Although solo diving is never a good idea, but I have been diving for thirty-seven years, and I was at one of my favorite dive locations, Morrison Springs, FL, when this incident occurred. My dive partner, his grandson and I had come to Morrison Springs that morning to find the spring flooded with the tannic acid runoff from the nearby river. After a brief surface swim, we surmised the visibility at the top of the spring was zero. My dive partner and his grandson decided not to dive due to these conditions. I decided to descend beneath the muck, and found with the exception of the lack of light the visibility was quite good. So I descended into the cave system as I have done a hundred times before to video the springs with my new GoPro camera setup. I had two Ikelite DS161 strobes that put out a lot of light. I spent about fifteen minutes filming the interior of the cave system when I heard a very loud boom directly behind my head, followed by the sound of air streaming from my scuba equipment . I ascended from the cave as quickly as possible, still being able to breathe. I then slowed my ascent rate, and breathed as shallowly as possible, not knowing when I would run out of air. As best I could tell, my air ran out about twenty feet below the surface, and I ascended freely from that point, exhaling continuously until I reached the surface of the spring. According to my dive computer, I was well within acceptable blood nitrogen levels. Although my ascent rate was too quick, I never suffered any ill effects. The GoPro camera filmed the entire event. I did dive again that day at Vortex Springs, FL, making sure to do a long decompression stop.
After examination of my double hose regulator system, I determined that a high pressure hose linking two parts of the regulator blew out.
To see youtube Video go to:
fisheyeviewphoto Robert N. Zimmerman name of Video (Near Death Experience)
Although solo diving is never a good idea, but I have been diving for thirty-seven years, and I was at one of my favorite dive locations, Morrison Springs, FL, when this incident occurred. My dive partner, his grandson and I had come to Morrison Springs that morning to find the spring flooded with the tannic acid runoff from the nearby river. After a brief surface swim, we surmised the visibility at the top of the spring was zero. My dive partner and his grandson decided not to dive due to these conditions. I decided to descend beneath the muck, and found with the exception of the lack of light the visibility was quite good. So I descended into the cave system as I have done a hundred times before to video the springs with my new GoPro camera setup. I had two Ikelite DS161 strobes that put out a lot of light. I spent about fifteen minutes filming the interior of the cave system when I heard a very loud boom directly behind my head, followed by the sound of air streaming from my scuba equipment . I ascended from the cave as quickly as possible, still being able to breathe. I then slowed my ascent rate, and breathed as shallowly as possible, not knowing when I would run out of air. As best I could tell, my air ran out about twenty feet below the surface, and I ascended freely from that point, exhaling continuously until I reached the surface of the spring. According to my dive computer, I was well within acceptable blood nitrogen levels. Although my ascent rate was too quick, I never suffered any ill effects. The GoPro camera filmed the entire event. I did dive again that day at Vortex Springs, FL, making sure to do a long decompression stop. After examination of my double hose regulator system, I determined that a high pressure hose linking two parts of the regulator blew out. To see youtube Video go to: fisheyeviewphoto Robert N. Zimmerman name of Video (Near Death Experience)