Ask us about SCUBA (and other forms of) diving!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Ask us about SCUBA (and other forms of) diving!

Jeza: Feb 13, 2011; The cries of the dead are terrible indeed; you should try not to hear them.

Hello people who know about diving.

I am writing a short piece of fiction under the constraints that it must contain something about which I know nothing playing a prominent role. I am choosing diving. I want it to be as technical and accurate as possible so I would be really grateful if you could help me with a few questions.

I will lay out the general premise of what is going to happen and it would be fantastic if you could provide some insights into what the general procedure would be:

"A very deep dive, past the light zone to an underwater laboratory. The diver would then enter the facility and preferably not die of the bends."

Some questions:

Perhaps going beyond current limits of technology, how deep theoretically could a structure be expected to be possible?

Would a dive like this be possible solo? What sort of equipment would be required to complete it?

It would be amazing to list the technical/slang terms for stuff my diver might be wearing/doing on the way down to that depth. Switching gasses for example - would they need to do that, what does that involve? That sort of thing.

To enter a pressurised structure that deep, would it just be a case of swimming into a submerged moon-pool and entering a depressurisation chamber? How long would depressurisation take?

From an psychological perspective, what are the sort of thoughts/feelings that you experience when you dive that deep? Or during depressurisation?

If you can answer all or any of these questions I would be super grateful. Then you can come and laugh at how I make a hash out of it if you like, if you want me to post the end product.

# ? Feb 19, 2013 19:00

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 05:31

SlicerDicer: Oct 31, 2010; PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE

Orions Lord posted:

I found the story about the 4 divers lost.

http://www.webdive.ru/forum.php?a=2&id_p=63&id_t=73

Derp

Jeza posted:

Hello people who know about diving.

I am writing a short piece of fiction under the constraints that it must contain something about which I know nothing playing a prominent role. I am choosing diving. I want it to be as technical and accurate as possible so I would be really grateful if you could help me with a few questions.

I will lay out the general premise of what is going to happen and it would be fantastic if you could provide some insights into what the general procedure would be:

"A very deep dive, past the light zone to an underwater laboratory. The diver would then enter the facility and preferably not die of the bends."

Some questions:

Perhaps going beyond current limits of technology, how deep theoretically could a structure be expected to be possible?

Would a dive like this be possible solo? What sort of equipment would be required to complete it?

It would be amazing to list the technical/slang terms for stuff my diver might be wearing/doing on the way down to that depth. Switching gasses for example - would they need to do that, what does that involve? That sort of thing.

To enter a pressurised structure that deep, would it just be a case of swimming into a submerged moon-pool and entering a depressurisation chamber? How long would depressurisation take?

From an psychological perspective, what are the sort of thoughts/feelings that you experience when you dive that deep? Or during depressurisation?

If you can answer all or any of these questions I would be super grateful. Then you can come and laugh at how I make a hash out of it if you like, if you want me to post the end product.

How deep say 900ft? Its possible absolutely it was done by a diver who went to 900ft on dual rebreather, decompression at that kind of depth would take on the order of I dunno? 12 hours? Gas switching is not really a big deal in this case as how the devices work. If you went shallower and wanted to do a normal configuration like what I do to say 300ft things change. LOL Normal...

I dunno about psychological? Narcosis is always there but beyond that not so much? I just run my deco regime and done with it

Give me some ideas of your figures of depths and reasonable expectations and I can likely give you some ideas anyway.

If its done on open circuit and you want to do gas switching its pretty nuts LOL

# ? Feb 19, 2013 19:16

Jeza: Feb 13, 2011; The cries of the dead are terrible indeed; you should try not to hear them.

SlicerDicer posted:

How deep say 900ft? Its possible absolutely it was done by a diver who went to 900ft on dual rebreather, decompression at that kind of depth would take on the order of I dunno? 12 hours? Gas switching is not really a big deal in this case as how the devices work. If you went shallower and wanted to do a normal configuration like what I do to say 300ft things change. LOL Normal...

I dunno about psychological? Narcosis is always there but beyond that not so much? I just run my deco regime and done with it

Give me some ideas of your figures of depths and reasonable expectations and I can likely give you some ideas anyway.

If its done on open circuit and you want to do gas switching its pretty nuts LOL

Let's call it 400ft.

# ? Feb 19, 2013 19:27

Crunkjuice: Apr 4, 2007; That could've gotten in my eye!
*launches teargas at unarmed protestors*

I THINK OAKLAND PD'S USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS JUSTIFIED!

Jeza posted:

Hello people who know about diving.

I am writing a short piece of fiction under the constraints that it must contain something about which I know nothing playing a prominent role. I am choosing diving. I want it to be as technical and accurate as possible so I would be really grateful if you could help me with a few questions.

