Out of air - circling shark - then paranoid about DCS!!!

[manni-yunk]

I was in NC doing what was the 5th out of 6 dives over 3 days. As usualy we plan our dive (me and my buddy who is a friend of 30 years so our communication is great and we have most of the standard signals as well as about 15 of our own). Get to depth (115 ft) and the plan is for me to spot and shoot a grouper ( we take turns with the gun) and then work as a team to get it under control and into the bag - then evaluate our air and surface.

We find a nice black grouper quickly and I shoot him but he tucks into some structure between a part of the wreck and a large rock. I can see him - and see the spear right in the gill plate. I backed out a little and told my buddy that I was going to try to get under the wreck and work the fish loose - keep an eye on me and my gear for snags (one of our signals!). I reach the fish and cannot budge him. He pinned his lips against the wreck and seemed to flair his gills to wedge himself in. He was pretty big and I cant move him. I backed out after a few minutes and checked my air. 1500 - I knew my buddy had more to start with but he checks his and all is fine. I went back, tried again but it was useless. I retreived my spear from the fish and backed out - reloaded and we started working toward the anchor line with about 1400 in my tank.

I wasnt planning on taking another shot - I only reloaded to make carrying the spear easier - but a gag grouper swam out right in front of us and seemed to freeze there as if to say take me! I took the shot and we started to retrieve him. As we did I checked and I have 1300 - I signal to my buddy that I really need to get to the anchor line so lets hurry. As we get the fish in hand - a shark (not a sand tiger - the mate said it was a reef shark) starts to circle us and bumps my buddy. I am back to back with him at this point about 10 feet below and 30 feet horizontal to where we are tied in. I look down and gauge says 1100. The shark came in close for another bump and my buddy pushes him with the back of the speargun . I grab the fish, remove the spear - and Drop the fish. The shark can have him as I have 1000 in my tank and my breathing is rapid. My buddy gives me the OK - signal to agree with my move and we watch the shark grab the fish and we start to ascend and head towards the anchor.

This is where it gets ugly. As we get level with the anchor - a current - a very strong current appears that we are swimming against. It WAS NOT there when we went down (confirmed with the other 20 divers later) and came from nowhere. We swan into the current and barely made any ground. I looked at my gauge and now Im just below 800 and breathing like a madman. I was thinking we either need to get lower or higher than this current and I am not goiing deeper with my linited air. We were at about 101 ft now. We head up to about 90 feet and the current lets up but since the current was in the opposite direction of surface wind, we are now further from the anchor. We get to the anchor line in about 90 ft of water and I am down to just under 500 and I am unable to slow my breathing. I let my buddy know that I am really low and stay close. He says OK. We start out ascent and as we work up - my reg is getting harder and harder to breath from. I look down and see under 300. I am sucking hard. I signal to my buddy that I am switching to my pony (which is a 19). He says ok and we hold hands. (our own thing - if either one ends up on pony we stay connected from that point on) I get 4......exactly 4 breaths from my pony and I cant suck anything from it. I check the dive, predive lever and it is fine. I am getting freaked out as now my pony is empty with me only getting about 4 breaths. I tell my buddy that I have no air in the pony and he looks at me in disbelief. I breath from his octo as we ascend but we couldnt get it away from his body as it had become tangled around something with the mono from the speargun so I had my head in his armpit (with low air we never had the chance to tie it back up) as we ascend the anchor line. We started to ascend faster on purpose at this point but I couldnt tell how fast from only judgiing the feel of the line going through my hand. We get to the bar which is at 20 feet - get our tangle straightened out and start to relax. He signals that he is getting low so I figure no problem - I will go breath form the boat reg that is attached to the bar. When I get there - the boat reg was not clipped to the bar like it always is so I pulled away from the bar as my first breath was from an upside down reg and lost my mask for a second. I turned the reg around, cleared my mask and relaxed. BUT - I had 3 minutes of deco and now I am well away from the bar and only at a depth of 5 feet (for 1 second). I started to try to control my bouyance and it was tough with empty tanks. I sucked every last bit of air from my BC and got back down to between 12 and 13 feet then had to focus on shallow breathing and relax as best as I could while I did my 3 min of deco - 3 min safety stop. Now the bar is full and I think noone wanted to go past me since they saw me breathing that reg they figured that something not good happened. I signaled that it was ok for them to go passed me and start boarding and they did. I hung for another 5 minutes then boarded the boat.

