SPARE AIR SHOW

Saving a dive and losing a reputation.

Sometimes, things don't work out as even the most experienced divers learn and you need a little help. It was one of those days. I was diving with the wonderful folks at CoCo View on Roatan Honduras in the winter of 2002. It was the third day of diving and I already had 12 dives in. I had my buoyancy down perfectly, my digital still and video cameras in hand, and was ready to rumble. As I sunk toward the bottom, I reached up to let a little air into my BC through my Scubapro Air two regulator to slow my descent, I realized to my horror that I had not connected the pressure hose. I hate it when things like that happen.

After a couple of not so deleted expletives, I headed for a patch of sand so I would not crash into the reef. After a couple of fruitless tries of connecting the Air 2 hose, I was faced with a couple of choices. I could "fake it" by just blowing air into the bc throughout the dive by mouth, go up and start again, or fix it down there. I decided to fix it on the bottom.

I am an old school diver from the "macho" days of instruction where you jumped in the deep end of the pool with all your gear in a bag in one hand, a tank and regulator in the other hand, and put your self together on the bottom...holding your breath.

This time I had a secret weapon....my spare air ...damned good thing since I am 60 and those three minute breath holds are only in my memories. I have carried a spare air for years and never needed it...this time was different.

I calmly pulled the Spare Air from its holder and put it in my mouth as I started taking off gear. I spread the BC tank, and hoses in front of me on the bottom. The cameras floated up on their retractable cords from the "D" rings on the BC. It looked like a weird animal on an operating table as I floated above it. Taking my time, I turned off the tank valve, dropped the pressure in the regulator by pressing the second stage flush button, calmly connected the Air 2 quick fitting, and turned on the tank valve. Pressing the flush valve again, I had air. My next step was to reverse the process and put the gear back on and continue the dive. I had only lost a couple of minutes and nobody would notice. When I finished the last clip on my BC, shook my body for everything to fall into place and looked around to see where I would go on the dive.

As I looked, I saw the entire group of the dive boat above me staring at the demonstration I had just given. I just waved, gave a thumbs up, and swam off. Except for my dive buddy Tony who is much older than I (two months), no one had seen anyone do that...and of course they never should. That week I really got tired of answering the question, "What the hell were you doing down there?"

The spare air did not save my life, or my reputation as an organized diver which is lost forever, but it did save the dive and provide a lot of amusement for some other divers. The Spare Air that day became a necessity and not an accessory.