Yes- I'm an Idiot

[Thalassamania]

Back when I was first experimenting with the long hose thing, I was using a 4 ft hose as an “instructors” auxiliary, that is to say a longish hose with a side breather (Tekna, it’d just come out). This is an auxiliary that would stay in my left hand for use when I felt a student who was doing an exercise needed it. I was removing it from my regulator when not teaching (we were not routinely using auxiliaries back then).

I had to go out on an early morning dive right after class the night before. I got to the dive locker, threw my gear in a bag, grabbed a couple of tanks and my weight belt. We got on the boat, dressed in on our way to the dive site and immediately made ready to go over the side by rolling backward off the gunwale. My buddy went off and so did I, not noticing that I had not removed the 4ft hosed auxiliary second stage which, of course, got caught in a cleat and ripped the hose out of the swedge.

All was solved quickly since we always had extra tanks, regs and backpacks rigged for the standby diver and I just swapped mine out. But it was rather embarrassing.

 

[Quaack]

Tried for a long time to get down. On the way back to shore, I remembered my integrated weight pouches were on the picnic table.

 

[tracker]

Was in a hurry to get in the water after a class came up. The instructor had to leave and the DM wanted to dive more. I rushed into my gear, and, after donning my BC I realized I forgot to turn on the air. I reached back to turn on the valve and it didn't take me long to realize I forgot to hook up everything else to the tank. Lot's of hissing air.

 

[IceIce]

On my first OW dive, on the surface next to my instructor, a fin bubbled up right in front of my nose. It was hard to keep cool.

Forget to inflate BCD before I jumped and the rental BCD inflator was so rusty that I needed to shout for someone to help me inflate it while trying to keep my nose above water.

Succesfully shoot a horisontal skiny swimming SMB for many times.

 

[Silver_Diver]

Diving in Cozumel on vacation we descend to 40 ft at Chankanaab when go to turn on my camera and realize that I hadn't put the battery in! It was sitting in it's black box back on the boat.

Second ever dive at Makena Beach, my dad and I get all set up, walk all the way down to the beach and get in the water. We don our fins and mask, and I reach for my camera to take a couple of test shots, when I notice that the housing is half-open and the camera is on a quick descent to the bottom. Needless to say I was mortified. A lesson I will not soon forget, but luckily ONLY $100 to teach me to shut the housing first.

During divemaster training at Richardson's Beach Park I'm doing rescue skill #7 (the big one). Big swell is coming in and every time I go to give a breath a wave breaks over the mask and it is only breathing one way. My "victim" ended up swallowing a bunch of seawater and we aborted the training.

*Not my funny moment, but one of my dive buddy's. Three of us are doing a gear exchange for divemaster training and the guy I give my BCD to shoots up to the surface. When he manages to completely deflate the BCD he swims down and grabs a couple of weights out of my pockets. Turns out he had a weight integrated BCD and I was wearing a weight belt with mine. Gear exchange is always a kick.

 

[WaterKtn]

Doing a night dive off of a panga, I jumped in and couldn't descend. I'm wondering what the problem is and kicking my legs in the air embarassingly, and finally realize that the BC still had air in it from waiting at the surface to be picked up after the last dive. I forgot to purge it after getting on the panga. So I purge the air, and ahhhh descent. Until I start kicking and realize that I didn't have any fins on. :11doh: Had to kick up and yell out, hoping it was the panga I had come in and that they wouldn't spend too much time laughing to figure out where my fins were.

Rescue class - new instructor that I'm trying not to look like an idiot it front of. Gives us our briefing, very thorough and serious. Are we ready to descend? All four of us nod, we are ready, thumb down, I start purging air, get down a couple feet and realize that there is NOTHING in my mouth. No snorkel or regulator. I fin up and find my reg and rush back down to rescue my victim. No one saw. That was the only time I have been very thankful for 2 foot vis

 

[Thalassamania]

Not my story – belongs to Al Pop, well-known LDS owner in the Northeast, now deceased.

In the 1950s when diving was news a local TV station heard that Al and his buddy were diving under the ice and thought it might make a good story. Al loved publicity and jumped at the change to be on TV. Now remote broadcasts where a big deal back then, hell … the cameras were these huge things. Anyway, it was all set up and they went out on a lake and cut a hole in the ice and got geared up and jumped in, and the water was less than 3 feet deep!

 

[Stine]

My final OW dive had just finished, and myself and a group of about 6 divers were floating in the middle of the ocean, no land in sight, waiting for the boat to pick us up. Someone came up with the wonderful idea to sing the jaws theme song to pass the time, and the song was picked up by everyone in the group.
I was humming along when I glanced down, and there was a shark RIGHT THERE!!!!! I sreamed like a maniac was flailing about, looked down again ready to see myself devoured when I clicked in that my SPG doesn't have teeth. Darn thing had come loosed from my BCD and was floating there.
So embarrasing.....Floating there.....Where's the friggin boat!!!!!!

 

[Eagle-scuba]

while working on an underwater submersable pump and electrical system I forgot to check my orientation with the compass, and inadvertantly cut the electrical feed too short, thinking I was cutting it long, that caused problems, as I had to repull the entire wire , as there are no splices under water...duh...see ya under

 

[The Chairman]

Wreckmania a few years ago... Walter had gone through a rather long diatribe about how complacency kills during his pre-dive briefing. As we worked this class, he always splashed first and I was the last in. Needless to say, he had a rather sheepish grin when he realised he only had his glasses on. "See what I'm saying??? Complacency kills!"

Of course there is that whole sordid "buddy line" incident.