Years ago, I went on a holiday to Cozumel, an island off the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. MY friend, Linda, a certified scuba diver, gave me a resort dive as a gift while we were there. This meant that a Dive Master helped us get suited up with a mask, fins, inflatable vest and regulator with a mouthpiece, and a tank of air. I was taken through a lot of verbal instructions on various hand signals (like the ok sign) and was told all about breathing with the mouthpiece, what to do if I was having trouble, how to use someone else's air if need be, and on and on for maybe half an hour. Then the three of us put on our gear and duck-walked over to the water and swam in.
We descended about 30 feet overlooking a wrecked boat. There were a few fish swimming about. It was an amazing world down there and I was delighted to be there looking around. I knew how to clear my mask and ears against the pressure of being down there. I thought - WOW! I really like this. The next thing I knew, the dive master signaled to me to take my mouthpiece out of my mouth and to use his mouthpiece - to practice buddy breathing. I did this and got a great swig of water in my lungs and started choking. With all of the instructions, I had forgotten that I was to breathe out first, to clear the mouthpiece of water then to start breathing in. I could see Linda on one side of me freaking out and the dive master on the other side in a state of shock and I was totally in the moment of choking. Then I realized that I needed to stop trying to breathe and to calm my body down. I held my breath - took the offending mouthpiece out of my mouth and gave it to the dive master. I took back my own mouthpiece and choked into it (effectively clearing it of water) and was able to start breathing again. It was a very long minute or so!
We ascended and I got relaxed again to enjoy the rest of the dive. I had also forgotten that at this depth, I could have just ascended to the surface to get some air without any dire consequences. As a result of this rather terrifying moment, I resolved to take lessons as soon as possible. When I got back to Toronto, I signed up for classes at a local high school pool and completed all of the training except my final test, the open water dive. For that, I returned to Mexico, this time to Cancun where I did my dive and received my PADI certification.
What is the lesson learned? A little knowledge can be dangerous? Learn from your mistakes? Stay calm when in danger?