I was an instructor and cave diver in the Yucatan through the 90's into the 2000's, so I've been invloved in a few incidents, and numerous times have gone into the hyperbaric chamber, as a tender for bent divers (a good buddy, and my cave diving partner, used to help staff the place).
For starters, I've had a few clients run out of air,(or get so close i immediately put them on my octo, and hustled them to the surface), but nothing major from any of those.
I had a client kneel on a stonefish once, and another put his fingers too close to a brown spotted eel, which shredded his fingers. We made straight for a hotel pier, and got him in a taxi and to a doctor.
One time way back in a cave, I watched a slab of rock fall on my buddy, causing a rapid air loss from one of the his back-mount regs/tank valves. I quickly shut that valve off, checked that he was ok (helmet wearer), and then we boogied on home (took over an hour till we could see daylight, and do our deco stop !) Now THAT was a jolt of adrenaline !!! (and as it turned out,
not my scariest cave incident
)
I had a pair of female divers once, that basically ignored the entire pre-dive brief, did what they wanted, then didn't hear me banging on my tank (and screaming and cussing into my regulator!) while they were holding hands and dog paddling along the wall, 20-30 ft below the rest of us, till I swam down and got them to ascend and rejoin the group.
Then, when they were prematurely low on air, I sent them up, reminding them to do a safety stop. I watched them basically float up like balloons.
On the surface, I enthusiastically recommended they skip the next dive, and explained why, but they didn't wanna. So I stretched the surface interval longer than normal, while repeatedly checking them for any symptoms, and they seemed ok, and insisted they were good.
So, with a lengthy 1.5 hour surface interval (all I could manage with other paying clients on board),they were still feeling fine, so I took us all the way up to Paradise reef ( longest boat trip, and the shallowest option available), then had them stick with me over top of the reef, in only 25 ft of water.
Well, afterward we all went to the same restaurant for lunch and while we were eating, one of the women collapsed on the floor !!! My boss and I were taking care of her, while people eating at tables inches away didn't so much as look at us !!! (which was
really weird).
She was coherent but only semi-mobile, so we practically carried her to a taxi and we all ran to the chamber, and got her inside. After the women enthusiastically praised us for our efforts, we found out later they were trying to fabricate some kind of case against us. I wrote a long,detailed letter to PADI, explaining the reality of the incident, and we never heard anything after that.
Another time, i was doing OW lectures for a couple clients, when somebody came to the shop, said a buddy of mine and a diver (that turned out to be his sister visiting from Canada), were lost in the open ocean after diving Barracuda (back when you needed official permission to dive up there, which he seldom bothered with).
Back then, the island had arranged to have a search plane on standby for just these situations, and they asked if I'd go up as a spotter, but they were concerned that since it was getting close to dark, it would be pointless, but I assured them that this guy would definitely have a flashlight with him, and we should go.
So we bolted to the airport, and just as we were boarding the plane, someone ran out and told us they'd been found and picked up by a navy vessel, that was heading in to Cozumel with some sort of mechanical issue. It was actually the ship's cook that spotted them, and when the launch brought them on board, and the captain identified the cook as the guy that spotted them, so my buddy, in a bizarre fit of gratitude, gave him his speargun,LOL !!!
Once again, apologies for the long-winded trip down memory lane !
