30 feet down on a salvage job in Galveston last month I saw a guy's bailout bottle gauge reading empty and he kept working

That moment in the chamber after we surfaced made me completely change my mind about pre-dive checks being optional, does anyone else double-check their own gear even when the tender already did it?

2 comments

2 Comments

barbara_baker571mo ago

Wait, you saw a guy keep working on a 30 foot bottom with a dry bailout bottle and you didn't drag him up by his fins? That's not a pre-dive check problem, that's a "watching your buddy commit suicide" problem. I double check my own gear every time because trusting someone else to keep me breathing is like trusting a cat to guard a fish market.

wendy_jackson1mo ago

Take your buddy aside before the dive and make them show you their reg working off that bottle. I've watched guys fumble with valves at 30 feet and it's not pretty. I had a dive buddy once who swore his bailout was good to go but he hadn't cracked the valve open all the way. We did a quick check at 15 feet and he was sucking a dry loop. Now I just say hey show me your gas is open before we hit the water. It's awkward for like 10 seconds but way better than a rescue. You also gotta be ready to grab them and drag them up yourself if they ignore you. That's not being a jerk it's being the only one who's gonna keep them alive down there.