Dive gear fail-I was stranded alone in open Ocean

[Budman68]

I've had two weird dives in Cozumel. The first one I went through my air to fast and had to head up early. Of course, no one came with me and I ended up surfacing in the rain. Waves were 3' to 4' high and no boats to be found. My biggest fear was not going out to see, but being ran over by another boat. I started heading toward shore and luckily I saw a boat coming by. He radioed to my boat and all ended up well.

The second bad dive was during the decent I noticed I could not stay down. So instead of going up for weight I decided to swim down and hope on of the master had an extra weight. By the time I reached the bottom, I was at least a couple of hundred yards away from my group. So at 100' I just hung out until my group finally got to me and thank god the master had a weight. Stupid move on my part.

[twobittxn]

I'll still say there should have been better buddy awareness. Otherwise, you're all just diving solo.

Congrats on handling it well. Surface signaling equipment for everyone should be standard. Either a sausage, horn, or other noise maker.

[Goldeneagle]

You did the right thing. I always have a safety sausage, signal mirror, scuba tank powered horn, manually operated whistle, several ways to cut fishing line, and my cable cutters when I am spearfishing. My gear is rigged to where nothing is in the way and you don't notice it until it's needed. I guess maybe its mostly from spearfishing, but we don't rely on anyone but ourselves and the guys in the boat.

Used to do fresh water salvage. Cable cutters are your best friend. Ain't nothing like getting hung up in the rigging of a boat.

[Lungbustr]

I also dive with a pony bottle for spearfishing. We are hunting independently, you just can't rely on the other guy for help. It would be pretty easy to drown in the time it takes him to get lined up, take a shot and land a fish.

I would just dive with my gear normal for the whole tropical thing. But then we are right back to having to be there 100% for your buddy. Just gotta make sure your buddy is as dedicated to being there for as you are for them.

[XBowHunter]

I agree Jmh!

Tbar- Yes it does but the time, but you never know when the air will cut off? One last breath? Half breath? Lungs empty and you try to take next breath?

KEY RULE- One eye on the ocean and the other on your dive buddy

thats what i was thinking...

what happened to his buddy? strung out or not, his buddy should have had an eye on him.

my first ocean experience was in cozumel and on my first dive i wasn;t carrying enough weight. i ascended prematurely about half way through the dive. my poor buddy followed me and ruined the rest of his dive. didn't even know the guy and felt real bad about it. he was very cool about it and i appreciate what he did.

needlesss to say i added weight and we had a really nice second dive...

[DaveS903]

I had a second stage fail off Monterrey at about 40 or 50 feet in a kelp forest. I was very new to diving and it was my first open water salt water dive. I had been down about 15 minutes when I stared getting small bits of a rubber hitting the back of my throat making me gag. I did a controlled ascent to try to sort things out. By that time my second stage started free flowing so I closed the valve. I was only a couple of hundred yard offshore but kind of stuck in the kelp. I just had to kind of flop across the kelp on the surface for a while. It was kind of like flopping across a giant water bed while wearing scuba gear. lol

I had just had the regulator overhauled and best we could tell, the overhaul shop got something on the diaphragm which caused it to start breaking up.

Web pic:

[hellbndr23]

Glad it worked out in your favor. I always carry a safety sausage and have a quaker on my inflator house. I think I'll be getting a whistle now.

[twobittxn]

I had a second stage fail off Monterrey at about 40 or 50 feet in a kelp forest. I was very new to diving and it was my first open water salt water dive. I had been down about 15 minutes when I stared getting small bits of a rubber hitting the back of my throat making me gag. I did a controlled ascent to try to sort things out. By that time my second stage started free flowing so I closed the valve. I was only a couple of hundred yard offshore but kind of stuck in the kelp. I just had to kind of flop across the kelp on the surface for a while. It was kind of like flopping across a giant water bed while wearing scuba gear. lol

I had just had the regulator overhauled and best we could tell, the overhaul shop got something on the diaphragm which caused it to start breaking up.

I cannot tell you how often I have read or heard a similar story after a gear failure. The one common component, "I just had my gear serviced"

I ALWAYS take my newly serviced gear on a test trip before taking a big trip.

I just got back from Indonesia, traveling with a knife in checked gear is not an issue.

[CastAndBlast]

Your dive buddy should have learned a valuable lesson on that one!!! Also, get one of those annoying arse tank knockers. I can't stand diving in a group where a lot of people have them, but in your case, you can usually get someone's attention.