Lost air in 60 feet of water off Galveston - here's how I handled it

I was on a pipeline inspection job last June near the Texas City channel. About 20 minutes into my dive, my pneumo started reading zero and I realized my main air supply had kinked at the tank manifold. I switched to my emergency bottle right there, signaled my tender, and slowly went up making a controlled ascent. Had about 3 minutes of air left in that emergency bottle when I hit the surface. Anyone else have a close call where your backup gear really saved your ass?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_clark10d ago

Lost air in 60 feet" yeah my last close call was in like 40 feet off the coast of Florida and I was so sure I was fine I ignored my backup for a solid minute. Then my hose popped and I was waving my arms like a moron while fishing my octopus out from under my arm. Had maybe a minute of panic where I forgot which valve turned on my spare air. Felt like a real pro bumping my tank into my buddy while fumbling around. But that backup bottle bought me enough time to calm down and float up slow without turning into a human soda can.

wendy82010d agoMost Upvoted

And that's good to know, but just so you know - if you had waited longer to switch to your backup, your octopus and spare air are two different things. Your octopus is the extra second stage on your main tank, not a separate bottle.

valc918d ago

Start by remembering that the octopus and spare air are separate things. An octopus is just an extra regulator on your main tank, not a separate air source like your emergency bottle. That little spare air bottle you hooked up to is what actually saved you when the main supply went out.