Hydraulic hose burst at 60 feet, quick thinking saved my shift

Working a bridge inspection gig off the Mississippi near Baton Rouge last month, my lift bag's hydraulic line blew right when I was setting a 400 pound anchor. Water went murky instantly, and I knew the surface crew couldn't see me. I shut the valve, tied off with a spare shackle I keep on my harness, and surfaced hand-over-hand on the tag line. It took 20 minutes to decompress properly, but the dive supervisor called it a textbook save. Anyone else have a tool failure that forced you to improvise mid-dive?

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1 Comment

hannah_williams20d ago

Whoa, that is seriously impressive thinking. It kinda makes you wonder how many close calls happen just because someone had a backup plan for the backup plan. Honestly, it feels like that's the real lesson for everything, not just diving. Like, when the power goes out at home, the people who are fine are the ones who have flashlights in the same drawer every time, not the ones hunting around in the dark. You had a spare shackle and knew exactly what to do with it, that's the difference between a bad day and a story you tell. Most folks wait until the thing breaks to figure out their plan B, and that's way too late. Good on you for making it look easy, cause I bet it wasn't.