I will lay out the general premise of what is going to happen and it would be fantastic if you could provide some insights into what the general procedure would be:

"A very deep dive, past the light zone to an underwater laboratory. The diver would then enter the facility and preferably not die of the bends."

Some questions:

Perhaps going beyond current limits of technology, how deep theoretically could a structure be expected to be possible?

Would a dive like this be possible solo? What sort of equipment would be required to complete it?

It would be amazing to list the technical/slang terms for stuff my diver might be wearing/doing on the way down to that depth. Switching gasses for example - would they need to do that, what does that involve? That sort of thing.

To enter a pressurised structure that deep, would it just be a case of swimming into a submerged moon-pool and entering a depressurisation chamber? How long would depressurisation take?

From an psychological perspective, what are the sort of thoughts/feelings that you experience when you dive that deep? Or during depressurisation?

If you can answer all or any of these questions I would be super grateful. Then you can come and laugh at how I make a hash out of it if you like, if you want me to post the end product.

I'm just going to list off a bunch of terms that you should go google since i'm at work and could spend an hour writing. Atmospheric diving suit. Surface supplied air. Nitrogen Narcosis. Commercial diving suit. Stage Tanks. Rebreathers. Nitrox. Heliox Trimix. Decompression Sickness (the bends), technical diving, decompression diving

Switching out gasses is exactly what it sounds like. You picture a scuba diver with a single tank normally. The deeper you go, the faster those tanks get used so more advanced technical divers carry multiple tanks. When one gets close to running out of air, they switch to another tank.

# ? Feb 19, 2013 19:43

Loving Africa Chaps: Dec 3, 2007; We had not left it yet, but when I would wake in the night, I would lie, listening, homesick for it already.

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.

Theres a really good post on scuba board from a guy who's a navy rescue pilot
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/general-scuba-equipment-discussions/211950-best-signalling-equipment-searchers-point-view.html

quote:

As a Navy Helicopter Pilot I have had training in, and experience conducting Search and Rescue. None of my experiences have been to find overdue divers but they have been to find people lost in the Oceans.

Chance are (hopefully) none of us will be left by a boat or swept out to sea by currents but in the event you find yourself in this predicament here are some things to help you out.

Here are MY OPINIONS (disclaimer) on what TYPE of gear is best to signal an aircraft/rescue boat(i.e. Coast Guard/Navy). This is based on my experience in actual search and rescues. I'll let the experienced divers here fill in what specific gear they like.

Nothing earth shattering here but may serve to let New Divers know what works well.

Everything listed here is good but their effectiveness is more than doubled if the searchers know you have the equipment. Leaving a list of signaling equipment on the boat/ with a responsibile person along with your dive plan will greatly improve you chances of being found.

#1 Signal Mirror.
PROS: Cheap. Never runs out of batteries. Very bright on a sunny day. Can still be seen on overcast days but not as bright. WILL get the attention of a pilot/boat
CONS: Useless at night (nothing to reflect). Have to see the rescue craft to reflect light towards them. (CD's are not as good as a mirror)

#2 SMB (or large bright colored object) Size does matter!
PROS: Cheap. easy to use. Easy to see! Helps pilots to see you in the troughs of waves.
Cons. Bigger the better....means can be bulky.

#3 Sea DYE Marker
PROS: Cheap. Passive marker. If you are tired/incapacitated you don't have to do much to deploy.
CONS: Choppy/strong current/rough waters tend to dissapate quickly. Useless at night
If you dunk it to make a "Dye slick" and then put away until slick goes away and repeat - it'll last longer

#4 Smoke Marker/flare.
PROS: Everyone investigates smoke. Seen from large distances.
CONS: Water friendly ones are expensive. Short burn time. Pyrotechnic.

#5 Light/ Strobe light
PROS: Strobe in the day time is O.K. Excellent at night. Aircraft on Night vision will see more than 30 miles away. These light up the sky on night vision.
CONS: Light good at night but rescuer must be looking directly at in the daytime to notice. Batteries run out.

#6 Glow Stick.
PROS: Last 12 hours. Will be seen by Night vision.
CONS: Harder to see with naked eye at night

#7 Air horn/whistle
PROS: Will get attention without anyone looking at/near you.
CONS: Limited range. 1 mile for Air Horn/much less for whistle. Useless for aircraft.

#8 ELT Emergency Locator Transmitter/Radio
PROS: Will give a signal right to you!
CONS: Cost Prohibitive. Bulky. False alarms from those who are not 100% familiar with their operation.

