Diving on the ledges, I have seen my fair share of divers with "tooth fever", who do not pay attention to where they are going or their gauges. Still others who put "getting just one more tooth" above the value of their own life. I mean seriously, is it worth dying over a tooth?
Other than those I see diving from up here in NJ with doubles and/or pony bottles, I see very few divers using any kind of redundant air sources on the boats down there.
Admittedly, I lost sight of the anchor line while diving the ledges earlier this year. I was hanging around the anchor line at the end of my dive and went around a "coral head" and spotted a huge lobster. It took off and I was right behind it. Unfortunately, I went a little too far and once I realized I could not see the anchor line anymore, I stopped the pursuit and then switched into contingency mode. I resorted to my training and began to look around for the anchor line. Not finding it, I stayed calm and tied off my upline and floated my lift bag to the surface. Once I made it to the surface, I realized I had actually surfaced about 30' from where the original tie-in was and then swam back to the boat. The only injury incurred was to my pride when several "friends" repeatedly pointed it out that I couldnt find the anchor line.
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