Hi,
I thought I'd start a thread for crazy dive stories where we can share our own experiences or things we've witnessed. Hopefully we can get a laugh or learn something from these experiences.
I'll go first. This was my first encounter with Sea Wasps...
I was diving off a liveaboard in Turks and Caicos and we were gearing up for a night dive. It was dark and the lights on the back of the Wind Dancer illuminated the back deck and the beautiful blue water underneath. The DM called us to the back of the boat and pointed out a couple of jellies floating in the water. He told us these were Sea Wasps which packed a heck of a sting and could cause some folks to go into shock. In other words, be VERY careful. We thought "no problem," finished suiting up and jumped in once the jellies drifted off.
We had a spectacular night dive and were doing our safety stop when my buddy pointed towards the surface. Between us and the boat were a TON of Sea Wasps! My buddy starts freaking out and pointing behind me. I turn around and there's a Sea Wasp headed straight at me! It was attracted to my light, agh!! Luckily I was able to extinguish the light and it chose a different direction.
So here we are, with jellies between us and the boat and I'm a pretty new diver. Luckily my buddy was quite experienced. He indicated to me via sign language that our bubbles would create a small area above us in the water column which would push the jellies away from the center and we could surface quickly and get out., but speed was very important.
I was very frightened but luckily I was wearing full body protection including a hood and booties. I went up as quickly as I dared my heart pounding the whole time. I managed to get out without getting stung and made sure to rinse off well and my gloves were the last thing to come off that dive. Another diver wasn't so lucky, He got stung in the face and ankle and was in bad shape. Luckily, he didn't go into shock but had to take it easy the rest of the trip.
That was the last night dive in that area for me. It was good for me to experience this but I'll be happy if I don't ever have a similar encounter.
Whew!
I thought I'd start a thread for crazy dive stories where we can share our own experiences or things we've witnessed. Hopefully we can get a laugh or learn something from these experiences.
I'll go first. This was my first encounter with Sea Wasps...
I was diving off a liveaboard in Turks and Caicos and we were gearing up for a night dive. It was dark and the lights on the back of the Wind Dancer illuminated the back deck and the beautiful blue water underneath. The DM called us to the back of the boat and pointed out a couple of jellies floating in the water. He told us these were Sea Wasps which packed a heck of a sting and could cause some folks to go into shock. In other words, be VERY careful. We thought "no problem," finished suiting up and jumped in once the jellies drifted off.
We had a spectacular night dive and were doing our safety stop when my buddy pointed towards the surface. Between us and the boat were a TON of Sea Wasps! My buddy starts freaking out and pointing behind me. I turn around and there's a Sea Wasp headed straight at me! It was attracted to my light, agh!! Luckily I was able to extinguish the light and it chose a different direction.
So here we are, with jellies between us and the boat and I'm a pretty new diver. Luckily my buddy was quite experienced. He indicated to me via sign language that our bubbles would create a small area above us in the water column which would push the jellies away from the center and we could surface quickly and get out., but speed was very important.
I was very frightened but luckily I was wearing full body protection including a hood and booties. I went up as quickly as I dared my heart pounding the whole time. I managed to get out without getting stung and made sure to rinse off well and my gloves were the last thing to come off that dive. Another diver wasn't so lucky, He got stung in the face and ankle and was in bad shape. Luckily, he didn't go into shock but had to take it easy the rest of the trip.
That was the last night dive in that area for me. It was good for me to experience this but I'll be happy if I don't ever have a similar encounter.
Whew!
Posted by
on Mar. 4, 2008 at 12:59 AM
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by
Group Owner
on Mar. 4, 2008 at 9:08 AM
Great post! Great story, too!
