The Dangers of Deep Recreational Diving
January 8, 2009 3:33 pm How It Is Done, The Soap BoxI caught a very interesting video on YouTube that clearly demonstrates the danger of deep recreational diving by divers who are not prepared and who are unaccustomed to this type of diving. I know nothing about the dive that is documented in the video, but I think I can put together a pretty good factual story of how it happened.
A group of divers were making a wall dive in the Bahamas. A dive master warned all divers that they should not go below 60 feet, unless that had an Advanced Open Water rating. The two divers in “trouble” in the video may or may not have been experienced in deeper diving. They were both counting on the dive master to “keep them out of trouble”. They were distracted by the beauty of the wall and were busy taking pictures. With their depth constantly increasing, and all of their attention focused on the photography, they never bothered to check their air. They also were likely slightly impaired by narcosis from the depth. Obviously, the dive master was not watching and left a portion of the group to their own devices. Lucky for these two divers, another diver spotted them and was alert enough to know that they were getting themselves in trouble. Take a look at this video and then read my suggestions (warnings) below.
Lots of lessons can be learned from this video. I would suggest that ANYONE planning to go deeper than traditional recreational limits remember these points.
- Deep diving should be WELL planned in advance and all divers should be well skilled in calculating expected air consumption rates and the amount of gas available should be adequately planned to GUARANTEE a successful outcome.
- At depths deeper than traditional recreational depths, gas consumption is much larger than anything you have ever experienced. At 140-150 feet, you gas goes away MUCH faster than you expect.
- Distractions, such as a camera, will allow time to pass much faster than you realize. This has the potential to be extremely dangerous for any dives deeper than 100 feet, where available gas time with traditional recreational cylinders is very short.
- Narcosis at depth will give you the sense that all is well, even in situations where you are facing pending disaster.
- NEVER trust a dive master or anyone else to take care of you. If all of the “experience” leave with the care taker, you are on your own. Simply put, DON’T DO TRUST ME DIVES! If you don’t have the skill to do the dive, you CAN’T use the skill of someone else to keep you safe.
- When someone, like the guy doing the video of the near-accident, “saves your bacon” in a situation like this, thank them profusely and LEARN A LESSON from the event.
I would like to thank the individual that posted this video. All should be able to learn a great lesson from this. Glad to hear that these two divers came away from this with only a scare.
Phil Ellis
Save on Discount Scuba Gear at DiveSports.com
January 9th, 2009 at 2:07 PM
Wow! Outstanding post Phil. Thanks for sharing.
As someone who dives primarily cold freshwater environments where you don’t just drop to 140′ and not know it (the 40 F temps below the thermocline year-round tend to get your attention!), it reinforces how easy it is to end up deeper than planned in warm, clear water when you’re task loaded with a camera.
January 11th, 2009 at 12:39 PM
These two were lucky. I can not count how many times I have been on vacation and ran into situations where I or someone else have had to be a rescuer. Please everyone that watches this video realize that there may not always be some one there to save you. This dive may have turned out much differently if someone had not been around to save their lives. Always remember that there is nothing down there that is worth your life, there is always another trip. Even if you have the training make sure you also have the experience to go to the next level. If in doubt don’t do it or hire a dive professional to guide you to the next level but never 3 levels beyond where you currently feel comfortable. There is never any shame in asking for further training before a dive beyond your current limits. I have been on a dive boat where the outcome was not so lucky for a diver (just happened to be in the Bahamas) and that was not fun for anyone especially his 8 year old son he left on board! Just remember that you are not just taking your life in your hands but also the life of your dive buddy and the people who love you on the topside. That being said know your limmits and do not dive beyond them ever, it is just not worth it!