Accidents and Incidents:What mistakes have you made?

[TSandM]

Well, I don't know about that one, Mike. I was wondering, when I read your story, how long a fish with a grossly distended swim bladder can survive. I suspect you prioritized properly, and got the fish back down where it belonged, and then had the strength and presence of mind to deal with your buoyancy.

I assume you were diving wet -- in a dry suit, you couldn't have gotten that deep without doing SOMETHING about your buoyancy!

 

[Mike Boswell]

I was wondering, when I read your story, how long a fish with a grossly distended swim bladder can survive.

It is amazing that a fish like that can survive, but once he recovered, he swam off pretty calmly, and seemed unharmed.

I wonder why they don't get the bends?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

That brings to mind something I ran into today. A buddy asked me to check his valve at the entry to a shore dive. I turned and turned until it was open. I don't know if it started closed or cracked open but it was definitely not close top open.

That brings a valve story to mind ... on my first 200' dive. We had completed our bottom time and ascended to the point where we were getting ready for our first deco switch. As we were ascending from 80 feet to 70 feet I deployed my reg and went to turn on my tank valve. The valve turned a few times ... then the knob just came off in my hand. As we hit 70 feet my instructor signaled for me to make the switch. I held out the valve knob, watching in dismay as the nut and washer fell out of the knob and sank into the abyss. The instructor signaled for me to go switch bottles with the safety diver. I turned to comply, took a couple kicks, then it occurred to me that the valve on the bottle I had was open, so I turned back to the instructor, signaled OK, got his confirmation on the bottle, stuck the reg in my mouth and shoved the valve knob in my pocket. We completed deco without further annoyances and fixed the tank valve later that day, back at his house.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[dumpsterDiver]

About a dozen years ago, four of us were on a boat, 100 miles from shore, hooked into a steel freighter wreck with a depth of around 200 feet. 3 of us decided to do the dive. I had not done that many spearfishing dives below 140 and was a little nervous and knew that everyone was going to be hunting and we were pretty much all on our own.

The fourth guy was asleep and as we prepared to dive, I thought it was appropriate to at least wake him up so he would know we were diving, what time we entered the water etc. so he would be better able to respond should something happen 100 miles offshore (say when he wakes up and everyone has been gone for an undetermined time period), but my concerns were viewed as being overly cautious. 10 years earlier, I had vowed to never again dive from an unattended anchored vessel, but somehow this didn’t really violate my rule, because someone was aboard. This added to my nervousness a little.

We dropped in and swam down the anchor line and found warm water, slight current and 50-70 ft visibility. The anchor was hooked into the wreck and I tried to make a mental note of its location, because it was obviously very important that I ascend up the anchor for my deco stops. I deployed some chum on the deck in the vicinity of the hook. It consisted of very small anchovies, as I swam away I looked back and made a mental note that the small silvery, shiny fish laying on the deck would be a good marker for the anchor location.

We had no set time we were supposed to be back at the anchor, but the other guys were diving single 80’s and I had a steel 125. I don’t remember much about the spearfishing, I probably took a few fish, but apparently nothing memorable. I swam a around the wreck and slowly worked my way back to the anchor. When I got “back”, I couldn’t find it. I was instantly really scared (because of my deco) and was pretty narced and pissed and then I remembered the anchovies. Well there they were, laying on the deck!

But I looked for a minute or two and was pretty sure this was the general location of the anchor. I was confused, the other guys had chum also, maybe they had deployed here and this was the wrong spot? I looked over the side, down to the sand and could see nothing to indicate it dragged off, but I was up around 170, so it was a ways to the sand. I layed there for a moment, trying to figure if I should cut my losses and begin a free ascent (I had no wreck reel) or should I keep accruing deco and searching?