We had a similar enounter with sea wasps on a night dive on the Cayman Aggressor IV. I remember suiting up with hood, gloves, and everything...every part of skin I COULD cover I did. It left just a bit of my chin and upper lip exposed. Not a big deal getting into the water because the splash would make the sea wasps move out, and you descend immediately and you're OK. Getting back out, I was told to take your regulator and either spin it around like a lasso around your head or just have the regulator blow bubbles to make an opening in the water. That worked pretty well, but I still got stung on the only two exposed spots of skin--on my upper lip and on my chin. The most important thing I learned from that, though, was what to do afterward. DO NOT RINSE THE STINGS WITH FRESH WATER!!! Fresh water makes the nematocysts (stingers) expel the venom. They gave us spray bottles filled with vinegar. Apparently vinegar neutralizes the venom from the nematocysts. I kept the spray bottle pretty close to me for about a half hour, but then it got better. I tell everyone now--if you have a jellyfish sting, don't rinse with fresh water, but instead, use vinegar.
We had a similar enounter with sea wasps on a night dive on the Cayman Aggressor IV. I remember suiting up with hood, gloves, and everything...every part of skin I COULD cover I did. It left just a bit of my chin and upper lip exposed. Not a big deal getting into the water because the splash would make the sea wasps move out, and you descend immediately and you're OK. Getting back out, I was told to take your regulator and either spin it around like a lasso around your head or just have the regulator blow bubbles to make an opening in the water. That worked pretty well, but I still got stung on the only two exposed spots of skin--on my upper lip and on my chin. The most important thing I learned from that, though, was what to do afterward. DO NOT RINSE THE STINGS WITH FRESH WATER!!! Fresh water makes the nematocysts (stingers) expel the venom. They gave us spray bottles filled with vinegar. Apparently vinegar neutralizes the venom from the nematocysts. I kept the spray bottle pretty close to me for about a half hour, but then it got better. I tell everyone now--if you have a jellyfish sting, don't rinse with fresh water, but instead, use vinegar.
Group Owner, Asian and Pacific Island Families Forum
Group Owner, SCUBA and Snorkeling Moms
"When the fate of so many rests in the hands of so few, can the failure to be accountable ever be forgiven?" --Stephen Hawking
by
Group Owner
on Mar. 4, 2008 at 9:17 AM
OK, here' s my favorite story of all time.
We're diving off of the (liveaboard) Cayman Aggressor. I had noticed a couple days prior to this particular dive that some water had gotten into my pressure gauge. I didn't think much of it at the time. Anyhow, we dove in, and it was a gorgeous dive. We followed the divemaster down around some spectacular coral formations. We were probably about 10 - 15 minutes into the dive when I went to check my pressure gauge.
Only I couldn't read the pressure on the gauge. The needle had rusted off. It was useless and loose, lying at the bottom of my pressure gauge. I showed my DH (dive buddy) and he and I agreed we needed to surface. So I used my "honker" to signal the divemaster. When he turned around, I pointed to my pressure gauge. He signaled OK? and I shook my head no. I swam over to him and showed him my pressure gauge. He looked at it. Then held it up over his head and shook it. Then he signaled that we needed to surface. Yeah, we figured that out...I just needed to let him know.
Anyhow, that was the first part of the adventure. As we started to head back to the boat, we picked a nice spot to do our safety stop, and guess who comes to pay a visit? A very friendly grouper! It was like a puppy dog, rubbing up against us, as if it wanted us to pet it! After our safety stop, we started to head back to the boat again, and IT FOLLOWED US BACK! And then after I got a new pressure gauge attached to my rig and we had an appropriate surface interval, we got back in the water, to see that our grouper friend had WAITED FOR US beneath the boat! It followed us around on that second dive too...but later I found out that groupers like to follow divers in that area because divers often lead groupers to food (pointing out smaller fish in their hiding spots with dive lights). Anyhow, I haven't been able to eat grouper since then...any creature that acts like a puppy dog is definitely more friend than food! LOL
We're diving off of the (liveaboard) Cayman Aggressor. I had noticed a couple days prior to this particular dive that some water had gotten into my pressure gauge. I didn't think much of it at the time. Anyhow, we dove in, and it was a gorgeous dive. We followed the divemaster down around some spectacular coral formations. We were probably about 10 - 15 minutes into the dive when I went to check my pressure gauge.
