800 PSI and Nothing to Breathe

A dive student shared the following incident with me and gave me permission to share it with you - so we can all learn from it. The more context-rich dive stories you read, the more you can recognize patterns that erode your margin of safety.

The Story

Marina was on a well-deserved vacation in Puerto Rico with her husband, Noah and their middle-school age kids Sarah and Alex. Marina has been on over 100 dives in a variety of conditions over a couple decades, including deeper dives to around 100 feet, and drysuit dives.  She has an Advanced Open Water certification. She was a confident, comfortable and passionate diver. Sarah and Alex had only recently been certified as Junior Open Water Divers and had about a dozen dives each under their belt from a previous vacation. Noah did not dive as often as Marina, but was also certified and enjoyed diving with his family.

The family was out with a dive professional who led them around during vacation. All of them were using rental regulators and tanks. As a family they enjoyed several uneventful, shallow dives in the calm, clear, warm waters of Puerto Rico. Marina tended to swim ahead, keeping up with the kids and the dive guide. Noah liked to take it slower and would often hang back behind the rest of the family, taking his time and enjoying the fish.

On one such dive, the family had ascended from the reef to head back toward the boat and was finishing their dive in about 20 feet of water. As was usual, Marina was up ahead and could see the whole family and the guide. Everyone looked good, was keeping track of each other and enjoying themselves. Marina was meticulous about making sure her air was fully on and that she came up from every dive with at least 500 PSI to spare - often much more. This dive was no different, and as Marina glanced at her gauge she was reassured that, at 1000 PSI, she still had plenty of gas to finish the safety stop and surface with gas to spare. The next breath she noticed just a slight tug of resistance from her regulator - not enough to fully register. The following breath the feeling became unmistakable, it was hard to breathe. Glancing  at her regulator it read 800 PSI. On the third breath the air supply ran out completely as the gauge quivered between 800 and 500 PSI while Marina looked at it in disbelief.

Unexpectedly left at 20 feet with nothing to breathe, Marina kicked to the surface. A few moments later the dive guide popped up next to her, asking what was wrong. "I am out of air" she said. "Of course your not" replied the guide, as he reached for Marina's BC hose and pushed the power inflator to inflate her BC. Nothing happened. The guide tried the valve to make sure it was fully open, it was. "You ARE out!" the guide exclaimed. 

The surprised, and slightly shaken group swam on the surface back to the boat where the dive operators exchanged Marina's regulator and pressure gauge for a different regulator set. 

Discussion 

• Marina was in a situation many of us have been in when warm water diving. She could see her whole family and the guide, and she was keeping careful track of her gas supply. 

• What is less common (but not unheard of) is that there was no pressure in her tank even though the gauge still showed 800-1000 PSI. This can happen if the metal in the tube (connected to the needle) that measures gauge pressure gets fatigued (or physically stuck) - so that it doesn't spring fully back to zero when there is no pressure. 

• Realistically, what do you think you would do in a situation like this? Remember, running out of gas was an almost total surprise. Would you surface like Marina? Would you swim to one of your family members or the guide to share air? How far would you be able to calmly swim unexpectedly having nothing to breathe - are you closer to the surface or to a buddy?

Learning Opportunities

• When you dive, what is your plan should your primary gas supply fails? Is it to breathe from your buddy's tank? How close are they to you - could you reach out and touch them in a moment's notice when your regulator suddenly runs dry - or would it be a challenging swim? Do you know how much gas your buddy has at all times - or do you just hope that they have enough to share with you? How do you know how much is "enough" - have you learned how to do gas planning to calculate the volume needed at the deepest point in your dive for both of you to have enough to breathe to return safely? Have you considered carrying a 2nd tank with its own gas supply and regulator (a  pony bottle)?

• If something goes wrong (out of gas, medical issue, mask issue) - how are you positioned relative to your team - will anyone be able to see and notice? How hard is it to get their attention? Do you dive side by side where you can see each other - or do you follow with some members trailing behind unseen?

• What might have happened if Marina's situation had happened, not in the shallows - but at the deepest part of the dive? Or worse, what if her gas had run out inside a cavern, wreck or cave (please get specialized training before entering any overhead environment)?

• Marina made sure she was shallow by the time her air supply was lower, she also remained calm enough to swim to the surface. She was properly weighted and neutrally buoyant so that she could easily swim to the surface without needing to adjust her BCD. She did so many things right - that when one thing went wrong she was able to FAIL SAFELY. Can you say the same? Do you make a plan for how much gas you should have left at your safety stop, do you always ascend with significant reserve unless an emergency occurs (500 PSI+)?

• When was the last time you practiced sharing air with your buddy? How confident are you that you could do it on a moment's notice in an emergency? Consider practicing this and other key skills when you go for a dive (it is a great thing to use your safety stop for skill practice).

• Have you ever had a near miss or incident like Marina? Did you determine why it made sense at the time - and how you might learn from it? Did you debrief the incident with your dive buddy, family, or team so you can all learn from it? Did you report the incident to DAN so the broader dive community can learn from it? We all make mistakes. If we dive for long enough, unfortunately we all have some calls that are too close for comfort. Learn from them. Better yet - learn from the stories of other divers!

• If you're a parent and you dive with your kids, what do you think would happen if your son or daughter experienced an out of gas emergency like Marina? Would you be near enough for them to share gas? Are you certain you always have enough for both of you (how can you tell)? Have they been trained well enough, and practiced recently enough to confidently share gas and finish the dive? Does your daughter know how to weight herself properly and maintain neutral buoyancy throughout the dive so that swimming to the surface is a quick and easy option (you can't inflate your BC when you are out of gas)?

• When you travel do you bring your own gear, or rent gear? How closely did you inspect the gear prior to diving it to make sure every piece was fully functional? If it is your own gear, have you had it serviced on schedule? Did you pick the cheapest scuba shop (why do you think they are able to offer lower prices), or one with a stellar reputation for care and quality?

• When something goes wrong - is there enough psychological safety in your dive team, or with your dive operator to speak up, say something and fix it our learn from it? If not, why not and how do you fix that? 

Names and other identifying details have been changed to protect this family's privacy.