INCIDENT REPORT

DIVERS: Elva and Michael, certified together as Open Water Divers, with 12 total dives

SITE: Man-made reservoir lake

CONDITIONS: Calm, 8 to 12 feet visibility; 75ºF above thermocline at 55 feet, 52º below. Easily disturbed mud bottom; no appreciable water movement.

Elva and Michael had made eight dives in the lake, having reached 60 feet on the previous short dive. With 2,000 psi in their tanks, they planned another dive “a bit deeper.” They swam on the surface to deeper water and descended vertically. They lit small dive lights at 60 feet, where it got dark. As a result of neither monitoring his buoyancy nor adding air to his BC as necessary, Michael descended more quickly than Elva. Elva watched his light below but continued to descend slowly. At 80 feet, she landed on Michael, who was snarled in the branches of a submerged tree. Silt swirled around them, reducing visibility. A moment of chaos followed as they struggled with finger-thick branches and buoyancy control. With repeated BC air bursts and kicking, Michael finally began to rise. Snapping branches, the pair escaped the tree and ascended, clearly shaken. At about 25 feet, Michael ran out of air. He surfaced with an emergency swimming ascent and inflated his BC orally. Elva surfaced moments later.

WHAT THEY DID WRONG

Elva and Michael were overconfident. They probably lacked the training and experience for the dive. They started a deep dive without full cylinders. Michael didn’t adequately control his buoyancy, and descended at a fast pace. They did not have a descent line to assist in controlling their descent and ascent; a descent line is also useful for making proper safety stops. They lost buddy contact during the descent and ascent.

WHAT THEY DID RIGHT

When the situation became stressful, they focused on solving the problem, restoring buoyancy control and aborted the dive. Michael responded correctly to an out-of-air situation during his ascent

5 TIPS FROM THIS INCIDENT

1. BE REALISTIC about your training and experience limits.

2. ALTHOUGH NOT ALWAYS NECESSARY, follow a descent, anchor or mooring line, or the contour, to your planned depth.

3. TAKE THE PADI ADVANCED OPEN WATER DIVER course to learn about planning and making dives deeper than 60 feet.

4. TO MAKE A CONTROLLED EMERGENCY SWIMMING ASCENT, keep on all your gear, look up, reach up and swim up, exhaling and making an “ahhhhhh” sound. Drop your weights if you’re not sure you can reach the surface. Maintaining proper buddy contact may eliminate the need to perform a CESA.

5. IF YOU NEED BUOYANCY and can’t use your BC for any reason, drop your weights.

Want more safe-diving tips?

Check out these 5 Tips for Underwater Navigation Safety.

What is an air embolism? How do you avoid getting one?

Dive like a pro with these tips for better air consumption and longer bottom times.