Behind, sorry.

I haven’t had Internet access for 4 days… so I’m a little behind. (I plug the wotd and joke in ahead of time.) I’ll get caught up. I’m pretty sure nobody is going to throw themselves off of a bridge because I don’t have a wotd up.

Just gotta get my act together and get my nose to the grindstone…. whip myself back into working order.

Besides, I leave for Macao (Macau) in like a week or something. THEN I’ll have something good to write about.

“Narked”

My very first time!  This will offend advanced divers, instructors, and others… but, it was kinda cool.

****THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED. IT IS VERY SERIOUS AND CAN HAVE LIFE THREATENING SIDE EFFECTS***

Now, I have that out of the way, so I can continue. I do take diving seriously, but you always wonder what it’s like to experience all situations – even the hazardous ones. Previously at 130′ (40m), I was perfectly fine. Performed my narcosis test perfectly and all.

Each diver has their own personal limits of what is safe for them. Lengths, depths, etc. Diving isn’t about going all out and trying to push limits either. So, I know this and apply it to my diving. Until today, my only limit has been the amount of air in my tank. I’ve become familiar with the local sites and prefer 55′ – 75′ sites.

In courses, you learn that each dive can affect the same diver in different ways. You also learn that there are certain factors that can decrease the safety of each dive. But, today, heading out to Tinggo to look for sharks sounded great… and just what I needed to relax me from recent stresses.

Um, did ya see the word “stresses”? Yeah, that’s not a way to go into a dive – stressed. But, I wasn’t stressed about the dive. I am confident in my skills, my buddies skills, etc. In fact, I would live underwater if I had gills.

However, I have been stressed. Haven’t been sleeping very well lately. Haven’t been eating very much. (Didn’t have breakfast today) My goals/reasons for this dive were not good (except for looking for sharks). I went into the dive tired, stressed, and looking for the water to heal me. This is bad. Don’t do this!!

Although very deep dives have not bothered me previously, it did today. (Luckily I have been intoxicated before and knew the feeling…) We were at about 115′, just swimming along, and I thought I was relaxing more and more. Then about 8 min. into the dive, I had a “strange feeling”. Instantly I knew I was narked.

So, I went up about 10′, (then slowly another 10′) so that the effects of the nitrogen would go away. They did. But, the effects cut short my multi-level dive.  I became “air thirsty” during my narcosis, apparently. All of the deep breathing depleted 1/3 of my tank.

It was all good, we were down about 45 min. and it turned out to be a good dive. (As if there is such thing as a “bad” dive here! NO WAY) Going into a dive at less than 100% is not a good idea. I had just always been lucky…

Great lesson learned today. Also learned what it felt like to be narked. I felt it right away and knew what to do. Most importantly, I learned a bit of humility, maybe. At least, now I know I’m not “Scuba Steve”.  

Be safe, and happy diving!