"OH S**T!" Moments.

[Greenwood_60]

A comment in the latest Intro thread got me thinking. What are some of your "OH S**T!" moments?

I'll start.

At JB, took the jump to the left at the first or second breakdown (don't remember). It starts off big enough, but quickly turns in to a bedding plane. The passage bends around to the right and gets small. The area where there is enough room to swim through is a bit off to the left of the line. In crystal clear water I didn't think much about the line, but took time to consider position of the passable section. The passage bends around the right again, and gets even tighter. I came scraping to a halt, and decided to make my turn. I was on the line, in nearly 0 vis, and working my way back out when I came again to a stop. I knew exactly where I was, and where I needed to be to pass. As I slid to my right, heading over towards the passable area I thought "Oh s**t!, I can't get through there and maintain contact with the line. I didn't know how far the line would stretch. I generally make it a point to not ever stress the line if I don't have to. I briefly thought about how stupid it would be to let go of the line to move far enough over. The next though was whether I could dump all my air (a considerable amount, diving wet with 108s) and fit through on the line. I decided to pull the line out gently, and see if I could get over to the passable area. It was only about 4' or so. I pulled as far as I was comfortable, then tried to move forward. Some progress. Decided rather than pulling further, I'd dump my wing. Pulled the dump, and pressed my back against the ceiling to force the air out. That was just enough to wiggle through. Back in to clear water, and shortly back to my jump and the gold line.

After the dive I found out I was within 50 feet of jumping back to gold when I turned.

[FW]

Most of my O.S. moments are in the IRAP section already. Some go back 45 years. My first one was going in a cavern with no line (didn't know better back then) and silting it up. The difference between me and the 20 or so that didn't make it out of that same cavern was, I knew I was the one that stirred up the silt, and through the silt was the only way out. I have been off line in low visibility, and had the line go through a crack, in zero viz, that an eel couldn't get through. The only way to survive the O.S. syndrome is make yourself to calm down, and think about the best way to solve the problem. Anything else is a waste of gas and precious time.

[FW]

...After the dive I found out I was within 50 feet of jumping back to gold when I turned.

I was in there once, and got in sight of the gold line, but didn't see any arrows, so I turned back and went through the silt, rather than get on a line that I wasn't familiar with.

[Kelly Jessop]

We call them "come to Jesus moments".

I have had fair share
1) struck by lightening between the Cisteen and Nicholson line
2) Exiting a cave and found a sand slide had shifted blocking my exit,took 20minutes of digging
3) Unstable ceiling in Lafayette Blue let go on top of me while surveying
4) Exit Black Lagoon at Hart springs with a 8 ft gator 3ft away at the 20ft stop. (I choose skipping 9 min of deco over the company)
But, that absolute worst, and dangerous moment was.......
5) Travelling down I-75

[FW]

We call them "come to Jesus moments".

But, that absolute worst, and dangerous moment was.......
5) Traveling down I-75

I have to agree with that!!

[LakeCityDiver]

I'll play!!! I have had 2

1) When I was only advanced OW and didnt really know crap let alone cave. I was doing a night dive at Weeki after hours of cleaning up the stage and doing repair work I wanted to see "the cave"... I followed a guy that has been down there many times and he led the way. All was good for a while till I hit the rope at 80ish feet that goes straight down where you have to pull your self through the flow. I got maybe 10ft down and made the mistake of looking out instead of directly at the flow and off went my mask. Not sure how but i caught it off my head and got my leg on the back side of the rope. Goof thing because when i let off the rope to grab my mask I did an instant 180. Soon as the 180 was complete my face hit the rope knocking my reg out. I was in full O****. The reg was easy to grab as it was straight up. I remember once I got the reg in my mouth hugging that rope thinking "Is this it?". slowly got my mask on and proceeded up and out.
It was this night that everything changed. I became very safety conchies and took diving skills very serious. It scared me to death and has always held me back from going to far.

2) At little river doing a "lost mask" drill I was exiting the cave and unbeknowing to me the gold line was in a line trap running under the bedding plane that was way too small to use. I followed the line a little to far thinking "this is not right" and I got stuck. I could not go back, forward, or side to side. The O**** hit me. I knew I was not by myself but I was still the one stuck. I tried for a few mins. I dumped out the little air I had and worked at it. I finally got out and made my exit. Had I really lost my mask I may have not made it out. I made a post on here about the line and it was fixed the next day.

Maybe not as serious as some but the 1st one was the best thing that ever happened to me. I am so grateful it happened because I feel it has made me a much better mental diver.

[rddvet]

1) struck by lightening between the Cisteen and Nicholson line

Holy crap. I didn't think of that ever being a possible problem

[Greenwood_60]

There was a lightening incident at Ginnie. It's in the incident sub forum.

[gasdiver]

Not really an OS moment, but Lake's story brought back a memory. In 1978 I was on my first trip to the Keys. We were diving for lobster under one of the bridges around Marathon while several boats were fishing above us. A fishing lure flashed by my face and caught my mask strap, pulling the mask from my head. I instinctively reached for it because I had seen the fishing line and knew approximately where it was going. Luckily, I caught the mask before it was gone, but then the fisherman jerked on his pole! So, I jerked back. The fisherman must have thought he had set the hook so he let the "fish" run. This gave me just enough time to get the mask off the lure before he started jerking again. Unfortunately, the lure hook snagged my glove, but it did not get my hand. I felt like an idiot trying to put my mask back on and clear it while this guy jerked on the line (hooked into my glove) every few seconds. Finally, I got the mask clear and was able to ditch the glove. To this day I still wonder what that fisherman thought when he reeled his line in with my glove on the hook!

[Sludge]

There was a lightening incident at Ginnie. It's in the incident sub forum.

Yeah, it was during the first Cave Diver's Forum social. John and Angie were in the Hill 400 tunnel when lightning struck the river. One of them felt it (I believe John - he said it felt like an aluminum 80 across the back of the head) and the other didn't feel a thing.

I was standing on the Devil's Eye platform, and Ron and Kim were waist deep on the steps. (I was way too wary to get in the water during a lightning storm.) When the big bolt struck the river, Ron felt it but Kim didn't, and they were in identical drysuits, about two feet apart.