Maybe the worst dive I've had was 2 weeks ago at the end of July. We went outside the Port Phillip heads on a boat dive to see the 26-metre J-class submarine sitting on the bottom. There was a strong wind and it was pretty choppy for the boat to locate and maneuver to a good entry spot.

Already feeling a bit loopy from the motion sickness drug, I dunked in and headed through the murky 12 degree C water to where the buoy was. Once on the bottom with my buddy at 27m, there was no wreck to be seen so we headed off in the direction it was supposed to be. Within about 1 minute, I heard (and then felt) a loud bang - bang - bang. My alternate regulator was blowing bursts of bubbles every 3 or 4 seconds -- all else seemed ok and my main reg was letting me breath just fine. How weird. I was unable to get the attention of my buddy, and as I finned toward him I realised I was now at 12 m. Not good. So now I'm looking for his bubbles -still no buddy - and I'm slowly going up. I enjoyed a 5 second safety stop then looked up to see the surface within a few metres. All the while, my alternate reg is continuing to belch.

One the surface for a few minutes I saw my buddy also bobbing around in the choppy current. We eventually got the attention of the boat and they picked us up with a minimum of drama.

Back on the boat I was feeling very much the wimpy girly for aborting the dive, panting like mad after fighting the current getting back on board, then turning green & barfy. But, after some investigation and checking-out by Natalie, of ADU fame, I realise that my first stage regulator actually had a REAL PROBLEM. Such a problem that they were surprised that my situation was not more serious than an aborted dive. Thanks to Natalie for showing us the inner workings and what the problem was.

I'm waiting for a new part to come in so the reg can be fixed and water-worthy again. The lesson to be learned? Have your gear checked out by a competent pro every year!! More often if you dive a lot.