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The dive sup who said 'trust your ears, not your gauge' saved me a bad day
Back in 2016 I was working off a barge near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, doing inspections on a platform leg. My supervisor, old Charlie Reyes, kept telling me to listen for the hiss when my reg free-flowed instead of watching the SPG every five seconds. I thought he was full of it, figured I knew my gear better than some guy who learned on double hose regs. About two dives into a week long job, my gauge started sticking around 2,400 psi while I was at 90 feet. Something felt off, the air tasted thin, so I switched to my bailout and thumbed it up. On the surface, Charlie checked my tank and it was damn near empty, the gauge needle was stuck bad. If I had trusted that dial, I would have been doing an emergency ascent from deep water with no gas. He just nodded and said 'ears never freeze up.' I still do a breath check every 10 minutes now on every job. Has anybody else had a dive instrument lie to them when you needed it most?
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dakotawells7d ago
Man, that story gave me chills. I had a console gauge lie to me once on a shallow reef job, said I had 1,500 psi when the tank was basically breathing its last. My buddy caught it because my breathing got quick and squeaky, not because I saw it on the dial. That old guy Charlie was right, your ears and your gut pick up stuff no needle ever will. Glad you made it up clean, because a stuck gauge at 90 feet is a nightmare I don't even want to picture.
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