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Entangled for the first time!


Scuba Diving on the Great Escape Southern California Live-Aboard Dive Boat


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Posted by JohnC on March 21, 2010 at 00:06:42:

Last Friday I went spearfishing, the viz was 5ft at best with a strong surge. On the way in I was in the process of trying to get my last fish on the stringer and my speargun back together when I became entangled in the kelp. I was in very shallow water, so I put a little air in my wing and surfaced.

Now get the picture, I have kelp tangled around tank, arms, speargun and fish at the end of loose rock point spear. A swell goes by and I don’t rise with it because I’m tangled up. For just a brief instant I felt the dread of panic.

I had just read a thread a day or two before about things that kill divers, like the urge of fight or flight as opposed to the rule of stop, think and act.

I took great comfort in the fact that I still had about 2000psi in my tank, so as crazy as it sounds; I flailed around and got the fish on my stringer and my spear back on the gun first.

I tried just swimming free, but it was a no go. I was about to reach for my knife when I remembered that kelp was suppose to snap pretty easy. So with a little effort I was able to break free and swim out to a clearing.

The whole process didn’t take more than about 5 minutes I guess.

I thankful for the guys who post their experiances on forums like this and feed the rest of us with useful wisdom. Thx!

P.S. I had a great dive!!!

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