All in a day ’ s work for Mr . BCD
By UTD Instructor Ben Bos
It ’ s seven o ’ clock in the morning , John ’ s BCD wakes up in his dive bag , ready for a nice day in the water .
It has been doing this for quite some years now and is showing its age a bit , but it still young at heart and full of spirit . John arrives at the dive site and snugly wraps Mr . BCD ’ s tank bands around his cylinder . Mr . BCD feels good and is proud John takes such good care of him , rinsing the inside and outside after each dive , although Mr . BCD feels he can use a new inflator hose – he has been trying to show John the signs but John never noticed the small cracks in the hose where the hose is attached to the elbow on Mr . BCD ’ s shoulder .
John gets Mr . 7mm wetsuit out of his bag as well and puts it on . Mr . Wetsuit is always grumpy and does not even say good morning to his colleague Mr . BCD .
Then Ms . Weight Belt makes her appearance and , as always , kindly throws a respectful nod towards Mr . BCD , they have been friends for a while and they work well together .
Mr . BCD is definitely the one who has been doing this job the longest , being the first piece of diving equipment John bought .
John gets ready to get in the water with Tamara , his trusted dive buddy . Tamara ’ s BCD is always flirting with Mr . BCD , but Mr . BCD has always been too shy to do something about this . John and Tamara do their buddy check and are now on their way to the water ’ s edge while going over their dive plan , which is to dive down to 100 ’ / 30m to look at the wreck of a small sailboat .
Mr . BCD is not feeling well , is tired , and is trying to show John and Tamara . He can ’ t stop some air from escaping out of the cracks in his inflator hose . He is fully inflated at the surface and struggling to keep John floating . Mr . Wetsuit gives him a insulting comment , “ Come on old boy , try to keep up ! And stop complaining .” Mr . BCD just lets it slide because he knows what John is about to do inside Mr . Wetsuit .
After a short surface swim , Tamara and John reach the buoy that marks the wreck and are now descending down the line . Ms . Weight Belt is doing her job and sinking Mr . Wetsuit . Mr . Wetsuit is not as tough as he was at the surface , and Ms . Weight Belt tells him to man up a bit and help Mr . BCD . But he replies , “ I would like to , but I ’ ve never been able to work well under pressure .” John puts more and more air in Mr . BCD . Tamara and John reach the wreck and start their tour around the bow , which is slightly deeper than the rest of the wreck because of the sloping bottom . After about 3 minutes they swim up a bit to the stern of the old sailing boat . Mr . BCD is really struggling at this moment and Tamara ’ s BCD is feeling for him , trying to encourage him with kind words . Mr . BCD thinks to himself , “ after work I ’ ll ask her out , this time I ’ ll do it .”
John feels the air in Mr . BCD expanding because they are now on the way to the stern at 90 ’ / 27 meters . John pulls on the BCD hose to activate the dump valve that is connected to Mr . BCD ’ s elbow . Mr . BCD cries out in pain as he no longer can keep his hose together . One of the cracks rips open and the hose detaches from the elbow . Tamara ’ s BCD yells out to Mr . BCD but it ’ s too late . With a final sigh poor Mr . BCD lets all his air out . Mr . Wetsuit is trying to help but has lost all of his power at this depth . Ms . Weight Belt is doing all she can to make herself as light as she can , but she has been dealing with being overweight from the first day John put her together . Mr . BCD dies ....
John signals to Tamara that something is really wrong , and is now pinned to the bottom beside the wreck . Tamara signals John to dump his weight belt . John reaches for Ms . Weight Belt ’ s buckle and releases it . She immediately drops off John ’ s hips , and now feels the cold loneliness of the deep as Tamara and John ascend . Half way up Mr . Wetsuit is getting his strength back , but is trying to stop himself from expanding . It does not work and John starts ascending uncontrollably . Tamara can ’ t stop him and has to let him go . John bursts through the surface in a cry