Chatted with a guy off Key West who said his whole dive career changed after a near miss with a live wellhead

He told me he used to skip checking the pressure gauge before every jump, but after one bad valve nearly blew his mask off at 80 feet he never skips it now, made me wonder how many of us have that one close call that actually sticks with us for good.

2 comments

2 Comments

patel.leo12h ago

Watching it disappear into the abyss" - man that's rough but honestly I think all this checking and double checking people do is just superstition. I've been diving for 12 years now and I still don't clip my backup regulator most of the time. Never lost one. People get way too scared after one bad thing happens and then act like the whole sport is dangerous. That guy with the wellhead probably just got unlucky or wasn't paying attention. If you're worried about every little thing you'll never actually enjoy the dive.

sethr112d ago

You ever have one of those moments where you realize you've been an idiot for years but somehow lived through it? Mine was forgetting to clip my backup regulator to my BCD, doing a giant stride off a boat in rough seas, and watching it disappear into the abyss like it was never attached. Had to share my buddy's octo the whole dive and he wasn't thrilled about it. Now I double-check every clip three times before I even get near the water, sort of like how I check my zipper isn't up before I pee but with more expensive consequences. That near miss with the wellhead sounds terrifying though, glad he's still around to tell the story.