Stupid, I mean really stupid things I have done diving

[Puffer Fish]

The old days thread reminded of some of the really stupid things I have done while diving. So, for starters, here is one:

About 15 years ago, I taught my wife scuba, and on our first open water dive, we did a shore dive off of Destin. Now there is not much to see... sand mostly, but there are shells and some fish. Oh, and she gets sea sick on boats, so this was a lot easier to do.

We dress up, wade thru the 3 to 4 ft surf and swim out to find stuff.

I catch a few olive shells for her....Lovely things by the way.

Then I see a "flounder" on the bottom. Smart person that I am I take out my dive knife, swim over to it (knowing she cannot see it), point at the bottom... then put my knife down and touch it to see the surprize on her face.

Great plan...that was until I touched it... it felt like I had stuck my arm in an outlet... then pain, terrible numbing pain.

I dropped the knife and my arm did not work...looking over at her, I could see she was watching the neat ray like animal swim away.

Not wanting to alarm her.. I picked my knife up with my other hand, put it back, and spent the rest of the dive swimming around with a very painful, dead arm.

Later I found out that was an electric skate.. who know they had them there.

[moosicman]

Sorry puffer but that was funny....i'm glad you didn't get seriously hurt at all....i wonder how much electricity it can pulse and how much it hit you with.....thanks for sharing!

found this:: Electric ray - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[kenmendes]

I'm Sorry To Puffer But I Have To Laugh At That. That Was Funny. Glad That You Didn't Get Hurt To Bad

[scubaculture]

Thats why I never touch anything underwater, sorry I just had to laugh at that!

Stupidest thing I have done is turning my back on the waves for far to long doing a shore exit to see where the safe spot was, as I turned around I got slammed. Ended up losing a fin

[Puffer Fish]

Originally Posted by moosicman

Sorry puffer but that was funny....i'm glad you didn't get seriously hurt at all....i wonder how much electricity it can pulse and how much it hit you with.....thanks for sharing!

found this:: Electric ray - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The knife was one of the old, now this is a dive knife, so it had lots of metal.

It was a lot worse than 110 volt AC is, have no idea what it would have done if I had just touched it. I know I am much more careful with my flounder id now.

[navyhmc]

That ranks right up there with my slowly settling towards the sandy bottom at about 60' with my fins pointed straight down. I had intended just ot let the tips hit the sand. A very impressive "Whap!" hit my left fin about half way up the fin. Seems I settled down right on top of a sting ray. I had a bard sticking out of my fin the rest of that dive.

Same trip, I was warned about stone fish and never saw any of them. That is until I developed my film. In almost every shot around Turner Island there was at least 1 if not 2 stone fish in the frame.

[Puffer Fish]

Originally Posted by scubaculture

Thats why I never touch anything underwater, sorry I just had to laugh at that!

Stupidest thing I have done is turning my back on the waves for far to long doing a shore exit to see where the safe spot was, as I turned around I got slammed. Ended up losing a fin

Oh, I have a lot more stupid things than that.... how about "lets see if we can learn to do an entry off of a ten meter platform".

Or having a dive boat full of people just drop two of you of "on the way", in the middle of the ocean, with the plan that they would come back and "find us".

Or... wow, a 25 ft great white... lets jump in and take pictures.

Or grabbing the biggest spiny lobster I have ever seen with gloves that I could not let go with.

[Puffer Fish]

Originally Posted by navyhmc

That ranks right up there with my slowly settling towards the sandy bottom at about 60' with my fins pointed straight down. I had intended just ot let the tips hit the sand. A very impressive "Whap!" hit my left fin about half way up the fin. Seems I settled down right on top of a sting ray. I had a bard sticking out of my fin the rest of that dive.

Same trip, I was warned about stone fish and never saw any of them. That is until I developed my film. In almost every shot around Turner Island there was at least 1 if not 2 stone fish in the frame.

Ok, that was close... just remember.. the poison does not get injected until you pull it out... which in your case, would not have hurt at all.

[Chad]

Sorry you got zapped but that really made me laugh. I had never heard of electric rays. It does look a lot like a flounder. I will keep an eye out for those.

[dallasdivergirl]

Puffer, you poor guy.

That makes me hurt hearing your story.