Marty!
Registered
So I had my first serious incident underwater yesterday, and it's left me quite shaken, and I'm trying to find out some answers. Maybe some of you can shed some light.
First some background info on me:
Been diving since May 2009, so while I'm relatively new to the sport, my wife and I just took off with it after getting certified, and have racked up ~150 dives since then (a fair bit in 2+ years), a combination of cold water dives in Canada (fresh and saltwater), and and tropical stuff in Carribean/Florida/Hawaii. I'm Rescue Diver and Nitrox certified, have done ~60 dives on Nitrox, and I dive in a drysuit for the colder water of the Great Lakes and North Atlantic. I don't have my Drysuit specialty, but I have 25 dives in it, most of those in excess of 100 feet, frequently in 33-40 degree water. I've never had a problem underwater, even when going deep (though I don't have my Deep specialty). I've always been well aware when narcosis is affecting me more than usual, but I've always been able to control/work through it.
So I was in Newfoundland, Canada, for some diving on some wrecks in the North Atlantic. I had done these wrecks last year with no issues. It's cold water diving, approx. 35 degrees F at depth at this time of year. I was in my Bare D6 Pro Dry suit, diving 28% nitrox, using my Suunto Vyper2 computer.
Two days previously I was also diving the wrecks. The seas were quite rough, and I can be susceptible to seasickness at times, and was feeling it that day. Did the first of my two dives to 90 feet, and I felt the narcosis was hitting me particularly hard. I was feeling seasick, had some stress caused by some equipment issues, but the dive itself was manageable, didn't cut it short, and had no problems. Because of the seasickness, I called off the second dive.
So that brings me to yesterday. Weather was perfect - sunny and flat seas, no too hot out, and no equipment issues to stress me out. Suiting up was no problem, and was feeling fine. I get into the water with my buddy, and start descending to this deep wreck - we'd done this wreck before, and we'd planned on a depth range of 90-120 feet, staying within recreational limits for 28% nitrox. Everything's fine once we get down - my buddy is taking some pictures at about 100 feet, while I'm looking around at the marine life.
After about 5 minutes of this, we move, exploring more of the wreck (just the exterior - no penetration). After about 8 minutes dive time, I descend briefly to 120 feet, and I notice (what I thought was) narcosis hitting me pretty hard, so I ascend to about 100-105 feet. But it isn't getting better.
I've experienced narcosis before, and know the feeling - people constantly describe it as similar to alcohol effects, that simple actions become much more difficult. But this was something else. My vision started to narrow, and this overwhelming feeling came over me, that I just couldn't stay down any longer. I don't know how else to describe it. This feeling gradually set on over the course of 2-3 minutes, and as it got worse I just started ascending. All I knew was I couldn't stay down, that I had to get out. I was incredibly scary, that if I stayed down, I was going to die. I had plenty of air and no-deco time (I remember checking down there, I had about 2000psi left (was diving steel 100's), and at 100 feet had about 6 mins no-deco time left). I didn't think to signal my buddy to go up, so I just started ascending - I knew we were a good ways from the mooring line and I that couldn't make it back to it - but there was no current at all and calm seas, so I didn't worry about it.
By the time my buddy noticed I was gone, I was far above her, ascending quickly. I just felt like I had to get out of there, but I wouldn't describe it as full-on panicking. I knew at the time I had do a controlled ascent, so I was constantly looking at my computer and venting air from my BC and drysuit - a couple of time I ascended too fast for my Sunnto computer, but it uses 33 ft/min as too fast, so I wasn't worried to much about that anyways. I knew I was going slower than my bubbles, and mostly within the ascent limits of my computer. A safety stop was out of the question for me at the time, but I would call my ascent controlled. Looking back on my computer history, it says I made the ascent from 105 feet in 4 minutes.
I surfaced about 30 yards from the boat, a little dizzy, but saw it, indicated I was not okay but that I could swim to the boat. Got out of the water, they put me on pure O2. Other than a slight headache which went away after about 5 mins on O2, I didn't feel any other pains. No joint stiffness, no pains, etc. I was shaken to be sure, and extremely worried about what my buddy (my wife) must have thought about what was going on down there. She surfaced shortly after me, after making a controlled ascent, safety stop, to see if I was okay. After about 10 mins after my dive, I felt completely fine, though quite emotional from what happened, and scared. I obviously called off the second dive that day.
So what happened? I was diving a familiar wreck, in water temps I had dived before (not a massive amount of experience, but nothing that created any problems before), with a drysuit I had used several times before, at depths I've dived before, in perfect surface conditions, with no health conditions I'm aware of. I didn't go into deco at depth, I didn't ascend too rapidly at depth, and all my equipment seemed to be working fine. One thing I've never considered that another diver mentioned could have contributed to it was descent speed - from water entry to 100 feet took 2:40 - apparently this is fast, according to the tec divers on the boat. This could be my inexperience taking, but I never knew or considered that descent speed could be a factor.
Here's the data on my dive (some repeated):
Suunto Vyper2 computer
6mm neoprene drysuit
Water temp 37 degrees at depth
Diving 28% nitrox in a Steel 100 tank, starting pressure 3500psi
First dive of the day
Max depth 121 feet
Total dive time 19 mins
2:40 descent to 100 feet
12 mins between 95 and 120 feet
4 minute ascent from 100 feet to surface
End pressure about 1800psi
I was extremely scared down there, and all I could think of was get the hell to the surface, but I was able to self-rescue (I guess), and maintain my senses enough to know to do a controlled ascent, vent air, look at my computer and depth. I'm not sure exactly what to draw from this. I was to be able to dive deep again, and until now I've never had an issue.
