Exciting Dive

[SeaCat]

Some scary shit today.

I went for a dive to a local attraction called Tenneco Towers. These are old Oil Rigs sunk in 130 feet of water. (The top of the towers is at 80 feet.)

We had some twenty one people on the boat, I was the odd man out so I chose to dive solo. I didn’t mind as I had the gear, the training and the experience. I chose to hit the water first in line.

Conditions on the towers were about perfect. We’re talking maybe one knot worth of current which is unusual. (Usually it’s between two and three knots. Strong enough to blow you off the rigs if you aren’t careful.)

I hit the water, clipped into the down line and headed for the rig. It didn’t take me long to reach the top of the rig and start enjoying myself checking out the wild life. Tons of fish as well as other critters. I did make sure to keep an eye open around me to know what was going on. (A good thing to do while diving.)

Because of this I noticed the number three diver coming down the line. He seemed to be having troubles. Above him was a constant stream of bubbles which was unusual. (Usually diver put out bubbles in pulses as they breath.) He was also coming down a lot faster than the other divers. In fact he almost over ran the divers in front of him.

I started swimming towards him as he hit the top of the towers. He didn’t unhook his “John Line”, instead he just let go of it before he started heading for the sand. He didn’t dive over the side, instead he seemed to topple and he seemed to be working at his B.C. That didn’t look good so I followed him, kicking hard to catch up.

When I reached him on the sand he was still working on his B.C. and the bubbles were flowing in a steady stream from his vest. Looking closer at him I could see he was in panic mode. This truly wasn’t a good situation.

I swam around behind him and got my own gear ready while thanking the gods that I was diving heavy. (I was wearing a Steel 120 instead of the usual Al. 80. I also had a 60 Bail Out Bottle.) I pulled my main reg out of my mouth and grabbed my secondary. I grabbed him from behind and gave him my main. Once he was breathing off that I reached around him and disconnected the low pressure line to his B.C. Popping some air into my own vest I headed for the Down Line while dragging him with me.

When I hooked us into the downline I stopped long enough to check my dive computer. We were within limits but not by much. Checking the air in my tank I could see we had plenty of air for two, if they were relaxed. One of us wasn’t relaxed.

Up we went with me keeping an eye on our air as well as the dive computer. We had been down to 135 feet and that’s kind of pushing it.

He started calming down as we rose towards the surface. I wasn’t going to push the limits though. I stopped at fifty feet for a couple of minutes then again at thirty feet. My air was getting a bit low so I shifted to my Bail out and kept us heading up. We did our next stop at fifteen feet even though he didn’t want to. (He tried to fight me but I was behind him.)

By the time we reached the surface both of my tanks were low and he was again fighting me. He couldn’t inflate his vest so if I let go he would sink. I grabbed him by the neck even as I kept him on the surface and swam towards the boat. As I came close to the boat I gave them the signal for a diver in trouble, I yelled at them while waving my free arm. The Boat Captain and the Mate jumped in to help me out.

The diver did just fine. He never lost consciousness and he didn’t exhibit signs of Decompression Sickness. We administered Oxygen on the way back to shore and he was sent to the hospital.

When I looked at his gear on the way back to shore I found the problem. One of the valves on his Low Pressure Line was ruptured. From the looks of it it was dry rotted.

This was not the way I wanted my dive to go believe me.

Cat

 

[trysail]

I'm sorry to hear that your dive proved a bit adventurous ( the other fellow's dive was downright hairy ).


Did this take place in the Gulf or have those structures been removed from their original location and intentionally sunk to create an artificial reef?

 

[SeaCat]

I'm sorry to hear that your dive proved a bit adventurous ( the other fellow's dive was downright hairy ).


Did this take place in the Gulf or have those structures been removed from their original location and intentionally sunk to create an artificial reef?

This was off the coast of Boynton Beach on the East Coast of Florida,

The rig was sunk as an artificial Reef about fifteen or twenty years ago.

Sometimes dive turn out this way. It's why even while I'm dining in a group I rig up as though I'm diving as a solo diver. This isn't the first time I've done a rescue.

I've been diving for some 20 years now and have not only a lot of experience but a lot of stories about dives. I've done some dives I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. (Recoveries.)

Cat

 

[Handley_Page]

This was off the coast of Boynton Beach on the East Coast of Florida,

The rig was sunk as an artificial Reef about fifteen or twenty years ago.

Sometimes dive turn out this way. It's why even while I'm dining in a group I rig up as though I'm diving as a solo diver. This isn't the first time I've done a rescue.

I've been diving for some 20 years now and have not only a lot of experience but a lot of stories about dives. I've done some dives I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. (Recoveries.)

Cat

Well done, Cat.
I hope the other diver was suitably grateful, and learned from the experience.

 

[SeaCat]

Like I said I have been diving for a couple of years. I have been in conditions that most people try to avoid just as I have been in dive conditions that can be called heaven. I average about 100+ dives a year. Sometimes more, rarely less.

During this time I have been personaly involved in three rescues and multiple recoveries. I also keep track of other rescues as well as I can from the newspapers and dive rags. (Not to mention Bulletin Boards and Blogs.) One thing I have noticed is the majority of the diving accidents happen on dives like yesterdays. On what are nominaly relaxed dives.

The only reason I can give for this is maybe people are too relaxed. On the dives under less than ideal conditions they are a bit nervous so they double and triple check their gear. They stay close to their buddies and the watch everything closely.

In yesterday's dive the problem was caused by a couple of issues.

The first was a bad pressure reliefe valve on the divers Vest. It was dry rotted and finally failed by tearing. This means that when he hit the water any air in his vest drained out. In fact it bubbled out as fast as he could put it in.

The second was the diver was overweighted by more than a couple of pounds for his gear. He had too much lead on his belt. (He could have quickly remedied this by dropping his belt, but he didn't.)

The third problem was his partner. His partner actually shouldn't have been on this dive because he just got certified this spring. (He needs to stay shallow for a while so he can get used to diving.)

It was pure luck on my part that I happened to be there when he had his problem and was able to help him out. It was pure luck on his part that the person who came to his aid was diving heavy and had enough air for both.

Cat