life and death experience

My first dive after being certifiable (?) was almost my last. Cozumel, Mexico, has to be one of the most beautiful dive sites in the Caribbean. I walked out on the dock to meet the dive boat. dropped my gear on the deck and asked the Mexican guide, "Who cleaned the pool?" The water was so sparkley clear it shimmered in the sun, like the clean bottom of an aqua painted pool.

Diving in Mexico wasn't like in the U.S.; no dive site orientation and no dawdling to gear up. Palancar Reef, in all its pristine beauty, is a drift dive with a strong current approaching 4 knots at times. They want everyone off the boat at the same time so divers aren't strung out for miles and impossible to pick up at the end. I jumped in not realizing my blood sugar was low and dropping. I have diabetes and it is a "contraindication" to safe diving.

Twenty minutes into the dive I was losing orientation and conciousness. We were at eighty feet and my wife's weights dropped out of her BC. Our dive master, Gregorio, took her hand and led her onward to help her stay down, not knowing I was losing it. Five minutes later, he realized I wasn't with them and came back to find me.

I remember being fascinated by a grand horned coral, almost purple, about two feet high and perfectly formed. The last thing I remember was looking away from the reef and seeing darker, deep blue water. When the dive guide found me, I had gone off the reef, swam down to 109 feet and was sitting on the sand like a sunbather with my head hanging down and my fins pointing up. He grabbed me and pulled me to the surface without stopping. I came to when the bright sunlight hit our eyes just below the surface. I had 250 psi of air left in my tank.

Gregorio thought I had the bends. The boat Captain raced us back to the dock and an ambulance met us, accompanied by a young Mexican Federale armed with an AR15 automatic rifle and full bandolero. Incidents of this type often occur when drugs are present. My wife was feeding me a Tootsie Roll and after some scrutiny, they realized no drugs were involved. They took me to the local Clinica Emergencia and a wonderful young Mexican doctor told me he was taking away my dive privileges for the remainder of that trip.

I learned a lot from that dive early in my experiences. I'm much more careful, better prepared, and aware of the dangers of being over 100 ft. under water and all the things that can go wrong. For some reason, God spared my life, if only to teach me how really foolish I can be at times. I'm grateful for His patience and have continued to dive successfully for several years. Oddly enough, a camera-man, filmed me as I was coming through the reef starting to go into spasms but didn't realize what was happening. Not the kind of video, or first dive experience I was hoping for.

Safe diving!