Category: Diving

I had to handle an emergency Scuba Review yesterday much to my wife’s disappointment as it was her birthday. A diver, after doing his 4 open water dives, never dived again…and suddenly wants to go on a dive trip this coming weekend after almost two years of not diving. He’s in his late 40s, smokes heavier than a fishing vessel’s exhaust.

Went thru knowledge review, it had to be classroom session for OWD course all over again. Told him I’d be demonstrating some skills underwater and for him to watch until I signal for him to do the skills. He acknowledged. Anyway, during the pool session, went thru what we planned to do underwater, recapped on hand signals etc, asked him a few questions, he answered all correctly. Giant stride into the water, he quickly swam back to the side of the pool saying he could not breathe. I thought something was wrong with his regulator set, but it was a case of not feeling comfortable breathing thru the mouth. He requested to swim on the surface with the regulator in his mouth so that he could get comfortable. I agreed and let him swim…and he did so for 45 minutes.

Descent…and at around 3m I think he felt uncomfortable in the ears. Instead of swallowing his saliva or ascending a bit and clear the ears, he blew his BCD and up he went, faster and definitely traveled more distance vertically than Tigershue did in Bali, and before I could say “What the ….” he was already bobbing on the surface, thumb still blowing the BCD up, dump valve screaming air out. Joined him at the surface and asked him what was wrong, he said he could not equalise. So I gave him some tips on how to do it. This time, he could descend better and was soon on his knees in front of me. I began the session with regulator removal and recovery…as I was doing it, I saw him do it too. So I asked him to repeat, and he did. Then I did mask clearing exercise. As soon as I flooded my mask, I caught a glimpse of him doing it at the same time and then he disappeared. And as I cleared my mask, I heard that familiar sound of the BCD’s dump valve dumping lots of excessive air. Up I went again. This time I reminded him to wait until I have finished demonstrating and signal for him to do the same skill.

Down we went again. This time I saw his eyes were wider than baseballs. I signaled to him asking if he was okay. He gave the “okay” sign in return, still wide-eyed. Then I checked my air. I saw him doing the same. I folded my arms,and he did the same. He reminded me of my late grandfather who, after an accident, had blood clot in his brain and parroted every single thing I did in the ambulance. So I tested this guy. I scratched my head. And he did the same. I signaled for him to surface, giving the thumbs-up signal. He replied, then folded his arms. Narced? Probably too much cigarette tar perhaps. So I held his arm with one hand, and his inflator button on the other, bowing in some air while I ascended with him slowly. He parroted my actions and blew lots of air into my BCD. My head was spinning as I had reverse-block and was trying very hard not to lose consciousness, focusing very hard on his face. Took a few deep breaths, and talked to him nicely.

He admitted he had never been comfortable underwater but dived because of peer pressure. he loves the underwater scenery. He also admitted, right to the end of his OWD course, he could never clear his mask, but his instructor passed him anyway.

To cut a long story short, in the end he could swim underwater comfortably (albeit using the inflator hose most of the time to maintain buoyancy), and to clear his mask after a few tries.

What I am trying to say here is, even if you do not have the time to go on dive trips, and especially if you are new, go dive inthe pool and sharpen your skills.

Three months have passed since the barge hit the reef near Barracuda Point, Sipadan.

Does anyone still remember?