Lost in a wreck - at night

[ChristianG]

Date: 26/10/1992 - please note that, it wasn't yesterday
Time: about 1900 - in other words at night
Wreck: Hoyo Maru - the "upside down" wreck
Location: Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon
Surface to surface time: 37 minutes (includes the "bounce")
Maximum depth: 29.7 metres
Equipment: Skinsuit, 88 cu ft ali tank, conventional pony, appropriate regs, Nikonos V camera and strobe. Itty bitty baby dive light attached to mask strap. No BCD, no weight belt, no spares.

We jumped off the tender at the fattest, and shallowest, part of the wreck (pretty well the middle then) and descended down the side. The guide then took the group underneath the wreck and a little way along I saw a hole and decided to investigate. By "investigate" I thought that I had only entered partway with my legs still extending out of the hole.

It was a chamber of some sort, nothing of particular interest in it, and so I backed up - to bump into something. Ooops.

I looked around and the hole through which I had entered was nowhere to be seen, nor were the lights of the rest of the group.

I stopped and a very cold feeling enveloped me. Dread was another one amongst many. I thought that maybe I should turn off my torch to see if there were lights elsewhere, but what if it didn't turn on again? I turned it off - blackness as I've never seen it before. I turned it back on and thought, OK, what next?

Understand that during all this I was constantly fighting the ogre of PAAANIC!!!

I looked around, and reflected on the fact that I at least had a pony (big deal in retrospect but it was consoling at the time) and then I saw some measly gorgonians at the other end of the chamber. If there were gorgonians there, there was light there so I resolved to go there, a "push" of some 15 metres.

I made it but, no hole that I could see. But there was another bunch of growth that I could see and eventually using the same method each time I found an exit right beside the twin screws of the ship.

Could I have navigated back the way I went? I like to think that I'm pretty good at navigation - but in this case certainly not. All I did do was ensure that I wasn't going either deeper or more shallow. 29 metres is pretty well ingrained into my memory, to this day.

I'd travelled halfway through the innards of the length of the ship to get there. No, you absolutely cannot imagine my feelings of relief, elation, what have you.

I then went up the spine and found the anchor to the tender (about 7 metres). I looked at myself and decided to descend again, exactly along the line I'd taken the first time, on the basis that if I now surfaced chances were that I would never dive again and that was something that I could not contemplate, still can't for that matter.

No, it's not written in a bignoting style. I did something wrong, very wrong and I've written it as a salutary lesson for others.

My first problem in those days? OVERCONFIDENCE!

[scubagit]

Glad all turned out well in the end. No point in dishing out loads of should have as no doubt you know the score at this stage.
Quite a while has passed after all.
I'm confused though, it was dark but surely there would have been plenty of ambient light from all the dayglo pink torches that were all the rage then

[ChristianG]

Originally Posted by scubagit

I'm confused though, it was dark but surely there would have been plenty of ambient light from all the dayglo pink torches that were all the rage then

The rest of the group were lit up like a Christmas Tree (no cameras). Assume you mean glowsticks, AKA cyalumes? Not one there. Can't exactly remember but Captain Lance was not a fan of them as we now know is quite correct.

Fact of the matter is that there was NO outside light except slivers (to my knowledge) where the growths were and then that bigger one where I exited.

[scubagit]

Originally Posted by ChristianG

The rest of the group were lit up like a Christmas Tree (no cameras). Assume you mean glowsticks, AKA cyalumes? Not one there. Can't exactly remember but Captain Lance was not a fan of them as we now know is quite correct.

Fact of the matter is that there was NO outside light except slivers (to my knowledge) where the growths were and then that bigger one where I exited.

No, I mean the horrible luminous coloured torches that scubapro etc brought out. Coloured much like the shell suits of the same era

[ChristianG]

Originally Posted by scubagit

No, I mean the horrible luminous coloured torches that scubapro etc brought out. Coloured much like the shell suits of the same era

Sorry, where I dive they never made any form of impression, thankfully.

Nor did shell suits or any other form of dry suit for that matter. Much too hot.

[The Duck]

Originally Posted by ChristianG

Nor did shell suits or any other form of dry suit for that matter.

Not that kind of shell suit

This kind Shell Suits : 80s Fashion : Share YOUR 80s memories...

[ChristianG]

Originally Posted by The Duck

Not that kind of shell suit

This kind

Oh Yuk.

Thankfully it never made it to my shores, that I know of.

[ChristianG]

Originally Posted by The Duck

Not that kind of shell suit

This kind

Oh Yuk.

Thankfully it never made it to my shores, that I know of.

[ponybottle]

Hi all,

One thing I can be thankful for as a diver in Dublin Bay is that the vis is frequently so crap here that you can't see your own fins!

Now in almost all situations most divers would consider this a bad bad thing and I would agree, but poor viz does teach you, very quickly, not to assume you can retrace your steps even if the distance is just a body length. Compass work becomes something you learn to do as a matter of course as opposed to once in a while when circumstances demand.

With the poor vis here you tend to hug the bottom or you won't see anything at all and with the mud covered seabed around the mouth of the Liffey this means you are being followed by something akin to a pyroclastic flow of silt in your wake - turning around equals zero viz.

So where is this leading ? well, where wrecks or caves or any confined space are concerned you take it for granted that once you commit to going in you accept that you won't be able to see your way out by reversing course. So I would tend not to do what you did ( not claiming to be a better diver here but by being subject to harsh diving conditions my self doubt in my ability to get out of tight situations is probably that bit higher as I come across challenging situations that underline the crappness of my ability daily )

Glad you made it out and like the way you went back down to exorcise the demon.

Chris

[GTRJazz]

Originally Posted by ponybottle

Hi all,

Compass work becomes something you learn to do as a matter of course as opposed to once in a while when circumstances demand.
Chris

Unfortunately a compass will not work very well on wreck dive, my advice would be to keep checking above to make sure you can see the dark green of surface clear water, while moving very slowly following a edge on the wreck.
There is no need to fin if it creates bad viz, its better to pull yourself along using your hands.
And last of all if its a large ship make sure you leave the wreck down tide so not to drift into it during surfacing .