Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/08/scuba-diver-has-panic-attack-a.html
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That was the exact moment she realized the ocean was full of fish urine.
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I’m more concerned about her fighting off that regulator they’re trying to put in her mouth. They’d have to spend 80 minutes at 50’, bends aren’t a concern as much as “you keep fighting away the part that has air in it.”
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If you read about what drowning really looks like, as opposed to how it is portrayed in popular culture, and then you look at how she’s swimming just before she takes off her mask, there seems to be a striking similarity!
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In the past I helped out a friend with large dive classes, and I had my regulator ripped out of my mouth more than once by a frightened, panicking diver-wannabe.
If you’re not comfortable [holding your breath underwater/opening your eyes underwater without a mask], then maybe stick to swimming lessons for the foreseeable future.
Ah, looks to be somewhere off Diamond Head. C’mon tourists, get your shit together.
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I have a friend who dives regularly, and last year he had an incident where the tank was faulty and had been leaking air, so when he got to depth suddenly he couldn’t breathe, the tank was empty. It’s tough to relax and ascend slowly in that situation. What’s worse: the bends, or passing out from lack of oxygen?
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So many mistakes would have put him in that situation:
Why wasn’t the tank checked and tested when it was filled?
Why did the gauges miss the loss of air, or why did he miss checking his gauges?
Where was his dive buddy with spare regulator to allow him to share a tank?
If that’s a true story, your friend has zero business being anywhere near SCUBA equipment.
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I used to own a scuba tank, but have never dived. Snorkeled some. I love looking at shit in the ocean.
Friend of mine won’t sky dive or scuba dive because “Your live is 100% dependent on equipment. And some day, that equipment will fail.”
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During dive class we basically went through this. About 20 feet down our instructor cranked down on the tank cutting off the supply.
Because you took a breath at depth and air expands as you ascend and you will have enough to get the the top and you’ll need to exhale on the way up, but it’s all part of training yourself not to lose your shit under the surface of the water.
It’s fascinating how serious it gets down there. Walking 30’ is no big deal, it’s like ten steps. Going 30 feet down is a huge commitment in terms of gear and training. Walking a hundred feet, that’s not ever going to stop you, but that’s the limit of most recreational diving.
This girl should have been weeded out long before she was put in that situation. She was a danger to herself and the others around her. I’m glad it worked out well but it could have ended very badly for more than just her.
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Do they drive a car? Use public transit? Walk underneath airplanes? Cross the street?
All life has risk. And that risk is mitigated by other people. The buddy system works. Two regs on every tank (and two chutes on every sky diver) mean that literally all gear has to fail at once. And in that case, your number was just up that day, those odds are staggeringly tiny.
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True, but you have to get to work. You don’t have to scuba dive.
I agree it is a risk assessment issue. I personally would try scuba, but not like cave diving, not matter how well trained I was. Never want to sky dive.
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Eh. At 50 feet they’d have to have been down there eighty minutes for it to even be an issue, and since this looks like it was one of her first dives, that’s not going to be a question.
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Maybe there was a spider in her mask in which case this reaction is perfectly reasonable.
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Right here. But I’m sure, as those classes mostly go, that someone in the crew told her, “Oh, you’ll be fine, don’t worry about it” and moved on b/c paying customer and all that nonsense.
A sensible plan. I consider myself an excellent swimmer, surfer, open-water diver, but there’s no way in hell I’d go cave diving (even though I’m fascinated by it). Too many risks for difficult-to-obtain rewards.
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Typically taught as “Scream all the way up and you’ll be fine!”
I’m confused as to which diving culture uses thumbs up for “Ok!” I’ve spent decades thinking thumbs up was “Go up.”
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As I understand it (I would have to check back with him), during the boat ride out to the dive he already had his tank on, and someone on the boat was trying to help him with it and opened the valve in error, so it was slowly leaking the whole boat trip.
He did have a dive buddy to share a tank with, he got up without incident but admitted it was still a shock to be in that situation. Live and learn: don’t let idiots touch your gear.
[edit: to clarify, I’m not sure he was ever in danger of getting the bends, but at that moment the idea did occur to him, and the tank wasn’t faulty, whoever touched it was.]
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I’m thinking the same thing. That, coupled with a seemingly-lax attitude towards bringing a clear beginner on a 50 ft dive, presumably on her first day, makes me wonder if they have a casual view of certification.
(To be honest, it took me a long time to still the urge to “thumbs up” my ok-ness underwater. But certainly the instructor should know better.)
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I was under the impression watching the video that they were using the thumbs up to indicate that they were in fact on their way up. Not everyone in the quite large group may have been using/interpreting it that way, though. Perhaps the instructor indicated “up” and (some) others responded with “OK”.
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Put
Another
Dollar
In
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