What's the WORST dive you've ever had?

[Sarah]

And don't forget to tell us all where the dive site is that you had the worst experience.

[littleleemur]

In the Biminis. For our first dive, the liveaboard Captain droppped us off on top of a 20ft reef plateau with ripping current that went down a wall with specific instructions to stay around the boat (& on the plateau). Everyone was basically holding on to the reef to stop themselves (& their gear) from being pulled away while waiting for their buddy. Finally, someone surfaced (& while being carried down current), yelled at the Captain and we were given the signal to get out of the water. We were punished for being stupid inept "holiday" divers and "punished" for the rest of the trip by only being dropped off in only <50ft reefs.

The first dive is where you check out your gear etc. So not only was this a bad choice of site, it seemed that we were punished for saying so. We were also lectured that "there will be consequences" if they have to pick us up, or if they see an SMB.

& BTW 12 of the 18 in the group were IANTD, TDI, PADI DSAT Instructors. Rest of us were experienced divers.

[seasnake]

And did you say before you were with Blackbeards in the Biminis?

[littleleemur]

We enjoyed all our subsequent dives although the first dive was awful. It was quite humourous seeing all that OMS gear on a 40ft reef dive :p I think we lit the reef up so much during our night dives that we confused the fish.

[acelockco]

I recently got back from Florida and the Keys. My wife really wanted to go to Key West for the non dive activities. I really wanted to go to Key Largo for the wreck diving. Guess who won??

Anyway our dive out of Key West was the worst dive either of us have ever done. We paid a lot of money for the boat captain to drop us off on a dead reef. It was a pile of rocks, dead coral, and mostly small fish. We did see a few lobster, but that was it.

I will post the complete dive report later today.

[Papa Bear]

A wall in the Exumas that is called a dive site! Well it is so so over grown with Algae it is dead! It is a waste of gas! It is boring and dead with bad viz over the wall and as far down as you can see! It is not worth a mooring line yet one is there and they take you to it as if it were a beautiful dive! The best thing I have seen there is Salips on the way back to the boat, A current would at least make it exciting! I have done this site a couple of times trying to give it a chance and I bring back 1800psi each time wondering why I keep getting sucked in? Something must be done in the Exumas or we will lose it all to Algae in a short time!

[Bigd2722]

It was nne of my first dives, less than 30 dives at the time, and the weather was pretty crappy. As we were going out, I asked the dive operator, captain, owner if we would dive if the thunder around us continued. He seemed to think that was pretty funny and proceeded to let the rest of the boat in on the joke. There was a strong current on the dive and I had trouble equalizing so I easily got separated from the group. Visibility was crappy and I aborted the dive and surfaced. The boat was not in sight and thunder was all around. Eventually, the boat did pick me up. I declined to do the second dive of the day. My next pruchase was a safety sausage and whistle. Now with over 300 dives, I have not and will not dive with Abernathy.

[h2odragon1]

Haven't had a 'worst' dive yet , hope to never have one.
My wife, however, did have a bad dive in 2005 when we were in Dumagete, Philippines; We were both to go on a dive, but I developed a corneal abrasion and couldn't dive. My wife did go, she was very new to diving, with her 4 OW dives, and three dives with me. When she got in the water, the 'divemaster' submerged and because my wife was new she was slower submerging, so he grabed hold of her leg and started pulling her down. NOT! a good idea for anyone!:eek:
She did finally get down, and loved it. But we will never go back to that dive shop again. She refused to pay full price for her two dives which used less than one tank, so they may not want her back.

[h2odragon1]

It was nne of my first dives, less than 30 dives at the time, and the weather was pretty crappy. As we were going out, I asked the dive operator, captain, owner if we would dive if the thunder around us continued. He seemed to think that was pretty funny and proceeded to let the rest of the boat in on the joke. There was a strong current on the dive and I had trouble equalizing so I easily got separated from the group. Visibility was crappy and I aborted the dive and surfaced. The boat was not in sight and thunder was all around. Eventually, the boat did pick me up. I declined to do the second dive of the day. My next pruchase was a safety sausage and whistle. Now with over 300 dives, I have not and will not dive with Abernathy.

