With BSAC Plymouth Polytechnic Club in the late 70s (John Vaudin was the boss then) - we were on a dive to pull Mussels from a massive Navy mooring chain in Pymouth sound. I was with Fiona Riley and we had a net bag to put the mussels in. About 10 mins into the dive we've loaded the bag and notice its getting darker. I suddenly realised we were plummeting towards 35m and so I grabbed Fiona and cracked my Fenzy bottle. We got out with the mussels but should probably have let go of them instead!
On an Inspiration Classic RB trip with Gordon Henderson (DDPlan) and others (including the Websters)...:
I landed on a super soft sea bottom, last in line and could see nothing for the next 5 mins - I felt my way out of the silt cloud... it can get you if its the last thing you expect
Later, the Websters ascended close to rocks in a heavy swell so two of us snorkelled away from MV Salutay with a line but ended up under 1m of thick sea foam which could not be inhaled. I felt I was drowning so had to duck dive out of it and back into a clear surface
NDC Chepstow. Jerome and I were surfacing after an 82m MK15.5 dive to the bottom when I was suddenly alone at 40m and with plenty of deco to do. I ended up yo-yo'ing wasting diluent. Why were we doing a free ascent and not coming back up the line? Had me real stressed becuase I had no point of reference or anything to hold during all of deco.
On my KISS course with Phi Le in the UAE, it was the first sea dive and on the descent inside Khor Fakkan harbour I must have been at about 12m when there was nothing to inhale - loop was empty. Phi had kindly switched off both my diluent and oxygen bottles. I wasn't expecting that - I'd done the mask off and diluent off... but...
Off Fahal island in Oman at about 20m on air. I was stupidly playing with a fully inflated puffer fish when it deservedly got hold of a finger and bit down hard. I screamed and spat out my 2nd stage. Managed to get it back in but the bite was still on and I was just about to stab the poor fish with my dive knife when it let go.
Poole in Dorset with my Ouroboros and Phil Short on a Mod 1 course. Having spent too much time head-down and vertical at 40m in current, this had caused the loop to dump volume thru the counterlung OP valve(s) such that when I got to the 1st deco stop at 15m - there was no diluent left. Save to say I ended up with the mask glass functioning as a pair of contact lenses contemplating Trident missile launches and Phil Short having to help me locate my OC 2nd stage... just in time it was close. Phil gave it a 7/10.
Snorkelling at Khawr Nejd near Khasab in the Strait of Hormuz, Oman. My close friend Ali was availing himself of live crayfish that wander the sandy bay shallows during a night's high tide when I saw a silver flash caused by the movement of my dive light. A sizeable needle fish had swum into my right arm puncturing my skin and hitting my bone. A cloud of blood ensued and there was then a protracted bumpy 3hr trip back to Khasab hospital where a charming Doctor advised me he "wasn't very good at stitching".
Snorkelling in the Al Ohr cave, Wadi Ghul, Al Hamra, Nizwa, Oman. Tony Guy and I had discovered the cave as non-cave divers using basic scuba. Tony dropped his torch as we exited the flooded cave. A couple of weeks later I went back to snorkel the site and find his torch. Snorkelling in a cave is just plain stupid. I found out...
Cavern diving in Sardinia at 'La Galleria'. Protek didn't quite stick to the book here; my partner Janet and I ended up outside of daylight, she lost a fin and ended up in a closed air pocket in a space just wide enough for the both of us. I got her fin back on and then we headed out... she was rightly very stressed, you need warning and prep for events such as that. We got back to the dive boat and the dive leader promptly stripped off completely, swam to the cliff, climbed up and jumped in Red Bull style - weird.
Gozo. After a MODII RB dive on the Inspiration Evo to 65m we were at the last of three wrecks the Xlendi? At 30m odd. I had a video camera so was task loaded and had just held my breath for 30 secs during filmed swim thru of the ships gangway. We turned the corner at the stern. Matt Bannon and another diver were about 10m in front. It was calm beautiful, everything was fine until I was suddenly and for no apparent reason overcome by extreme panic and stress. Maximum mental control was needed to prevent me from heading up which was not an option. I got the lid on it after probably 20 secs of effort and we completed the dive. I had Martin Parker at AP diving trying to work out what had happened including checking the PPCO2 log on my unit but there had been no CO2 breakthrough. Still a mystery but I've since had two similar moments on OC. Could be age related.