Alert Diver Category: DAN Was There for Me

I have been a diver for about 35 years and a dive instructor for about 30 years. Some instructor friends and I run the Buzos del CAE and Paraná Divers dive schools.

Severe neck and shoulder pain plagued one diver after a day of scuba diving in the South Pacific. The pain worsened and other symptoms developed, but local treatments were not an option. Thanks to DAN, treatments were coordinated.

While in Mexico’s Baja peninsula, a freediver experienced a bad cut on his had from his speargun. It was caused by lack of attention and hurt badly. Thankfully, DAN was there to help.

Our checkout dive was easy, with a maximum depth of 75 feet for 50 minutes. The current was slight, and the visibility was spectacular — an ideal first dive. It closed with a nice, slow ascent and a three-minute safety stop. When we returned to the boat, I felt a sudden tingling in my right foot followed by a dull ache in my knee. I assumed the worst, thinking I had decompression sickness (DCS). When I reviewed the dive in my mind, however, that seemed impossible.

On a sun-drenched afternoon in the Bahamas, my friends and I sailed out for what we thought would be a routine spearfishing trip. We anchored off the remote southern tip of Abaco, between Sandy Point and Hole in the Wall, and found ourselves alone in the blue-green expanse. As we freedived beneath its surface, the clear water was alive with groupers, cubera snappers, and reef sharks.

While diving in Cuba, a diver’s itchy rash didn’t seem immediately dire, but the condition quickly deteriorated. Seeking treatment was a complicated process, but the diagnosis was eventually skin bends.

Pain and a rash made one diver think she was having an allergic reaction to a marine sting. But when decompression sickness was suspected, she sought help. Read her story.

Don’t ignore seemingly random symptoms as they could be the result of a serious problem. One DAN member shares her story of how an uneventful dive changed her life.

On my way back to the campsite, my headlamp reflected off a pair of glowing green animal eyes, and in that split-second of distraction I lost my footing on the algae, which sent me tumbling head over heels more than 10 feet down the cliff face. I landed on my left foot with the full force of my body.

Raja Ampat refers to four main islands which are part of the larger collective area known as Bird’s Head Seascape — located in Indonesia. It is one of the world’s most biodiverse and rich tropical marine ecosystems..