Today's lesson, courtesy Mother Ocean

[TSandM]

Today's dive was an education which I probably needed but could have done without.

Bob and I dove Day Island Wall, which is a truly lovely dive. You swim out along a plateau at 50 feet, and suddenly the world falls away into darkness -- something which normally elates me, because I feel like I'm flying.

But today, as I crossed the edge of the wall, I looked down to check my depth gauge, and realized I had just enough water in my mask that I couldn't read it. So I went to clear my mask -- this is something I do multiple times per dive. I'm quite good at it, and it doesn't even break the rhythm of the dive. But today, when I went to clear, the mask completely flooded. Suddenly, I was suspended in the dark, and unable to see. I don't like that, and I know I don't like it. I tried to clear again, and again, the mask was completely flooded. A third time -- and now I'm disoriented and beginning to feel that I don't know where I am or what position I have in the water. (Bob says at this point I did a beautiful back flip -- he thought I was having fun.) I know I've just gone off the edge of the wall, and I don't know how deep the bottom is, and I certainly don't know what's happening as far as depth or orientation in the water. I try again to clear, without success. I still can't see, and now I'm really tumbling. I'm hoping Bob will touch me, because that will give me a point of orientation, but I fail to signal him that I'm in distress.

By this time, my breathing is really rapid, and I begin to get water when I breathe, most likely due to failing to isolate my nose (which is in the flooded mask). Not a lot of water, but enough to add to my rapidly increasing anxiety. I don't know where I am; I don't know where the bottom is; I can't see, and I can't clear the mask, and I don't know where my buddy is. Then I feel a rock with my hand. I grab it and vent everything in my wing, thinking that if I get as negative as possible, I'll at least be stable, and then I can start to sort things out. I stop moving. The first order of business is to slow my breathing, which has gotten completely out of control. Then I can check around the mask skirt to try to figure out what is causing it to flood -- I never did figure out what it was, but I solved it, and got the mask cleared. I discovered Bob lying on the bottom next to me (we were at 50 feet -- somehow, I had gotten back over the lip of the dropoff) watching me carefully.

For the first time since my 2nd OW checkout dive, I encountered the desire to go UP. None of the other issues I've encountered underwater have brought me nose to nose with the urge to go UP -- UP, where air is, where things make SENSE.

The reason I'm posting this is to tell others that, even after 160 dives and a lot of classes, including passing DIR-F, you can encounter a situation that pushes you hard against the panic button. Having read lots of posts here about panic helped -- I actually thought about Walter's many posts about rapid breathing and panic, and recognized that if I slowed my breathing, that would stop the spiral of anxiety from getting completely out of control.

And I also posted it because there's another lesson here . . . I know I have an issue with disorientation when I can't see. I've done a little desultory work on it from time to time, but I think I've gotten somewhat complacent. It's a weak spot, and I think the ocean finds your weak spots. Every dive I do for the foreseeable future will involve mask flood and clear exercises, and some mask-off swimming, until I'm so comfortable with all the above that I don't care if I have a mask on or not.

A good diver is always learning -- I wish some of the lessons weren't quite so painful

 

[mrjimboalaska]

TSandM,
Yes, the big P can bite at any time, I still remember my P attack, Dive 86, talked myself back down, of course I had to, once in at that dive spot, you HAVE to dive it,
17 minute minimum to the exit.....It was the rough entrance that spooked me, had dove there before about 4 times, but man was it rough, once down to 50ft. I didn't want to be there, NO WAY...but managed to keep my head.....my buddy never even realized I was freaked....
Of course we did our 2nd dive there too, and the exit was rough on that one....
with me eating the rocks in 6-8 ft. surf. missed the exit by 15ft.......now I use my compass religiously at Lania Point exit......

Like you said, a good diver is always learning, great job in handling the situation!
Jimbo

 

[Floridawannabe]

Great Post, I always learn from your posts.