Only I couldn't read the pressure on the gauge. The needle had rusted off. It was useless and loose, lying at the bottom of my pressure gauge. I showed my DH (dive buddy) and he and I agreed we needed to surface. So I used my "honker" to signal the divemaster. When he turned around, I pointed to my pressure gauge. He signaled OK? and I shook my head no. I swam over to him and showed him my pressure gauge. He looked at it. Then held it up over his head and shook it. Then he signaled that we needed to surface. Yeah, we figured that out...I just needed to let him know.
Anyhow, that was the first part of the adventure. As we started to head back to the boat, we picked a nice spot to do our safety stop, and guess who comes to pay a visit? A very friendly grouper! It was like a puppy dog, rubbing up against us, as if it wanted us to pet it! After our safety stop, we started to head back to the boat again, and IT FOLLOWED US BACK! And then after I got a new pressure gauge attached to my rig and we had an appropriate surface interval, we got back in the water, to see that our grouper friend had WAITED FOR US beneath the boat! It followed us around on that second dive too...but later I found out that groupers like to follow divers in that area because divers often lead groupers to food (pointing out smaller fish in their hiding spots with dive lights). Anyhow, I haven't been able to eat grouper since then...any creature that acts like a puppy dog is definitely more friend than food! LOL
Group Owner, Asian and Pacific Island Families Forum
Group Owner, SCUBA and Snorkeling Moms
"When the fate of so many rests in the hands of so few, can the failure to be accountable ever be forgiven?" --Stephen Hawking
by
Group Owner
on Mar. 6, 2008 at 9:38 PM
I have a couple stories of some...um...not so elegant entries into the water.
We were on one boat where the platform where we were supposed to giant stride into the water was low enough to the water level that it would submerge with the rocking of the boat. One time, I tried to giant stride off the back, but my fin was submerged and I did a less-than-graceful face plant straight into the water.
Another time, we were diving off a very small boat. The only means of entry was via back roll. I was thinking that the back roll was a true "roll" and went backward and tried to do a backward somersault underwater. I didn't quite do that...but I did succeed in banging my head on the bottom of the boat!
Needless to say, I learned that a "backroll" entry is more of a lean back into the water...and letting gravity do the rest.
Oh, and one time on same tiny (6-pack) boat, we had a guy who did a dive with us who was a passenger off of a cruise ship. When we were done with the dives, the divemaster drove the boat directly back to the cruise ship...which was beyond ENORMOUS compared to our little boat. I think the ropes were wider than our boat, and life rafts were maybe twice the size of our boat. Pulling up alongside this behemoth was awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time.
The whole time we were alongside the cruise ship I kept thinking "please don't turn on your bilge pumps....please don't turn on your bilge pumps!" LOL
We were on one boat where the platform where we were supposed to giant stride into the water was low enough to the water level that it would submerge with the rocking of the boat. One time, I tried to giant stride off the back, but my fin was submerged and I did a less-than-graceful face plant straight into the water.
Another time, we were diving off a very small boat. The only means of entry was via back roll. I was thinking that the back roll was a true "roll" and went backward and tried to do a backward somersault underwater. I didn't quite do that...but I did succeed in banging my head on the bottom of the boat!
Needless to say, I learned that a "backroll" entry is more of a lean back into the water...and letting gravity do the rest.
Oh, and one time on same tiny (6-pack) boat, we had a guy who did a dive with us who was a passenger off of a cruise ship. When we were done with the dives, the divemaster drove the boat directly back to the cruise ship...which was beyond ENORMOUS compared to our little boat. I think the ropes were wider than our boat, and life rafts were maybe twice the size of our boat. Pulling up alongside this behemoth was awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time.
The whole time we were alongside the cruise ship I kept thinking "please don't turn on your bilge pumps....please don't turn on your bilge pumps!" LOL
Group Owner, Asian and Pacific Island Families Forum
Group Owner, SCUBA and Snorkeling Moms
"When the fate of so many rests in the hands of so few, can the failure to be accountable ever be forgiven?" --Stephen Hawking
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hey!
- aqua_mom
on Mar. 4, 2008 at 12:59 AM