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pupdive posted:I make joke because how could they tell penetration from a dive computer check? I've heard horror stories about other shops though... some won't let you take a reel down with you (What if I need to launch a surface maker?!), and if it's not an easy situation to assess if you did penetration, it is easy to see if you went into deco. If I ever dive with a shop like that, I'll not go out with them or just do my dive and let them bitch at me afterwards.
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Feb 13, 2013 22:50
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Trivia posted:Better late than never I suppose; here is a report of sorts from my 2012 Malaysia trip to Sipidan Island. WOW! Those are amazing pictures, and I for one would like to see any more you have! What an amazing trip! (I know I said amazing twice, but that trip is why I teach diving: so that people can make trips like that, even though I could never afford to.)
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Feb 15, 2013 14:00
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Yeah those are some freaking incredible pictures. At least one is going into the OP. MY favorite is the MASSIVE school of barracuda but since they still freak out even experienced divers (me) I might pick something else. I'm glad We have so many goons into undewater photography.
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Feb 15, 2013 15:26
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Barracuda are awesome. And delicious.
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Feb 15, 2013 17:09
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I thought Barracuda had some sort of poison in them as a natural defense mechanisim... granted I've never looked this up. They're everywhere and you just get used to them. I joke about being afraid of them because it's half true but you also simply can't get in tropical water without running into them. I have heard a few personal accounts of Barracuda attacks... almost always involving the fish taking a bite at something shiny on the person. I've seen (and spent some quality time decoing) with 20+ Barracuda before but that school Trivia posted is incredible.
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Feb 15, 2013 17:55
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I generally don't get worried about barracuda (except for the big 5 foot one at Thailand's Richelieu Rock called Snaggletooth). I'm more apprehensive about triggerfish, or unseen stonefish / scorpionfish.
Trivia fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Feb 16, 2013 |
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Feb 15, 2013 18:02
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Bishop posted:I thought Barracuda had some sort of poison in them as a natural defense mechanisim... granted I've never looked this up. I was going to say, I sure hope you're used to them, I saw probably 40 of them over the two days of diving I did in the keys. One had a hook in it's mouth dragging about 5 feet of line. I've never heard anything about the poison you're talking about.
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Feb 15, 2013 20:49
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rockcity posted:I've never heard anything about the poison you're talking about. Also Barracuda are pretty much an apex predator so I imagine they have a good amount of mecury in them just like sharks do.
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Feb 15, 2013 21:12
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Bishop posted:I thought Barracuda had some sort of poison in them as a natural defense mechanisim... granted I've never looked this up. Its not a defense mechanism its a toxin produced by reef dinoflagellates that accumulates in fish on the reef. Its extra bad in barracuda because they are apex predators and they eat fish that accumulate it. Generally, even in areas where cig is common (its not very common here in FL) eating the smaller barracuda is perfectly safe. There are some cases in miami sometimes. But lots of Cubans eat tons of big cudas with no ill effect every week. Exploding and killing the seafloor to make channels etc tends to really cause the cig to spread. IM FROM THE FUTURE fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Feb 15, 2013 |
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Feb 15, 2013 21:38
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Hey all! Just wanted to chime in this thread...I am a NAUI certified diver (I live in NC, and NAUI seems to be more common than PADI around these parts). I have open water, rescue diver, submerged vehicle recovery, dry suit, and full face mask certification cards to my name so far. I will be getting advanced open water and Nitrox in the near future. I am also on a volunteer water rescue dive team so if you have any questions about rescue/borderline technical diving, feel free to ask! I plan on starting EMT-B classes in the near future to pair with my water rescue stuff. I'm also heavily considering changing careers and becoming a paramedic and remaining as a standby diver for local fire/rescue departments. It is hands down the best thing I have gotten involved with in a long, long time.
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Feb 15, 2013 23:51
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Few shots from the other day.   
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Feb 16, 2013 00:33
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Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:Hey all! Just wanted to chime in this thread...I am a NAUI certified diver (I live in NC, and NAUI seems to be more common than PADI around these parts). I have open water, rescue diver, submerged vehicle recovery, dry suit, and full face mask certification cards to my name so far. I will be getting advanced open water and Nitrox in the near future. You can get rescue diver before your advanced in NAUI? It's a per-requisite in PADI. There are quite a few people rescue certified on here (it's next on my list to get in PADI), but I'm not sure if anyone is actually part of a rescue dive team. Any interesting stories from that?
