Are you prepared for emergencies?

[mx838]

Great topic going here. I am a newly certified diver but our instructor was tough on us in emergency situations. I actually asked for extra dives with my 10 year old to make sure we are safe in an emergency situation. I hope we fare out ok if it ever happens. Great topic guys

[jnguyen4007]

Originally Posted by Paul B

Many times when you dive your mask may come off. I had mine removed by fish a few times especially if you dive at night. If you spook a big fish their tail can take it off. If you dive on wrecks it could come off on many of the cables or fishing nets.
It could also get kicked off by your dive partner.
In a pool or lake it should not be a problem but if your maks does come off don't open your eyes wide.

I highly recommend that you practice taking your mask off and putting it back on, flooding and purging your mask when you dive. It's also a good idea to test your octo regularly as well to make sure that it is working. The last thing your buddy needs is for him or her to rely on your octo only to find out that it's not working. I usually go through this routine on the first leg of my dive as soon as I submerge to the bottom where I can stand on a sandy bottom.

[Eric the half-bee]

Tech Diver, this a good refresher/reminder and vital to all new divers. My wife and I work in anesthesia so diving is akin to anesthetizing a patient. Like an airline pilot, we have a check list we utilize every time. This translated to diving easily for us as we go through a list the same way every time. Due diligence, vigilance, and following the rules we all learn at the beginning are what keep us safe and reduce the risk of preventable injuries.

[Helfrichs Chic]

This is an AWESOME thread! Scary but thats a good thing, I think.
I have a couple questions for all of you experts:

Regarding sleepiness after a dive/snuba.
Ive done like 6 discover scuba dives (kinda pointless to have not just done cert. I know) and 3 snuba dives mainly the Caribbean and most recently in Cabo. Ive read and read and can not find any information on why I get completely exhausted after a dive.... and I don't mean take a nap tired, I mean SLEEP hard for 8-10 hours. About an hour after a few of these trips I can't keep my eyes open and I just have to sleep waking up HOURS later and still feeling groggy. This happened recently on a Cruise to Cabo, just last month. I thought maybe it was just me, or maybe it was the cold water, maybe some reaction to the air but I took three buddies (only one of which, has ever had a regulator in his mouth) to do snuba and we all were literally comatose afterwards. Do places like Mexico, and such use a different mix, or???? I don't remember having this problem during several dives in Catalina, or Hawaii but I distinctly remember it in Belize and Cabo and I think in the bahamas. Is snuba air different?

I would blame it on the thrashing around, that newb divers often do, but I am VERY comfortable, kinda feels "right" when I am under the water. I don't swim with my hands, am very calm even after seeing a 9ft tiger cruise right by me in Hawaii lol. Actually in Cabo I was doing a better job than the dive instructor of keeping an eye on my buddies and OK-ing them every 30 seconds, and it was only snuba.

After all of the trips to the Caribbean from AZ, my boyfriend and I have decided to move to the USVI. We are going for a month starting in just a few days, for our pre move visit. Originally I wanted to get certified while we are there, but after reading on the comprehensiveness of some places I am a bit worried. I don't want a crash course and then tossed in the water lol. I think I am a leg up with being so comfortable breathing underwater but I need the skills/training now.

My boyfriend is MUCH less comfortable under the waves than I am, he flails and sucks down air like crazy for at least the first 5 min. Once he chills out: which usually requiers me grabbing his face looking into his mask and giving him a sort of "calm down" hand movement lol, he is fine.

I just hope that we get the training that we need/deserve.

[billsreef]

They should be using plain old well filtered air. With sort of exhaustion affecting several people I'd be suspicious of contaminated air. If it was just you, more likely to be just not used to the level of exertion and being geniunely worn out...also possible mild DCS hit (aka the bends) could cause those symptoms. Though I wouldn't expect your getting deep enough on SNUBA to make DCS very likely.

[Helfrichs Chic]

Yea it was all of us the Cabo trip and both my boyfriend and in Honduras, SNUBA only 25 ft max.

[billsreef]

Let me guess, the compressor for the SNUBA was powered by a gas engine. I'd definitely wager on engine exhaust making it's way into the compressor supplying your breathing air from either from the compressors engine or the boat engine

[dukduk]

I used to work here http://www.fisheyeguam.com/e_home.php and would sometimes do up to ten 25-30 minute dives at ~20 ft. My boss would always tell me it's not enough to need decomp time but man I used to always feel like crap. I started there when I was 15, under the table then off and on until I joined the AF.

[dukduk]

I hit submit too soon:

I guess the end point was that I wasn't prepared. I was diving alone, the closest decomp chamber was only about a 15 min drive away but it would have been useless since I had no dive buddy. As far as surface support, there was an attendant/guide for the observatory but most of the time it was an older Japanese lady who read when the tour groups weren't going on. Scariest moment was I was down scrubbing the windows and an earthquake happened.

[Paul B]

It's also a good idea to test your octo regularly as well to make sure that it is working. The last thing your buddy needs is for him or her to rely on your octo only to find out that it's not working.