I had a panic attack when doing my AOW Certification. We were all headed down to 126 Ffw in Beaver lake, AR. Everything was going good until I noticed that my descent was going a little faster than I wanted. I kept on adding air slowly to my New Zeagle BC and kept on descending. Before I knew it it was dark and trees were coming up at me. I grabbed a rock to stop my descent and found my backup light. I looked around for my other dive buddies. They were coming down a lot slower than myself. They saw my light and found me asked if everything was ok, I pointed to my BC and then the the inflator. I pushed it and they said that everything looked fine, but it still seemed to me that I was still sinking since I let go of the rock wall and went down another foot. I knew that at this point it goes down about three hundred feet and that is what freaked me out the most. I mashed the inflator button and started to ascend. Talk about quick breathing, once I started to ascend I was fine. Later on in the boat I checked out my BC and what I think happened was that the lower purge cord was tangled in the elastic strap and would not allow the BC to fill up enough. Plus, the new BC I found out after the fact that I could drop 8 pounds and still be postive bouyant. I know check to make sure also that the rear dump cord is not tangled in anything before my dives. Before anyone asks if it was a night dive. It was about 1:30 PM but since we were doing a deep dive in the lake it gets dark at about 80 Ffw, that is why I always carry my flashlight.

 

[miketsp]

Good post.
Just one comment, I personally feel much more uncomfortable with a flooding mask than I do without a mask. So when something similar happened to me with a folded skirt against a heavy hood I just preferred to take the mask off and get settled and then start again. At least I stay oriented.
In spite of the fact that most of the training manuals state that someone in panic wants to get rid of their equipment, in my case I'm quite calm when I take the mask off.
Quite simply I find the situation of a half filled mask with water running down across my eyes much more uncomfortable than swimming without a mask.
This goes right back to my first basic course when I remember the instructor explaining the exercises to let a little water into the mask and then clear it and then remove the regulator & release & recover. He was more than a little surprised when on the first try I preferred to completely remove the mask, throw away the reg, recover it and after a few breaths put the mask back on and clear it completely.
His first reaction was to intervene thinking I was in panic before he saw that all my movements were calm.

 

[ItsBruce]

My kid and I were on a dive in San Diego. Our guide found a pair of sunglasses on the bottom. (We collect them found sunglasses.) After a bit I looked at him and felt something was amiss. But, I could not figure out what. Then I realized he was wearing the sunglasses, not his mask. All I could think was that I thought he was wearing a mask when we started the dive and that sunglasses were probably not effective underwater. Then I realized his gag. But, the point is he was so comfortable underwater without the mask that he patiently waited for someone to notice his gag as he swam. It is quite a skill.

 

[Summer06]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. As exciting as diving can be, it is also and on-going learning experience. Thank you for sharing your experience. I most definitely keep it in mind and have learned from it.

 

[suthnbelle]

Wow! Great post and a good learning experience for us all. You really kept your head considering you didn't know where you were or at what depth. I'm glad you somehow managed to get back over to 50ft and I'm sure Bob wouldn't have let you continued doing blackflips down the wall either. My mask seems to always leak during dives. I'll usually keep going until it fills up under my eyes a bit then clear. Probably need a new mask. Not fun to admit but I think I would have probably paniced a bit if I had to do a mask removal and clear when I'm disoriented and had no idea at what depth I was located. All the more reason for me to practice mask removal and clear during all dives.

Thanks for posting your experience.

 

[CBulla]

What an excellent post! I haven't had my panic button hit yet, the 'WOAH' button has been smacked a few times though.. anyway, your post is a great reminder that different things hit that GO UP button on the logic elevator on different folks. Just something to keep in mind with new dive buddies (my ole buddies could just dive blind and never care LOL).

 

[Tollie]

Hi TS&M,

As others have said your posts are always thoughtful and so personal. I have mentioned this before and I think you should strongly consider going down a professional track. You are just the kind of diver that would make a wonderful instructor. You are reflective and have a serious commitment to routine ongoing training.

Mike mentioned what went thru my mind reading your post… namely that when you replaced the mask it caught on your hood and you could not get a seal. I assume the mask was physically intact (no rips in the skirt).

I think you handled the situation well. Think of all the poor choices you could have made but you did not do any of them. You controlled your breathing and cut off the panic spiral. As you mentioned you might have signaled some problem with the mask to your team member. I am a bit perplexed about your teammates response or lack of response. I would have assumed that he saw what was going on but did not intervene in any way. I would have expected him to at least offer touch contact and perhaps some assist with the mask issue. What was your debrief like following the dive?

 

[mikerault]

Sounds like you handled it well. I don't usually panic with mask floods (having swum in everything from muddy rivers and lakes to pools my entrie life). However, in the dark, on the surface, no moon and 2-3 foot swells making the boat almost impossible to find with bingo air and no snorkle was a bit of excitement...on my first night dive.

Mike