Dumb ass dive. I know better!

sensor330

I did a dive this past weekend that really brought me back to to earth as far as my diving habits go.

We we're planning a bottle dive on Brochie ledge near Victoria BC. This dive is usually a very demanding dive and takes a little planning and preparation to do as it is a area with a lot of current. Anyways we calculated the the optimum time was around 0730. We were planning on doing a dive to 100' for no more than 60 min. Anyways we get to the site suit up and hit the water and of course we missed our optimum current window. As we were swimming towards the down line I had accidentally dropped the goodie bag along with my $250 salvo reel in it to the bottom of the ocean. When I watched the bag sinking all I was thinking is "Scott you f$#king dummy you better than that, sould've clipped it off." So now I had to climb the boat with all my gear to get the second reel and then make my way to meet my dive buddy at the front of the boat which was no easy tasks. So I meet my buddy at the front of the boat and continue to dive. Once we hit the bottom we decided to go in the direction of the lost bag. The way out was pretty easy going as the current was pushing us. After about 20 mins we turned the dive as the current was moving pretty good and wanted to leave some extra time to make it back to the up line. About 3-4 mins on our return trip is when I started to feel like I was suffocating. Did a dil flush to see if I would feel better but it didn't help. Next I figured I would rest because I thought I might be over breathing my scrubber but the situation only seemed to be getting worse. Now not only was I feeling like I was suffocating, I now had a almost uncontrollable urge to make a fast ascent to the surface. I finally forced myself off the loop and when on B/O which I must say for what reason I don't know was a very hard decision to make. Signaled my buddy I was done and we aborted to the surface without incident.

A little pre dive history.
I was at the tail end of the flu before the dive and was on cold meds the night before the dive. In the morning I felt pretty good so I decided to continue with the dive, and I really think that the hard ass navy diver coming out of me. In hind sight it was a very bad decision and in the future will not such a decision. As far as my Meg goes passed all predive tests and had 51 mins on my scrubber.

I concluded that the combination on my physical condition, cold meds, and level of exertion caused me to over breath my scrubber.

Scott

diverrob

I want my bag back!

jdicediver

Scott, I am glad things worked out, and now I don't feel quite so bad having had an "experience" of sorts myself this weekend. I have seen Scott, and his physical condition led me to believe that nothing could keep that "hard ass navy diver" down. Take it easy, keep the shiny side up, and hope to dive with you again sometime after I get a few more hours on my rig.

__________________
Regards;


"Some people shouldn't dive...others shouldn't even get wet".

Sutty

Have you checked your mushroom valves?

I'd be wary of writing it off as "flu-related".

__________________
Never forget that life is a finite resource.

SteveJ

Pleased your Ok.

Out of interest, what medications were you taking?

Steve

Abbo

Glad you're OK. Kudos for sharing. Anything that can go wrong sooner or later will. I had a similar incident at 45m, battling a current. I took the 'beam me up Scottie' option and headed up and out of harm's way. My takeaway was that the WOB on a Meg is better than many RBs but a shed load worse than a reg, so I'd better use mix shallower in future if there's danger of currents. I'd be interested to hear how shallow other people are using mix.

jhaaja

Glad you are fine! I use mix all the time and usually the same for all diving. I have a bank of diluent and 2 3l tanks.

JH

Hyper-limits

Glad you are OK, thanks for sharing Scott.

Were you carrying a large bag of bottles in addition to swimming against the current? That may also have contributed to your level of exertion during the dive.

Al

__________________
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown" H.P. Lovecraft

diverklondike

Scott,

Thanks for sharing...

Have some green...

Dive Safe

Mark

sensor330

Neocitran, Tylenol cold and flu in the PM. I took IBrofen in the am.