I got my gear off - then started to unwind.


What did I learn -
1) dont shoot with under 1500 even if I am close to the anchor line.
2) current at depth can come from nowhere...and when it does my breathing went through tthe roof
3) a rented 19 pony (only thing I rented) with no gauge is useless if I dont personally confirm the fill with a gauge.
4) I am buying a 30 or 40 pony this week with a button gauge.


I was also going down with less air than normal since my LP95s are usually filled at home to 3200 giving me about 115 of air. The dive shop in NV wouldnt fill them past 2400 so I was starting with about 88. I should have rented their larger tanks instead of using mine. Since I never go past about 4 minutes of mandatory deco we would have called the dive at the same time and had plenty of air to deal with the shark and current.
I was paranoid that maybe from coming up to fast or going to 5 feet I might be in trouble plus the excertion on this dive. Went through the dive profile , and looking back for about 1 minute we ascended at a MAX rate of 42 feet/minute - the rest of the time we were between 30 and 32 feet per minute. I did all mandatory deco, plus safety 3 plus an additional 5. I was still paranoid about every tingle so I called DAN and they said that they were not to concerned with the symptons I had since they were all easily explainable and monitor for others but I should be fine. Especially since it was 26 hours later when I called them and I was mostly fine. Really - I called for peace of mind.

I know I made mistakes, but man was I scared for a while there. I was as calm as can be - and never lost my head - although I wish I could have controlled my breathing a little better when it hit the fan -

 

[Walter]

Other lessons to be learned:

1. Don't drop your fish.
Giving up fish to aggressive sharks teaches them that divers are a source of food.

2. Jab aggressive sharks with the spear point.
When sharks meet aggression, they almost always back down. Sharks are predators, but are also victims of predators from time to time. They do not want to be eaten.

3. In a strong current, go hand over hand along the wreck to the anchor/mooring line.
This will get you to the up line quicker, you will not tire as much, you will not build up as much CO2, and you will use less air.

4. In an emergency, take slow deep breaths.
This will keep you calm, you will use less air, and it will prevent the feeling that you can't get enough air.

5. Don't make deco dives without lots of air in reserve.
Things go wrong on dives. Expect it. When things go wrong, it often takes longer and you use more air to finish the dive. Staged decompression requires more air than dives within the NDL.

6. While the recommended ascent rate is 30 ft/minute, the ascent rate for emergencies is 60 ft/minute.

 

[manni-yunk]

Other lessons to be learned:

1. Don't drop your fish.
Giving up fish to aggressive sharks teaches them that divers are a source of food.

2. Jab aggressive sharks with the spear point.
When sharks meet aggression, they almost always back down. Sharks are predators, but are also victims of predators from time to time. They do not want to be eaten.

3. In a strong current, go hand over hand along the wreck to the anchor/mooring line.
This will get you to the up line quicker, you will not tire as much, you will not build up as much CO2, and you will use less air.

4. In an emergency, take slow deep breaths.
This will keep you calm, you will use less air, and it will prevent the feeling that you can't get enough air.

5. Don't make deco dives without lots of air in reserve.
Things go wrong on dives. Expect it. When things go wrong, it often takes longer and you use more air to finish the dive. Staged decompression requires more air than dives within the NDL.

