What’s the dumbest thing you've done?

[kathydee]

Probably the dumbest thing I did in scuba was to believe DM's were gods when I was new.

I remember following one down to 75ft in Indonesia on my 5th or 6th Discover Scuba Dive before I was ever certified & following another into Turtle Cavern @ 60ft in Sipadan Malaysia Borneo when I had about 35 dives on serious sketchy rental gear - we swam way past the danger sign into the dark without a decent light to where the entrance was a small light - just because she said it was ok.

Over time I saw many "professionals" make poor judgements and mistakes in that part of the world & I learned that DM's & instructors aren't always the ultimate authority in SCUBA .

Since then I've developed my own underwater guidelines and have said NO on more than one occasion to honor my training and comfort limits: requesting more conservative gas planning & dive profiles, limiting depths above narc levels, refusing tight overhead environments & feel I have been right in my judgements .

[SkimFisher]

The dumbest thing I've ever done? Well, it was yesterday actually. I started my cavern class at Peacock and dived wet - it was 30 degrees when we got there. I had ice forming on my wetsuit. NEVER AGAIN. I got a dual cert in the "$%@# this" specialty.

[Darnold9999]

First solo dive.

Decided to go to a well known easy to dive spot - a half hour drive away. Double and triple checked everything gearing up trying to create a mental checklist for solo diving. Drysuit diving in the summer so a bit overheated, carrying a camera, strobe and pony across a bit of a hike across the parking lot. Heaven to get in the water and cool off - swim out 50 yards or so to the bouy. Relax a couple of minutes to catch my breath - time to dive. Vent the BC - not descending - must be nerves - go hand down the rope for a couple of feet - and it dawns on me. I am not wearing any weight - the belt is sitting at home and there is no possible way I am diving today. Swim back to the entry point, feeling like a complete idiot.

I too have jumped off the boat sans fins. Realized this as I jumped and managed to turn by body in mid air to reach back and catch the back of the boat so no harm. Otherwise in the current somone would have had to come and get me.

[mobeeno]

Was really excited to do my first drift dive in Cozumel that I jumped of the boat without my fins.
Luckily the people on the boat managed to toss them over to me.

[dmoore19]

I had gotten my airsource 3 serviced. I went into the pool to make sure everything was right. I tried inflating my bc with no luck. I got out of the pool and went into the retail shop and got the service tech's attention. He came out to the pool area, looked at the equipment. Slid the valve to the "on" position and said "try that". I still get grief for that.

[Avonthediver]

Right after I got my C-card I went diving with my two buddys that were in my class.
I got ready first and bailed in tryed to air up my BC and found out I had no air! I forgot toturn it on
My brother came right in and turned it on for me.

[ScubaRambo]

The list is long and distinguished.

"Yeah, but so's my Johns..." I'll leave that one to be finished by the other Top Gun knowledgables

So far, the dumbest thing I've done is to not be certified until I was twenty two.
22 years of living at the beach, and I don't dive them until I'm possibly moving across country into the middle of nowhere, hundreds of miles from the ocean.

[Chris12day]

Waited utill the age of 44 to get my OW cert...........

[FireInMyBones]

Believed every word my LDS owner said. I have had to do a lot of reading and research to find some truths that I was told were gimmicks and lies.
Next was to dive at a local fishing hole right after my OW on some questionable rental gear (before I bought my own gear) and almost got entangled on mono without a cutting device and with an over-eager buddy.

[W8less]

While removing a brass 3 dog porthole from a Japanese wreck out in the Pacific Islands!

Ship was hard on her port side, porthole was was in radio room at 140' and about 3' above bottom sand.
The porthole cover (glass) was removed from the inside although I had to dig through a pile of debris since the bulkhead had become the floor. YA WITH ME CAMERA GUY!!

During the war the Japanese used steel for the porthole blackout covers. The blackout cover was press fit because the steel had swollen with deterioration. The blackout cover had to be sledgehammered out from the outside in.

Sooo! with trusty hammer and a hefty head full of N2 intoxication, I proceeded to go underneath on the outside of the ship and pound up on the cover. After many air consuming blows the cover popped free still in one piece. What I had not envisioned was that the hammer blows had caused an avalanche of ship muck debris that just poured out of the now open porthole and it rained down on my half, directly under the hole, torso and scared Religion into me. I knew I was covered pretty good but I could move and knew I was not "buried", but to say viz was limited would be putting it kindly. I was very lucky and managed to back out and ascend with no problems.

I learned that gravity still tends downward even U/W and whatever was in that debris, itched like all get out for a week. Oh and on subsequent dives, I did go back and retrieve the brass rim.