If I dive with strangers I always bring down with me my checkbook and a pen. Just in case my octo fails and I have to offer a large sum of money to buddy breathe.

Here I am asking for a pen.

[dukduk]

Lol that's happened to me a couple of times.. Once I had my tank too high so after knocking the back of my head on the octo, it loosened up. Enough for me to check my backup reg. I had to doff bcd to tighten the octo and adjust the tank height.

[SantaMonica]

Paul is prepared for all environments

[Paul B]

My newest regulater is probably older than 90% of the people on this forum.
My oldest one is probably made out of wood, linoleum and oil cloth with a little bakelite. If you don't know what those things are, you are real young.

[Saltliquid]

Two things I would like to add.
Firstly, a few years back I thought I would take a pic of an unusual sea urchin I had found in just over a hundred feet of water. While trying to get a pic, it slipped off my gloved hand and not knowing any better I gently pushed it back with the non glove hand, from there a strange pain and heat spreading through out firstly, then a dull ache every where started, next was dizziness and every thing started to look weird and I felt like I was going to loose consciousness as I took my pics. I then grabbed my gear and went up to shallower waters and just laid there for a while going in and out of semi consciousness or more so another sort of feeling that I can’t describe, but I couldn’t easily move for a few minutes. It went away quite fast and that night I sent off an email and got this thing identified by the Q museum, they told me I was very lucky!
The pics that follow are of it.

The next is a young Asian woman that died at our south port seaway wave beak Island popular dive site. She died in ten feet of water because they would not make it well known in her course that you drop your weight belt as a major line of defence against either death or so they can find the body!
I argued about this poor girl dieing because of money and stupidity by the teachers of her on the auz dive forum and two dive instructors got angry and said, if they made this that clear to new divers, they would not do their course thinking something that bad may happen. My wife knew well to drop her weight belt as I taught her, she survived that day when things went wrong for her while I wasn’t watching.

Oh and maybe always swim into the current so you can drift back to the boat.

The main things here are the current, we have to live with the east auzy current at 3 to 6 knots at times and always a rope from the front anchor to the back or we wont get to the front at all,lol. and once down you hide behind structures to get out of the current. Then long spin sea urchins, those are our main issues of safety. I don't use an ocy, very few of us do, we get in and its a case of "see you back in the boat later", that's the way it has been for over 40 years of my scuba diving and sometimes for my free diving as well.

Twice I have dropped my weight belt in all this time and they were very close calls. There is more to just dropping your weight belt, like letting air out as you go up and more, but you get my drift.

[nogascans]

Great reading and my thanks to all for their experiences. After going thru most of my long adulthood always wanting to dive (been snorkeling since 1974), and after a few "resort courses" on family vacations over past two years, I took the "plunge" and got myself PADI Open Water certified! I did the online course but took my time and read/re-read and watched videos before actually meeting with my PADI instructor and doing my in-class paperwork and discussions, and pool work.

Ended up doing the Open Water section over two days with a total of 6 dives. My instructor was very thorough with all the sections, and made for a very enjoyable experience. Beside in-class discussions on out-of-air emergencies, he stressed the importance of remaining calm and always be thinking of a solution. He did discuss before one dive that we would he would present me with a buddy out of air emergency, but I never knew until it happened when that would be. Definitely got my full attention and understanding of remaining calm even when you buddy was the exact opposite. Best part of dive!

After having previous experiences with blue-water diving (Discovery) in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Honduras with their exquisite visibilities, the lake experience with visibility from 3ft-15ft was an eye-opener. Made me very aware of keeping in close proximity with dive partner as you could easily loose sight with silt filled water.

I will continue to follow this thread and hope to learn much!

Sincerely,

David

[Learn It]

I have been trying to to do more and more diving lately. Most have been guided boat dives throughout the carribean, but also some diving here in good ol' New England. Frigid water, rough conditions and very limited visibility...and don't forget about all the Great White Sharks now too =0

[jrdonnellyjr1]

Even though this is 2 yers old still lots of good info

[sdweller]

Taking the Rescue Diver Course is probably one of the smartest things a diver can do!

[Maui Don]

Reading the info on this thread is good even for us old guys. Here on Maui we lost three people in shallow water in the last two weeks. Right know we have a King Tide and I still see tourists in the water getting slammed. I talk to visiting divers all the time and most say the same thing. "I'm trying to get as many dives in before it's time to go home". Many people make the same mistake. They go on a shore dive in summer and enjoy clear calm water. They go back to that spot in the winter and it's a different ocean. Don't go on a dive just because it's your last few days of your vacation. If the water looks dangerous, it is dangerous. A fact they don't talk about here on the islands is more people drown on the Hawaiian Islands that all the other states combined. Check the weather and tides before you decide. Maui Don

[coralcruze2020]

I know this is an old thread but thanks for posting. I once saved a guys life at 96 feet in an out of air situation. nothing prepares you for the real thing. Thank goodness I am here to tell about it.