such a little problem

[DAFFY]

Ok, let's start by admitting I am not the greatest diver in the world nor will I ever be, however having done over a hundred dives in various conditions I do feel comfortable. This year the plan for me and my buddy was to dive mainly around the 30-35mtr mark to increase our depth experience(and too finish off DL) This has been duly done with six dives out of the 16 dives I have so far this year being 30mtrs + five of the six dives had been enjoyable affairs with no issues, the sixth being trying to dive on the Pomerania with the tide running

So for our club trip to Bovi last weekend I felt pretty well that i was back up to speed after a winter spent in the pool.

The first dive was to be the Scylla, something relatively shallow to allow others a shakedown dive before doing the Rosehill and the Maine

The plan was simply down to the decks, a quick check then down to the bottom at 25 for a swim around before descending slowly up the sides to the rails and then a swim around at deck level. So into the water and down the shotline, everything was ok until I got to the deck when all of a sudden my mask flooded on the left hand side. With hindsight I should have removed the mask a reseated it but instead decided to clear it.

Once cleared the mask seemed ok so it was down to 25, however once again the mask flooded, not just a trickle but totally filled and once again cleared it. After a couple of minutes at 25 we started to ascend, this time with my mask filling slowly and me clearing it. We got to deck level when my mask flooded again, by now I was strating to hyperventilate and felt that i was having problems drawing breathe.......and still did nothing about the mask My buddy noticed that I seemed a tad uncomfortable and asked if everything was ok. I returned a "yes" a pressed on.

By now my breathing was pretty laboured and i was experiencing a bad headache which I took to be a co2 build up. Several time's i stopped to asses the situation and things seemed to be getting a bit out of control. I explained to myself that the problem is only a leaking mask, I have dived the Scylla 4 or 5 times before AND I was only at 14mtrs so there should not be an issue and to calm down. This worked for a minute or two before i was back to square one clearing mask and hyperventilating. The plan was to do 35minutes before coming up but after 25minutes I really felt out of control. Suddenly i stopped my buddy signalled up and began to frantically trying to deploy my bag whist trying to clear my mask, at this point I actaully had reached the stage where I thought about making a dash to the surface and panic had really set in. This feeling lasted for about 10-15 seconds when i mentally gave myself a slap for being so stupid. gave my reel to my buddy, once again calmed myself down, cleared my mask and once I felt back in control deployed the bag.

We went up with no further events other than a still leaking mask, a splitting headache and still not entirely comfortable. carried out extra stop time for safety and back on to the boat

I was shocked by how out of control i felt for a brief period, all this hassle all stemmed from a leaking mask which I should have sorted out at the very start, or at least aborted the dive. By pressing on things had became worse and I realise now how easy it is to fall into the incident pit. It's not enough to tell yourself "this dive is a lot shallower than I have been doing of late therefore there should not be a problem"

I know now that any problems, however minor, will be dealt with immediately or the dive aborted. Glad to say all the rest of the weekend dives where great with no issues particularly "Rosehill"

[Garf]

sounds like hypercapnia from the stress to me. I suspect plenty of divers have had CO2 hits and not realised it. It's not a nice experience, so well done for being so rational about it all. It can happen to anyone if they have a high stress or workload, and the right way to deal with it is just stop what you are doing, chill out, and let it pass.

[Mal Bridgeman]

A great illustration and thanks for sharing......I had a mask leaking problem a couple of years ago caused by the skirt having been split whilst stowed in a boat box One of the most uncomfortable dives I ever had

As to the panicky feeling, I am convinced this is the CO2 narcosis that I have referred to before, but I recognise that not everyone thinks it acts that way.

You don't say when this was, but I hope you are all sorted now.
Mal

[big_si]

Thanks for sharing your story. Not a comfortable situation at all. I'm glad you got through it with no adverse effects. Nice one!

Si

[endoman]

I had similar at Stoney at 24 metres on dive 20. Mask flooded and I was clearing to no avail. Slow ascent with Buddy in close attendance and safety stop with mask full of water and all was ok. I've now practiced getting the hood out from under the mask!

Well done, and the CO2 under stress isn't nice, got that fighting a current in Tiran last year.

[purple vonny]

I can fully sympathise. I had a knackered mask on a dive in Marsa Alam last year, I hated every minute of that dive and just wanted to get out. My mate lent me his spare and that bugger leaked too. (it leaked for him on another dive when he used it!!!).

Something so trivial can just send you round the bend. I had racked up about 9 minutes of deco and those minutes were the longest and most miserable imaginable.

[ShinyD]

A continually flooding mask or losing one is something that's always at the back of my mind both before and during dives. I always carry my masks in their storage box (even in a boat bag on a RIB dive) to protect them from damage, and always have a backup in my pocket.

I guess it's another example of having made all that effort to get where you are and not wanting to spoil someone else's dive by thumbing it that we continue in these scenarios when hindsight shows it would have been much safer to thumb it early.

Anyway, glad it worked out ok in the end

[David Tombs]

what was the distribution of the headache,do you suffer from tension headache?Dont forget its when you slow breathing down that CO2 can build up,unless the breathing was very shallow,which I doubt.

[Scubee]

Originally Posted by David Tombs

what was the distribution of the headache,do you suffer from tension headache?Dont forget its when you slow breathing down that CO2 can build up,unless the breathing was very shallow,which I doubt.

I'm not convinced of that. If you slow breathing down beathing long and deep, you will expel much more volume from the lungs, therefore much more CO2. Fast, shallow breathing is what i understood to cause a CO2 build up because you are only using a small portion of your lung volume.

I was taught, quite recently, that to prevent or reduce CO2 build up, breathe slowly and deeply in for a count of about 5 seconds, then slowly out for about 7 seconds.

[DAFFY]

Originally Posted by Scubee

I'm not convinced of that. If you slow breathing down beathing long and deep, you will expel much more volume from the lungs, therefore much more CO2. Fast, shallow breathing is what i understood to cause a CO2 build up because you are only using a small portion of your lung volume.

I was taught, quite recently, that to prevent or reduce CO2 build up, breathe slowly and deeply in for a count of about 5 seconds, then slowly out for about 7 seconds.

Fast shallow breathing was my issue, I just could not get comfortable and felt I was panting rather than breathing in. The longer it lasted the worse the headache got. Still not sure why i got into such a funk, the viz was good and it was a relatively shallow dive. But I think it takes these sort of incidents to knock out the complacancy