raoulsttexas
Contributor
I had a rough dive yesterday and thought that the lessons I learned would be good to share for newer divers.
I'm a rescue cert'd diver with about 80 dives total. By no means am I the finest diver you'll ever see, but I'm comfortable in most situations including dark, cold northwest diving.
Yesterday, 3 of us head up to Puget Sound near Seattle to dive Sund Rock. It's a favorite site of mine and I haven't gone diving there since I moved out of the area a few months ago. My friend and dive mentor for several years was with me.
I was in a new drysuit and super happy with the fit etc. We geared up and hit the water. My pre-dive weight check SEEMED ok, but I quickly learned that it wasn't.
By about 60', I knew something was wrong, but thought it was a problem with the suit. I was overbreathing, and getting a bit frantic because I thought my purge valve wasn't working. I settled down and realized that my suit was basically free of air, as was my bc. I was neutrally buoyant, but knew that would change quickly as I ascended and was rifling through the air in my tank.
My first thought was, "oh no....I'M the rescue diver here...I have to maintain control". 2nd thought was, I'm going to need some serious help within just a few mins. I got the attention of my mentor buddy and told him that I'm overbreathing. I need a moment to calm down. He helped me out and then pointed to an octopus to get my mind out of the panic cycle. That helped, but I knew it was best to thumb the dive. However, I needed weight! After 2 or 3 confusing hand signals, he found a suitable rock that I carried for the remainder of the dive (which was just an ascent an exit).
The "good" part of the dive lasted 9 minutes. The total dive lasted 23 minutes. This, btw, is NOT my normal bottom time!
As we debriefed on the surface, I remembered that when I was just beginning, I didn't want to admit when things were going wrong. Pride. However, in this scenario, had I let pride get in the way, it could have ended VERY badly for me.
So, my point:
As a new diver, DON'T let pride / machismo get in the way of safety. If something is going wrong during a dive, LET YOUR BUDDY KNOW! Even if they're not as experienced as you, they are probably in a better state than you and will be able to help you remain safe. There's always another dive or another day that will be much better.
Just my .02psi....
I'm a rescue cert'd diver with about 80 dives total. By no means am I the finest diver you'll ever see, but I'm comfortable in most situations including dark, cold northwest diving.
Yesterday, 3 of us head up to Puget Sound near Seattle to dive Sund Rock. It's a favorite site of mine and I haven't gone diving there since I moved out of the area a few months ago. My friend and dive mentor for several years was with me.
I was in a new drysuit and super happy with the fit etc. We geared up and hit the water. My pre-dive weight check SEEMED ok, but I quickly learned that it wasn't.
By about 60', I knew something was wrong, but thought it was a problem with the suit. I was overbreathing, and getting a bit frantic because I thought my purge valve wasn't working. I settled down and realized that my suit was basically free of air, as was my bc. I was neutrally buoyant, but knew that would change quickly as I ascended and was rifling through the air in my tank.
My first thought was, "oh no....I'M the rescue diver here...I have to maintain control". 2nd thought was, I'm going to need some serious help within just a few mins. I got the attention of my mentor buddy and told him that I'm overbreathing. I need a moment to calm down. He helped me out and then pointed to an octopus to get my mind out of the panic cycle. That helped, but I knew it was best to thumb the dive. However, I needed weight! After 2 or 3 confusing hand signals, he found a suitable rock that I carried for the remainder of the dive (which was just an ascent an exit).
The "good" part of the dive lasted 9 minutes. The total dive lasted 23 minutes. This, btw, is NOT my normal bottom time!
As we debriefed on the surface, I remembered that when I was just beginning, I didn't want to admit when things were going wrong. Pride. However, in this scenario, had I let pride get in the way, it could have ended VERY badly for me.
So, my point:
As a new diver, DON'T let pride / machismo get in the way of safety. If something is going wrong during a dive, LET YOUR BUDDY KNOW! Even if they're not as experienced as you, they are probably in a better state than you and will be able to help you remain safe. There's always another dive or another day that will be much better.
Just my .02psi....