What’s the dumbest thing you've done?

[Water Monkey]

Everyone makes mistakes, its part of being human. If your paying attention you can learn from your mistakes and the others around you can learn from your mistakes as well without the pain.

So my question is, what’s the dumbest thing you’ve done in the water? Again in the water!

I’ll go first. This may not be my dumbest thing I've done but it’s a good one. It was a really hot summer day and we had climbed over a jetty made up of large boulders to get to the entry site. By the time I got there I was about to pass out from heat exhaustion, so without hesitation I jumped in. I wear typhoon drysuits, they are front entry suits, and the zipper wraps around your torso. This one had a flap over the zipper so you couldn’t tell by looking at me that my zipper was not closed. In fact I hadn’t zipped it at all! The good news, I instantly cooled off, the bad news, I jumped off a large bolder to get in and the only exit was quite a ways down the jetty. By the time I got out my suit was about half full of water and I could barley pick up my legs to walk. The lesson, check your zipper, then check it again and then check it one more time.

OK everybody’s got one of these lets have um.

[SelkieDVM]

Hmm, well, ok here goes. My very first solo dive was in the coldest, lowest viz, and highest current situation I had ever experienced at the time. Can you say stupid? Now at least I have a solo cert, drysuit, and some experience to help mitigate the stupidity. Kids, don't try this at home, or anywhere else for that matter. Ever!

[Jorgy]

Got certifed and then certified my family.........

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.........bye bye.......

M

[SelkieDVM]

LOL, I almost put getting certified in the first place, too...

[Scubant]

I was on my first Night dive and the instructor told me to lead the class out 15 kicks on a compass heading and just as I started another uncontrollable diver kicked my mask off. I dropped my dive light and continued to drag it on the retractor on the bottom of the ocean until I could clear my mask again. Then by the time I regained the light I figured I had kicked us 30-40 kicks out. Close to a boat channel endangering everyone. Thank God it was night and there was no traffic. Lesson to self : Stop when you need to make adustments. Control all the time. Needless to say we did pass the course and actually saw the biggest eel I have ever seen on that dive and lobsters everywhere.

[TSandM]

Although I could list a few boneheaded stunts, probably the single stupidest thing I've done in the water is turn all my own gas off during a valve drill, when my buddy was looking the other way, distracted by something.

[Wookie]

You mean besides making diving my career and buying a liveaboard?

Mine's a drysuit story too. I bought a really nice dui signature series drysuit. Didn't take lessons because my mate on the boat (a drysuit instructor) told me that all I had to do was remember to keep my feet down. So, to make sure I wouldn't go rocketing to the surface I jumped in heavy and sank rapidly to 90 feet barely putting air into the drysuit. Now my mate was a she instead of a he and she may have been equipped a little differently than I am. So, there I am in 90 feet slowly adding air, getting neutrally buoyant, and the boys are filling the pinch. I can't fin because the boys are way pinched. I can't add enough air to the suit to un-pinch the boys, it's coming out the neck seal. So, I added enough air to my BC to float again, and the entire crew was on the deck waiting for me. Turns out she watched me get in, and noticed I hadn't "crouched" to get the crotch of the drysuit where it needed to be.

[Lee Taylor]

I was offshore NC and moving down the anchor line. I had the thought that I would re-check the functionability of my pony tank. I put the pony reg in my mouth, did not purge it, and drew in a load of water. Some of the water went into my trachea. I immediately started coughing. Along with coughing comes the need to inhale vast amounts of air, much more than the regulator can supply. The surface was 30ft away and I had to make a decision to end the dive or attempt to get eveything under control. My decision was to force myself to quit coughing and let my body absorb the water that was causing the reaction. The lesson learned was that the regulator was not able to supply me enough air while I was coughing. This had the potential of causing me to black out but fortunately it did not.

Since the incident I have made a point to learn more about physical exertion and over breathing regulators

[JKPAO]

One that I did would be ...Grabbed some big lobsters three in fact, the size was not a problem!
Sex was. Got on the boat and checked the first, eggs checked the second eggs I said to the mate don't even have to check the third I know. Eggs. I have also tried to jump in the water without fins before. May not be the dumbest but it was up there for a learning experience!
See you topside! John

[NYCSurfer]

Getting certified in 1975 and then not diving from 1977 to 2009*.





















*Yes. I took another certification course in 2009.