All diving has risks. To mitigate them, we must always pay attention to the details. The predive safety check is of utmost importance to help avoid a dive accident. The key elements are for each buddy to check the other’s BCD, weights, releases and air, and then give a final check and decisive OK. I could have avoided the entire incident had I adhered to my predive safety check and not gotten distracted, and I should have performed the safety check again before getting in the water.
Decompression illness (DCI), which includes both AGE and DCS, is not always predictable with regard to when and to whom it occurs. It can be equally difficult to predict with regard to recovery.
I TAKE A GIANT STRIDE off the back of the boat and splash into a cascade of tingling, magical bubbles. The sea’s embrace is chilly; I can feel the 74˚F water through my 5 mm wetsuit and thick 4 mm hood. My vision clears as the …
Although uncommon, unprovoked sea lion bites can occur, and divers should be aware of the potential hazard. Learn more about how one diver received a bite and how the wound was treated.
Skin bends can prevent unfamiliar symptoms and may go unnoticed or underreported. If you’re experiencing skin bends or unknown symptoms, call a doctor. Read an incident of skin bends.
DAN EMERGENCY SERVICES RECEIVED A CALL via satellite phone from a liveaboard anchored off a remote island in the Galápagos. A DAN member was concerned about their bunkmate exhibiting symptoms […]
Read one diver’s story about how a routine dive resulted in vomiting and other uncomfortable symptoms.
A mother opens up about losing her daughter in a dive accident. The incident was a result of her daughter and the dive buddy being inexperienced for the dive. Read more of this painful story.
A COMMERCIAL DIVER FRIEND TOLD ME YEARS AGO that people like me — recreational divers who do commercial diving work — are often referred to as yahoos.
I was always comfortable underwater and, at 78 years old, still am.
A young diver performed a shallow dive and later ascended very rapidly. Symptoms were severe but were not decompression sickness. Learn more about the incident.
