If the recent Maldives diving tragedy has taught us anything, it's that the ocean can be a dangerous and unpredictable place. Five highly trained divers lost their lives in May, after an underwater expedition went horribly wrong. Their bodies were eventually recovered from a cave, days after they failed to resurface. But not before a sixth person - a navy diver tasked with finding them - suffered the same fate.
The world watched in horror as the drama unfolded... It was a stark reminder that even the most skilled divers aren't immune to unexpected disasters. People have been sharing their own diving nightmares in a series of online threads. Bored Panda has put together a list of the scariest ones. From underwater explosions, earthquakes, running out of oxygen, and encountering giant sea creatures, many of these tales might leave you with Thalassophobia - a fear of deep water.
#21
Diving at Wolf Island in the Galapagos 2 years ago in strong current and fair viz. My wife and I both had about 300 dives at that time and are pretty fit for our 60+ years. We were with our group at 50-55 feet, holding onto rocks or barnacles and watching the amazing parade of marine fauna pass in front of us.
My wife and I got to 1000 psi, so we alerted the DM and he pointed us out into the blue where we could find the zodiacs to take us back to the liveaboard. So we swam out a minute or two into the blue with no reference point when I looked at my computer and saw I was now at 75 feet and my wife was a little behind me and 8-10 feet lower and not seeing me trying to signal to her. I knew we were in serious danger. I was thinking this is like the stories I’ve read in scuba magazines.
It took me at least another minute to get her attention and signal her to check her computer. When saw how deep we were, I signaled her to put just a little air in her BC and come to me. We then surfaced slowly but surely, constantly checking our depth. We made our safety stop and surfaced with about 500 psi.
Lesson learned: Keep a constant eye on our depth when we’re in the blue with no reference points to guide us.
Pro tip: Before you go to the Galápagos, go to Carhartt or Wally World and buy a pair of close-fitting metal-reinforced gloves for $10-20. The sharp rocks and barnacles you’ll be hanging onto in the strong currents as you watch the parade of hammerheads at Wolf and Darwin will shred your expensive neoprene “scuba” gloves. People on our boat were envious of us after a few days when their pricey, fancy gloves were ripped and our cheapos were good as new.
My wife and I got to 1000 psi, so we alerted the DM and he pointed us out into the blue where we could find the zodiacs to take us back to the liveaboard. So we swam out a minute or two into the blue with no reference point when I looked at my computer and saw I was now at 75 feet and my wife was a little behind me and 8-10 feet lower and not seeing me trying to signal to her. I knew we were in serious danger. I was thinking this is like the stories I’ve read in scuba magazines.
It took me at least another minute to get her attention and signal her to check her computer. When saw how deep we were, I signaled her to put just a little air in her BC and come to me. We then surfaced slowly but surely, constantly checking our depth. We made our safety stop and surfaced with about 500 psi.
Lesson learned: Keep a constant eye on our depth when we’re in the blue with no reference points to guide us.
Pro tip: Before you go to the Galápagos, go to Carhartt or Wally World and buy a pair of close-fitting metal-reinforced gloves for $10-20. The sharp rocks and barnacles you’ll be hanging onto in the strong currents as you watch the parade of hammerheads at Wolf and Darwin will shred your expensive neoprene “scuba” gloves. People on our boat were envious of us after a few days when their pricey, fancy gloves were ripped and our cheapos were good as new.
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15points
#22
Unskilled divers.
Had to retrieve one who was sinking fast down the Cayman walk. Caught her around 180 ft.
Topside later she seemed to have no idea how dangerous that was.
Had to retrieve one who was sinking fast down the Cayman walk. Caught her around 180 ft.
Topside later she seemed to have no idea how dangerous that was.
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14points
#23
What scared me was when tarpons used my light for night hunting.
During a night dive I used a light with a small ray if light. Tarpons like to make use of your light to hunt at night.
I know there are super friendly but also very large and they managed to jumpscare me over and over each time they popped into my lightbeam.
During a night dive I used a light with a small ray if light. Tarpons like to make use of your light to hunt at night.
I know there are super friendly but also very large and they managed to jumpscare me over and over each time they popped into my lightbeam.
