Bad dive at Ginnie

[DogDiver]

It really sounds like you were narced. Nitrogen narcosis can hit anyone even on familiar dives. Doesn't matter that you were on 32%. Had similar situation diving The Cracks a few years ago. Dove 26 years of Great Lakes wreck diving on air. We always brought an underwater camera along so we could remember the dive. Lol. Ken

[FW]

It really sounds like you were narced. Nitrogen narcosis can hit anyone even on familiar dives. Doesn't matter that you were on 32%. Had similar situation diving The Cracks a few years ago. Dove 26 years of Great Lakes wreck diving on air. We always brought an underwater camera along so we could remember the dive. Lol. Ken

Good point, and even a little elevated CO2 will add to the narcosis.

[Tegg]

Did you check for CO?

[Jay]

Thanks for posting this. It is a good read for other folks at your training and experience level.

My general assessment is that you are not ready to solo yet. Get some more dives under your belt and talk to some people about solo diving before you attempt it again. Glad you made it out alive though!!!

[nkavallar]

I appreciate everyones input, to answer a few questions

- I did not have a buddy bottle (stage) with me on that dive
- I did not check for CO2 in my tanks, I always analyze my tanks 2 times for O2 but I dont have a CO2 analyzer, I'll have to check with my fill place and see if they have one available
- As far as I know I have never been narc'ed, also I'm not sure but if you get narc'ed going down the ear and then up in the gallery, wont that effect diminish?
at no point during the dive I felt drunk or anything like it. I did however feel incapacitated mentally (fuzzy, blurry and even hyper realism at times)

Thanks everyone for the advice, and I will stop doing solo dives until I get more training and more dives. I just wanted to share my story as it might help someone less experienced (like me) to recognize these signs earlier and call the dive. Also just to clarify, at no point during the dive did I think I'm going to die - I don't think it was a life threatening situation, it was a "oh-crap" I gotta get out of there dive.

[a64pilot]

It really sounds like you were narced. Nitrogen narcosis can hit anyone even on familiar dives. Doesn't matter that you were on 32%. Had similar situation diving The Cracks a few years ago. Dove 26 years of Great Lakes wreck diving on air. We always brought an underwater camera along so we could remember the dive. Lol. Ken

I think that's far more likely. I believe the link posted about CO2 retention with the Israeli's, I think they were working far harder than anyone should be doing cave diving. That is if I understood what I read anyway.

I posted your trolling right as I assumed people would be all over you for Solo diving and I thought you knew that. FWIW I mostly Solo dive, I asked to be trained with that in mind, but as Sludge said, take baby steps and I plan on two failures for everything however unlikely that is. I'm the guy impossible stuff happens to.
Also doing so much Solo diving I'm afraid my Buddy skills suck. I know this is sacrilege, but the few times I dive with others we are basically two solo divers that just happen to be in the same part of the cave to some extent. I think I would have been better served if I had done a lot more buddy diving and gotten my buddy skills well honed prior to doing so much solo diving.

[nkavallar]

I think that's far more likely. I believe the link posted about CO2 retention with the Israeli's, I think they were working far harder than anyone should be doing cave diving. That is if I understood what I read anyway.

I posted your trolling right as I assumed people would be all over you for Solo diving and I thought you knew that. FWIW I mostly Solo dive, I asked to be trained with that in mind, but as Sludge said, take baby steps and I plan on two failures for everything however unlikely that is. I'm the guy impossible stuff happens to.
Also doing so much Solo diving I'm afraid my Buddy skills suck. I know this is sacrilege, but the few times I dive with others we are basically two solo divers that just happen to be in the same part of the cave to some extent. I think I would have been better served if I had done a lot more buddy diving and gotten my buddy skills well honed prior to doing so much solo diving.

Thanks, I knew I would get eaten alive for solo diving on here - but I felt like it was an important part of the incident. Also I know that there are many intro and apprentice solo divers out there and hopefully that will help them make the right choice as well. No point in hiding the facts or sugarcoating them.

[hunabku]

Thanks, I knew I would get eaten alive for solo diving on here - but I felt like it was an important part of the incident. Also I know that there are many intro and apprentice solo divers out there and hopefully that will help them make the right choice as well. No point in hiding the facts or sugarcoating them.

Eaten alive? I think you have gotten off lighter than the guy who lost two of his five backup lights in my lost and found thread. Normally somebody would have demanded to know who your instructor is by now. Its really quite a diversion from the norm and somewhat refreshing.

Glad you are OK. Hopefully you will find some folks to dive with that are only interested helping you develop sound and proven safe diving procedures

At any point during the dive did you consider switching to your backup reg to see if the breathing got easier? Or check for a partial roll off?

[Squirrel Girl]

- I did not check for CO2 in my tanks, I always analyze my tanks 2 times for O2 but I dont have a CO2 analyzer, I'll have to check with my fill place and see if they have one available

Did you mean to say you didn't check for CO? (I have made the typo CO2 when I meant CO before). Considering that my buddy, Brendan, died from CO poisoning, I'd urge you to buy a CO analyzer. They're not that expensive.

Personally, I have had similar experience(s) in Devil's like that, but to a much lesser degree. I chalked it up to struggling excessively with the current (resulting in CO2 buildup). I make a point of stopping, letting my heart calm down, and that seems to make a difference. The answer is to become a more adept swimming-into-the-current diver. I have some wonderful role models, I try to emulate. And yes, sometimes I have magnifico dives to the same place that sometimes I struggle with. I haven't done a statistical analysis of the rate of flow, versus problems, nor who I was following at the time that kept me in the sweet spot of the flow.

[nkavallar]

Eaten alive? I think you have gotten off lighter than the guy who lost two of his five backup lights in my lost and found thread. Normally somebody would have demanded to know who your instructor is by now. Its really quite a diversion from the norm and somewhat refreshing.

Glad you are OK. Hopefully you will find some folks to dive with that are only interested helping you develop sound and proven safe diving procedures

At any point during the dive did you consider switching to your backup reg to see if the breathing got easier? Or check for a partial roll off?

I did check for a roll off which I didn't have, also I didn't switch regs. Also just because it's not posted in this threat doesn't mean people don't disagree with my solo dive openly. Also my instructor has told me that I absolutely is against solo diving at this level - looking back I'm not sure why I decided to to it, and I'm sorry about it. I made my mistake and learned from it. I'm glad it happened like this, lots to take away from.