crazy situation that shouldn't happen...just for fun.

[TTU_Reefer]

Ok, this is totally random but let's see where it goes"¦

So let's say, you're in Cozumel on a wall dive. Going down to 110' max on a planned multilevel dive, you went down to 110' right away and have been down for 10min WHEN"¦
You look into a hole and a lionfish (taking over the world!!) swims out at you, and hits you in the face (hits=stings). In the attack you accidently knock your mask off your face and lose it, because the swelling is so bad (sadly you are extremely allergic to bees/ants/lionfish).
You dive buddy is not around, unknown why"¦but he/she is gone.
You can't see anything, how do you surface without reading your gauge or being able to tell how quickly you are ascending?

This is a crazy situation I know, but I was bored studying and thought..what would suck..

Id probably orientate myself so I could tell my bubbles are flowing up, then fin myself to the surface while deflating my BC using my computers audible alarm to guide my ascent.

There is probably a better way. What is it?
I'm not allergic to bees/ants/lionfish"¦just for sake of argument!

 

[uscreef]

Haven't given it much thought, but orient, fin up/deflate BC but not in a constant manner so you dont shoot up as you ascend, and try to open eyes every few to check depth, once you reach decomp stops try to hang there and rinse repeat. It'll burn like hell while you have your eyes open, but better than alternatives... If you can't see at all... audibles and maybe try to gauge depth by light levels while exhaling in case you ascend too quickly?

... or just do a drift dive at 40'

 

[TTU_Reefer]

The swelling is the reason you cant see, if not for that one could make out his guage read out w/o a mask.

and ha yea that would be ideal

 

[SeaJayInSC]

Wow, that would suck.

110' for 10 minutes is pretty much at the ragged edge of your NDL. You didn't say in the scenario what your gas supply looks like, so I'm going to assume that it's a non-issue (ie diving doubles, a very large single, or you're really good with your breathing).

In that case, I'd go ahead and open my eyes (I gotta squint so I don't lose my contacts), find my mask (assuming that it was right there - I wouldn't spend more than a minute looking for it), replace it and begin my ascent.

I'd stop at 40' for one minute, take one minute to 30', stop at 30' for two minutes, take one minute to get to 20', stop at 20' for four minutes, take one minute to get to 10', stop at 10' for eight minutes, then surface. All of thise would be done horizontally and of course, on the anchor line so I don't lose the boat.

I'd abort any of the stops above if my sting became a serious medical issue or if my gas supply wouldn't handle it.

Once I got back in the boat, I'd get medical attention immediately, depending on my allergy needs. When I saw my buddy again, I'd kick his ***. It'd probably be the last time I dove with him, too. Too many great buddies out there to have to deal with that crap.

For what it's worth, I've never seen a lionfish get aggressive like that. Typically, they sit really still and deploy their spines while they guard their territory. To get stung, you'd really have to be the aggressor - so that kind of accident doesn't really ring of much reality.

If the stops above don't make much sense to you as a new diver, don't worry... You could also do the 3-minute "safety stop" at 15 feet like they're teaching you in your Open Water class, with very similar results.

Could you abort the stops? Sure... But it'd stress your body more, and since it's already dealing with the sting and the allergy, you're going to need to be as healthy as you can be. So... If you could pull it off, I'd recommend doing the stops unless your allergies create that serious of a medical issue.

 

[TTU_Reefer]

interesting,

What made me think of it was I was in the LFS and overhear a story of a guy getting hit by a lionfish and his allergic reaction made his arm swell up 4x normal size in minutes and he said it was like it was on fire.

Yea I agree on the lionfish aggression thing, that why I tried to make it like "your sticking your face in a hole and the only out is through you".

Brings me to, in the sake of redundancy, who carries a spare mask while diving?

 

[yousmellsfishy]

Brings me to, in the sake of redundancy, who carries a spare mask while diving?

In warm water diving, I don't really have a place to carry one. My drysuit has a pocket, though, and a spare mask is what I keep in it.

 

[TTU_Reefer]

Once I got back in the boat, I'd get medical attention immediately, depending on my allergy needs. When I saw my buddy again, I'd kick his ***. It'd probably be the last time I dove with him, too. Too many great buddies out there to have to deal with that crap.

.

:lmao:

 

[ARealmsLLC]

Also, if your rig supports it...it should give you an audible warning if you ascend to fast. My dive watch gives an audible alarm and flashes a red light if I ascend to fast from deeper depths.

A device like that in the worst of worst situations as you described above would help you some.