DCS - The diving accident Summer 2020 Corona

Wed 12.8.
AI#7 and XR#3
Fiat BR-20
XR Dive, Deco planned, 15Liter Tank Air, stage tank 7 liters with Nitrox EAN36 (I did not analyze it...), for switch at 28meters.
I intend to document this with a video from my GoPro8, no artificial light. Everything fine, reached 40 meters after 3 minutes. Dipped below for 6 min, then ascend, switch tanks at 28m. At 24m the computer displays a deepstop for 2min, which I do. At 12m the computer displays a second deepstop for 2min, which I do. The rest of the group is already at 7-8m or even safetystop. I ascend much slower than the rest of us. I follow up to 5m, do the safetystop for 4min, everybody else is out of the water already. When the safetystop is done, I ascend. As I am surfacing, the computer demands another stop at 3m. When I take the Nitrox36 reg out of my mouth I feel strange immediately. Fatigue, aching legs and arms, like after 24 hours of exercise.
- - Later the dive profile shows that after finishing the safetystop the computer demanded another mandatory safetystop. Didn’t see that somehow? Also the profile shows the computer demanded two deepstops of 2minutes, at 24m and at 12m, which I did…- -
20 minutes navigation to get back to the dive center. On the boat I can hardly get me together to remove my weights and set up my equipment post-dive. Legs start to feel as if I had been sitting on them too long, ants. At the pier I cannot walk off the boat, ants in my legs, cannot control my movements.
Still on the pier, we administer O2 100% for 15 minutes and 0,5 L drinking water, After that, I can control my legs again. Vince helps me walk back to the DC, there we administer another 20 min of O2 100%, plus 1,5 L water. Then I feel good again.

Alessandro says Today and tomorrow no diving, next up is Ratteghe on Friday afernoon. I stow away my stuff and drive home on the motorbike, eat panino with bressaola, creamcheese. No symptoms, just a bit tired.
I rest on my bed, but cannot sleep. Drink a lot of water.
Later the shit hits the fan.
In the evening, I try to walk over the camping ground, I walk like a drunk, can hardly control my moves.
Back home I lie on my bed again, and around 10pm, before I want to sleep, I go to the toilet.
I am not able to piss. I feel pressure on my bladder, but I cannot piss. I try to ignore the urge to pee for the sake of sleeping. Every hour I have to get up and press at least some drops out to relieve the pain.
At 4am I decide to take a warm shower while sitting, this might help with pissing. I sit there under the running shower, imagining waterfalls and heavy rain, but I can pee just a little more than the times before.
I notice that the water feels hot on my shoulders, but only lukewarm on my legs and belly. The frontier is somewhere below my ribs, near the diaphragma. After 45 minutes in the shower I cancel this experiment and try to find sleep. My belly blows up from all the pee in my bladder. Every hour I try to relieve by pressing out some drops.

Thu 13.8.
In the Morning Chiara asks via WhatsApp how I feel. When I tell her she suggests to contact my insurance. I do, and after some zigzag I put everything in their hands. I call Ale asking which is the next hyperbaric chamber, and he tells me the next chambers are in Nice, France, and in Genova I give the Genova info to the insurance.
They call back, they made contact with the chamber in Genova. Tell me to take a taxi. I pack some things, computer, phone, dive computer, t-shirt and a boxer short.  Take all keys and money with me. Mili calls a taxi for me. 1:45 minutes drive, I sort of sleep for half an hour. Driver doesn’t find the right entrance, we go to the official post adress of this huge policlinic, I need to piss super urgent, find a toilet, press out some drops to relieve the pain. Then the doorman calls an ambulance, which brings me to Pronto Soccorso.

I show the email from my insurance Aquamed, translated to Italian, saying I have go to the chamber immediately, and Dr. Amelia is waiting for me.

Working as Divemaster and becoming SSI Assistant Instructor, Summer 2020 Covid times

Sat 11.7.
DM#2
Ratteghe. Crazy dive. I close Alessandros group, 3 divers, number 3 has problems from the start, struggling to go down. 7.5 mm Semidry, 6 kilos on belt, huge dive knife. first few minutes always head down, breathing hard, constant bubble flow.Resurfaces after 3 minutes, i give him 1 more kilo and tell him to calm down, Alessandro comes up after 2 min, gives him another kilo, we go down again, lost the group, we are in the first Arch,  I go north, current flows south, we are getting pretty shallow, he takes pictures now, I navigate East to get out of the shallows, then 20 min into the dive I see him surface again, Finstrap broken, he is completely exhausted. I tow him to the boat (nice rescue training…). Luca helps him out of the water, I go down again to find Alessandro and the rest of the group. I meet Vincenzo and his student Antonio from Uruguay at the anchor line., continue and find Alessandro with the two other divers. We finish the dive after 45 min, i close the anchor, put the balloon on, inflate, ok.
Out of the water after 48:30 min, overall RMV 20,8… Hard work…

