Tag Archive: scuba accidents


Rescue1CMy gut said, “Don’t do it” and all of the alarms in my head were going off. That’s why I chose to participate in the dive that may have helped two people avoid injury or worse.

One of my freediving friends invited me to go out on a dusk-to-night dive with her and a scuba diver off of a precarious dive spot. I was immediately alarmed because that meant that there would be a solo freediver and a solo scuba diver; a combination that just didn’t sit well with me. Through text messages, I learned that the scuba diver was new to diving and it sounded like the two of them were going to be making the dive with or without me. Something disastrous was brewing and my gut instincts told me that I needed to be there. Continue reading

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“I queried those at the back of the boat about whether Al had gone into the water on purpose, fallen in by accident or something else. No one could say. Confusion threatened to overtake the situation.”

A San Diego SCUBA instructor described the above brief moment on a live-aboard in a recent article he wrote regarding a dive accident where a diver entered the water without his dive buddy, became unconscious and immediately sank to 84’ (25.6 meters). Continue reading

Dive BuddiesChris had just over 100 dives under his belt and thought himself to be an experienced diver, though he hadn’t dove in over a year. He recently moved back to the west coast from Oklahoma and joined a local diving group. Eager to dive as soon as possible, Chris buddied up with Nick, a stranger from the dive group. Nick was glad to learn that his new buddy was experienced because he was barely just certified with fewer than 20 dives. Though Nick dove the local waters, he still wasn’t quite comfortable with his new skills and wanted to make sure that if something went wrong, a more experienced diver would be there to assist. Since Chris hadn’t dove in the area for some time, he was glad to be buddied up with someone who was more recently familiar with the site and he was happy to help out a newly certified diver with adding some dives to their logbook. They reviewed hand signals and did the proper buddy check procedures before entering the water.

Unfortunately, this dive would put one of these divers in the emergency room. Continue reading

Dive Date Undisclosed

When I woke up, my diving radar told me that I wouldn’t be diving today. Slightly disappointed and a bit skeptical, I put my gear together and drove out to the beach to see for myself. Sure enough, conditions looked sketchy and divers attempting to get past the breakers were coming back in beaten and tired, but glad for their decision. Those that made it past the breakers said that the dive wasn’t even worth the effort as the visibility was sub-par (usually less than 5-7 feet).  IMGP1565

My buddy and I called the dive and I watched in awe as the rest of the morning unfolded. Continue reading

DiverDownSomeone recently told me that they were buddied up with a Dive Master during a boat dive and upon surfacing realized that they were too far away from the boat to surface swim back. The boat ultimately had to navigate past another watercraft and pick the divers up, resulting in much embarrassment and humiliation. The person telling me the story trusted that since their buddy was a DM, that they should have better navigation skills and should have been able to navigate back to the boat close enough to avoid the aforementioned scenario. How could a DM get lost? Continue reading

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