My Buddy Blacked Out In An Underwater Cave

02/09/2024

Ever seen a freediving buddy blackout? Now, picture that happening deep in an underwater cave. That’s exactly what Christian went through. Here’s his story.

The Cavern

During one dive in North Florida, we discovered a spring with a deep underwater cavern that had eluded us for some time. We’d been trying to reach the cavern’s back wall, but never succeeded—until this dive. One of my buddies finally made it, but on his way back out, he blacked out deep inside the cave.

As his primary safety, I had been waiting about a minute and a half into his dive before peering into the cave entrance. I saw him just barely crest the last ledge, only to blackout about 15 feet from the entrance. It took me a moment to process what was happening. I had never witnessed a blackout before, and I remember thinking, “This looks exactly like what my freedive instructor described a blackout would look like.” And then it hit me—this was a blackout. Panic set in instantly.

I swam toward him as fast as I could, my dive instructor’s voice echoing in my head, “Protect the airway, protect the airway, protect the airway.” When I reached him, I grabbed his face, covered his mouth, pinched his nose, and started swimming us toward the surface—just as I had practiced in the pool during my level one course. But we were still inside the cavern, so instead of heading to open water, I smashed both our heads against the ceiling. The impact only amplified my panic.

When we finally broke free from the cave and surfaced, everything I’d learned about freediving safety went out the window. I was too freaked out to remember any of it. All I could think to do was shake my buddy’s head and yell, “Breathe!” When that didn’t work, I shook him harder and yelled louder. I repeated this over and over, but he remained unconscious.

Eventually, I found myself in shallow water where I could stand. I laid my buddy down in my arms, cradling him like a baby. A few seconds later, he took a couple of breaths, opened his eyes, and woke up. Amazingly, he was fine after all of this, but those 55 seconds between his blackout and regaining consciousness felt like an eternity.

This dive was a turning point in my freediving journey. It made me realize that blackouts can happen to anyone, even to divers like us who thought we weren’t skilled enough to worry about them. It also highlighted how unprepared we were to handle such a situation. We didn’t respond the way we should have, and that was a wake-up call I’ll never forget.