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Feb 16, 2013 05:21
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rockcity posted:You can get rescue diver before your advanced in NAUI? It's a per-requisite in PADI. There are quite a few people rescue certified on here (it's next on my list to get in PADI), but I'm not sure if anyone is actually part of a rescue dive team. Any interesting stories from that? I was able to. It might depend on the instructor though. The instructor who I've gone through for everything except my open water is a diving trainer for police departments/fire/EMS and he isn't affiliated with a dive shop--just with some area community colleges who pay him to do the classes. I did my open water through a dive shop. It seems like if it's a NAUI dive shop they want you to have advanced prior to rescue, but maybe I didn't have to have it since I am on a dive team? Since I'm on the dive team also, the only certification I paid for out of pocket was my open water (which at the time, I did that strictly for recreational purposes, then I went out on a dive charter and met my current instructor who does all the trainings for emergency personnel). He told me I was more than welcome to come play with them after we were talking on the charter and he added me to his Facebook page where he posts all the events, so then I met people off the dive team who encouraged me to join. Once I got on their roster, that covered the costs of getting the other certifications which otherwise would have totaled hundreds or thousands of dollars. I've only had to pay $30 per card (which is just for the NAUI fee, and now since I'm on the team it's a tax write-off). I don't have any really great stories yet because I haven't been out on any calls yet. My availability is limited to weekends right now since I have a full time job but in the summer I'm off so I'll be putting in a lot of hours at the station then. However, on weekends I've logged like hundreds of training hours by now between certification courses, inservices, etc. Here are some pictures from our trainings:  This was part of submerged vehicle training (not me). We were in a 15 foot diving well at an indoor pool. The dummy weighed 150 lbs and we inflated that lift bag to get him out by exhaling bubbles into it. Also, we had to dive blind (with our mask stuffed to eliminate visibility) and hook the chain around him without being able to see.  This is another one with the dummy and lift bag but from above. We went down in pairs, one blinded and the other led to the dummy and helped if you were like not even close to the right spot with the chain and lift bag.  All these are also from submerged vehicle training but at our swamp training site. I'm not in any of these either. The pillow looking thing is a 2000 lb lift bag (in other words, it could lift an object weighing 2000 lbs to the surface once inflated). Pretty cool stuff!  Dive team inservice--this was a boat search pattern day. The photo on the left I snapped when I was in our truck while we were hauling one of our boats out to the lake. Our truck is basically the same as an ambulance, but instead of being medically equipped it's full of tanks, markers, fins, basically all the dive stuff we might need. The photo on the top right is two of our guys practicing with the sonar scanner which can help locate stuff below the surface--that day, we were looking for a dummy that was hidden in the lake for us on it.  Another random training at the pool...I'm the lone female in the wetsuit  Me doing some pool practice with the full face mask...I want to say this was a Guardian but I'm not sure--we train frequently with both Aga and Guardian ones. I don't like wearing these because it's hard for me to clear my ears. But I still practice routinely with them so that I don't forget how to clear them.  Me fully suited up in dry suit plus full face, I was coming out of the water here. I was feeling like HOLY BEACHED WHALE BATMAN. Right now I am not a fan of dry suits whatsoever, but it could just be because I haven't worn one that fits me correctly yet. That day the one I rented was cut incorrectly by the dive shop I got it from, so I wound up wearing an extra one our instructor had in the trailer, and it was a little bit snug on me. It was probably the least fun dive ever because I was too claustrophobic.   Getting into the water with the dry suits/full face on at our training site.  Bobbing around before we went down. Hip Hoptimus Prime fucked around with this message at 06:44 on Feb 16, 2013 |
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Feb 16, 2013 06:37
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That swamp training looks pretty tough. What the vis like in there? Is there anything at all to see or is it just about doing the job?
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Feb 16, 2013 06:50
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Unimpressed posted:That swamp training looks pretty tough. What the vis like in there? Is there anything at all to see or is it just about doing the job? The swamp is awesome. It's about 40 feet deep, and actually very clear, it's just that in the pics it was all silted up from entering/exiting. But away from the shore it's clear unless you touch the bottom. There are some fish that hang out in it, but our instructor signed a liability release and contract with the property owners that holds them harmless if there's any injury or death when we're out there, and they also allow him to put anything he wants in it for training purposes. Right now, there are two cars--a white Pontiac and a Ford Bronco--sunk in there. He also sunk a recliner, flat screen TV, and a toilet. At our submerged vehicle training last weekend, we lifted and uprighted the Pontiac, which was originally upside down, (then re-sunk it) and partially lifted the Bronco (then re-sunk). The main objective of that weekend was to become comfortable with attaching and using the lift bags. 