13points
#24
I was on a night dive in Cozumel by the pier, small dive party as it was a bad night and raining but we figured its fine under water so what the hell. Hindsight conditions in a storm can change fast.
after finishing our dive we came up and their is a full storm going on with lightning etc and surge has picked up and our boat is no where to be found and we are getting close to the ferry zone. That was a feeling i will never forget. eventually another boat saw our lights and radioed our boat to come over but that feeling stuck with me.
after finishing our dive we came up and their is a full storm going on with lightning etc and surge has picked up and our boat is no where to be found and we are getting close to the ferry zone. That was a feeling i will never forget. eventually another boat saw our lights and radioed our boat to come over but that feeling stuck with me.
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12points
#25
Mine's more situational than an event.
Swimming through a wreck near Cancun, C-58. Lots of schools of fish, pretty open bow because much of it was gone, mostly beams and supports etc. It really was a good site.
I come from more enclosed areas into to the bow and exit.
I end up over the bow and see into the area I was just swimming in.
There was a 7 foot barracuda. I never saw it when I was who-knows-how close.
They like shadows for camouflage, and it works!
Spooked me quite a bit seeing it there. It was massive!
Swimming through a wreck near Cancun, C-58. Lots of schools of fish, pretty open bow because much of it was gone, mostly beams and supports etc. It really was a good site.
I come from more enclosed areas into to the bow and exit.
I end up over the bow and see into the area I was just swimming in.
There was a 7 foot barracuda. I never saw it when I was who-knows-how close.
They like shadows for camouflage, and it works!
Spooked me quite a bit seeing it there. It was massive!
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12points
#26
Diving from a closed off beach to the open see through a tunnel. On the way back, we went into this dark hole expecting to see daylight on the other side at any moment. Suddenly felt a current starting to drag us into the darkness. We panicked and turned around, sprinted out. Turns out we missed our tunnel and actually entered some random cave.
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12points
#27
A year and a half ago, a juvenile nurse shark uh... Slurped? (I hesitate to say bit. Do they even have teeth? 🤔) my dive buddy repeatedly on the stomach, even after getting bopped on the head by our DM multiple times.
Turning around to see a shark attached to your dive buddy is very surreal, even if it is just a dumb dumb nurse shark.
Also, when I was getting my OW/AOW in the Philippines, a sea krait swam up my instructor's shorts. We had just been talking about them being venemous minutes before. .
Turning around to see a shark attached to your dive buddy is very surreal, even if it is just a dumb dumb nurse shark.
Also, when I was getting my OW/AOW in the Philippines, a sea krait swam up my instructor's shorts. We had just been talking about them being venemous minutes before. .
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12points
#28
I was one of the ones in the boat topside for this one. We were hooked to a buoy off a shipwreck in Lake Erie one summer.
There were two of us on the boat, two still under, and all was quiet at the moment so with permission, I borrowed the boat dog and we went for a quick little float around the boat to cool off then popped back on the boat.
During their dive I noticed on the divers go into shore, which was very close by, and look at a sign at one point. And then two divers came back in not too long after.
Turns out the sign the diver had saw said “Watersnake Sanctuary” …. We haven’t been back to that dive site since….
There were two of us on the boat, two still under, and all was quiet at the moment so with permission, I borrowed the boat dog and we went for a quick little float around the boat to cool off then popped back on the boat.
During their dive I noticed on the divers go into shore, which was very close by, and look at a sign at one point. And then two divers came back in not too long after.
Turns out the sign the diver had saw said “Watersnake Sanctuary” …. We haven’t been back to that dive site since….
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12points
#29
Pulled a body in 2 years ago not overly concerning. It was having to listen to his wife and kid screaming at him to not go, and that they still needed him.
