Snuba incident

[xscreamsuk]

First post, so please excuse any incorrect terms.

In Barbados last month and I booked a Snuba experience for my self and my 13 yr old son. We were taken out on the boat to a site above some wrecks, and asked about our previous experience. Neither of us had any except snorkelling, and everyone else on the boat, 8 in total was similar. We were shown the equipment, how to clear a mask, equalise, and a few basic signals. Total instruction time maybe 10 minutes. We got into the water placed the reg and dipped heads under. It was amazing what I could see. I hung onto the float and waited for the others sharing our raft for four to get in.

Snuba uses a normal reg on a 20 foot hose with the tank on the surface. We were escorted by a guy in Scuba gear ? DM? We had been swimming for some time, I later found out around 35 minutes, when breathing got difficult. It was not impossible to breath, but harder to get a breath. I was right next to my son and could see he felt the same. We surfaced at once from the depth we were at, I guess around 18 feet. We held onto the raft and both said we found it hard to breath. A short while later the Scuba guy came up, looked at the tank spg, and it read zero. We had run out of air. We had no idea about how spg's worked and that we could run out, nor that we had to breath at all times while under water. Very , very fortunately we both tried to breath all the way to the surface, and avoided any injuries. The Scuba guy just made a joke of it and said " Oh, you guys sucked all the air! " We were sharing the cylinder I guess. My lad hasn't wanted to dive again, but is not scared about what happened, I don't think he knows what could have happened.

Well I enjoyed it so much I signed up for OW ( with a different dive school) and have gained certification. I am now signed up to do AOW back home in the UK, and am busy reading all the books again.

I am now pretty freaked as to what could have happened, and why the guy didn't check the air levels enough, or even mention out of air signals. He was looking after 2 other divers as well, and they were having troubles equalising and stayed pretty close to the surface, where I was down near the bottom exploring the wrecks the whole time.

 

[Iruka]

That's brings up a potential problem with SNUBA....with the tank on the surface in a little float, but the divers underwater, it's very difficult to check the air pressure, especially if you have divers with problems who need extra attention. In typical diving, of course, the SPG (pressure gauge) is right there with the diver. I don't think I've heard of any SNUBA-related incidents, but I'm kind of curious now about how they keep track of the air pressure....just swim up to the surface now & then to take a look? Not an ideal situation, obviously.

 

[spectrum]

xscreamsuk

I'm happy that inspite of the botched handling of your snuba dive it whetted your appetite and everyone got out safe. You did the right things and being certified you know understand why. Your some may come around when he's ready. At that age they are eager to try things but not always ready to commit in a big way.

Snuba when permitted as casually as you experienced it is very dangerous. It has many of the same injury risks as scuba but the participant is generally clueless. A guide can only hold so many hands and keep them safe.

Dive safe,
Pete

 

[Reef Man]

I have never done the snuba thing...but before I was certified I did think about trying it! At a couple resorts that I stayed at they offered it... I just never felt comfortable with the idea...This makes me wonder just how safe this is!!! I know that it may get folks to try this sport but...saftey is very important and training is still essential anytime you are engaged in this kind of activity!!!

I am glad that both you and your son got through this incident without getting hurt...

 

[ronbeau]

I have never done the snuba thing...but before I was certified I did think about trying it! At a couple resorts that I stayed at they offered it... I just never felt comfortable with the idea...This makes me wonder just how safe this is!!! I know that it may get folks to try this sport but...saftey is very important and training is still essential anytime you are engaged in this kind of activity!!!

I am glad that both you and your son got through this incident without getting hurt...

Add to this the fact that they allow kids as young as 8 years old to do SNUBA (at least in Hawaii).

I think that is too young. I also think the PADI lower limit of 10 years old is too young.

The NAUI minimum of 12 years of age is plenty early enough.

Before anybody blasts me for criticizing the age minimum I an not bashing PADI and this is not a NAUI versus PADI issue.

Also, my daughter is certified and she is just turning 13.

 

[xscreamsuk]

I spent all the ten minute orientation with my head under the water. As did my son. We took to it pretty easily, whereas the other two where with head out of water most of the time, not breathing through the reg. I can only guess this is what lead to the increased air consumption. when we surfaced, the other group of 4 where already back on the boat.

I think more safety / training is essential. For us to run so low, the spg must not have checked for a long part of the dive. at least it's now made me very keen to check my SPG, and very safety conscious when diving. I went back round the wrecks again in my OW course, did all the wrecks in the area 45 minute dive, and still had 1500 PSI left, so I felt much safer on that dive!

 

[Tollie]

Here is something else to think about...

Assume a SNUBA participant consumes .75 cubic feet of air every minute. A new diver will typically consume about this much air... plus or minus a bit. An experienced diver will consume about .5 to .4 cubic feet.

Four SNUBA participants will thus consume about 3 cf per minute at the surface... assuming an average depth of 15 to 20 feet or about 1.5 ATA the four guests will run thru about 4.5 cf a minute... thus a typical AL 80 will run dry in about 17 minutes.

So your DM had you guys down for twice as long as an AL 80 should have lasted with 4 guests breathing off of it. Even assuming that the other two were at the surface for some time it seems to me that he was way more distracted than he should have been.

 

[all4scuba05]

I've never seen a Snuba setup. Where's the primary stage reg located? On the tank like in Scuba? If so, how does it measure ambient pressure at your depth? Am I missing something?

 

[DanBMW]

We use a similar rig (50 foot hose, First stage/Second stage and bottle of air on the surface) for diving several small exhibits, but treat it the same as SCUBA. We also have a SPG attached where it can be viewed and, most important, a safety diver who monitors the dive. It can be very effective, but must be treated the same as SCUBA.

 

[xscreamsuk]

Here is something else to think about...

Assume a SNUBA participant consumes .75 cubic feet of air every minute. A new diver will typically consume about this much air... plus or minus a bit. An experienced diver will consume about .5 to .4 cubic feet.

Four SNUBA participants will thus consume about 3 cf per minute at the surface... assuming an average depth of 15 to 20 feet or about 1.5 ATA the four guests will run thru about 4.5 cf a minute... thus a typical AL 80 will run dry in about 17 minutes.

So your DM had you guys down for twice as long as an AL 80 should have lasted with 4 guests breathing off of it. Even assuming that the other two were at the surface for some time it seems to me that he was way more distracted than he should have been.

2 tanks between the four of us, so your maths is spot on. We were 45 minutes total including the induction bit. The fact the other two participants were personal trainers from So Ca and in bikinis might have been a factor!