6. While the recommended ascent rate is 30 ft/minute, the ascent rate for emergencies is 60 ft/minute.

Thank You

1) I know not to in general - but I didnt want to deal with the shark given my air situation. We had several similar incidents over the 3 days with sharks - but never gave up the fish except on this situation where the shark was actually my last concern

3) Would have required going back down to the wreck (about 10-15 feet) which I didnt want to do - but should have. Looking back - I would have used less air going down, going hand over hand, then surfacing. I underestimated the current until we were really in it.
5) Wasnt planned as a deco dive - but ended up there with the shark situation. It last a few minutes and that put me into the deco. Plus - I was the only person in deco since I still keep my computer set ultra-conservative (SF2).

6) I know that the max is 60 and that some of the guys I dive with were trained at 60ft/min. I knew there shouldnt have been DCS with our ascent - but was also paranoid with the situation and amount of excertion from the dive.

My SAC rate was MUCH higher than any other dive I have done and now will adjust my safety planning accordingly.

Ive made a few more "rules" for myself to follow while spearfishing or any other strenuous activity including min. amount of air I will start the dive with, turning the dive even sooner, with more air, and min air that I will pul the trigger for the last time on any dive.

I think I will be a safer diver due to this incident - but still wish it never happened!

 

[Jersey]

Great read ~ thanks for sharing!

 

[gcbryan]

Get a real gauge rather than a button gauge. The button gauge may tell you before you get in the water that the tank is full but may be unreadable underwater so you still won't know if your tank leaked once underwater.

 

[sk8teguy]

We don't dive from an anchored boat. We dive with either four or five divers and two are always up while the other two or three are down. The current can change too rapidly in the Atlantic, or God forbid an anchor line breaks or slips, or the anchor slips! I can't envision the day where a dive, 45 miles offshore in 100' to 140' of water, is more important than being able to make it back to the boat. We will dive from an anchored boat in the Gulf of Mexico in 60' or less of water, but we usually run our reel lines off of the boat. As for the shark, I use my spear tips to jab them. I have never had one return after a good jab. If they do, I have a 44 Magnum PPD that will finish the job, and it will be on my stringer...hehehehe! Although I dive with a 120 hp, I also dive with a 19 pony, but if I am going any deeper than 100', I use a 30 on the left side of my tank with my 19 on the right side. This also gives me three regulators for redundancy. I have a guage on the 30, but I don't bother with a guage on the 19. I do verify there pressure of the 19 before each dive and top the ponies off with my equalizer line. I'll run my 120 hp to 500 psi before ascending, but keep in mind that I have a 30 (eqivulent of a little more than 850 psi compared to my 120 hp), and a 19 (eqivulent of a little more than 525 psi compared to my 120 lp), so I know that once I get to my 19, it is time to be getting to the boat! I believe in being over prepared not under. One never knows what type of problem may be encountered. I knew a guy that had an earblock, and had to stay down way past what he had planned. If not for his oversized pony, he would have been screwed. I also get to skip the added weights, and can drop my ponies at any time if need be. In my case, I would not have had to hand my fish to the shark! Yea, a lift bag would have been used for the shark...lol.

 

[NC Wreck Diver]

Hey Manni-Yunk:

Sounds like you kept your head with your spearfishing experience. Nice work. I agree with most of the other posts. I like to spearfish in NC too. It's a great sport, but can come with many contingencies to deal with. For all my diving, especially spearfishing, I carry lots of air. Double 80's, and a 30 Sling bottle. I know you are getting a larger pony from your post with an SPG.

I think one of the things you may not have considered (and I know you'll think I'm crazy) is to drop the gun. It was one piece of equipment that was getting in the way, especially with the mono stringer hazzard. The gun was not helping to save your life. You can replace it, and it was one more thing that you needed to deal with as an OOA problem was clearly getting critical. Just my humble opinion.................

You may consider carrying more backgas, maybe not. It's your call. I try to let time be my limiting resource, not gas. Food for thought. Safe diving to you.

