Flooded regulator- main and backup

[Coryjack70]

My wife and I were on our 2nd dive ever last week in Cozumel. We decided to use a local dive master that everyone seemed to know but he wasn't a big dive outfit. Just a guy renting out his equipment. During my first dive I exhaled and then inhaled a mouthful of water. Reached for my regulator and it was gone. I just had the mouthpiece. So I bragged my backup, got air and finished my dive. ( I realize now I should've surfaced at that point).
On my second dive, less than an hour later, I noticed my breathing getting wet and each breath restricted my air flow more and more. While trying to reach my guide my air flooded completely. I reached for my backup and same result. I freaked and surfaced on my own. My guide slowly made his way up, asked what happened, purged my regulator and tried it. He said it was ok. We went down again ( again I realize now this was not smart). Ten minutes later I got the same flooding regulator. I signaled my guide and used his backup to surface.

I understand there are many stupid decisions on this dive. I'm new to it and learned a lot of lessons. But what would cause this. I'm a firefighter and use to an scba. I know when my air is getting restricted. I need to know I'm not just going crazy. Does this happen to anyone else?

 

[DogDiver]

Torn second stage diaphragm. Or a **** load of sand/debris in it.

 

[Coryjack70]

Torn second stage diaphragm. Or a **** load of sand/debris in it.

Ok thank you. I suppose it could've been either. I'm not sure how to tell the difference. Is there a way to look at that before diving, or is it something I would have to tear apart the regulator to see?

 

[RayfromTX]

Torn mouthpiece or broken ziptie?

Who was your buddy on the dive? It is not clear why you had to surface alone.

It is good that you sense the mistakes. Was this your second dive in addition to your certification dives?

Rental gear scares me. I haven't had great luck with it, even in our OW class. (leaking bc on two separate occasions) We also had leaking octos on multiple dives prior to that. We have not had gear issues since buying our own.

 

[wgw04024]

I haven't used a rental regulator since OW class. I just feel if my breathing depends on it, I'm going to have my own. If you are sticking with diving, highly recommended.

 

[Coryjack70]

I haven't used a rental regulator since OW class. I just feel if my breathing depends on it, I'm going to have my own. If you are sticking with diving, highly recommended.

Agreed. We just did a discover diving class in Cozumel to see if we'd enjoy it. Actually we did one in maroma the day before and loved it so we tried this one in Cozumel the next day. Still love it but it scared me.

 

[RayfromTX]

Coryjack-
I have a very similar experience getting started in scuba. It is a bit of a long story but my wife and I came to the same conclusion while studying for our certification. We were lucky to not have been injured. We did two discover dives and then went to 60' with minimal instruction on our third dive. I call it mastercard certification. We didn't know what we didn't know and we would not recommend it to others. We did fall in love with scuba as a result of our first four "uncertified" dives and it made us want to get certified and continue on with this wonderful hobby but there is just too much that you need to understand to dive without close one on one supervision until you get certified. Have fun and dive safe. I hope we see a lot of you around here. Are you planning to continue?

 

[BoltSnap]

Haven't used rental scuba equipment, other than Tanks and lead, since my training dives in April of 1984! The couple of times when my checked in luggage was delayed, Palau and Dominica, I just waited for the gear to catch up with me and enjoyed eating, drinking (fruit juices no alcohol) and being lazy on the surface with no diving or renting anything until my equipment was delivered to me.

 

[Coryjack70]

Coryjack-
I have a very similar experience getting started in scuba. It is a bit of a long story but my wife and I came to the same conclusion while studying for our certification. We were lucky to not have been injured. We did two discover dives and then went to 60' with minimal instruction on our third dive. I call it mastercard certification. We didn't know what we didn't know and we would not recommend it to others. We did fall in love with scuba as a result of our first four "uncertified" dives and it made us want to get certified and continue on with this wonderful hobby but there is just too much that you need to understand to dive without close one on one supervision until you get certified. Have fun and dive safe. I hope we see a lot of you around here. Are you planning to continue?

I definitely plan to continue. My wife and I are planning to get certified here in the states and buy our own equipment before ever going back. Sounds like a very similar story. Enjoyed our first dive and malfunctioned at 60'.

 

[Coryjack70]

Torn mouthpiece or broken ziptie?

Who was your buddy on the dive? It is not clear why you had to surface alone.

It is good that you sense the mistakes. Was this your second dive in addition to your certification dives?

Rental gear scares me. I haven't had great luck with it, even in our OW class. (leaking bc on two separate occasions) We also had leaking octos on multiple dives prior to that. We have not had gear issues since buying our own.

It was a broken zip tie. The mouthpiece was missing one the pieces you bite so my movements were moving the regulator around and the mouth piece separated from it.
My buddy was my wife, who was also on her third dive ever ( second day to dive all together) and the dive master that we went with. I surfaced alone because I was too far from him to get to his octo.
We hadn't done certification dives. We were doing a discover scuba program. The only dive we got prior to these was a ten minute 12 foot dive to show we could clear our mask and purge our regulators.