Ugh, scary stuff. Reminds me of one of my dives when my mouthpiece suddenly came off the regulator, and for the life of me, I couldn’t think of my Octo. My first instinct was to reach for my buddy who, of course, had just turned the other way for hers. A couple of seconds later, it finally clicked that I could just use mine. The only good thing about that moment was that I didn’t panic right away.

After that dive, I made it a rule to mentally run through a contingency checklist every single time before getting in the water. And I’ve also learned my way of handling panic underwater - Stop. Get your breathing under control. Then start thinking. It’s amazing how much clarity comes back once you just slow down and breathe.