 

[manni-yunk]

Hey Manni-Yunk:

Sounds like you kept your head with your spearfishing experience. Nice work. I agree with most of the other posts. I like to spearfish in NC too. It's a great sport, but can come with many contingencies to deal with. For all my diving, especially spearfishing, I carry lots of air. Double 80's, and a 30 Sling bottle. I know you are getting a larger pony from your post with an SPG.

I think one of the things you may not have considered (and I know you'll think I'm crazy) is to drop the gun. It was one piece of equipment that was getting in the way, especially with the mono stringer hazzard. The gun was not helping to save your life. You can replace it, and it was one more thing that you needed to deal with as an OOA problem was clearly getting critical. Just my humble opinion.................

You may consider carrying more backgas, maybe not. It's your call. I try to let time be my limiting resource, not gas. Food for thought. Safe diving to you.

Actually - I came within 1 second of dropping the gun - And probably should have. If my buddy wasnt within arms reach I would have left the gun.

Im also never going in again without SIGNIFICANTLY more air even if I dont plan on using it. Those tanks only filled to 2400 were only holding about 88 - that plus the short filled 19's and I was not carrying enough. I should have rented when they said they wouldnt fill past 2400 - but then again, knowing that sharks and current can come out of nowhere, I probably should have turned the dive quicker. I felt what I guess was a false sense of security knowing the anchor line was so close.

At home I get my LP95's filled up to hold 115-118 of air - that plus the 30 (a full 30 instead of a short 19) with verified pony numbers should do the trick. Im also looking at a couple HP130s for deeper dives. Maybe, Maybe - I might turn my LP 95s into doubles - but I doubt it.

I learned a few lessons - I guess thats the only good thing is that it was a great learning experience - but I think I used up the second of my 9 lives!

 

[manni-yunk]

We don't dive from an anchored boat. We dive with either four or five divers and two are always up while the other two or three are down. The current can change too rapidly in the Atlantic, or God forbid an anchor line breaks or slips, or the anchor slips! I can't envision the day where a dive, 45 miles offshore in 100' to 140' of water, is more important than being able to make it back to the boat. We will dive from an anchored boat in the Gulf of Mexico in 60' or less of water, but we usually run our reel lines off of the boat. As for the shark, I use my spear tips to jab them. I have never had one return after a good jab. If they do, I have a 44 Magnum PPD that will finish the job, and it will be on my stringer...hehehehe! Although I dive with a 120 hp, I also dive with a 19 pony, but if I am going any deeper than 100', I use a 30 on the left side of my tank with my 19 on the right side. This also gives me three regulators for redundancy. I have a guage on the 30, but I don't bother with a guage on the 19. I do verify there pressure of the 19 before each dive and top the ponies off with my equalizer line. I'll run my 120 hp to 500 psi before ascending, but keep in mind that I have a 30 (eqivulent of a little more than 850 psi compared to my 120 hp), and a 19 (eqivulent of a little more than 525 psi compared to my 120 lp), so I know that once I get to my 19, it is time to be getting to the boat! I believe in being over prepared not under. One never knows what type of problem may be encountered. I knew a guy that had an earblock, and had to stay down way past what he had planned. If not for his oversized pony, he would have been screwed. I also get to skip the added weights, and can drop my ponies at any time if need be. In my case, I would not have had to hand my fish to the shark! Yea, a lift bag would have been used for the shark...lol.

That anchor was tied in with chain and wasnt going anywhere - in NJ we tie in(but not with chain). We try to never do a free ascent. - If necessary - we have bags and wreck reels or Jersey reels - but it is last case scenario. In this situation - I think I was safer with my buddy heading for the anchor line than running a bag. Plus I know if we could get to 20 ft there was unlimited air at the end of the line. If we go up a bag line - We could have been drifting away from our anchored boat with limited air for deco. Plus - there were 20 other divers that would soon be heading for the anchor line.

 

[manni-yunk]

sorry - Dup post