Then all of a sudden I hear the most faint screaming…I look way out in the sand, down current, and right at the limit of visibility, I can just make out the other two divers. I couldn’t see the anchor or the line, but I shot over to them and realized that they were ascending up the ANCHOR LINE. If I had been another 30 seconds later, they and the boat would have drifted out of visual range. I was pretty damn happy to see them.

After the dive, I asked why the hell they pulled the hook off the wreck. They said we didn’t see you around, so we figured you already went up the anchor line and we didn’t want to do another dive to pull the hook, so we just threw it off into the sand and allowed the boat to drift off the wreck. My buddies!

 

[TSandM]

Oh, that story reminds me of another big mistake, although it didn't cost ME anything. We were diving off a charter boat, and there were five of us on it. Three were experienced and two were more novice. The two novices were diving together (husband and wife). We were diving one of my favorite places, a scuttled ferry. The site is known for strong surface currents, and the wreck is very scattered on the bottom and tends to hook anchors.

Our briefing from the captain was to go down the anchor line to the wreck. When we returned, we were to make sure the hook was free of debris, so it could be pulled. Our team went first, and in fact, there was strong surface current. We did our dive, and came back to the anchor, which was in the wreckage where there was a lot of twisted metal. We picked the anchor up and moved it (actually, Peter did, which is another story, because he used his wing to do it). We took it about 20 feet, about 10 feet or so off the wreck. Visibility was good enough that, if you KNEW where it was, you could see it from where it had been. But if you didn't, you could easily miss it.

It wasn't until we were doing our 20 foot stop that it occurred to me that the second team wasn't going to be able to find the anchor. In fact, they found another line and started up that one, but it ended about 30 feet above the wreck, and they had to do drift deco from there.

Everything went fine. We reboarded and the boat pulled the hook and picked up our friends. But it could easily have been otherwise.

 

[nikos81]

I have 2 or 3 different stories. The first happened to me. I was doing my second AOW dive, and we were just got in the water.Our instructor led us to the anchor line and we started our descend. It was at this time that I realised I couldn't descend at all. I had all my air out of my BCD,but still no descend. I look at my waist and there is no weightbelt...I signaled my instructor and returned at the boat to get my weights...

If the first incident is a bit hilarious,the second is not. We were on a group dive into a small cave.It was a recreational dive,not very deep (16m/54ft) one either. just before entering the cave one person of the group started waving at his buddy,doing ununderstandable moves and signals to him,and generally beingg in a complete panic. The dive leaders tried to calm him down and the managed to do so in the beginning.But it was already late to spoil his dive. He had to ascent after 20mins, since he had 50bar pressure in his tank (500psi I guess). Later after we all had our dive finished, I asked him what happened. He admitted to have been paniced,because his mask was filling with water and had to take it out many times.Maybe it was true,maybe not,but it's not the point. Seeing him in a panic made me decide,that no matter what, I MUST always be calm and ask for help.

The third incident was another stressed diver who run out of air within 7 mins. He was full of stress by the time we got in the water. We started our descend, and reached the bottom. Our leader signaled us to tell him how much air we had and it amazed me that this specific diver had already 130 bar...It was a deep dive to a Messerschmith WW II wreck,so he managed to ruin our dive as well...Within 7mins he signaled to our leader informing him that he reached the safety limit (80bar)...So we all started our ascend...I was so dissapointed that day...At least I had the same dive two days ago into this wreck and this time we stayed more than half an hour and I must admit it was a really pleasant dive :0) I will definetely go down there again.

 

[peterbj7]

dumpsterDiver's story makes me realise that the mentoring I received when I was a new diver in UK waters was really very good. We had rigorous procedures for ensuring we knew who was still on the wreck and who had ascended, by clipping off a personal token on the way down and unclipping it when passing that point on the way up. Very important, since most people solo dive, even when diving "in a group".

