I thought long and hard on wether or not I should post this. I have decided to post this for a couple of reasons. One, to show the importance of the 1 up 1 down rule, IMHO the most important rule, and two, it was my first video with my new GoPro :lol: . Now whether the later was a coincidence... I don't think so.
My younger brother has been getting into diving recently and due to the fact that he is a pro surfer and has grown up in Hawaii he is very comfortable in the water. Though this is a blessing it is also a curse as I think he tends to feel overconfident and "invincible," just like I did while starting out. I have not had many opportunities to dive with him but the more I talk to him over the phone the more I realize he had been practicing some bad dive habits. These habits included diving alone, diving with buddies who "take off" during the begining of the dives, pushing depths (with enexperienced divers) and so on. I could talk about safety until I was blue in the face but it never seemed to hit home.
So, the good thing that came from this experience is that he got to see a SWB first hand, to someone he respects (atleast I think), and see the buddy system in perfect form. I hope this experience hit home 8)
Keep in mind, I am not a newbie. I have been comfortable diving deep for a long time and take safety very seriously. This day was nothing special. I was diving well within my limits, and on top of that I felt really good. It was a humbling experience all the same, as it really shows that these things can happen very unexpectedly.
So a little history behind this dive. It was later in the afternoon, I had had plenty of rest all day. Ate a healthy lunch and stayed hydrated. I even drank my "magic potion" (kambucha) a while before the dive. We hit one of my spots and found the water to be a little rough and a little murky. I made a few drops on the way out but since it was later in the afternoon and time was running short I dont think I gave my self ample time to warm up and rushed out to our grounds that tend to hold nice uku. I was feeling awesome, I was hitting some pretty good bottom times and surfacing with plenty of air in the tank. What I didn't realize was that I was taxing myself a little too quickly. When we reached the grounds we began to palu and I breathed up for a drop. Made the drop, realized we had drifted a little off point so it was a bit deeper than I anticipated. I hit the bottom and quickly noticed a small uku (6-8lbs) eating the falling palu. After a little time I headed back to the surface. Apon surfacing I felt a little light headed, I brushed it off thinking I hadn't given my self enough time to breathe up after the swim, that drop was about 20 seconds shorter than my previous one.
I decided to do a nice long, proper breath up, and spend the time watching my partner and younger brother as they made there drops ONE at a time. This was the deepest my brother had been to this point so he was only heading down 50ft or so into the chum line and hanging for a bit and coming back up. I made sure that he wasn't pushing himself too hard and kept a close eye on him.
After about 10 minutes of relaxing on the surface and watching the other two I decided to get ready for a drop. Did my breathe up and started my decent. I hit the bottom, dusted, and took a long shot on an uku. The drop was quite a bit shorter than my 2 previous drops and I let the reel take the fight out of the fish so the trip to the surface should have been a cake walk. About 2/3 of the way up however, my contractions became pretty severe and if it wasn't for the music you can actually hear them in the video. Ill let you watch the rest.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNleMlmIEUU]YouTube - Uku on GoPro[/ame]
Dive Safe!
My younger brother has been getting into diving recently and due to the fact that he is a pro surfer and has grown up in Hawaii he is very comfortable in the water. Though this is a blessing it is also a curse as I think he tends to feel overconfident and "invincible," just like I did while starting out. I have not had many opportunities to dive with him but the more I talk to him over the phone the more I realize he had been practicing some bad dive habits. These habits included diving alone, diving with buddies who "take off" during the begining of the dives, pushing depths (with enexperienced divers) and so on. I could talk about safety until I was blue in the face but it never seemed to hit home.
So, the good thing that came from this experience is that he got to see a SWB first hand, to someone he respects (atleast I think), and see the buddy system in perfect form. I hope this experience hit home 8)
Keep in mind, I am not a newbie. I have been comfortable diving deep for a long time and take safety very seriously. This day was nothing special. I was diving well within my limits, and on top of that I felt really good. It was a humbling experience all the same, as it really shows that these things can happen very unexpectedly.
So a little history behind this dive. It was later in the afternoon, I had had plenty of rest all day. Ate a healthy lunch and stayed hydrated. I even drank my "magic potion" (kambucha) a while before the dive. We hit one of my spots and found the water to be a little rough and a little murky. I made a few drops on the way out but since it was later in the afternoon and time was running short I dont think I gave my self ample time to warm up and rushed out to our grounds that tend to hold nice uku. I was feeling awesome, I was hitting some pretty good bottom times and surfacing with plenty of air in the tank. What I didn't realize was that I was taxing myself a little too quickly. When we reached the grounds we began to palu and I breathed up for a drop. Made the drop, realized we had drifted a little off point so it was a bit deeper than I anticipated. I hit the bottom and quickly noticed a small uku (6-8lbs) eating the falling palu. After a little time I headed back to the surface. Apon surfacing I felt a little light headed, I brushed it off thinking I hadn't given my self enough time to breathe up after the swim, that drop was about 20 seconds shorter than my previous one.
I decided to do a nice long, proper breath up, and spend the time watching my partner and younger brother as they made there drops ONE at a time. This was the deepest my brother had been to this point so he was only heading down 50ft or so into the chum line and hanging for a bit and coming back up. I made sure that he wasn't pushing himself too hard and kept a close eye on him.
After about 10 minutes of relaxing on the surface and watching the other two I decided to get ready for a drop. Did my breathe up and started my decent. I hit the bottom, dusted, and took a long shot on an uku. The drop was quite a bit shorter than my 2 previous drops and I let the reel take the fight out of the fish so the trip to the surface should have been a cake walk. About 2/3 of the way up however, my contractions became pretty severe and if it wasn't for the music you can actually hear them in the video. Ill let you watch the rest.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNleMlmIEUU]YouTube - Uku on GoPro[/ame]
Dive Safe!