Most Common Mistake

[sskasser]

I hear ya... I got a wierd fill in my O2 once, 60% O2 and 5% Helium. Now I analyze even my O2. Occasionally, I get looks like I'm stupid or something when people see me hooking up an analyzer to my O2 bottle. Some shops will even tell you that you can't hook up their analyzer to your O2 bottle because you'll burn out their sensor. Bottom line, everyone that dives a lot of Nitrox should have their own analyzer.

Yes! Not just Nitrox, whatever gas you're diving, air, 02, mix...make sure it's what you think it is. I received a "free" unexpected 10/50 top-off when I was expecting 32%....from a place using banked gas. Ooops, wrong whip, eh? It was a while ago, but the lesson stuck.

My most common mistake? Forgetting to bring my overnight bag on dive trips....gear, I got....clothes....ummm...Wal-Mart trip! Well, that, and sometimes I can't find my sunglasses...because I'm wearing them. At least I make my dive buddies feel really smart in comparison

[Sludge]

Yep, my gym bag is the last thing I throw in the truck. Except the two times it never made it. Wal-Mart!

I once was gearing up at Ginnie, and I reached for my fins and they weren't there. I remember remarking to the woman who rented me some fins, "You know, I own SEVEN pairs of fins!"

(This was in my pre-trailer days. I now carry backups of everything in there. Except clothes.)

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I've forgotten my computer at home several times :P Luckily, my buddies have always bailed me out.

[aainslie]

Some shops will even tell you that you can't hook up their analyzer to your O2 bottle because you'll burn out their sensor.

Seriously???

Man, every thime I think that dive shop monkeys can't get dumber, a new story comes out to show me wrong...

(Fortunately almost every cave fill station doesn't fit this description. It's the coastal shops that seem largely to be clueless)

[Cali Knucklehead]

It is easy to forget stuff Cristan

I guess the worst case of me forgetting something was a sump dive in WV. We were 2.5 miles from the entrance. We had crawled, clambered over breakdown, and rappelled 135', to get there. I had failed to pack a mask

Now that is a sad story. What did you do?

My worst case was showing up to the dive site an hour early, BS'ing for 50 minutes and then assembling my gear only to realize that I had forgotten my backplate. Fortunately I only live 10 minutes from the beach so my buddies didn't have to wait too long. I rushed home and back to the beach, got everything assembled and noticed that I forgot my drysuit undergarments too. I sucked it up and wore jeans & a t-shirt under the dry suit. Not the most comfortable, but it worked. The kicker to the story is that I had to move the undergarments out of the way to grab the backplate. Was not thinking that morning.

[FW]

Now that is a sad story. What did you do?

There were three divers on that trip. We were supposed to survey beyond the sump. I just told the other two to go ahead without me, and I walked out alone.

What made matters worse, our "sherpas" had left before they knew about the mask issue. It was the middle of the winter, and they had taken all the vehicles, thinking we would be in there for hours. I had to walk a mile in a snowstorm to the place everyone was staying. My coveralls were clanking together because they were covered with ice, and my beard had icicles in it.

[sskasser]

I had to walk a mile in a snowstorm

Uphill both ways!

[Marc Bryan]

With no wet suit boots.

[sandy]

At 11PM before our last day of trimix training dives, I realized the neck seal on my drysuit had dry rotted. The next day, I rented a wetsuit. On the boat (to the Oriskany), I realized I had no booties and my feet were too small for my fins. I learned then that loafers are not a bad substitute for booties.

[LiteHedded]

At 11PM before our last day of trimix training dives, I realized the neck seal on my drysuit had dry rotted. The next day, I rented a wetsuit. On the boat (to the Oriskany), I realized I had no booties and my feet were too small for my fins. I learned then that loafers are not a bad substitute for booties.

I did the hike to buford in flip flops once. followed by doing the dive barefooted with jetfins

don't ask