My incident

[loquat149]

Okay, so here's my first "incident report" (hopefully it'll be my last). I admit, I f#%*ed up and am a little embarrassed, but I learned a few lessons regarding 1) diving with "new gear", 2) "team bailout", and 3) "lack of redundancy". Hopefully airing this in a public forum will help others avoid getting into a similar situation.

I won't name the two other divers involved. It's their decision whether they want to come forward or not. One of them actually dove with me the next day. The other canceled our previously arranged dive plans and hastily left town (and the state) the next morning. Though, he did say we'd dive together again. All in all they were really cool about not scolding me or laying blame. These things happen, I guess. I'm just glad we all made it back okay.

So here's what happen. Diver 1 and Diver 2 dragged me to my first Florida "non-tourist" cave on Saturday. None of us had been there before and we were going off a tip from a SM explorer I know. Oh, and whatever information we could gleam from CaveAtlas.com and, of course, Youtube. We also talked to someone very knowledgeable of the area. He seemed discouraging at first, but did provide some critical information on gaining access.

The cave in question is located in a forested Wildlife Management Area at the end of a series of long and winding dirt roads. No, it's not Eagles's Nest. Like many springs in Florida, this one is used as a swimming hole by locals in the Summer. Luckily for us, there were still a few around when we needed them.

As we were were gearing up, storm clouds were moving in and it started to sprinkle a bit, so I decided to make haste and get in the water. After a thoughtful analysis of the entire situation later, I now believe this was the root our subsequent problem. All three of us drove separate vehicles, and since mine has a key that can get wet, the other divers locked their keys in my Explorer and I placed mine in my wetnotes, leaving the remote for the security system in the glove box. Once the three of us were in the water, I broke the tie wrap holding the bolt snap on the second stage of my long-hosed regulator. Since none of the locals hanging out in the swimming hole had an extra one handy, I dropped my bottles and headed back to the Explorer to grab a new one. To my horror, the key I retrieved from my wet notes was for the old Explorer sitting in my driveway at home. The Ford parked in front of me was the newer, "Faber White" Explorer I'd just purchased (used) two weeks earlier. The key securely attached to the remote control tucked safely away in the glove box. Perhaps my judgment was clouded, but at that point I just wanted to jump back in the water. One of the locals who'd brought an OW rig to the spring gave me the string off his regulator and I used that to secure the bolt snap.

After a short false start, we entered the cave, but since this is no cave to mess around in or take lightly, we turned very conservatively with plans to revisit after this first recon dive.

Once out of the water the scene then consisted of three divers, one wet and two dry, each locked out of their respective vehicles. Luckily, I'd previously put a AAA sticker with their 800 number on my back window. Three separate locals placed calls for emergency road side service for us. However, cell service was spotty and no one really new what "address" to give the dispatcher who sends the tow truck. In the meantime, I tried punching random numbers into the keyless entry pad, but all that did was set the alarm off. Since I'd just purchased the vehicle, I hadn't set the combination yet. We then spent the next 1.5 hrs prying the drivers side door open a few millimeters with a couple of dive knives so we could fish the radio antenna (we'd just removed) inside the glass and punch the unlock button. At one point I started celebrating as the antenna was touching the unlock button and I was ready to shake everyone's hand. Unfortunately, after REPEATED attempts, we were finally resigned to the fact that the unlock button was disengaged by the security system (the vehicle was in theft mode) and further attempts were pointless.

Another dozen or so calls to AAA resulted in our initial request for assistance being canceled. Mainly because they sent a tow truck to the wrong address in another county. I personally never actually talked on the phone, as the local rednecks were more than happy to pretend to be me and scream at the AAA customer service representatives and the tow truck dispatchers. Since it was now getting dark, and all we had for clothes were our swim trunks, the locals built a fire to ward off the bugs. And also provided us with rations from their now dwindling supply of beer, soda, and water. Most everyone else had taken off, but a small group from GA stayed with us, the wives singing campfire songs and one of the husbands screaming at customer service representatives any time he had enough bars to make a connection. About three hours after our dive, we finally made contact with the tow truck driver who by then was only a few miles away. Luckily, he knew the back roads and swimming holes in the area and knew right were to go. It took him about 90 seconds to open my door and our ordeal was over.

