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Comment by jedberg | Hacker News Reader

Anyone who has been a diver immediately understands why this was necessary. The last thing you want is your diver partner panicking underwater, which can happen even with certified divers. An uncertified diver in a cave is a massive liability to your own safety.

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How common is it for divers to start panicking underwater? It surprises me that that's even a thing. Like, if the thought of skydiving scares you, you're probably not going to try it; so I would guess the danger of the practice itself would self-select for people who are not prone to that type of anxiety.

edit: ah yeah. potentially stupid question. obviously if something starts going wrong, even the most level headed people may panic.

You can’t always predict how you will react under pressure. If you have an equipment failure or injure yourself in a way that you have not prepared for, well...

I've seen it happen once in a hundred dives or so. Some people are more nervous than others and when something unexpected happens while they are stressed out already for some other reason it can lead to panic.

I think this makes the rounds here periodically as a submission, and may help answer your question: https://nsscds.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Blueprint-for-... and the author (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheck_Exley) died in a cave diving accident.

To warn you, it is fairly disturbing.

People panicking in circumstances like that is super normal. Think,all the people who loose their shit because of missing deadline, except risk is higher and level of controll lower.

An experienced diver will often times panic when, due to lack of attention or equipment failure, their air supply stops. When I was learning and practicing buddy breathing we were taught to hand the diver needing air the regulator from your mouth and then you go for your spare mouthpiece simply because they will often focus completely on the working air supply in your mouth -- to the point of just pulling it from you.

I'm usually a calm diver but I once had the combination of a slight ear infection and a speed boat passing overhead. This combination of mild pain and an ever increasing high pitched whine convinced me that my eardrum was ruptured and was rapidly getting worse. I did an emergency ascent from about 8 metres and luckily didn't have any nasty side effects.

As a diver you are usually calm and rational when dealing with expected risks (low air, bad visibility, etc.) but anything unknown or unexpected can trigger panic.

A friend of mine is a commercial diver and he has stories of seasoned co-workers panicking for extremely weird reasons.

I'm a relatively newbie diver (only 80 dives), but there have been a few times where something unexpected or new happens that can send you into at least a mild panic. Recognizing this panic and how to recover is the critical thing.

A most recent example was on my last trip I tried UV-light diving, which is when you only use UV-light with a filter on your mask to protect your eyes. You get to see some incredible new things. The divemaster stressed how important the filter was to protect your eyes. During the dive the filter on my mask came off. As instructed, I immediately closed my eyes and Waited for the divemaster to notice and tap me to let me know they had switched back to white light and it was safe to reopen my eyes. That half minute felt like an eternity.

A number of unusual situations can trigger a panic. Primary regulator failure, your mask being knocked off, unexpected fauna behavior, becoming lost, losing your group or your buddy, unexpected currents. All of this is covered in the training/certification, but not all training is equal, adequate, or regularly revisited.

Can you tell me more about the UV light diving? A cursory search doesn't seem to show up anything about the dive mask filter you mentioned. From what I found, it looks like the lights are similar to regular low-power UV-A black lights that are not a hazard to skin or eyes.

What was the model of dive light used? Was is a long-wave light like those in tanning beds or disinfecting lamps? I would imagine that any light unsafe for your eyes would also be damaging to the coral and fish.

I think you're right. I don't recall the specific equipment, we were visiting and only did a short training before. Now I've read more on it and I do feel (sheepishly) misinformed. The light may have been way less damaging than we were told. Thinking on it, I wouldn't have put it past the divemaster to troll us that way.

First, the kind of diving is more commonly referred to fluorescent diving and it doesn't use UV light, its blue (440-480nm) light. Second the filters were yellow light filters to remove the remaining light so that it didn't overwhelm the blue and you could see the fluorescence.

> How common is it for divers to start panicking underwater? It surprises me that that's even a thing.

I am a seasoned and experienced diver. I used to dive literally on a daily basis. Until that one time when without warning I totally freaked the fuck out at 20 mtr over nothing at all, with only UP UP UP UP UP on my mind. I managed to keep a lid on it and safely ascend, but that was also my last dive. I am not sure this will won't happen again, and I could endanger my buddy, group, or myself.

I agree. Especially in a cave where frantic movements could kick up sediment and block visibility. Definitely a pragmatic move but probably the right choice.

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