My biggest fear!! My first purchase other than my fins,and mask was a safety sausge, and a Dive Alert. SEEN and HEARD!!

[rubber chicken]

My biggest fear!! My first purchase other than my fins,and mask was a safety sausge, and a Dive Alert. SEEN and HEARD!!

Other things you might want to try,

A Mirror or other reflective surface,- an old CD is a good one-, in a pocket. the flash can be seen many miles away.
Flares, stored in a waterproof container.
A flag, broken down into two,( or more), sections and held on the cylinder with Bungee cord. The higher you can hold anything in the air, the better the odds of being seen.
A brightly coloured hood. Black is not the best colour to see on the surface. Of course, those of us who may be 'follically challenged' can get away with just rolling their hood down. ( A good idea if approached by a helicopter in limited viz as your head will show up better on Infra Red cameras).
A whistle. Dive Alerts are very good but what happens if you are out of air ?
An idea I heard in the UK is to open the safety sausage and glue strips of 'Space Blanket' on the inside before resealing. Tested by the RNLI in the UK and this showed up on Radar several miles away.
PLB's can be stored in watertight containers and carried during a dive.


Anybody got any other ideas ?

[bubbles]

I have heard the idea of a broken cd to reflect light before but am concerened that even an unbroken one might put a hole in a bcd. This idea of a boat leaving someone behind or not being able to relocate them greatly concerns me as there has been so many stories about such things. :eek:

I will post my worst dive later as I need to look at my log book to see exactly which site it was at. I also found my qualifying dives pretty cruelling - particularly as I had bad cramp in the sole of my foot due to badly fitting fins throughout!

[h2odragon1]

[QUOTE=rubber chicken;9880]Other things you might want to try,

those of us who may be 'follically challenged'
You seem to know me::mad: have we met?:D
Yes I am!

[Tigerbeach]

I had a student that was on a skills check out dive in 20 feet on Oahu. The student was British, in his 40's, and a sheet metal worker.(Built like Arnold in his prime)
He flooded his mask, half way and panicked. Dropped his reg, and tried to dog paddle to the surface.

Lovely.

I stuffed the purged reg into his mouth, and got him breathing. I cleared his mask for him (bonus points if you non-Instructors know how) and grabbed him while trying to get a returned OK sign from him. He kept struggling, and slurping air, and signaling to ascend, so I began a safe ascent to the boat while holding onto his BC.
He got to the surface, spit out his reg, put his mask on his forehead, and passed out.

A fireman happened to be on board, he and I got the student on board and got him breathing. We raced to shore, and radioed ahead for an ambulance to meet us at the dock. The student spent the night in the hospital for observation, was released the next morning.
No decompression sickness. No air embolism. No emphysema.
He was fine...and didn't sue us either.

That was MY worst damn dive.

[Papa Bear]

Not as bad as his! I would say yours went well!:D

[rubber chicken]

....<snip>.. I cleared his mask for him (bonus points if you non-Instructors know how)...<snip>.


I don't qualify for bonus points but how do you do this ?



My worst dive, ( well, probably not worst but it definitely got my pulse racing), was very similar.
Myself, as DM, the instructor and single student. An incredibly sweet, and incredibly petite 10 year old girl. We had found a lovely little site, good viz, clear sandy bottom, about 9m deep for her skills. Time for reg recovery. The instructor is in front of her and I am off to one side.
She performed the skill flawlessly until she got the reg back in her mouth, where, by virtue of being out of breath she used the purge button to clear it. No problem! except that the force of the air against her tongue and teeth pushed the reg back out of her mouth. ( we think that part of the problem was the size of the mouthpiece, being for adults, was slightly too large for her). At this point she dropped the reg and simply froze! Within a heartbeat, she had 2 occies presented to her and by unsignalled agreement, mine was forced into her face with the purge firmly depressed and the instructor began to rythmically punch her in the stomach as we both grabbed a shouler strap and finned to the surface. Within a minute, we had her back on the boat, dekitted and wrapped up in blankets. She was absolutely fine, apart from complaining of being cold and seemingly unaware of the near heart attack that she had induced in us both.
Once we had reassured ourselves of her well-being, we both looked at each other, simultaneously let out a long breath, went completely white and slumped down onto the bench where we sat, still fully kitted up, staring into space for the next 10 minutes until the skipper handed us a hot drink and told us to "embrace the suck!".

