|
Put yourself in this diver’s place and imagine the stress and fear involved.
It was the beginning of the dive season and most divers were getting their gear ready. We were checking our tank hydros and VIPs to make sure they were up to date. Regulators and gauges were checked to be sure they were working properly. Satisfied everything was in good working order, all we had to do was find a dive site that we both liked.
My buddy and I decided to look for a site that we hadn’t dove previously. So, we got the navigation charts and started looking them over. We noticed a wreck on the chart that neither of us had been on before. Instantly, we were both convinced that it was what we both wanted to dive. It wasn’t a new wreck that had never been dove before, but it was new to us.
The first weekend we both had off, we loaded our gear on the boat and headed off to dive this wreck. We anticipated spending sometime looking and anchoring on this charted wreck. As we entered the area of the wreck, we noticed a couple plastic bottles marking a spot exactly to the chart’s marking. We brought the boat up to the marker and tied off. Again we checked the chart to our depth finder and location, eighty feet of water just off buoy thirty seven, this had to be it. Apparently someone already marked the wreck for the season. We also checked the current and calculated it was running about three knots. This is a strong current for scuba diving, so we decided to put in a drift line, in case we missed the boat on our return to the surface.
We were excited, we had dove on many wrecks over the years, but never on this one. We suited up, decided on what our bottom time would be, and entered the water. We had to swim hard to get to the down line, I realized that I wasn’t in as good shape as last season. I said to myself, next winter I will have a physical program early in the season. We both descended down the line to the ship. It was a steel hull and laid on her side in a valley across two rock ledges. We signaled to one another that we were OK and started to explore the ship, looking in all the hatches with our dive lights. As we became involved with this wreck, my buddy got a little ahead of me. This didn’t concern me though, because I knew that I could easily catch up with him in a minute. I spent another couple of minutes looking into a cargo hold and then continued on, catching up with Jack. We stopped and checked our SPG and bottom timer, we still had fifteen hundred left and twenty five more minutes bottom time. As we continued on I stopped to look in a hatch, as I did I noticed a brass railing just inside the compartment. I looked back for Jack, and again, he had gotten a little ahead of me. I said to myself, I have a lot of air and bottom time left, maybe I should go inside this compartment just a little to get a better look at this brass railing. I entered until my fins touched the outside hatch rim, but I still could not reach the item I was looking at.
I knew the rules about making wreck penetration without the proper training and equipment so, I said to myself I will be very careful. I looked all around with my dive light. I noticed that the visibility was good and once inside I would keep an eye on the hatch entrance so that I could swim right back out anytime I wanted to.
I entered and was amazed that there wasn’t any current and visibility was good. I picked up the brass rail, looked it over, and decided to leave it for others to enjoy finding as I had. I thought there might be some other brass items to find if I looked around a little. As I moved around the cabin I noticed I was stirring up the silt and changing the good visibility I had previously. I thought that maybe I better go back outside and catch up with Jack. When I turned around I realized that my fins had stirred up the silt and I couldn’t see the hatch I came through. Even thouh with my light, I couldn’t see more than about six incheds, all I was getting was flashback from the silt in the silt in the compartment.
Instantly I remembered where I was; in eighty feet of water, inside a wreck with no sure way out.
Fear went over me like I had been hit with a rock. Questions popped into my head like, what do I do, which way should I go and what is my air supply? I looked at my SPG, I had to hold it right up to my faceplate to see it, because of all the silt. I thought it read eight hundred PSI. I said to myself, I have to find a way out of here or I’m going to run out of air and drown.
I went forward to where I thought the hatch opening was and ran into a steel wall. I followed the wall along and came to another steel wall. I attempted to find my way out time after time, to only meet another steel wall. By this time, I was really scared and using up my air even faster than normally.
Again I looked at my SPG and it read five hundred PSI.
I finally accepted the fact that I was dead and settled down on my knees to think a minute. I knelt thinking, why had I made such a stupid mistake. I remembered my scuba instructor’s directions, DO NOT MAKE WRECK PENETRATIONS WITHOUT PROPER TRAINING AND EQUIPMENT. I also thought about my wife and children that would be left without a husband and father.
As I knelt waiting to feel the regulator start to draw harder and harder until I ran out of air and drown inside of this wreck, I looked around and thought I saw an area that was lighter than the rest. Is this my mind playing tricks on me or could it be light from outside coming through the hatch that I so desperately felt for.
I noticed that the silt had settled some, I had nothing to lose anyway, so I swam toward the light and yes, in fact, it was the hatch opening. Now that I was outside of the wreck, do I have enough air to reach the surface? My bottom time and getting the bends entered my mind. I looked at my SPG, it read about seventy PSI and my regulator was starting to draw hard. I decided that I would exceed my ascent rate until I got to thirty feet and then slow down and stop at fifteen feet until my air was completely gone, to keep from getting the bends. As I hovered at fifteen feet, I realized that I was probably down river from the boat and was Jack in the boat or not?
I thought again, I didn’t really care, all I knew was I was out of the wreck and someone saved me another chance at life.
I surfaced and noticed I was down river. I could see my boat and Jack was in it. I looked for my whistle and blew it a number of times. I saw the boat turn and come to pick me up. I climbed into my boat, glad to be alive, and explained to my buddy what had happened. I also mad a point to tell him how stupid I was to make a penetration without the proper training. I checked my bottom timer and saw that I had overstated my bottom time by only three minutes. I must have used up air quickly when I was lost inside the wreck.
On the way home I kept looking for signs of the bends, happy that I wasn’t feeling any.
Please do not make wreck penetrations without proper training and equipment. This diver was very lucky, you may not be.
P.S.
Thousands of dives are made every year on the wrecks in the Thousand Islands. There have been unfortunate accidents on these wrecks far to frequently. Ask any diver that has been diving the area for a while and they can probably relate to you a recent tragedy. In 2004, there was a tragedy on the Islander, the most popular shore dive wreck in Alexandria Bay, only feet from shore and a couple hundred yards from the hospital. A diver diving alone, got hung up under the wreck and needed more air than he had.
Charter boat captains and other boat owners take many divers to these wrecks. Any time you have a large number of divers (or even a single diver) on a wreck, there is always the possibility of an accident.
When divers leave the surface, they are responsible for their own safety, not the boat captain, boat owner or even the diver’s buddy. The buddy is there as important safety factor, but does not have control over another diver’s actions. The sport of diving has risks as do many activities. Divers are instructed in the hazards of diving and how to avoid those hazards, but unfortunate accidents happen. If there is a fatality in skiing, do we dynamite the mountain? When a ship goes down at sea and lives are lost, do we scuttle our ships and never go to sea again? When people die in a car accident, do we ban everyone from driving? No we don’t , because we realize that it is just an unfortunate accident.
It’s voodoo to believe that the boat captain, the dive boat, the coast guard, or a particular wreck are to blame for a dive accident. We as divers are responsible for dive accidents when we are not prepared and dive in areas we are not trained in or push to hard, and it only “irresponsible” to assault the character of honorable men and women.
|