In the end we had a memorable experience, made some new friends, and learned a few lessons. And renewed my appreciation of southern hospitality.

Dave

[Xenia]

That's a funny one, the locals yelling to AAA pretending to be you!!

We have two keys to the same vehicle in case we get separated. I always have mine in my pocket with all safety stuff and still I am worried whenever I pull it out to use it after I am geared up and something happens (forgot something, something to fix).

We also had a fun night at Cindy's motel trying to unlock my friends truck after he locked his keys in, but this was after diving. We got AAA but it is really an adventure to guide them even to Mayo!

[LCF]

Great story!

Either I or my passenger managed to lock the keys inside of the rental car on one of my Mexico trips. This was bad. It was on Sunday, and that was worse. And the van was sitting at the loading dock at the major fill station for all the dive shops in the area, and was blocking everyone's access. That was really bad. And my cell phone had about 10% of its battery.

I called everybody I knew or whose number I had, and finally reached the real estate agent through whom we book our condos. She said, cheerfully, "I'll call my locksmith," and I walked out to the road to wait for him. I'd been told he would be in a red car, but I didn't expect it to have his whole family (all dressed for church) in it, so he made about three rounds of the retornos before we recognized one another. (The fill station is up a dirt driveway, has no sign, and nothing in Mexico has an address that I can tell.) By the time we got back up to where the van was, the helpful proprietors of the fill station had been busy trying to pry the door open (despite my informing everyone that I was waiting for the locksmith) and had scratched all the paint off the B pillar. Luckily, it was on the inside, and the rental car place didn't see it, as we collected our bags and fled . . .

[Greenwood_60]

There is something creepy and not funny about this thread. First off, I have done this at Ginnie now twice. First time was not my fault, but we still sat there for 3 hours trying to get in. Second time was in a rental, we memorized the code, made a dive, then obviously forgot the code. For the next dive, it was written down in my wet notes and on Giselle's slate.

What is creepy about this is there are 4 cities on earth I have called home for any significant period of time (all were 5 years or more)... Woodinville (WA), Clearwater, and Jacksonville are 3 of them.

[loquat149]

There is something creepy and not funny about this thread.

I'd go hide in the closet if I were you...you're at home, RIGHT???


Dave

"...my statement is pointless." -- Greenwood_60

[ARY]

That is the most funniest (sorry I cannot say it) story I have seen on CDF recently!! So did you like P spring?

[Greenwood_60]

Ooh, I like quotes taken out of context too. How about these?

HUH?

I did bump my head

I f#%*ed up

as many hot dogs as I can stuff in my cheeks

[giles45shop]

Great story! This is why I own Ford's and everyone has a the keypad entry on the door, and all of them are programmed with the same number. I never have to carry a key

One other thing that I do when diving with multiple people from my vehicles to write both my wife's emergency contact number and the entry code for the truck on the second page of my wrist slate and let them know about it. That way, if I am unable to respond, my dive buddies can still get in th truck and have a number to call.

Congrats on the new truck, does this one have a working drivers side window?

John

John

[loquat149]

Sorry, Greenwwod...I couldn't resist and thought you'd be a good sport about it

[OFG-1]

You should learn from this. Always dive with redundant keys. Have one for entry, one for exit, and a spare in case of emergencies. You could backmount your keys, however, I prefer sidemounting them. Attach one to each sidemount tank, and put the spare on a bungee and clip in your left dry suit pocket. For complete peace of mind, prior to the dive, turn and put your back yo your vehicle, walk 10 paces in a cardinal direction, dig a hole and bury yet another spare key.

If you have non submersible keys, then you can walk in various cardinal directions, and odd number of paces, and bury your three keys. Squirrels could be problematic if they observe you digging holes, but you can just run them off.