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11points
#30
Diving with a father and daughter, rec boat dive, the 3 of us plus the DM (I was also a customer) Daughter a brand new OW (14 years old) struggling with trim and buoyancy, father bragging about 30 years of experience (also OW only)...
daughter was a sweetheart, attentive to the DM, enthusiastic, listening to and applying instruction and advice.
father was clueless. we were swimming along the edge of a wall @ ~60 ft that drops to over 1000... guy gets ahead of the DM and starts swimming gradually further down, DM calls the turn, bangs like hell on the tank, dad doesn't register, DM is reluctant to leave the girl to fetch the dad, so I signal that I will get him. ended up swimming as fast as I could for 200 yards and finally catch him at 90' and he's headed down down.... perhaps he was narc'd I don't know.
yanked his fin 3 times before he turned around and looked at me confused. I point, make the turn sign and the up sign and get him going back in the right direction. we got back, everyone's ok.
not much in the way of things but it could have been bad.
second dive the DM buddied me with the girl and kept a close eye on the dad. I worked with her on buoyancy and trim and spent the dive pointing out all the cool stuff. DM spent the dive with his head on a swivel.
daughter was a sweetheart, attentive to the DM, enthusiastic, listening to and applying instruction and advice.
father was clueless. we were swimming along the edge of a wall @ ~60 ft that drops to over 1000... guy gets ahead of the DM and starts swimming gradually further down, DM calls the turn, bangs like hell on the tank, dad doesn't register, DM is reluctant to leave the girl to fetch the dad, so I signal that I will get him. ended up swimming as fast as I could for 200 yards and finally catch him at 90' and he's headed down down.... perhaps he was narc'd I don't know.
yanked his fin 3 times before he turned around and looked at me confused. I point, make the turn sign and the up sign and get him going back in the right direction. we got back, everyone's ok.
not much in the way of things but it could have been bad.
second dive the DM buddied me with the girl and kept a close eye on the dad. I worked with her on buoyancy and trim and spent the dive pointing out all the cool stuff. DM spent the dive with his head on a swivel.
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11points
#31
How could I forget the time I was surprised to be on a cave dive, as in I didn’t know it was a cave?
The diving in Mexico is great, and the cenotes are really cool and unique. I had a group of divers here in Cozumel, and one day the port was closed so I arranged cenotes for us to do instead. At this time, my group had mostly new divers, including three that were half way through doing their advanced open water. They’d done the deep dive the day before.
So the time comes, over we go and off to our first site. I’d told the guide what my group was, and that we’d maybe like to do something other than the crowded ones. We arrive after an hour of too fast diving on a scary highway, and he briefs us on the first dive, Angelita. This cenote is objectively cool, deep, crystal clear and a cloud layer. We go, descend, all ok. He signals us to go through the cloud layer, ending us up at 40m/130ft. For three fifths of the groups second deep dive. I’m on video spinning circles as everyone is showing me their computers, they’ve never seen them flash and beep like that before. Other than that it was uneventful and all is ok.
We head to the second dive. This time the guide described it as a cavern type dive, with some overhead passages, but only the length and complexity a regular swim through. Since it’s shallow too, ok, that’s fine. We get in, and descend. We’re following in a line, all ok. We come up to the grim reaper sign, you know the one that says caves aren’t worth ending your life for, go no further unless you have cave training. THE GUIDE PROCEEDED TO GIVE THE SIGN THE FINGER AND TOOK US 20 MINUTES INTO A CAVE, COMPLETE WITH LINE AND NO AIR BREAKS.
I tell you I was pooping myself. I was up front, with these lovely new divers behind me. And we’re heading into a real actual cave, AND I DIDNT EVEN KNOW THIS WAS WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. I just kept going, as I know if I showed stress they would too. We made it in and out fine, but frick me I know exactly how dangerous that was.
Since then, I’ve moved to Cozumel, and I’ve been here for two years taking private groups of diving in the far superior ocean. Now I know there is no such thing as “cave discovery” diving, and what that guide considers appropriate site choice, I sure as hell warn people to be careful of cenotes. This was three years ago nearly, I’m still so mad.
The diving in Mexico is great, and the cenotes are really cool and unique. I had a group of divers here in Cozumel, and one day the port was closed so I arranged cenotes for us to do instead. At this time, my group had mostly new divers, including three that were half way through doing their advanced open water. They’d done the deep dive the day before.
So the time comes, over we go and off to our first site. I’d told the guide what my group was, and that we’d maybe like to do something other than the crowded ones. We arrive after an hour of too fast diving on a scary highway, and he briefs us on the first dive, Angelita. This cenote is objectively cool, deep, crystal clear and a cloud layer. We go, descend, all ok. He signals us to go through the cloud layer, ending us up at 40m/130ft. For three fifths of the groups second deep dive. I’m on video spinning circles as everyone is showing me their computers, they’ve never seen them flash and beep like that before. Other than that it was uneventful and all is ok.
