On a recent forensic dive in the Jordan river near Salt Lake City I lost a couple pieces of equipment (My fins specifically) because I failed to understand conditions and plan accordingly. The dive was to look for a firearm used in a recent shooting. We were given the conditions of the water and possible depths of the river (from knee deep to holes as deep as 15’) Being the first one in the water I discovered that using fins was going to be pointless. The deepest point in our search area was only chest deep, and the river bottom was slippery and mucky. Instead of wading back to shore and placing my unneeded gear on the bank, I simply attached the fins to a D-ring on my BCD. The current did not look or feel particularly strong, but in no time something failed and my fins were tumbling down stream in murky water and were soon gone and out of sight.
We also failed to take into account the fauna which also led to a dive ending injury. As we tied off ropes to mark our search zones I slipped in the muck and knocked against the tree stump I was supposed to tie off my end of the rope to. I looked up to get the rope from our shore support person and found he was no where in sight. Immediately my head and face started burning I slapped at the top of my head and saw something fly by my face. Turns out I had just made acquaintance with a hive of yellow jackets. I was not wearing a hood because the water was not that cold. I stuck my regulator in my mouth and went under for a few moments to get the stinging critters off of me. and drifted down stream a bit to get away. I tried to continue the search but ended up calling it for safety reasons. (My right eye had swollen shut after being stung on the eyelid). In my mind everything was ok but as things kept going downhill I saw how easy it would be to place myself in a life threatening position if I did not stop my participation at that point. There were enough divers to continue looking for the evidence, and there was medical help on sight to take care of my swollen face and wounded pride. On the bright side.. I was able to justify getting a new pair of fins out of the deal. I will try to find where I put the swollen eye picture and get it on here as quickly as I can. Have a great day diving and smile.... I am now...