By no means the worst dive I've ever done, but still the one that occasionally wakes me up at night.

[Mountain Dog]

The more I read stories like those presented by Tigerbeach and Rubber Chicken, the more it confirms my resolve to stay out of instruction. After being on boats with scores of people who should be told to trade their regulators for golf clubs, I don't know how you guys do it without losing your taste for diving. Hats off to you for pulling the neophytes back from Darwin's grip.

Compared to these stories, my worst dive (a rental reg that blew a first stage seal at 60fsw) was a cakewalk.

Mountain Dog

[bottlefish]

My worst dive was in Plymouth, UK, last year. I was on the HSE (commercial) scuba course, doing the last dive of the course, the deep dive. Nothing too challenging, 30 metres down, hang around for 10 minutes and then head up to 5 metres, do a simulated deco stop off the bar and finish. It's a solo dive, you have to wear a harness with a tether to the surface and a full face (kirby morgan) band mask.

The instructor asked me to head down first, as one of the more experienced amongst the students, and lay a jack line out at the bottom. I headed down, but couldn't clear my ears - you're not able to pinch your nose in a band mask, you have to rely on a mechanical nose damn to close off your nose - mine wasn't sitting properly, and so wasn't creating a seal. After 5 minutes up and down the line, cursing away over the intercom, I eventually decided to remove the band mask and clear my ears the old fashioned way, with a good old nose pinch. Problem sorted, but patience levels deterioating..

I got to the bottom of the shot line and discovered that it wasn't laynig on the floor, so tied the jack off and headed away from the line to try and find it we were moored over a 45+ degree slope, the shot had drifted off and was hanging free. The shot had obviously been dragging at some stage, as I approached the bottom, vis turned to zero (the friendly instructor had deliberately chosen the worst spot in the bay for silt and deposits). A computer and torch 2 inches from my mask, and I still couldn't read the depth. I decided to move away from the cloudy area, keeping hopefully at the same depth, and then check once I was clear of the silt.

Patience reduced further as, despite my continued calls over the intercom, surface would not release any more of my tether line, I was therefore fighting them all the way out to get the jack laid flat, breathing went through the roof.

With the jack line finally laid and task therefore completed, I made my way back to the shot and started my ascent. Halfway up, I discovered the problems with the tether, I had obviously been slowly twisting as I moved up and down the shot line to clear my ears, my tether and the shot were neatly and completely twisted together.

I was sorely tempted to ditch the tether and intercom wire and head up the line free, but realised that I would be joined very quickly by the none to pleased safety diver if comms and rope signals were lost, so surface were treated to a few choice expressions as I finned my way around the shot a number of times to untwist the ropes, after which I finally crossed to the trapeze to complete my deco.

The rest of the team were none to keen to follow me in when the full face mask was removed to reveal a wet faced, growling and cursing, much less happy then usual Stu.

[Tigerbeach]

[I don't qualify for bonus points but how do you do this ?]

If you take your own reg and purge it with one hand, while tilting your students mask with your other hand, you will trap enough air to clear it.

With practice, you can get almost all of the water out.

[rubber chicken]

If you take your own reg and purge it with one hand, while tilting your students mask with your other hand, you will trap enough air to clear it.

With practice, you can get almost all of the water out.


Thanks TB, Combined with hands free mask clearing this gives me a few little things to practice during safety stops.:)


As to why do we do it, I can't speak for anyone else but the smile on somebodys face when they finally achieve a skill that has been giving them trouble or even the simple "thank you" at the end of the course is more than enough to get me looking forward to the next time.

[Tigerbeach]

Thanks TB, Combined with hands free mask clearing this gives me a few little things to practice during safety stops.:)


As to why do we do it, I can't speak for anyone else but the smile on somebodys face when they finally achieve a skill that has been giving them trouble or even the simple "thank you" at the end of the course is more than enough to get me looking forward to the next time.

I agree.
All I wanted to do is have people get half as excited as I was about diving.
To teach people how to play safely underwater.

