bar sooner than I expected and again had to use the DM'a octopus for 2-3 min before we did our safety stop. The dive was 41 min and we bottomed out at 26m but were mainly at 20-23m.

I am unsure why this has happened on dive 3. When I compare it to some of the other dive lengths / depths I've done, this should have been no problem. I didn't over exert myself on dive 3 either. In fact it was pretty easy going as my husband has been taking lots of photos with our new rig.

I cant any figure out why I'm sucking air so much when I feel like it's going slow and steady. Any thoughts??

C

Maat,

Going through gas faster than expected happens a lot. New sites, different conditions, mild tunnel vision, and more all lead you to consume gas quickly. 24 dives is not much--remember how your 24th time out driving was, compared to now? What about the 24th essay you've written? 24 is a brand new diver by many standards.

What is very concerning is that you did not monitor your gas and return to the surface before having to borrow air from someone else. I don't know if it's true, but there's a movie called Pushing Tin where air traffic controllers only get a limited number of near misses per year before they aren't allowed to work anymore. Even though you handled it well, by calmly using your DM's gas supply, you effectively entered an emergency situation two dives in a row. Even if your husband is taking photos, you should be checking your gauge more often.

Imagine if the DM was not there, or was distracted, and your husband suddenly signalled to you that he was out of air. You should always have enough gas to supply him to get you both to the surface safely, and you might not be able to do that at 40 bar at the bottom. Granted, that's not something that all open water courses, or even advanced open water, classes cover sufficiently, but it's a prominent part of advanced diving classes, planning to always have enough gas to get you and your partner to the surface with some to spare, and no diver is allowed to use more than this "turn pressure." No matter what cool things you are seeing, when one diver reaches the agreed upon turn pressure, both divers surface. It's just a smart way to stay alive longer.

In short, don't worry about breathing faster than expected--it happens, don't beat yourself up, just focus on what you enjoyed about the dives. But, while breathing faster can "just happen," diving beyond a safe turning pressure involves a choice, and you should always choose to plan your dive, dive your plan, and turn with enough gas to get your partner and you up safely. Safety doesn't just happen. But, any dive that you learn from, I think qualifies as a perfect dive!

I'm certainly no expert, but in my limited experience, I have had something similar happen. Had a bunch of real good dives and was loving everything about diving. Dove the Florida Keys, and some local quarries. Then I had an awful dive, nothing worked right. Went through my air faster than usual, was FREEZING cold, got lost in the low visibility, screwed up my safety stop. Just nothing worked right on that dive. Was off for a week and went back in and had a so-so dive, not really working as well as usual, had some buoyancy problems, just felt off. Finished that day on a good note as I got my buoyancy under control. Spent that night visualizing the diving I knew we would be doing the next day. Went over and over it again, visualized my descent, visualized getting properly buoyant, visualized breathing slow and steady, visualized navigating the cloudy quarry. The next day I went out and had the two best dives I've had (not including ocean dives). Everything is clicking again.

Don't know if it would help you or not, but you might want to try the visualization exercise. It certainly helped me get things back on track when it felt like they were spinning away from my control.

Best,
-Tim

Sorry, what I didn't mention was that I kept telling the DM what I had on air all the way through. I am a habitual monitor of my air and I did indicate to him (husband had another guy about so his taking pics did not enter the equation) but he DM kept indicating we needed to slow our ascent, although my computer did not indicate so. According to mine we were spot on. Maybe I need to be more assertive on my needing to ascend.

---------- Post added June 10th, 2014 at 04:23 AM ----------

I am wondering if my air is slowly leaking from somewhere else. I hear a very faint hissing once I'm in the water with a bit of air in the BCD. Both the DMand my DM husband said this is normal but I'm not convinced.

I'm still a little unclear on what happened at the end of the dive that you required sharing air with the DM. You stated in your first post that you reached 40 bar faster than you expected, but that should still have been enough gas to conduct an easy controlled ascent and 3 minute safety safety stop and still have gas on reserve. How much gas did you have left before starting the ascent? If you were at 40 bar and the DM kept you at depth, that seems like the DM was a little casual with managing the end of the dive. I wouldn't worry about how quickly you are consuming your gas at this point. Being overly anxious that you are sucking down your air too quickly will only exacerbate the issue, and you are still a new diver so you need to cut yourself some slack. More efficient consumption of your gas will come with experience.

Just because you reached 40 bar sooner than later is no reason to be that upset. We all have different SAC rates and depending on conditions and overall excitment level you can go through air faster than expected. You monitored it and realized you were ready to ascend. No fault in that. I once dove with a caridoligist that had developed an extremely low SAC rate and would surface with 1000-1500 PSI when the rest of us would be at 500. After a week with diving with him I learned to relax which helped alot. Relax and enjoy Bali!