We head to the second dive. This time the guide described it as a cavern type dive, with some overhead passages, but only the length and complexity a regular swim through. Since it’s shallow too, ok, that’s fine. We get in, and descend. We’re following in a line, all ok. We come up to the grim reaper sign, you know the one that says caves aren’t worth ending your life for, go no further unless you have cave training. THE GUIDE PROCEEDED TO GIVE THE SIGN THE FINGER AND TOOK US 20 MINUTES INTO A CAVE, COMPLETE WITH LINE AND NO AIR BREAKS.
I tell you I was pooping myself. I was up front, with these lovely new divers behind me. And we’re heading into a real actual cave, AND I DIDNT EVEN KNOW THIS WAS WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. I just kept going, as I know if I showed stress they would too. We made it in and out fine, but frick me I know exactly how dangerous that was.
Since then, I’ve moved to Cozumel, and I’ve been here for two years taking private groups of diving in the far superior ocean. Now I know there is no such thing as “cave discovery” diving, and what that guide considers appropriate site choice, I sure as hell warn people to be careful of cenotes. This was three years ago nearly, I’m still so mad.
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10points
#32
Diving with a guy (not my buddy just part of a small group) who just disappeared into the deep—and we were all on air, including him. I was at about 115 feet myself, and the DM was signaling to him not to go deeper. He went anyway. He resurfaced and joined us on the boat.
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10points
#33
I did a shark dive off Rangiroa, French Polynesia. Small group on a zodiac out into the blue. We descend to 30’ and form a semicircle per the DM in Crystal clear water. The skipper start chumming last night’s fish dinner from the boat up above us. The largest shark I’ve ever seen emerged from the bluest blue I’ve ever seen below us, circling up to hit the food, then curiously circled us as his three friends arrived. Maybe oceanic white tips but identification isn’t my strong suit. It was challenging to keep sight of each of them. I became aware of exactly how long my limbs were at that moment.
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10points
#34
Alachua Sink a few years back. Had just gotten my drysuit neck seal replaced and thought I had it trimmed correctly. We were about 45 minutes into the cave at 150ft when I started to feel short of breath and lightheaded. Didn't realize it at first, but the neck seal was too tight and partially limiting both blood and airflow and it was being exacerbated by the work of swimming into the flow, light as it was. Started to get tunnel vision and realized I was going to black out if I didn't do something, so I cut it. Completely flooded my suit. Of course, I'm still hyperventilating and even the slight pressure of my hood is causing throat spasms, so I take the reg out and pull my mask off so I can remove it and of course it starts free flowing. I still vividly remember thinking one clear thought, which was "get the reg back in, fix your breathing, or you're going to d*e here". Grabbed a rock and was able to stabilize my breathing and fix my buoyancy. Didn't bother with the mask until then. Got it back on and signaled to thumb the dive. Swim out was uneventful, but the hour of deco was brutal.
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10points
#35
Only time I got scared was in Australia's great barrier reef.
Was admiring some corals at about 20m depth. When I saw this big shadow. I turned around and a tiger shark was like 1m from me; he turned suddenly and swiped me with his tail.
I was still shaking when I got out of the water.
Was admiring some corals at about 20m depth. When I saw this big shadow. I turned around and a tiger shark was like 1m from me; he turned suddenly and swiped me with his tail.
I was still shaking when I got out of the water.
9points
#36
3 months ago at Truk Lagoon we entered a WW2 wreck at about 80-90 feet, penetrated through a torpedo hole in the hull, then into a corridor and turned left through a pretty tight 2 ft x 3 ft opening into a smallish room that connected with another room.
DM was in the lead. I was in the rear, 5th of 5 in our group. The guy right in front of me was flutter kicking when he should have been frog kicking as we had been instructed. When I got to that tight opening it was completely silted up. All I could see was orange. I couldn’t even see the lights of the divers in front of me.
I tried 3 times to get through that opening but kept bumping my tank valve and 1st stage on the top. I was thinking, “This is how people pass away in the stories in my scuba magazines.” I knew that if I panicked I was done for.
