What Do You Do When You're a Bit Freaked?

[BobK]

(I miss FL so bad sometimes::I am visiting in 2 weeks yay!)

That's interesting, because I've had most of my true zero vis dives in Florida

When I dive OW, it's often out of Pt. Canaveral. Vis there can be as good as 30 feet, but it's usually prudent to lead with your speargun on the way down, because you often hit the bottem with the gun before you see it.

Even then, if I have a couple of feet of vis, I hunt for lobsters. Spearing is out, since I can't see the end of my gun.

I've only had a couple of total zero vis situations while diving caverns or caves. One was caused by a fellow student, who hung up in the line while we were in a bedding plane. He decided that shaking like a landed fish between the ceiling and floor was a good way to break free of the line. Luckily, the line was tougher then he was..

But one of my favorite dives is Lafayette Blue. For some reason, it's cool to go between springs while seeing only a few feet of cave line surrounded by darkness.

Before I started cavern and cave training, I always considered myself somewhat claustrophobic

[lamont]

I am always waiting for the Kraken to emerge and eat us all in one motion or something.

[DA Aquamaster]

Before getting serious about either technical diving or cave diving, I did literally hundreds of hours in zero viz commercial diving - zero viz as in ona good day you have one to 2 ft of viz until you arrive and start working at which point the viz is totally zero until the end of the dive. After awhile zero viz is just not an issue you learn to work by feel, orient yourself to the site and build a mental image by feel and to even feel your orientation and buoyancy state by feel.

Recreationally, I also had the opportunity to frequently dive in places with low viz, walls an deep water. Initially it was a little freaky, but it was an irratioanl fear of not knowing what was there. With a little thought, that fear dissapated completely - ie: there was nothing there that was going to eat me.

I still get bothered by night dives in the ocean - especially when you see sharks on deco during the day. That's a case where there is something out there that could eat me, but again, how often have you ever even heard of that happening, let alone seen it? The odds are better of winning the lottery and I suck at that, as evidenced by the continuing need to show up for work, so considering the odds quickly calms any anxiety. If I did it a lot, I doubt that initial anxiety would ever even arise.

In the whole scheme of things, caves are potentially zero viz, but the reality is that even if you encounter a silt out, they tend to be short lived and or of limited distance, the environment is much better known and the threats are much lower than a commercial dive, so even a total lights out failure is pretty low on the freak-o-meter. If you dive reasonably conservatively, did proper gas planning, stuck to the plan, maintained a continuous guideline and are not diving with a buddy prone to stupid attacks, the whole event will be easily survivable.

[BabyDuck]

...and are not diving with a buddy prone to stupid attacks, the whole event will be easily survivable.

so what are *you* gonna do since this one isn't applicable? i mean, i asked you which way to go at the end of a line once.

[sskasser]

so what are *you* gonna do since this one isn't applicable? i mean, i asked you which way to go at the end of a line once.

That's easy! Pull out a reel and create a NEW EOL!

[tflaris]

The thread on "Deep Lake" got me thinking about braille diving and what I do when I am a little freaked to "keep me in the dive."

I was asked to dive in a local lake to attempt to recover an outboard motor. As soon as my mask went below the waterline vis went to zero. Just a green glow from my light... which offered a little comfort but reading instruments was out of the question. Then I entered the silt zone and the light disappeared. I was just "in my head" so-to-speak. As I was establishing a search pattern with a string tied to the anchor and feeling around I began to sing, "Jesus Loves Me..." in a fairly weak voice and counting repeated verses to try to calculate dive time.

It is a mental game... isn't it? What do you do?

Dont go diving with Andrew A. when he's in a digging mood. Not even Neil Young's song "Looking for a heart of gold" hepls. (Those might not be the lyrics I make them up all the time.)

Usually my butt cheeks get tight and I try not to let the big dog out of the cage.

[Walter Pickel]

Then I entered the silt zone and the light disappeared. I was just "in my head" so-to-speak. As I was establishing a search pattern with a string tied to the anchor and feeling around I began to sing, "Jesus Loves Me..." in a fairly weak voice and counting repeated verses to try to calculate dive time.

It is a mental game... isn't it? What do you do?

Close your eyes and try not to "see"..Take that side of your brain out of the equation.

[LCF]

Yeah, it's funny -- I think it's the ATTEMPT to see that is way worse than not being able to see. I did 48 minutes of lights out exit in my Full Cave class, and I was completely relaxed, but that low (rather than no) viz dive in the dark cave was way worse. I ended up okaying the light some of the time, just for reassurance.

[RN]

My first silt out wasn't too pleasant. I wasn't expecting it to be that bad, and then when I hit solid limestone the first 3 attempts back through the restriction that was just big enough for me to squeeze through, my breathing rate started to go up a bit. Then I remembered I still had plenty of gas in my tanks and I'd find my way out. The 4th time I found the hole. But I was done with the dive. I was 1000' back in the cave and my wife was doing the scenic swim until I thumbed it again. That was when we changed our end of dive signal. A thumb means straight out. An index finger in a circle means let's turn around and swim out at a leisurely pace.

Now, it doesn't bother me. I was in a siltout last weekend that completely stole the light from my 21 watt and took about 7-8 minutes to swim out of. I was expecting those conditions because the passage I was in was really low and the line was on the ceiling so there wasn't much of a choice other than not going in there, which wasn't a choice for me...

As for the experience in training, I didn't get it other than lights out drills. I do put my students in a real silt out situation, but it's not a complete silt out since I do still need to maintain control over them. As has already been stated, it's different when it's training and you're less than 100' from the exit and only 25' deep and when it's real and you're a couple thousand feet from the exit and 90' deep.

[JDostal]

Here are links to IRAPs where I have lost the line, and I am still here typing, so even that isn't insurmountable.

http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5516
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5517
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5518

Interesting reads. Thanks!