David Strike wrote:

> Although I have to 'fess up to occasionally getting lost, I've found
> becoming disoriented to be a more un-nerving experience.  I've only
> experienced it a couple of times in dark water with a swirling current and
> no reference points to focus on.  And while both of them have only been of
> short duration they were sufficient to pump an extra dose of adrenalin
> through the system!  :-)

Absolutely true.  It's happened to me exactly twice.  The first time was on
my first night dive.  It was on a wreck and I knew there was a spiny sea
urchin close by (because I saw it).  A bit of surge caught me just enough to
bump my rear end against something.  Fear or having an ass full of spines
during a live aboard trip caused me to move rapidly and, for a very brief
moment, lose all orientation.  Because I was close to the wreck, I
reoriented by sight quickly and easily, but that doesn't mean my heart
wasn't beating quickly.

The second time was also on a night dive.  This time on the Nickolson,
directly out from Sunset House on Grand Cayman.  A mystery meat sandwich and
a high speed run to meet the tourist sub at the wreck did unpleasant things
to my stomach which payed me back by emptying itself somewhere between 60
and 80 feet.   I not only didn't know which way was up, I didn't care.  When
things were a bit calmer, reorientation was again easy.  This time Jayna and
I both had rapid heart beats.

> (The quick test for disorientation is, of course, to remove your weight
belt
> and - holding it in one hand - feeling which way the strap is pointing!
If
> it appears to be pointing upwards or sideways from where you *believe* the
> surface to be then you're disoriented.)  :-)

Uh Oh.  Now I'm in trouble.  I don't wear a weight belt in warm water
anymore.  Guess I'll just have to watch my bubbles.

> > Threads about getting lost remind me of a night trip in the Everglades,
an
> > environment similar to being underwater in that things tend to look the
> > same everywhere you go.  I had been out hunting frogs for my dinner
plate for a
> > couple of hours when one of my friends contacted me on the radio.

> The pre-dive briefing at Shelly Beach used to go something like:  "It's
> impossible to get lost on this dive.  On the way out, the sand is on your
> left and the rocks and reef are to your right.  On the return - if you've
> done things properly - the rocks are on your left and the sand on your
> right!"

> Then Birdo spoiled it all by getting lost!  :-)
> The briefing, however, remained the same until I, too, got lost! :-)
> Now we're the only two members of a very elite club - and the briefing has
> been modified considerably! :-)

Also an excellent story, but you're going to have to embelish it a bit if
you're going to sell it.

Substantial snip.

> Which is just one reason why all divers should be proficient in both
natural
> and compass navigation skills.

While I certainly agree, my personal navigation is mostly natural.
Currents, distractions and just plain fate make precise compass navigation
unreliable where I dive most, but you may reasonably assume that I know the
boat's generally north (or other direction), the shore generally west, which
way the bottom drops off in the area and how deep it is where the boat is
anchored.  Since it's usually my boat and, no matter how hard I try, it
won't come and get me unassisted, it's a good thing.  Perhaps this is the
reason I once passed on a couple of dives just because it didn't feel right.
It was in current at the tip of the Toungue of the Ocean, off Nassau.  There
was no land anywhere in site and the closest islands were too small to count
on finding by fin power alone.  Jayna and I both sat out an afternoon and an
evening dive at the site.  I suspect that, lacking an opposing current, I
could swim as long as necessary to reach land, but I have to know which way
land is to do it.

Lee