Lost in a cave, with very little gas, and only one fin: ‘This was not good’ August 18, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : CaveDiving , trackbackI’ve often read Dr Mike’s diving adventures with a mixture of respect and bewilderment. Just how many close scrapes do you need to experience before recognising that a change in dive planning and procedure is necessary? He seems to put cats to shame in terms of the number of lives he has. Mike has recently been exploring a cave in Malaysia and was sitting through his deco, having conducted a deep dive. Mike got bored and decided to get some food and drink from a habitat he had placed in the cave, but as the vis was so bad he got lost, and ended up lost for a while in the cave, having lost a fin, run out of inflation gas, and very low on O2. Incredibly this was all at 3 mtrs depth with his ’support’ team sat on the bank completely unaware of his situation. It makes you wonder. This from Dr Mikes website;
This is not good I said to myself as I suppressed the rising fear and panicked thoughts. I knew from experiences in the past that I had to and that I could stay calm if I wanted to live.
I assessed the situation.
-No wing inflation.
-Almost no dilutant
-No O2 (it was maybe 10 bar left in a 2L)!
-No bailout (I had staged it as I was decoing on O2)
-Only one fin
-Lost inside a cave with no line and no idea which direction to take
-8 hours on scrubber so no idea if its going to run out any moment
-zero visibilityThis was not good.
Comments»
Dr. Mike has several stories posted under the umbrella heading “Screw-up Stories.” Maybe it’s time for a new hobby.
http://www.oskarlewis.com/weblog/archives/336
here you see the video : we will not die, about an underwater experience
I like reading DrMike’s stuff. It’s good armchair training because I get to think through the situations myself. And you know what? There are some mistakes he’s made I just know I wouldn’t. Which gives me just a bit more self-confidence, given the guy’s massive experience. I hope I don’t end up posting too many of my own though…