Dive-Computers.net

Yes I ran out of air once. I was on a crab hunting dive along a pipeline in the Puget Sound with 3 other divers. There was a pretty decient current and we were at about 90 ft. I was reaching for a crab and the current pushed me up against the pipeline and caught my alternate air source under me. It got lodged open in a free flow and at 90 ft half a tank doesn’t last long. The other divers were about 20 ft away and when they saw me headed straight over. I was only out of air for about 10 seconds before I got one of their alternates, but it felt like much longer. My heart was beating so fast that I started sucking her air down so fast that she nearly ran out before we could get to the surface. One of the worst parts was fighting the current on the surface for 45 min while we swam back to shore. We were all so exausted that we had to call for help to get our gear back up the hill to our trucks.

It was a frightening experience, but I’m still diving and still love it. I’ve been back to the same place many times since then. I’m just more cautious of my alternate air source now and I carry a small pony bottle just in case.

I came pretty close. I was diving off an oil rig in Indonesia with a whale shark. I knew the air was almost gone, so I stayed fairly shallow, around 30 ft. It just got more and more difficult to draw air, so I surfaced.

that’s why you stay close to your diving buddy – he passes his air intake back and forth so you can share it while you both surface together (or if his suit has a buddy breather installed, you can just use that one)