Using air faster than you like isn't a problem ... in fact, it's rather common with newer divers. Don't worry about it ... as you develop better skills and learn to relax that problem will correct itself.

Running out of air and having to rely on the DM is a problem ... in fact, it's a big problem. And it's one that you need to address right away, particularly since it happened twice in two dives.

So let's start with that one. You mentioned that you got to 40 bar sooner than expected. At 40 bar you should not be at 20 meters. I've dived the Liberty a few times, and know that the wreck starts at closer to 7 meters ... and that there are lots of interesting things to see in the shallower parts of the wreck. You should have indicated to the DM much sooner than 40 bar that you need to get shallower. Once shallower, you'll go through your air much more slowly and be able to extend your total dive time.

Next time, consider telling the dive guide ahead of time that you'd prefer heading shallower at 60 bar, and spend more time in the 6-10 meter range. In Tulamben that gives you lots of things to see, whether you're on the wreck, the Drop-Off, or the Coral Gardens. Monitor your air and have an agreed upon signal for moving shallower when you feel the time is right. Take control of your own dive plan ... do not rely on a dive guide to do it for you.

Some tips for better air consumption ...

- move slowly ... newer divers tend to fin more vigorously than they have to, and exertion will cause you to use your air faster
- work on getting into proper trim ... a "feet down" position that is common among newer divers causes you to push more water out of your way in order to move, and since that takes more effort you'll use your air faster
- do a weight check ... even a couple of pounds of extra lead will cause more drag and cause you to use more air
- work on buoyancy control ... divers who can hover without constant kicking or sculling will be more relaxed and use less air
- don't use your hands ... we all learned to do this through swimming, but in scuba diving sculling with your hands is useless exertion that only causes you to breathe harder

Finally ... there's an article on my website that may provide you with some information that will help you better manage your air ... NWGratefulDiver.com Given the type of diving you're doing, don't worry about the math ... just focus on the concepts. It's primarily useful to newer divers as a means to give you things to consider for better managing your air supply.

Enjoy Tulamben ... I went there on my second-ever dive trip, have been back twice since, and it's still one of my favorite places in the world to dive ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

It sounds as though the DM was offering his secondary BEFORE the OP was out of gas. I know that some places which require the whole group surface when one person is low on gas will do this, in order to ensure that a single diver with high consumption does not end the dive prematurely for everyone else. So long as the diver in question has the skills to share gas comfortably, and maintains enough reserve to surface, it's probably not a horribly dangerous procedure, although managing the dive properly would always be preferable.

To the OP: There are a lot of factors that affect gas consumption. Anxiety will absolutely do it, and that may have played a role in the second dive here, since you may have been worrying about what happened on the first one. Also, if your gear is unbalanced and you are swimming upwards and negative (seahorse diving position) you will burn much more gas. Swimming into current will burn more gas; most people also use more if they are cold. Constant buoyancy adjustments will use up a lot of gas, so being overweighted can play into high consumption as well. These are all factors you can think about when you are trying to analyze the problem.

Leaks are easy. Just ask your buddy to look at you when you have gotten underwater, and check for bubbles. This is part of our pre-dive procedure for almost all dives.

On my first "bad" dive I had a panic, which indeed was a emergency situation for me. I def keep in touch w the DM but after my 35 min in panic due to buoyancy issues I needed air. This was completely my fault bc I panicked and sucked air. I let the DM know and we surfaced fine with safety stop. I have learned a good lesson from this.

In hind sight I'm not sure why the DM gave me his air on the wreck. I was at 50 at the beginning of ascent from maybe 10m max. He may have done this to check on me or help me conserve my air. Post safety stop I was at 40 bar.

On the dive after this I was fine. I spoke to the DM about going a bit more shallow so I could practice my buoyancy and breathing control- that was at The Drop Off. Same again at Emerald today. All was AOK.

I would habe have ended on 60bar had I not attempted the camera for a few minutes for photos... Wasted a fair bit of air doing that, though had 50 bar at the safety stop and 40-45 after.

Anyway, things are improving.

C

I have 24 dives in my book now and I can tell you that my air consumption is all over the place. One dive will be great the next so-so. I think it's probably normal for this to happen as at our point we are still learning new skills and having new experiences on pretty much every trip. I have done as well as 43 minutes at 60-70 feet and as poorly as 32 minutes in 25-30 feet. neither of those dives will impress a seasoned diver, but its no big deal to me as I had fun both times and am learning each dive.

Glad it was better the next day,
Jerry