Three years ago I was given a second chance.
Below an edited version of a blog entry I made in July 2006.
For the last month or so I have been diving with some of the best divers in the world, but most of the time I have just been doing shallow dives (10-20m) to look at fish and pretty things. But, I’ve had my eye on a 33m (100ft) unassisted (no fins) dive on one breath of air. Unassisted is the simplest form of freediving, also the shallowest because of its high level of difficulty. You use no fins, and your weight is constant throughout the dive. No sled, no dropping weights, no massive flippers, no mono-fin. You just swim down using a modified breaststroke kinda movement.
I had done many dives to almost 30m, just in bathers and a mask. I had no problems with my ears, No spleen contractions, a sign of low O2. All cool. 33m did not seem very far off, but I was not going to “go for it”. I took a “let’s see where things go” approach. Last night, I went to a little party here in Dahab, Egypt. I drank. Then, the party ran out of booze. I was about to leave. However, two Hungarians that returned with booze. Rum. Vodka. Beer. I stayed a little longer even though I had organised to go for a freedive with Helen, a South African Freediver the following afternoon. Helen was training for a world record attempt.
I woke up in the afternoon, of course, and met her by the water. I told her I was a little “under the weather” and I was only going to do some shallow dives, but we should go to the deep dive spot anyway. As we swam out to the dive line, a 35 metre rope attached to the sandy bottom and a buoy at the surface, I felt that my wetsuit was too big. It was ballooning at the neck. I should have taken it off. Getting the picture? I perhaps shouldn’t have taken the “let’s see where things go” approach.
Helen was doing some shallow training dives and we were spotting each other. A dive buddy for this sport is essential. The risk is Shallow Water Blackout (SWB). It is a ‘loss of consciousness caused by cerebral hypoxia towards the end of a breath-hold dive in water typically shallower than five metres’ which occurs as a result of low O2 and the change in the Partial Pressure of O2 as a breath-hold diver ascends. If you experience SWB your buddy is there to bring you to the surface, which is usually enough for breathing to resume. If you don’t have a buddy, you drown.
Depending on your buoyancy , there is a point in a freedive (about 15-20m) where you begin to sink. This is a result of lung compression. Your lungs compress under pressure, changing your relative buoyancy as you decend. As you become ‘negative’, you no longer have to swim to continue your descent. You freefall. It’s a beautiful feeling. It’s not a free ride, though. When you are negative, it’s of course more difficult to ascend.
I went for a couple of moderate dives to about 25m. I was feeling okay. I saw the bottom was very close. On the next dive I passed the 25m mark and considered turning for the surface. I didn’t. I kept sinking. It feels great watching the line pass as you fall into the blue. So, I decided to sink to the bottom, 35m. It looked so close!
I got to the bottom, looked around for a second or two. (EDIT: In retrospect, three years later, this could have been much longer. I may have had Nitrogen Narcosis, a kind of depth-induced spaceyness) I then felt heavy contractions, a sign of low O2. I was no longer relaxed. I took a big stroke to ascend and felt very heavy. My wetsuit was balooning, slowing me down. My first stroke took me nowhere. Bigger contraction. My second stroke, perhaps rushed, also took me nowhere.
I dropped my weight belt and took another few strokes. Then, I saw Helen. She had noticed that my dive was becoming long so she dove down to meet me. Very good safety diver. I remember seeing her face and thinking that I must be close to the surface. Nice feeling. Unfortunately I was wrong. The next thing I remember is being on the surface in a dream state. I had no idea what was going on. Why was Helen puffing and panting? Why was my mask off? Why do I feel like I have been kicked in the head by a mule?
Helen could have said “Great dive” And I would have believed her. In fact, she had met me at 20m and followed up, until I blacked out. I have no memory of blacking out 5 meters from the surface and expelling my air. I have no memory of her lifting me to the surface. I have no memory of not resuming breathing at the surface. I have no memory of being given rescue breaths. I have no memory of coughing seawater, mucus and blood. I have no memory of nearly drowning. I guess it would have been an okay way to go, really.
However, I will never forget the panic on Helen’s face as she said “That is the scariest thing I have ever seen.” I will never forget the bad decisions I made that day. I should not have dived, and I certainly should not have kept sinking.
After my near death experience (everyone’s gotta have one!), I lay down for about 12 hours. I’ve never had a headache quite like that one. I then went to see the famous Doctor Adel in Sharm El Sheikh as a precaution; Secondary Drowning can occur after SWB. All was fine. I resumed diving 48 hours later; albeit with some caution.
I am forever thankful to Helen.
Bad decision, good lesson.
I’ve dived safely and happily ever after.
