Panicked dives are common place when one teaches scuba for a living. Most of the time you can recognize a diver who may have potential problems before even getting in the water and avoid a nasty situation. You take care of it by talking and reassuring the diver while you check over all their gear, that you’ll be right there guiding them underwater until they get comfortable.
Sometimes, an instructors head isn’t in the game. Maybe a rough night before the dive, cobwebs scattered over the brain. Or maybe the instructor wants a lesson learned in humility by letting a situation get close to the edge but not going over. Or as for me in the excerpt below, both.
Taken from the chapter “Back Home, Panic 80 Feet Down.”
Does This Island go to the Bottom?
The visibility was awesome, close to a hundred feet. We could see the tug boat way down on the bottom, resting upright in the sand just off the edge of the reef. I got the groups attention and led them 80 feet down to the boat. Mrs. Addams, as I suspected, was a horrible diver. Her buoyancy was worse that a bad novice diver. She was all over the place. She was also constantly clearing her mask because she had half her head of Cousin It hair trapped inside the skirt of the mask.
As soon as we got to the tug boat at 80 feet my headache was gone and I felt energized. Thank God for nitrogen. I was a new man, but still felt a little hung. The only part that really sucked was when I burped up tequila through my regulator. A few times I took out my reg and swished around saltwater in my mouth and even swallowed a bit to try to get the horrible taste out of my mouth.
I led the divers around the tug boat. Then I got their attention and motioned for them to come over to where I was on the wreck. I found the eel. She was a beast! Big, thick and bright green. She was hiding in an open hatch. I had my dive light on her. Her large, toothy mouth was agape, undulating water through her gills. All the divers got a good look. But it was Queen Diver who crowded in to get closer.
Now, for the most part, moray eels are generally docile, but if you invade their space for too long they can get pissed off. I’ve seen it a few times before and this time was no exception.
Without warning, Morticia Addams reeled back as the mammoth eel bolted out from the hatch. The other divers backed away slowly but the Queen Diver freaked out and started bolting to the surface, fast!
Oh Shit!
She spit he regulator out and tore off her mask. She was in full blown panic, shooting up to the surface from 80 feet. My reaction was instant. I grabbed ahold of her ankle and started climbing up her like a flag pole. She was blowing the air out of her lungs fast and kicking violently. I wrapped myself around her like an octopus slowing her wild ascent. At the same time I grabbed her regulator and shoved it in her mouth. She choked and coughed trying to take it out again. But she couldn’t, I had a good hold on it.