Personal involvement in a scuba diving related emergency?

[eleniel]

Two so far - one I'd call an emergency and the second an almost-emergency? And a situation that could've become serious but was addressed early on. All three are equipment related in some way.

1. Out of Air - my dive buddy - he ran out while we were photographing sharks. He didn't want to panic me and I wasn't the closest diver to him so he was assisted by another diver and I didn't know what had happened until after the fact - Apparently he actually ran out during his safety stop and his gauge showed 500psi even when he was out. Testing on the boat showed his tank really was pretty much empty (stuck another reg set on it to see what it read).

2. Stuck inflator button - gear issue - victim and problem solver. I had noticed my buoyancy was a bit off for a couple dives but assumed it was a weighting issue as I had just switched to a thinner wetsuit and assumed I hadn't adjusted my weighting properly - earlier in the trip I'd had no problem achieving neutral buoyancy with little/no air in the BCD but suddenly I kept having too much air and I kept needing to vent it out. I assumed it was operator error until we were on a 100ish foot wall dive with a fun but mild current and the bcd started rapidly inflating. I popped the hose off the inflator and vented all the excess before I'd risen more than 10 feet.
Once I was back to neutral, I pointed it out to my buddy in case I needed assistance later, and proceeded to have a great dive. I even have photos from that dive where the hose is detached.

Oh maybe 3.
We were doing a lake dive in an area with heavy boat traffic so were towing a dive buoy thing on a line. The guy towing it wasn't paying attention and got it tangled around his tanks and valve and somehow around a dock and another line (idk what it was for but it was more a steel cable). He didn't notice and didn't seem aware of where the line was. I was back a bit and saw so got his attention, got him and my buddy to stop (yay three diver group), and quickly untangled him and pointed out the area above where it was getting caught. No emergency happened but it easily could've become bad.

 

[D_Fresh]

I am thankful that, as of now, I can only check one box, Out of Gas, 2 times.

On one dive, I was able to provide air to a diver of a separate group who's "buddies" had moved too far ahead of him. He was quite calm, at 25m he had reached me signaling that she was low on air and got the last breaths from his cylinder just before he received my Octo. Calm assent, safety stop, and a free beer for me later that night.

One other time, different trip, same place, were about 15 meters and a little over 10 minutes into our dive. My buddy was the donor. Similar to the above story, except this time, the OOG diver, who had somehow separated form his group, was not so calm, and had run out of gas on the swim to my buddy. It took a good few moments for us to calm the diver before we could begin our assent. We each had a hold of his shoulders, my buddy on the diver's right, and I on his left with his inflator in my left hand, and basically just held him/rubbed his shoulders while making direct eye contact and gently nodding up and down. (we were not trying to hold him from going anywhere, but to be comforting and reassuring.) Once he was settled, we made out assent, SS, and headed to shore.

 

[Ukmc]

1. My wife had a middle ear barotrauma from unequal ear pressure equalization. I wish valsalva maneuver was not being taught as primary mode of equalizing...
2. My buddy got bent. Dove the same profile. Nothing unusual, no computer warnings on neither his or mine computer. He was diving air, I was diving NitrOx was the only difference. He had to get one dive in the hyperbaric chamber...

 

[scubadada]

Other:

Pulled an unresponsive diver up from a deep dive. She appeared to regain consciousness at about 100 feet, began returning hand signals at 60 feet. Found out later she remembered none of that.

DW

Severe nitrogen narcosis? Or something else where she did not lose her reg and regained function?

 

[Dark Wolf]

I have always suspected a CO2 hit. Water was cold (42°F) and she was in a wetsuit.

I started up the line, looked down and she still had a hand on the line but hadnt left the bottom. I waited a few seconds thinking she was sorting out a piece of gear, but the only movement was bubbles. Descended, grabbed her tank valve, and started ascent.

DW

 

[CT-Rich]

An interesting option would be none of the above. I haven’t had any of those and my guess is a lot of divers would say the same thing. Since the requirement for this pole is to have experienced one of these catastrophes, it gives the impression that they are inevitable.

 

[scubadada]

An interesting option would be none of the above. I haven’t had any of those and my guess is a lot of divers would say the same thing. Since the requirement for this pole is to have experienced one of these catastrophes, it gives the impression that they are inevitable.

Personal involvement in a scuba diving related emergency?

 

[Diving Dubai]

I've been around 3

2 (different divers at different times) lost buoyancy and took a one way ride to the surface.

Both "knew their weight requirements" both failed to make even a cursory pre dive weight check. Both went on precautionary O2 both were required to be checked by dive Dr before being allowed to dive (precaution)

3rd one, took an "undeserved" hit from a 45min square profile dive to 21m - He did take a chamber rid e but unfortunately he'd not read the small print of his cheap dive insurance and since he was 3m below the limit of 18m got the privilege of paying $20,000.

This one was exceeding overweight (+500 dives mostly cold water) and was more than likely dehydrated from the night before

 

[Erich S]

Back in 1977 I was doing dives for my AOW certification when my instructor had a cardiac event near me on the surface about 50 yards out from shore in a flooded mine.
I got to him and removed both his and my gear and I cross chest carried him back to shore.
He spent two weeks in the hospital and yes, I got my AOW on that dive trip!

 

[Graeme Fraser]

Back in 1977 I was doing dives for my AOW certification when my instructor had a cardiac event near me on the surface about 50 yards out from shore in a flooded mine.
I got to him and removed both his and my gear and I cross chest carried him back to shore.
He spent two weeks in the hospital and yes, I got my AOW on that dive trip!

If I'd have been your instructor I'd have signed off your Rescue Diver cert for managing that real-life rescue, never mind AOW!