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Feb 16, 2013 06:58
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pupdive posted:WOW! Those are amazing pictures, and I for one would like to see any more you have! Great photos! What did you use to take them? An SLR with a housing? My wife and I took heaps of shots with a small pocket cam in a housing diving the GBR but they all came out with a bluish-green tinge. She spent hours on iPhoto cleaning them up. Edit: sorry, replied to Pupdive, but meant for Trivia (or anyone else who knows underwater photography )
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Feb 16, 2013 07:13
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I just had a dive with less than a meter vis, which is very, very unusual here. Everyone else complained that it was a poo poo dive but I really enjoyed it. It was a goddamn adventure! It was awesome seeing cobia and barracuda with such poo poo vis... kinda gets your heart pounding when you're suddenly staring at a cobia less than a meter away from you.
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Feb 16, 2013 09:37
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eviljelly posted:I just had a dive with less than a meter vis, which is very, very unusual here. Everyone else complained that it was a poo poo dive but I really enjoyed it. It was a goddamn adventure! It was awesome seeing cobia and barracuda with such poo poo vis... kinda gets your heart pounding when you're suddenly staring at a cobia less than a meter away from you. Chumphon? I hear it's been terrible lately... Sail Rock, too.
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Feb 16, 2013 10:42
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pfft, chumpons been fine, mate. it was southwest
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Feb 16, 2013 14:21
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Great post. I've done some training with a few fire department body recovery teams before. (Let's be honest, unless you're a coast guard swimmer jumping off a helocopter it's a recovery, not a rescue) I still respect what you guys do a lot though. It's no fun swimming in completely murkey poo poo water looking for a body. I'd be scared to do it in a lot of lakes because you don't really know what is down there. I took my rescue class with a guy that was on a FD recovery team and he was a great classmate to have once they started really messing with us. One thing I've heard from a lot of those people is that X lake has a dozen or so bodies in it that nobody has ever found. Always a nice fun fact! Pic of me trying to revive a dead guy from my rescue class. I'm the one mourning in the middle. He was a DM and friend of mine and I've gotta give him credit, he bought some fake blood at a costume shop or something and made it look like he vomited blood before passing out... (we thought the class was completely done at this point!) Man that was a fun class.  e: dayum, that 2,000 pound lift bag is... most impressive. I just went and told my 60 pound bag: "I'm not mad, just dissapointed" Bishop fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Feb 16, 2013 |
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Feb 16, 2013 22:42
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You could not pay me to go look for corpses... If its dead its gone IMO.. Let it rest in peace no need to make another corpse looking for a corpse..
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Feb 16, 2013 23:38
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The recovery folks I've talked to are pretty careful though. They are almost always using a thick rear end guideline to keep a their search pattern and stay safe in case they get entangled in something. Also surface coms are very common. I know one department that just got themselves a fancy rear end side scan sonar to help find poo poo. It can be dangerous but they are very methodic about it. This is mostly lake/river stuff. Still a lovely job.
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Feb 17, 2013 03:05
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LOL.. Finding static things like a 4x4ft concrete block to retie a mooring too is bad enough.. Let alone finding a body.. Yes I drove a boat to find the block with sidescan on my boat... my buddy was the diver RUFF STUFF
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Feb 17, 2013 04:19
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Bishop posted:Great post. I've done some training with a few fire department body recovery teams before. (Let's be honest, unless you're a coast guard swimmer jumping off a helocopter it's a recovery, not a rescue) I still respect what you guys do a lot though. It's no fun swimming in completely murkey poo poo water looking for a body. I'd be scared to do it in a lot of lakes because you don't really know what is down there. I took my rescue class with a guy that was on a FD recovery team and he was a great classmate to have once they started really messing with us. Thank you! I haven't had to look for a body yet, but I know that the team I am on has done it as recently as a couple months ago. It doesn't really faze me at all that I might have to do it someday, though. But, in our trainings I've learned that if a body is in the water for awhile, most of the time when you find it fish will have eaten off the ears, nose, etc. So that will be chilling to see if I ever recover one. Bishop posted:The recovery folks I've talked to are pretty careful though. They are almost always using a thick rear end guideline to keep a their search pattern and stay safe in case they get entangled in something. Also surface coms are very common. I know one department that just got themselves a fancy rear end side scan sonar to help find poo poo. It can be dangerous but they are very methodic about it. This is mostly lake/river stuff. Still a lovely job. Yep. We do a ton of development on search patterns and safety. I put some nice sized D rings on my BCD (since the ones that came on it are pretty tiny) and I always put a cutting device--scissors or a knife or something--on there in case of entanglement. We have also done skills in the pool before in which we remove our BCD underwater, push it through a constricted space like a barrel, then put it back on. Our instructor really emphasizes that we have to be able to handle low/no visibility, confined spaces, etc. so he's always coming up with drills for us to do for practice. Sometime in the future we're supposed to do a river class, so that we know how to deal with searching in currents and those kinds of hazards.
