The dive was going splendidly, with each of us acquiring several species of mollusks for the aquarium.  Nearing a low air situation I went to corral my buddy John and he has a bead on about a 20lb grouper.  I explain my low air situation, also showing him his own gauge, which read 700lbs.  He protests and proceeds to shoot the grouper, which promptly encircles our anchor chain several times.  In the dark, with the chain tangled in some ribs on the wreck, we had our hands full.  John gathers up the chain with the intent of getting out in the open sand and I assist by grabbing the anchor (24lbs) and following below him (1st mistake).  Somewhere along the way, John runs out of air, and drops the chain to make a quick ascent (2nd mistake).  The entire length of chain (25ft-3/4 link), complete with grouper/speargun combo, falls on my back, taking me to the bottom and entangling me like a mummy.

     Not one to panick, I proceed to "calmly" disengage myself from the chain, only to find myself entangled in the shock cord of Johns speargun.  Getting out my knife I cut his shock cord thereby releasing the grouper, with spear attached, knowing I'll have some explaining to do when I get back to the boat.  As I started ascending from 80ft, I get coke bottle from my tank!  NO AIR!!!

     Knowing I might get another breath of air out of my tank every time I ascend 33ft, I calmly but determindly ascend the anchor rope sucking a dry tank as I go.  At about 40ft I sucked so hard on my regulator, I collapsed the one-way exhaust valve into the valve body, flooding it with seawater, and getting a lungfull of the same.  At this point I thought I'd screw the ascent rate, and make like a polaris missle. 

     When I breached the surface, I came out of the water past my knees!  Spitting and sputtering, I get my act together knowing I'm probably bent - but at least I'm breathing sweet air!  I swim over to the boat asking If John was on board.  They reply - '' Yeah, but he's changing tanks to go back down to recompress because he blew his ascent".

     At this time - The early 80's - wether you could recompress in water was still not set in stone.  I met John at the dive platform and tried to talk him out of it, but he was adamant!  He proceeds to bail off and I grab his safe second and go for the ride.  We get to the bottom and see both of our computers have calmed down and are not flashing red lights or numbers at us.  We slowly ascend to 50ft then hang for 10mins.  40ft for 15mins. 30ft for 20mins. etc...  The surface crew has dropped some full bottles with regs down the stage line so we can take our sweet time getting to the surface.  After over 2hrs in the water we finally get back in the boat, cold and exhausted.

     Upon further examination, we decide that neither of us is bent(?).  I get a little attitude towards John after explaining to him how he dropped the chain on me and how I was entrapped for a spell and didn't appreciate it one bit.  He cops an attitude about how I lost his spear and his grouper!  I lose it and scream how if he hadn't shot that stupid grouper, we wouldn't have almost drowned!  After a few more rants and epithats at each other, we both realize just how lucky we both were that night.  Agreeing that we both learned a lesson, we shook hands, hugged each other and promised never to be "STUPID" again.

     If any other divers out there have done a "comedy of ERRORS", and lived to tell the tale, feel free to post.                  

I may hit'em high

I may hit'em low

So look out fish

When this diver's below

Cuz I hit'em!

Pathfinder 23DV-F225 yammy "Liquid Chaos" 

I have shot that last minute fish before and ran out of air at the back of the boat.  But that's the worst of it.  Ever since that time, I make sure to start my accent early with plenty of air.  I do not take a shot on a fish with less than 1000 lbs.  Even though I was on the surface at the back of the boat, I do not like that feeling of no air through my reg.

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Jon

Capt. Tony Blanton

Certified Marine Technician

Powerpole dealer and Outfitting specialist

SAMS SA Marine surveyor

http://powerpole.com/

Here you go Tony

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF DIVE COMPUTERS?

Until the early 1980s almost all recreational diving was taught by the standards of U.S. Navy tables. Because the Navy tables are not based on multi-level diving profiles, scientists developed algorithms that take into account changes in nitrogen uptake with continuous changes in depth. These algorithms were mainly theoretical models until the microchip revolution made them accessible and workable in a hand-held computer. When the algorithm is programmed into a computer that also senses depth (a simple depth gauge) and measures time, you have a "dive computer."

The first commercially available dive computer was the Orca Edge, in 1983. Since then dive computers have become smaller and more versatile. They are now manufactured by many companies, and incorporate one of several algorithms for calculating nitrogen uptake and elimination.

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Jon

Capt. Tony Blanton

Certified Marine Technician

Powerpole dealer and Outfitting specialist

SAMS SA Marine surveyor

http://powerpole.com/

Here's a pic of the Edge Computer.  Formerly known as the brick.

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Jon

the first pic is some funny shite!

John - BuckWild "The Original"

Pathfinder 23DV-F225 yammy "Liquid Chaos" 

I may hit'em high

I may hit'em low

So look out fish

When this diver's below

Cuz I hit'em!

Sniper Spear-it

Sniper Spear-It

If you're not afraid to shoot it, its not big enough!!!

I am too.  I have not been out since we got out last.  But we got to get out on your boat right now.  Mine is broke right now.  Remember lifting my motor up at the ramp last time..  Hope to have it fixed here soon.  But let's go on your boat.  Call me when you want to go. 

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Jon

I support GulfSide Boat Worx...boat cleaning/detailing, bottom cleaning, zinc/anode changing and teak work. Lic. and Ins       251-923-9166