nolatom
Contributor
Labor Day 1999, Stetson Bank, 70 miles off Freeport Tx, on a liveaboard. It was my third dive trip after OW, maybe my tenth post-cert dive?
My buddy went in ahead and along the surface line, I jumped in (4-foot drop, a lot for a beginner) after telling the DM at the gate who I was.
And didn't put my reg back in my mouth after telling him...
Which (splash!!) loose reg bounced my mask upward, so I'm a few feet under the ocean, at night, can't see and can't breathe. Ooops.
Two choices here: a) panic, inhale water, and go limp..
or
Remember what my instructor taught us: "if you can breathe, you can solve all your other problems"
Fortunately even in my excited and bewildered state, I chose (b). So..
I remembered what else they taught me: "sweep your right arm way back for your lost reg". Which didn't get me the primary, but did bring up my little hockey-puck alternate. Which had air, so I was breathing!
Next was pull mask back over my eyes, and clear it the way they taught us in class. That worked too, this "OW class" is really good stuff, it seems, glad I listened..
My eyes stung like hell from the salt. Nothing to do about that but grin and bear it. Then I swept my arm again, got my primary, and switched out. At which time my secondary free-flowed. Remembered they said in class, "use your thumb to stop flow, then turn the mouthpiece downward". Which also worked they way they said!
So now I'm certifiably still alive, and back to "normal" diver gear configuration. Next thought--did any anyone see me, in my little cascade of errors and fix-its? Apparently not, what seemed like an eternity had probably taken no more than a minute and I must not have noticeably thrashed around. So my eyes stung a little less, and "hey, I got away with it, might as well descend, right?", which I did.
The dive itself was the absolute bomb, and my eyes watered and stopped hurting. If you haven't been, Stetson at night is like landing on the Moon--rock ridges and pinnacles, other-worldly-geology and cool soft coral and fishies, sea turtles, and lots of other lights (divers) roaming around like fireflies, even more so if you covered your own light with your hand temporarily. And really clear water, and fortunately no current.
So after a truly sketchy newbie start, it was a flat-out great dive. I have liked night dives ever since this one.
To our original poster. I got a little carried away here with my goof-ups. I wouldn't say night dives at Stetson are the perfect low-risk baptism into this wonderful genre, but it worked for me. You might want to be a little closer to shore and a bit shallower than our 85 feet, but you will really like it I think.
And put Stetson on your list for night (or day) dives. Just remember to put your reg back in *before* you depart the boat. ;-)
My buddy went in ahead and along the surface line, I jumped in (4-foot drop, a lot for a beginner) after telling the DM at the gate who I was.
And didn't put my reg back in my mouth after telling him...
Which (splash!!) loose reg bounced my mask upward, so I'm a few feet under the ocean, at night, can't see and can't breathe. Ooops.
Two choices here: a) panic, inhale water, and go limp..
or
Remember what my instructor taught us: "if you can breathe, you can solve all your other problems"
Fortunately even in my excited and bewildered state, I chose (b). So..
I remembered what else they taught me: "sweep your right arm way back for your lost reg". Which didn't get me the primary, but did bring up my little hockey-puck alternate. Which had air, so I was breathing!
Next was pull mask back over my eyes, and clear it the way they taught us in class. That worked too, this "OW class" is really good stuff, it seems, glad I listened..
My eyes stung like hell from the salt. Nothing to do about that but grin and bear it. Then I swept my arm again, got my primary, and switched out. At which time my secondary free-flowed. Remembered they said in class, "use your thumb to stop flow, then turn the mouthpiece downward". Which also worked they way they said!
So now I'm certifiably still alive, and back to "normal" diver gear configuration. Next thought--did any anyone see me, in my little cascade of errors and fix-its? Apparently not, what seemed like an eternity had probably taken no more than a minute and I must not have noticeably thrashed around. So my eyes stung a little less, and "hey, I got away with it, might as well descend, right?", which I did.
The dive itself was the absolute bomb, and my eyes watered and stopped hurting. If you haven't been, Stetson at night is like landing on the Moon--rock ridges and pinnacles, other-worldly-geology and cool soft coral and fishies, sea turtles, and lots of other lights (divers) roaming around like fireflies, even more so if you covered your own light with your hand temporarily. And really clear water, and fortunately no current.
So after a truly sketchy newbie start, it was a flat-out great dive. I have liked night dives ever since this one.
To our original poster. I got a little carried away here with my goof-ups. I wouldn't say night dives at Stetson are the perfect low-risk baptism into this wonderful genre, but it worked for me. You might want to be a little closer to shore and a bit shallower than our 85 feet, but you will really like it I think.
And put Stetson on your list for night (or day) dives. Just remember to put your reg back in *before* you depart the boat. ;-)