As for your safety stops drills; take your mask off and hook a finger or 2 over your brow and exhale, making a mini mask...

[nat]

I've just returned from a couple of very well organised dives at a local dive centre I've just joined, and was thinking about an experience I had in Zanzibar.

I had taken a refresher course with the instructor who was very professional, but he stayed in the dive centre while two DMs took a group of 10 relatively inexperienced divers out (5 of us knew each other and had done a handful of dives each...). The briefing was just that - very brief...basically we will all descend, meet at the bottom, I will lead, you all follow. Even at the surface the group was immediately split by a current and as we all tried to swim to the DM, she was shouting instructions in Spanish (to the other 5) but nothing in English and then signalled to descend :eek: . I protested - as much as I could in now very choppy water. Luckily my buddy was fluent in spanish and translated, but by then the DM had gone down. No anchor line used and the group was still scattered.

By the time my buddy and I had reached the bottom, there was no-one to be seen! We spent a couple of minutes looking for them and then ascended (the bottom was 16 meters). We surfaced to find the rest of the group clinging to the boat. The DM and another diver (her buddy) were not with them. 15 (!!) minutes later they appeared. It turns out that the diver had no concept of the buddy system and had set off solo at the bottom. No-one knew what was going on and came back up. The diver was given a very strong telling off in a rant that lasted 5 minutes and made all of us very embarrased. She was prevented from diving with us again..

The other DM had a word with the original and took charge, took us down the anchor line and the dives ended up very rewarding. I think that counts for a bad dive for quite a few of us!!

[DrBill]

A bad dive for me would be one you didn't return from. Hopefully you learn something even on dives when something goes wrong.

Perhaps my worst was the day I decided not to strap on my pony (I'm a solo diver 95% of the time) because my dive "plan" was to go to 40 ft. I should have known better since my "plan" is often scrapped as soon as I see something interesting to film. I ended up following a bat ray down to about 75 ft. I had just exhaled and tried to draw another breath of air from my reg, but nothing came through it.

Instinctively I started to ascend slowly as I checked my gear. SPG read zero, no air in BC. I did a CESA from 70-75 ft and was rather breathless when I surfaced. No more diving for the day. Apparently debris got trapped in the dip or debris tube in the tank valve when I descended head first.

Lessons learned? Always keep my pony bottle on regardless of my "plan." Descend horizontally rather than head first.

[Socco]

Hey Papa Bear, I am really saddened to hear about the Exumas. I grew up in Nassau in the 70s and Exuma was the jewel in the crown. I need to get down there and have words with people.

[Socco]

My worst dive.... actually this is not about dissing a resort but more about what happened to me on one dive.

I was diving on the Canyons in Puerto Galera and for those of you who know the site also know that there can be some fierce currents there. So, on this one dive, I wanted to go get some photos of some Sweetlips that hang out in the first of the canyons. I was just coming off a slight cold and I had just got a new vest with a hood. I had also been diving for over three weeks so I was kind of run down as well. I had difficulty with my ears and fell behind the rest of the group. Once I got my ears sorted out I did a negative decent onto the ridge leading down to the first canyon. I found the rest of the group and went to find the Sweetlips. I strayed a little but found the fish hiding at around 30M. I got my shot and moved back towards where I thought the main group would be. I guess I must have been a little out of breath as my chest started to constrict and a sense of claustrophobia overcame me. I started to breath really heavily, I could not seem to get enough air. I spotted one of the group and signaled that I was cutting my dive and going up. My breathing intensified and I began to gulp air down. I started to ascend but had lost orientation and control. The next thing that I realised was that I was overtaking my bubbles. I became even more disorientated as all I could see was a cloud of bubbles around me. This was in effect an uncontrolled emergency ascent. I popped out at the surface like a cork and started yelling my head off. On reviewing my dive computer, it seems that I went from 30M to the surface in less than 60 seconds, no safety stop! I burned 120 bar in 15 minutes. Needless to say I had a total head f*@% for the rest of the day. Fortunately for me, it was because I was breathing so fast during the ascent that I did not do any damage. In one respect, I am glad I had this experience because I learned a lot about myself and what happens to a diver when they are overloaded. I may have been slightly narked when I was at 30M, the cold probably did not help. Valuable lessons were learned that day.

