Oh no, another dive accident...
Reminds me of 2 close calls I had on my dive trips at Batam Indonesia and the Rainbow Warrior wreck in New Zealand.
My dive buddy was, who else, my dear ct.
In Batam, halfway throught the dive, at about 12 meters deep, I looked away for a moment and the next thing I know, she was no longer beside me. Visibility was poor but I managed to spot her about 3 meters above me, ascending leisurely. I tried to catch her attention by waving frantically, but she was looking up, where she was heading. I tried shouting at her, but underwater with a SCUBA mouthpiece in my mouth, only God can hear me. I tried to catch up with her, but rapid ascensions are a definite no no in SCUBA diving.
When we surfaced, I asked her why she didn't stick with her buddy like how we were trained, she said she couldn't see me. But how do you explain that I can see you ascending? I think she just felt uncomfortable and scared and wanted to ascend. That's ok, very normal, and to discontinue the dive is correct. But the proper way to do it is to inform your buddy and ascend together. No matter what, never break the buddy system!
In New Zealand, we were exploring the famous wreck of Greenpeace's ill fated Rainbow Warrior wreck. Visibility was good, but the current was rather strong and water at the surface was choppy. Plus at 18 meters deep, the water was quite cold. This time, ct stuck well to my side, and I made sure that I'm always holding on to her. But I ended up having to pull her through the current all the time cos she got tired pretty quickly. Very soon, I find that I'm getting tired too and my oxygen was being used up almost twice as fast as compared to her's. I signalled to her that we should cut short our dive and ascend. She was already too tired to swim and I'm running out of oxygen fast due to all the extra 'work' of pulling her weight. It was thrilling, but the danger was real.
We need more dive hours to gain more experience. But dive accidents can happen to even the most seasoned divers. And when it does happen, it is often fatal.
The NE monsoon is almost over, anyone care for some S.C.U.B.A diving?
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3 comments:
Kevin, true. I can't imagine how it feels to die while drowning. It must be painful. Sad to read that Sporeans died in the diving trip.
I guessed, it is almost the same as my friends, Muhayiddin who died while trying to save his friend in Phuket. It is tragic. But I find that God loves him more. As he is a very goood person.
Aniwei, hearing all those stories make my phobia of swimming in the sea even much higher. Scared lah. haha! wat to do, swim in pool ok, swim in the open sea. I think twice. or thrice. or maybe more than that. - sukaimi
It was like more that 2yrs since we last dived. I admit i was scared, a bit disorientated.Didn't know where i was heading to,what was around me.Didn't know how to move about in the water and the current was too strong. I didn't realise that i was ascending until i looked up and saw the sky..so i decided to jus go up. i didn't panic and wasn't thinking of dying. I just prayed for safety. I was relieved that i surfaced not far from the boat we were on, abt 50 meters. Of cos, Kevin surfaced seconds after,and got scolding for my stupid behaviour. I need a refresher course if i intend to dive again. Don't want Kevin to worry 4 me.
obviously, the above comment was courtesy of ct, not kevin.... :)
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