Thanks very much for following this rant and any advice you may have.
First some background info on me:
Been diving since May 2009, so while I'm relatively new to the sport, my wife and I just took off with it after getting certified, and have racked up ~150 dives since then (a fair bit in 2+ years), a combination of cold water dives in Canada (fresh and saltwater), and and tropical stuff in Carribean/Florida/Hawaii. I'm Rescue Diver and Nitrox certified, have done ~60 dives on Nitrox, and I dive in a drysuit for the colder water of the Great Lakes and North Atlantic. I don't have my Drysuit specialty, but I have 25 dives in it, most of those in excess of 100 feet, frequently in 33-40 degree water. I've never had a problem underwater, even when going deep (though I don't have my Deep specialty). I've always been well aware when narcosis is affecting me more than usual, but I've always been able to control/work through it.
So I was in Newfoundland, Canada, for some diving on some wrecks in the North Atlantic. I had done these wrecks last year with no issues. It's cold water diving, approx. 35 degrees F at depth at this time of year. I was in my Bare D6 Pro Dry suit, diving 28% nitrox, using my Suunto Vyper2 computer.
Two days previously I was also diving the wrecks. The seas were quite rough, and I can be susceptible to seasickness at times, and was feeling it that day. Did the first of my two dives to 90 feet, and I felt the narcosis was hitting me particularly hard. I was feeling seasick, had some stress caused by some equipment issues, but the dive itself was manageable, didn't cut it short, and had no problems. Because of the seasickness, I called off the second dive.
So that brings me to yesterday. Weather was perfect - sunny and flat seas, no too hot out, and no equipment issues to stress me out. Suiting up was no problem, and was feeling fine. I get into the water with my buddy, and start descending to this deep wreck - we'd done this wreck before, and we'd planned on a depth range of 90-120 feet, staying within recreational limits for 28% nitrox. Everything's fine once we get down - my buddy is taking some pictures at about 100 feet, while I'm looking around at the marine life.
After about 5 minutes of this, we move, exploring more of the wreck (just the exterior - no penetration). After about 8 minutes dive time, I descend briefly to 120 feet, and I notice (what I thought was) narcosis hitting me pretty hard, so I ascend to about 100-105 feet. But it isn't getting better.
I've experienced narcosis before, and know the feeling - people constantly describe it as similar to alcohol effects, that simple actions become much more difficult. But this was something else. My vision started to narrow, and this overwhelming feeling came over me, that I just couldn't stay down any longer. I don't know how else to describe it. This feeling gradually set on over the course of 2-3 minutes, and as it got worse I just started ascending. All I knew was I couldn't stay down, that I had to get out. I was incredibly scary, that if I stayed down, I was going to die. I had plenty of air and no-deco time (I remember checking down there, I had about 2000psi left (was diving steel 100's), and at 100 feet had about 6 mins no-deco time left). I didn't think to signal my buddy to go up, so I just started ascending - I knew we were a good ways from the mooring line and I that couldn't make it back to it - but there was no current at all and calm seas, so I didn't worry about it.
By the time my buddy noticed I was gone, I was far above her, ascending quickly. I just felt like I had to get out of there, but I wouldn't describe it as full-on panicking. I knew at the time I had do a controlled ascent, so I was constantly looking at my computer and venting air from my BC and drysuit - a couple of time I ascended too fast for my Sunnto computer, but it uses 33 ft/min as too fast, so I wasn't worried to much about that anyways. I knew I was going slower than my bubbles, and mostly within the ascent limits of my computer. A safety stop was out of the question for me at the time, but I would call my ascent controlled. Looking back on my computer history, it says I made the ascent from 105 feet in 4 minutes.
I surfaced about 30 yards from the boat, a little dizzy, but saw it, indicated I was not okay but that I could swim to the boat. Got out of the water, they put me on pure O2. Other than a slight headache which went away after about 5 mins on O2, I didn't feel any other pains. No joint stiffness, no pains, etc. I was shaken to be sure, and extremely worried about what my buddy (my wife) must have thought about what was going on down there. She surfaced shortly after me, after making a controlled ascent, safety stop, to see if I was okay. After about 10 mins after my dive, I felt completely fine, though quite emotional from what happened, and scared. I obviously called off the second dive that day.
So what happened? I was diving a familiar wreck, in water temps I had dived before (not a massive amount of experience, but nothing that created any problems before), with a drysuit I had used several times before, at depths I've dived before, in perfect surface conditions, with no health conditions I'm aware of. I didn't go into deco at depth, I didn't ascend too rapidly at depth, and all my equipment seemed to be working fine. One thing I've never considered that another diver mentioned could have contributed to it was descent speed - from water entry to 100 feet took 2:40 - apparently this is fast, according to the tec divers on the boat. This could be my inexperience taking, but I never knew or considered that descent speed could be a factor.
Here's the data on my dive (some repeated):
Suunto Vyper2 computer
6mm neoprene drysuit
Water temp 37 degrees at depth
Diving 28% nitrox in a Steel 100 tank, starting pressure 3500psi
First dive of the day
Max depth 121 feet
Total dive time 19 mins
2:40 descent to 100 feet
12 mins between 95 and 120 feet
4 minute ascent from 100 feet to surface
End pressure about 1800psi
I was extremely scared down there, and all I could think of was get the hell to the surface, but I was able to self-rescue (I guess), and maintain my senses enough to know to do a controlled ascent, vent air, look at my computer and depth. I'm not sure exactly what to draw from this. I was to be able to dive deep again, and until now I've never had an issue.
Thanks very much for following this rant and any advice you may have.