Don't let this story put you off. It can happen to the best.

See you in the green room.

G.

[CAN2]

My 14 year old son (who is newly certified with the Open Water Dives coming in a Quarry) and I were in the Florida Keys for Spring Break and trying to get some dives in. High waves and wind kept us from 10 of our planned dives with one of the dive shops, but on the last day we finally got a call that they were going out so we took a small (30') boat out with 7 other divers.

The waves were still 3-5' ( or 4-6' depending on who you ask. :-) ); the head was broken in the boat (which we were not told until someone USED the head) and most of the boat got horribly seasick. After passing on two spots which were too shallow given the waves, the boat moored over a reef in 60' of water.

Visibility was about 10' - and the dive briefing consisted of ' its deeper over there, shallower over there; watch the current (but no idea which way the current was running). Come back in 1 hour or with 500 psi in your tanks' and off we went.

We were used to the poor vis due to our quarry diving, but without a guide in the water, we spent most of our time making sure we knew where the boat was and not really looking at what we could see. Disappointing, esp when other shops we called later said they put a DM into the water as a guide who knows the area and where to go.

Oh well, better luck next time.

[The Publisher]

Soco, your symptoms sound just like a c02 hit.....The Canyons off the Sinandigan side of Sabang can be pretty dramatic!

[acelockco]

Disappointing,

Oh well, better luck next time.

CAN2

With diving you have to remember that YOU are the one that has to take responsibility for yourself and your dive buddy. I understand that you were most likely upset because most of your diving was blown out, so of course you jumped on the chance to get out there when you found a boat that was going out. As far as the boat is concerned, they want to go out as long as they have paying customers, they are a business. I have had similar things happen to me in the past.

Here are some tips to help you next time:

1. Do some research on the dive shops/charters in the area you are going to dive BEFORE you go on vacation.

2. Check the weather, if it is not good for diving consider changing your location or date, or have other things you can do when diving is blown out.

3. Tell the dive operator your situation before you book your dives. Make them aware that you are used to quarry diving (no current, no waves no reef, etc.) and make sure they know your level of diving and YOUR SON'S!

4.If you are not familiar with the type of diving or the conditions, request a dive guide. Basically you pay a fee to have a DM dive with you and your son. They will help you if you are unsure about something or run into a problem, they will also make sure you don't get LOST and will also point out the things you might not see otherwise.

5. HAVE FUN!

[CAN2]

Thanks for the reply. We actually did all of the above, but even the best operators (and this was with a very well known and highly reputable operator) have bad days, esp after a week of bad weather.

And actually, my son and I were in better shape in the water than most of the folks on the boat. We were used to navigating by compass in poor vis.

We were blown out for 4 days and the first day back was marginal at best. In hindsight we probably should have just bagged the last day as well, but as someone else in this post said, a bad dive is one you don't come back from.

It was just not the trip we had hoped for, but we had zero schedule flexibility. We got wet, saw some fish, and came back safely so for a 'bad dive' - can't complain too much I guess!

[BillW]

So far the worst dives I’ve had are the ones I didn’t get to go on, because I’ve found something good every time I get wet.

As a SAR pilot – please stop recommending CDs and DVDs as substitutes for signaling mirrors. First off, they’re terrible at getting any kind of coherent reflection, and more importantly the prism colors we see from 500’ above you look no different than sunlight reflecting off the water. Mirrors are cheap, last longer, and are easier for you to aim at us. SOLAS reflective tape added to your safety sausage works better than CDs and really lights up at night.

[The Publisher]

I use the below pocket mirror but mine comes with a tiny yellow float in case I lose my grip on it.

http://www.dougritter.com/GRAPHICS/rescueflash_1.jpg

[hbh2oguard]

Well I had some pretty bad diving, probably not the worst but up there this weekend, but I got everything done that I needed to. The wind was going 30 knots, the viz was 0-3ft at best, pretty good surge, and the water was 49 degs. The bright side was that my new wetsuit kept me toasty and the sun was out. But it was still diving, maybe just not the best:)