Sun 12.7.
No dive, to the DC anyway. You can learn something all the time…
I listen to theory sessions with Vince and his OWD student Antonio, he sets up 4 different dive systems, and gets it very fast

I chill on the Cap Landen terrace on my camping ground:



Mon 13.7.
DM#3
Nice and relaxed. Chiara and Vince have two TSD, I follow with an experienced diver Alister and Luca, who works at the DC.
We go to the wreck and back, then follow the Posidonia north, I try to memorize the „corners“ in the Posidonia.
Alessandro has a student, Vittoria, little girl, Scuba Ranger. Says she was super easy under water.
Chiara goes in a big circle, I did not expect the boat when we got there.
Mesmerizing effect of Posidonia standing still and rocks seem to move.
I show Luca how to clear the anchor underwater.
Lesson Learn: When the anchor is up, get back on the boat as quickly as possible, especially at Ratteghe, where we are close to the rocky shore!
Guests are super happy with the dive, Alister thanks me twice

Becoming a Divemaster in Summer 2020 Covid times

 

 

 

 

Wed, 17.6.

I arrived in Italy yesterday, we start the Divemaster course today.

"DMT" is for Divemaster Training Dives.

DMT1 Morning dive Frati 1, 32 m, end 100 bar

After that we have a Theory session, instructor manual chapter 1

Lunch break

15:30 theory session:

Instructor manual chapter 2-4

With me is Max Langley, a somewhat awkward guy, he is doing the Pro Crossover from another agency, probably Padi. The crossover has more or less the same content as the Assistant instructor, that is why I am studying together with him, probably. So, I start my Divemaster education with the theory of the assistant instructor, and that's a massive amount of studying. As soon as I am back at the bungalow I fire up the computer and work my way through it

Later have a glass of white wine on the terrace and a plate of spaghetti Scoglio at the beach Bar Cap Landen 

 

Thu. 18.6.
The cats at the Camping site seem to like my motorbike....

9:30 Theory instructor Manual chapter 5: briefing of a skill session

Assignment for the Lunch break: Prepare a briefing for a skill

I do that with a Toste and Coca Cola at Cap Landen:

Afternoon: I present a briefing for the skill Regulator Clearing by Purge. Not excellent, but ok, missed some points, but it's my first real, though mockup, briefing.

Max has to brief Mask clearing, but he gets lost a bit in explaining dangers and problems that might occur while diving. Completely offtopic, he is very nervous obviously.

Assignment for tomorrow: Chapter 6 and 10 of the Instructor Manual. Boy, that's a lot to read. I feel a bit overwhelmed, remember, it's only 48 hours ago I arrived from a 1000-miles-motorbike trip with two days of heavy rain... And it is not Divemaster, but Instructor content. What is going on here?

But I have full WiFi at my bungalow, a beach bar 1 minute walk away and decent weather. My bike is parked in front of the house and I have a super nice commute to work every day. Curvy roads along the coast with nice sea views. Will have to make a video of that.

On the road to become Divemaster in Summer 2020 Covid times

On 31. May 2020, I quit my office job for good, after 30 years in the industry and 22 years in the same company. I am 62 years old and hold a Master Diver Certification.

As this summer there is no traveling possible to South East Asia, due to Covid-19, I plan to do my Divemaster Course with Borgo Marina Diving in Imperia, Italy. They suggest I should also do the Assistant Instructor Course, just two more weeks. I agree.

I will travel on motorbike and spend two months there alone, fully focused on dive education, then Kate will follow with the car for another month. We will stay at the Camping Angolo di Sogno in Diano Marina again, just 20 minutes from the Dive Center. Booked a small bungalow for the first two months and the bigger Bungalow Mily for the month with Kate.

I will travel with my full diving equipment, computer, cameras, some underwear, t-shirts, pants long and short, etc. I sent a 2-kg-package with the rest to the Camping site 7 days ago.

Germany and Austria open their borders on 15. June, Italy has already opened on 3. June.

On Sunday, 14. June I start my 3-day-trip to Liguria on the bike, planning to

Thailand and Myanmar, 2020 COVID-19 times

TO BE CONTINUED

I booked this last year in August or September. Got a nice discount for booking two trips on two boats by the same owner, Steve.

So here is the plan: Fly into Thailand on 15. March, stay four days in Kata Beach, go diving Myanmar for ten days, stay two days in Khao Lak, go diving Similan Islands for six days, fly out on 7. April late evening.
Everything is payed and arranged, but then things started to change quickly.

The Corona virus COVID-19 outbreak in China around 15. January picked up speed exponentially.
Travel restrictions apply, it becomes a matter of days or even hours, if you can travel or not.
Travelers from many countries are put in 14-day quarantine, Italy has the second highest number of infections following China, they are not even allowed to enter Thailand anymore.
Thailand introduced a mandatory Health screenings for most european travelers at immigration airports effective 12. March.
My flight is rescheduled two times an re-routed once,