35 Scuba Divers Share the Underwater Surprises They'll Never Forget

Diving is a great way to get a new perspective of marine life and other sights. Sometimes, you might dip your head under the water or swim further down and experience or see something that you don't expect. It's part of what makes the experience so exciting. These divers all shared some of their most startling experiences.

The Dangers of Moonlit Dives

Moonlit dives can prove to be particularly frightening. This is largely caused by the low-light and thus low visibility that you have when you're diving by moonlight.

Because the visibility is so low, it's easy for marine life to sneak up on you. Anyone would be startled in this diver's position. After all, a 10-foot long grouper isn't exactly a small shock to see coming towards you out of the darkness. We can't blame them for leaving moonlit dives behind.

Stay Very Still

When something startling happens, you're likely to experience a fight or flight response. The problem here is that the answer is sometimes to stay very still until the danger passes.

For example, if you find yourself in this diver's situation, you might just have to wait. While this person was diving with a friend, they were surrounded by a group of barracuda. To prevent setting them off, all they could do was sit and wait until the fish moved on, leaving them alone to swim away safely.

A Little Warning Next Time

If you're working on something new, especially something potentially dangerous, it's a good idea to ask for advice. That's exactly what this diver did before jumping in to cut a pipe underwater.

They even followed the advice to the letter. Still, they weren't ready for the pipe to smack them in the face when they finished cutting through it. The good news is that they were only knocked back a few feet. Had they been caught against something, things could have turned out much worse.

Medical Emergencies

There are plenty of scary things that can happen underwater. Sometimes, the scariest moments are ones that would be scary on land too. Happening underwater only increases the risk they pose.

This person knew a friend who experienced a heart attack during a dive. As if this wasn't scary enough, the emergency assent caused further distress by damaging his lungs. To make matters even worse, he had another heart attack onshore. The dive team that saved him definitely deserves praise for making sure he was okay.