Fortunately there was room for me to turn around and find some daylight back the way we had come in. I retraced my route and exited the wreck into open water then swam in the general direction we were heading, toward the bow, and waited for the group to emerge. They looked surprised to see me waiting there. If I had gotten stuck inside the ship, I’d have been 100% on my own.
I had a word with the diver in front of me when we returned to the Truk Odyssey after the dive.
DM was in the lead. I was in the rear, 5th of 5 in our group. The guy right in front of me was flutter kicking when he should have been frog kicking as we had been instructed. When I got to that tight opening it was completely silted up. All I could see was orange. I couldn’t even see the lights of the divers in front of me.
I tried 3 times to get through that opening but kept bumping my tank valve and 1st stage on the top. I was thinking, “This is how people pass away in the stories in my scuba magazines.” I knew that if I panicked I was done for.
Fortunately there was room for me to turn around and find some daylight back the way we had come in. I retraced my route and exited the wreck into open water then swam in the general direction we were heading, toward the bow, and waited for the group to emerge. They looked surprised to see me waiting there. If I had gotten stuck inside the ship, I’d have been 100% on my own.
I had a word with the diver in front of me when we returned to the Truk Odyssey after the dive.
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9points
#37
Was a newbie instructor teaching a deep dive off the coast of a little island called Portmuck off Northern Ireland. We had a line down for the safety stop as the current was going a good clip that day and nothing between us and Scotland.
So we're a min or so into the safety stop when I notice this black hole midway up the water column. Visibility is awful with the current stirred up, and the other instructor and I are gesturing about what this thing could be while it slowly gets bigger...and bigger. Just a giant black void coming straight for us. Our two students are between us on the line, and we're not sure whether to go up or down or what because if we let go we're away with the current and can't go up yet so kind of just stay there hoping it's not actually coming AT us. Genuinely thought it was a submarine or something as it was when the Russian subs were making the news.
Heart's going a mile a minute when this black hole finally gains form in the shape of a massive mouth. It was a basking shark, must've been 25ft and blew by so close could've reached out and touched it. Thought it was going to swallow us by mistake. Felt like Pinocchio and the whale, but the students loved it.
So we're a min or so into the safety stop when I notice this black hole midway up the water column. Visibility is awful with the current stirred up, and the other instructor and I are gesturing about what this thing could be while it slowly gets bigger...and bigger. Just a giant black void coming straight for us. Our two students are between us on the line, and we're not sure whether to go up or down or what because if we let go we're away with the current and can't go up yet so kind of just stay there hoping it's not actually coming AT us. Genuinely thought it was a submarine or something as it was when the Russian subs were making the news.
Heart's going a mile a minute when this black hole finally gains form in the shape of a massive mouth. It was a basking shark, must've been 25ft and blew by so close could've reached out and touched it. Thought it was going to swallow us by mistake. Felt like Pinocchio and the whale, but the students loved it.
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9points
#38
I looked up once to check on my dive buddy, as one does, and there was a caribbean reef shark with their face not 6 inches from mine. I screamed into my reg and I think the shark heard it cuz they freaked out and swam away really quickly. I jokingly call it the time I almost went to first base with a shark, even though they were probably just hoping to "hunt by diver" as I call it.
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9points
#39
Idiot client diving faster and deeper down the wall into blackness at 190ft before I could grab his fin. His third dlive after basic cert and he knew everything. Poor divers scare me more than anything else in the salt water.
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9points
#40
First time diving with new dive and exposure gear so I my weighting wasn't properly sorted. This was a drift dive in Florida and first time diving these waters. By the time, I sorted out my weights and was able to descend the group had drifted away. So, I'm down at around 65-70 feet all by myself, struggling to stay in place in current, and looking for bubbles so I can locate the group. As I'm trying to sort all this out, I see a large grey reef shark in the distance (about 30 feet away) swimming in my direction. Now, the water is bit murky so I'm occasionally losing sight of the shark and a bit of panic is starting to set in as I'm completely exposed while trying to navigate this current that's moving me into the shark's direction. So, I made myself as big as I could and stared in the shark's direction. Luckily, the shark didn't really get much closer than 20 feet as it swam past me and shortly thereafter I spotted some bubbles and made my way over to the group. Needless to say exhilarating and a bit terrifying at the same time. Now, mind you this is my first time seeing a shark and having only about 35 dives. This one is etched in my brain.
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8points