Bahamas Close Call Video

[ahpoolman]

As far a the authenticity of the video I can assure you that the video was not a staged video. The only thing that I screwed up on was not taping their guage when I got to them at 150 ft. If you look at some of my other Youtube videos of me diving you will notice I check my guage quite frequently with my camera. I am not a professional videographer but if you look at my other videos on Youtube you will notice that that is a common practice for me. I do it for a couple reasons, but the main reason is when I go back to review the video on specific dives it reminds me of the exact time the clip was done. I can have up to 30 video clips on a dive and it puts it more in a chronological order for me. My camera sucks and goes through batteries fast so I turn the camera off after every video clip. As far as the decision to dump the air in their BCD's there really is no other way to have a safe assent if I didn't have full control of the situation. Dumping the air in their BCD and having them interlock their ams gave me control of 2 victims and using the air in my BCD alowed me to control the assent. Keep in mind these divers were obiviously not experience when checking guages was not on their priority list. If I allowed them to assend with air in their BCD's as we got closer to the surface the air inside their BC's would have expanded and I would not have had enough weight to keep them down or close to me. My goal was to get them at 15 ft and watch air bubbles waiting for them to stop. Remember having 2 victims out of gas is different then one victim. If I would have consiously given my secondary to one of the victims and they were using my air then I would have not had another regulator to give the other victim. At the time this was the most responsible thing to do, if I was placed in the same situation again I don't know what I would have done and in what steps I would have done them. My job was to get them to the surface safely with some sort of decompression stop. Remember sometimes its not always about the victims but remember I was in a bad situation without a proper saftey stop also. I did everything I could with the situation I had been confronted with, and there maybe a million different scenerious on how to handle the situation and this is how I handled this one. With their inexperience I did not trust them to dump the air on the assent. Hope this clears us some of your questions..Aaron

 

[Druid]

Aaron, well done for saving the two divers, they were lucky that someone was watching out for them.

I think that you were equally lucky, if I read your posts correctly.

My computer was screaming at me the whole time. I did not decompress properly either but I also wasn't the one at 150 ft. for 10 minutes either.

to be honest I was more worried about myself then them, once they were safe. We had another dive an hour later and I decompressed properly on that dive. <snip>To add even more scare to it was, my wifes Dad was in the hospital with an illness and we got a phone call from the hospital and he had coded that night and we flew out the next day at noon. Getting on the plane was scary for me 14 hours later. I did call DAN that night (Everyone should have that insurance by the way) and told them my deco obligation and the seriousness of the situation of why I needed to go early and they gave me a hesitant OK to go the next day.. Aaron Hagen Gilbert AZ

So you did a rapid ascent from 140' and bent your computer, then you had an hour's surface interval and went back in the water. Were you looking for a chopper ride yourself? And then you got on a plane just 14 hours afterwards - I appreciate that your father in law's illness was a worry, but your actions coud have put you in hospital as well, hopefully in the same one as your father in law so your wife could visit you both. You're a very lucky man.

 

[InTheDrink]

So you did a rapid ascent from 140' and bent your computer, then you had an hour's surface interval and went back in the water. Were you looking for a chopper ride yourself? And then you got on a plane just 14 hours afterwards - I appreciate that your father in law's illness was a worry, but your actions coud have put you in hospital as well, hopefully in the same one as your father in law so your wife could visit you both. You're a very lucky man.

 

[paul madox]

well done you are a brave man

 

[heavyjeffd]

honestly , i don't care if that is real or not (although i believe you, no reason not to)
i have watched a couple times, and it gives me chills each time.
did you speak to these divers after the dive? do they have any idea how close they were??

thanks so much for posting it, it may help someone someday, it has helped me...

I agree 100%!

Welcome sir, excellent video.

 

[chris1999]

hello all,

ive been lurking & devouring the board as a recently certified diver learning as much as i could about safety and learning from the mistakes of others.. I'm also highly interested to further my education in the sport, if for no other reason, than to be able to be like Aaron here and keep myself alive and possibly someone else. So, armed with this knowledge..

whats the play if *I* see this happen as a novice diver and lets assume there's no one else who's more qualified to go get them and assume they dont respond to any tank banging etc.. do nothing & watch them die following the 'dont become a second victim' mantra? or.. ?

my first post!
Chris

 

[ShakaZulu]

Good job, the decision to dive again and fly not so good....I would have slapped the snot out of those two divers.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

hello all,

ive been lurking & devouring the board as a recently certified diver learning as much as i could about safety and learning from the mistakes of others.. I'm also highly interested to further my education in the sport, if for no other reason, than to be able to be like Aaron here and keep myself alive and possibly someone else. So, armed with this knowledge..

whats the play if *I* see this happen as a novice diver and lets assume there's no one else who's more qualified to go get them and assume they dont respond to any tank banging etc.. do nothing & watch them die following the 'dont become a second victim' mantra? or.. ?

my first post!
Chris

Life is about Choices... you get to make choices for your life they get to make choices about theirs. No one has the right to take away your life by making bad choices only you can make the decision to put your life on the line.

I would suggest there are people in your life who deserve to have you put their well being above that of some possibly careless stranger making bad choices. I am glad you are thinking about this now because in the heat of the moment we don't always make good choices.

In over 400 bottom hours I have never been in a situation where it came close to the life and death situation so remember this is not the norm! I have been in many situations of that nature on land. I choose to do my best but hold my life more precious than playing hero.

 

[ahpoolman]

Chris1999 Thanks for posting and honoring me with your first post!! Bowlof has a great point that unless your in the situation it's hard to say what someont would do. Remember I did not go down there to 150ft to save the two divers. For all I knew they could have been very competant divers and comfortable at 150ft. Some experienced divers may take it personally if a rookie diver were to ask them how much air was in their tank. The thing that I was watching out for was how uncomfortable they seemed in the water and the amount of unnormal breathing that was occuring. When I went down to them it was in no way my intention to bring them up to the surface. You will notice at 150 I still had around 1600 PSI in my tank. I did not want to quit the dive either. When I got to them is when I noticed they potentially could have been in real trouble if just one more minute passed. Would I do it agian? certainly if the circumstances were the same. They made a bad choice and live another day to make a better one next time. Maybe a dive computer would be their next purchase.
Chris1999 I'm glad that you are doing a ton of reasearch before getting heavy into the sport that shows alot of maturity. Diving is very safe as long as everyone your diving with is a safe diver. Chris1999 I'll dive with you anyday.

 

[chris1999]

Chris1999 Thanks for posting and honoring me with your first post!!

my friend, honoring you with my first post is nothing. after what i watched in your video, if i ever meet you, the beers are on me.

Chris