Though I once screwed everyone up. The wreck was quite deep - IIRC about 85 mtr - and broken in the middle by about 30 degrees, with the two sections separated about 50ft. The shot was (happened to be) on the bow section, so I descended over/through that to the seabed, then followed the debris to the stern section where I found two massive and gleaming brass props. Made the dive worth while. My dive plan dictated that I then start to ascend, so I went up to the deck of the stern section and started heading towards the bow. When I reached the break in the ship the visibility was such that I couldn't see the bow section, so I had to guess and swim off into the murk. I found the bow section, but didn't know where I was on it (the ship had been almost 300ft long and commensurately wide). I knew the shot was on a high part well towards the bow itself, so I ignored the first few high bits. I was getting to the point of having to ascend again, so I took what I guessed might be the right part. it wasn't, but I couldn't go back down to look any more. So I sent up my DSMB (I was at that point around 65mtr - my reel has 100 mtr of line) and cast off. My ascent took me maybe 40 minutes, and when I surfaced there was the dive boat waiting for me. But as soon as I was aboard the boat rushed back to the wreck to collect the other divers, who were all starting to surface. They had had an unpleasant deco, because the current was quite strong and they had had to endure it for the whole time. Had I found the shot from the wreck, the last diver up would have unclipped the "lazy shot" (an auxiliary line) and everyone would have deco'd in comfort in nil relative current. Cost me a lot of beers that night.

 

[peterbj7]

... duplicate ...

 

[TEArrington]

Mistakes I have made... Well, I'm sure there are more, but here are the ones I can remember:
- Taking off my fins too soon and starting to drift away (It happened once, I put them back on and swam back to the boat. Haven't repeated that one).
- Losing an integrated weight pocket during a dive without noticing what was wrong (It's happened twice. Once because someone pulled it out but no one noticed, and once because I didn't notice during BWRAF that the DM had not snapped the pocket in place correctly and the weights came out near the end of my dive). Fortunately, in both cases I was on or near a line, and managed to carefully make my way to the surface with safety stops but still didn't figure out exactly what was going on until after I was safely on the boat. Just knew I was positively buoyant "for some reason."
- Several times I completely lost my situational awareness while dealing with some minor problem or seeing something cool, and fortunately recovered it without a really bad problem. Examples include bumping into a buddy who was completely still while repeatedly trying to clearing my ears with one contact lens lost to the ocean or almost colliding with a barracuda while watching a turtle. These things tend to happen on "easy" dives - shallow reef, great viz and warm water. If conditions aren't "hard" it seems to be more likely for me to stop paying attention. Stupid, huh?
- Not knowing my dive computer or dec rules well enough as an AOW diver on a wreck, so that when other members of my dive team do stupid stuff & I get stuck at depth longer than the dive plan I would know what the heck that "10 ft ceiling" message on my computer meant. Now I know!

No one asked, but there is one common mistake I don't ever want to make: Even as a newer diver, I am able to say "I'll sit this one out". When things have been messed up and seem to get progressively worse as the day goes on, I've always been ok with sitting one out. Or, when folks with more experience start talking about crazy ultimate dives that are clearly outside the scope of my training and experience, I can say "you guys have fun". Sure, sometimes it means I miss a great dive, but sometimes it's for the best to take some time to regroup and get yourself together.

 

[kaerius]

Let's see...

Most painful mistake:
First shore dive, and first dive using SMB, beach cleanup dive. Unrolled the SMB, started unknotting the line, noticed it wasn't attached to the SMB, which had sunk. But hey, no problemo, only about 2 meters deep, so I "skin dived" down to it and grabbed it... that was my painful mistake, as I ended up having to put my legs down and push against the bottom to get back up, since I was in full dive gear! Knocked my knee on coral. I never knew scars could be red(it's been months). Negative buoyancy and skin diving do not go hand in hand.

Most embarassing mistake:
During IDC pool session. skill demonstrations, air depletion excercise. Forgetting to tell my DM to turn the air back on before switching back to my own reg.

Dumbest mistake:
Allowing a drunk littigator instructor candidate to dive with me.