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Feb 17, 2013 17:46
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 Great day for a double dive at Woods Cove in Laguna. Got a nice taste of what diver rescue will be like in a couple months by completing a 15ft simulated rescue for the last checkout dive on my advanced card. Was also able to complete my natural navigation skill making 30 fin kicks per side of a square. Water is still in the 55F range, but luckily my Bare suit does a great job of trapping water. Hopefully the surface on Thursday is as flat as it was today for a night dive.
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Feb 18, 2013 02:17
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I'm currently landlocked and bored so I'm making an "Oh poo poo I'm lost at sea" packet that I can clip on to me when I'm doing deep ocean dives where the boat captain could lose me if they miss my surface marker. So far I've got coast guard approved, "emergency purified drinking water", which comes in plastic pouches and fluorescent green sea dye (think what they use in top gun when they eject into the ocean). I figure the lights I already have will work well enough as night time aircraft signaling devices, and the lift bags/wing I already carry will be enough to not sink. I've got a whistle that I've had forever but I figure that's sort of worthless if I'm in a situation where I'm completely lost. Any other suggestions? As far as I know something like an emergency radio that can also withstand a lot of underwater pressure does not exist or costs thousands of dollars.
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Feb 18, 2013 03:16
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Bishop posted:I'm currently landlocked and bored so I'm making an "Oh poo poo I'm lost at sea" packet that I can clip on to me when I'm doing deep ocean dives where the boat captain could lose me if they miss my surface marker. So far I've got coast guard approved, "emergency purified drinking water", which comes in plastic pouches and fluorescent green sea dye (think what they use in top gun when they eject into the ocean). I figure the lights I already have will work well enough as night time aircraft signaling devices, and the lift bags/wing I already carry will be enough to not sink. I've got a whistle that I've had forever but I figure that's sort of worthless if I'm in a situation where I'm completely lost. Any other suggestions? As far as I know something like an emergency radio that can also withstand a lot of underwater pressure does not exist or costs thousands of dollars. http://www.scuba.com/scuba-gear-168/131911/Nautilus-Lifeline-GPS-Radio-for-Scuba-Divers.html I haven't done any research into them, but this isn't thousands of dollars and has a depth rating of 425 feet.
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Feb 18, 2013 06:02
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Bishop posted:I'm currently landlocked and bored so I'm making an "Oh poo poo I'm lost at sea" packet that I can clip on to me when I'm doing deep ocean dives where the boat captain could lose me if they miss my surface marker. So far I've got coast guard approved, "emergency purified drinking water", which comes in plastic pouches and fluorescent green sea dye (think what they use in top gun when they eject into the ocean). I figure the lights I already have will work well enough as night time aircraft signaling devices, and the lift bags/wing I already carry will be enough to not sink. I've got a whistle that I've had forever but I figure that's sort of worthless if I'm in a situation where I'm completely lost. Any other suggestions? As far as I know something like an emergency radio that can also withstand a lot of underwater pressure does not exist or costs thousands of dollars. SOme thoughts: 1. Sea Dye only works for a short time in the ocean, because it disperses. Fighter pilots are in a known location, you will likely not be if you ever need it as a diver. There is a flat plastic rollie thing that has slats to keep it from tangling that used to be all the rage in Hawaii to be used in place of dye. Cannot remember the name. 2. Get a handheld Marine VHF, and a weatherproof cell phone and put them both in a cut down UK light housing emptied of the batteries and the light head. You will not be using the electronics underwater so they only need to be weatherproof, not dive proof, and the UK housings are good to basically most diving depths. 3. Get a DiveAlert. They are good for a mile in real world conditions. Be aware it will deafen you if you use with your head above water.
