IRAP Administrator
08-03-2007, 11:00 PM
Not sure this really qualifies as an incident but will relate the story and let the flames fall where they may. After being away from cave country for 3 or 4 months I was really glad to be back. Before I left NY I had made plans with a friend of mine to dive Cow upstream for the first time. To say I was jazzed up for this dive would be an understatement. Anyway after driving for 16 hours through the night I made it to Mayo and checked into the motel about 2 in the afternoon. Grabbed some dinner and decided to take a nap as I haven’t slept for the past 30 hours or so. I think I finally fell asleep about 4 or 5 but was awakened around sevenish by my dive buddy who is lucky enough to live in Florida and met me in Mayo. I was still really groggy, actually felt more tired than I did before I fell asleep. We load up our cars and head off to Cow. I felt fine but tired, but that was quickly washed away by adrenaline when I got to the dive site. The basin was crystal clear and the site was empty. So we gear up in the dark and descend into the cave. Had a little trouble negotiating the turns, but nothing that really caused any angst. We get to the poly line and I start pulling myself through the cave I start to develop and mild headache but shake it off. I continue on through the cave and the headache starts to build, but the progession was so slow I really didn’t notice until I get about 700 to 800 feet of penetration. At this point I’m seeing stars, literally, flashes of light are bouncing across my vision and I call the dive. At this point I’m thinking it’s CO2 buildup but I’m not really overbeathing my reg and I check my gauges, my consumption seems pretty normal. Still had plenty of gas nowhere near thirds so we proceed out the cave. I start feeling alittle better on the exit so we have a leisurely retreat out of the cave. At about 200 feet of penetration it feels as though somebody is trying to put a jack hammer through the back of my head and I start felling nauseous and that’s when I start getting concerned. I start thinking about having to negotiate the coming restrictrictions and all I want to think about is getting to the surface. Luckily my training kicks in at this point and I stop and just relax for a minute or so and try to get some semblance of composure. I realize I have plenty or air left and decide to take things slow and deliberate. Got hung up a couple of times on the exit but no real drama. After we surface I ask my buddy how I my form was on the exit because I really couldn’t tell I felt together but not really in control of myself. He said I looked fine and couldn’t tell anything was wrong with me, I felt some relief knowing that I could handle myself in a very stressful situation but now I’m worried about what in the world is wrong with me. We just rest for a while in the basin and begin to tell my buddy how I feel and that the headache is not subsiding. We finally make it back to the cars and proceed to replay the pie eating scene in “Stand By Me” and lose my dinner all over the forest floor. Afterwards I feel somewhat better but the headache is still present. We hightail it back the motel and I go to sleep. Postdive analysis ruled out DCS in that I had no joint pain whatsoever. I did continue to hydrate myself until I fell asleep just as a precaution, plus I really wasn’t down all that long, entire dive was approx 40 minutes or so. I have no history of migraines so I couldn’t tell if I had one. All I could think of was that it was my body telling me to relax and get some sleep. Afterall I had been up for 30 hours prior to the dive and was driving for 16 of those hours. The short couple hour cat nap I had made me feel more drained than before I fell asleep. Woke up the next morning feeling fine and had a great week of diving. If anyone has an idea what it could have possibly been please post in the forum. Also if there are ways that I should have handled it better or overlooked please let me know other than I should have never been in the water I figured that one out on my own, Thanks