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Feb 18, 2013 12:05
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Bishop posted:I'm currently landlocked and bored so I'm making an "Oh poo poo I'm lost at sea" packet that I can clip on to me when I'm doing deep ocean dives where the boat captain could lose me if they miss my surface marker. So far I've got coast guard approved, "emergency purified drinking water", which comes in plastic pouches and fluorescent green sea dye (think what they use in top gun when they eject into the ocean). I figure the lights I already have will work well enough as night time aircraft signaling devices, and the lift bags/wing I already carry will be enough to not sink. I've got a whistle that I've had forever but I figure that's sort of worthless if I'm in a situation where I'm completely lost. Any other suggestions? As far as I know something like an emergency radio that can also withstand a lot of underwater pressure does not exist or costs thousands of dollars. Well you can bring an mirror additional lights etc. But most equipment is to big or expensive. Like beacons. An good condition and an clear head is probably the best things. And an good buddy with some surface markers. Always make sure each has there own stuff with them. Doing dives with current always alert me. Me and my buddy went to the surface once with only blue around us. We did understand it was just an matter of time before the boat would find us. It was in the Maldives the currents over there can be very strong. But it still is freaky.
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Feb 18, 2013 12:48
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Crunkjuice posted:http://www.scuba.com/scuba-gear-168/131911/Nautilus-Lifeline-GPS-Radio-for-Scuba-Divers.html I haven't done any research into them, but this isn't thousands of dollars and has a depth rating of 425 feet. Yes, get one of these. My buddy Darrell and several other people I dive with in my club have them and they do fine in deep water.
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Feb 18, 2013 14:58
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rockcity posted:Yes, get one of these. My buddy Darrell and several other people I dive with in my club have them and they do fine in deep water. I did try to find solutions like this also. I started to do this after several people died after being lost at sea. One Russian diver could actual swim to the shore after he left the group. He told some horrible story about how the others lost their will to survive. The problem with these devises are that the boat also needs to have the proper equipment to find you. And or they need to know you have this stuff on you etc. I am talking about locations like the Red Sea.
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Feb 18, 2013 16:06
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Orions Lord posted:Well you can bring an mirror additional lights etc. But most equipment is to big or expensive. Like beacons. I carry 10ft safety sausages x2 incase one fails.. I have VHF, EPRIB, I carry rope and hooks always to lash myself down to bottom if needed.. Strobes, etc. And yeah I carry alot of crap.. I would rather be found than worry about size or weight.
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Feb 18, 2013 18:59
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Thanks for the tips. I can't believe I forgot about the signaling mirror. I already have one of those and it's so small there's no excuse to not carry one. I'm mainly just finding ways to sperg about diving while being unable to actually dive but I really should have something a little bulkier to add to my rig on the deeper dives. It can sometimes be an hour between launching your surface marker (indicating to the boat that you've started ascending) and by the time you hit the surface you've drifted miles. Since time slows way down during deco "what if the boat missed my marker" always crosses my mind at some point. I've done most all of these types of dives in the gulf stream which is not going to be shifting any time soon. They'll know the direction that I'm floating in. Although the edge of it does move closer/further from shore from day to day.
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Feb 18, 2013 19:03
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pupdive posted:SOme thoughts: I would figure sea dye would work the same when aerial craft are looking for you. Its not something you put out when you first get lost, but when you hear a chopper, thats when you dump the dye. Granted a strobing light/mirror would probably be more useful, but i wouldn't discount the dye as being useless. I personally wouldn't want to use the dye mostly because i wouldn't want that poo poo getting in all my regs/bcd/wetsuit when there were more effective options.
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Feb 18, 2013 20:23
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Remove the drat protective plastic too LOL
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Feb 18, 2013 20:28
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Crunkjuice posted:I would figure sea dye would work the same when aerial craft are looking for you. Its not something you put out when you first get lost, but when you hear a chopper, thats when you dump the dye.
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Feb 18, 2013 20:43
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I am actually getting a submersible flaregun.. Hell even roadflares would work LOL
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Feb 18, 2013 21:52
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Orions Lord posted:
This is true. The two people I've dove with who have them let the boat captain know and they tuned their radios to the same channel ahead of time.
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Feb 18, 2013 22:49
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Can't go wrong with channel 16 basically anywhere in the world. Everyone from runabouts to supertankers and of course the Coast Guard type agencies monitor that.SlicerDicer posted:I am actually getting a submersible flaregun.. Per coast guard regulations, I keep flare guns on all my boats. One time when I was even younger and dumber than I am now we had a kit that was expiring so me and my friends decided to fire some off on land in an open field. Bad idea. Those things don't fly straight at all. Bishop fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Feb 19, 2013 |
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Feb 19, 2013 04:59
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 23:51 |
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I found the story about the 4 divers lost. http://www.webdive.ru/forum.php?a=2&id_p=63&id_t=73
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Feb 19, 2013 08:25
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