In my Emergency kit I have a Mirror, Sea Dye Marker, SMB, Whistle (came with BCD) and a strobe. I feel these give me the best spread for any condition and also minimize bulk.

Please feel free to add anything I may have missed and your thoughts on specific gear.

# ? Feb 19, 2013 19:51

SlicerDicer: Oct 31, 2010; PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE

Jeza posted:

Let's call it 400ft.

Give me time this is going to take a while LOL.. But if you want accuracy it will be accurate.

And I will note super deep stuff is solo even if buddy is there. If you have a problem you cant just get help so to speak you got to be able to deal with it yourself. Only so much somebody could do, bad enough problem all your buddy can do is send you to surface like a polaris missile.

I am going to include stuff about isobaric counterdiffusion and various other problems that can arise so you dont violate that and get laughed at :P I am sure others can help you with Open Circuit side I will explain the rebreather side and for 400ft give a bailout plan accordingly.

# ? Feb 19, 2013 20:04

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Jeza posted:

I am writing a short piece of fiction under the constraints that it must contain something about which I know nothing playing a prominent role. I am choosing diving. I want it to be as technical and accurate as possible so I would be really grateful if you could help me with a few questions.

Watch "The Abyss". There are some hollywood liberties taken but overall it is suprisingly accurate. Also if you have a guy going that deep for a long period of time, saturation diving should be something worth wikipediaing. Also possibly high pressure nervous syndrome.

Besides submarines, structures at that depth are normally at ambient (aka same as the outside) pressure so you can just enter them once you get down that deep. They are filled with a breathing gas that not kill you at those pressures. Also decompressing can take days, or even weeks. Also look for things published by the navy* they do some real serious poo poo, like taking guys to 1000ft+ of pressure then decompressing them in a chamber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_Experimental_Diving_Unit

As far as non saturation dive records go, I believe that the record is around 900ft. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFUZCp22JkE

If you give us some more detail about the scene I'm sure at least 4 or 5 of us would love to write some fanfic about that type of dive. One thing you need to consder off the bat is: is the place this guy is diving to at surface pressure or ambient pressure. It changes nearly everything.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Feb 19, 2013

# ? Feb 19, 2013 21:46

Oakland Martini: Feb 14, 2008; Refugee from the great account hijacking of 2008

I'm not much of a technical diver, but you should look at Michael Crighton's The Sphere for an example of this concept in a fiction setting. I'm pretty sure the structure at depth is at ambient pressure in that book, but I can't remember how specific he gets on gas and gear or whether it's at all realistic.

# ? Feb 20, 2013 00:31

DarkHorse: Dec 13, 2006; Vroom Vroom, BEEP BEEP!; Nap Ghost

The Sphere is pretty light on the subject. It's a structure at ambient pressure, and there's a few descriptions of jumping in and out of a moon pool that might explain how that works, but he doesn't mention gas mixes and handwaves away most diving apparatus. Decompression is only mentioned in the denoument as a mundane fact of surfacing.

Still a great book, but it didn't talk about diving all that much.

# ? Feb 20, 2013 00:53

Orions Lord: May 21, 2012

Jeza posted:

Hello people who know about diving.

I am writing a short piece of fiction under the constraints that it must contain something about which I know nothing playing a prominent role. I am choosing diving. I want it to be as technical and accurate as possible so I would be really grateful if you could help me with a few questions.

I will lay out the general premise of what is going to happen and it would be fantastic if you could provide some insights into what the general procedure would be:

"A very deep dive, past the light zone to an underwater laboratory. The diver would then enter the facility and preferably not die of the bends."

Some questions:

Perhaps going beyond current limits of technology, how deep theoretically could a structure be expected to be possible?

Would a dive like this be possible solo? What sort of equipment would be required to complete it?

It would be amazing to list the technical/slang terms for stuff my diver might be wearing/doing on the way down to that depth. Switching gasses for example - would they need to do that, what does that involve? That sort of thing.

To enter a pressurised structure that deep, would it just be a case of swimming into a submerged moon-pool and entering a depressurisation chamber? How long would depressurisation take?

From an psychological perspective, what are the sort of thoughts/feelings that you experience when you dive that deep? Or during depressurisation?

If you can answer all or any of these questions I would be super grateful. Then you can come and laugh at how I make a hash out of it if you like, if you want me to post the end product.

There are youtube videos about these kind of dives also some of them went terribly wrong.

Like the blue hole in Dahab. Or the last dive of David Shaw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF4iFJ-G74o

There is a terrible story and beautiful book also about the discovery of the U-Who http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-869

This book is amazing
The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths Bernie Chowdhury. Harper Paperbacks, 2002., 384 pp., ISBN 0-06-093259-7

I would mention at least the bents why it is called the bents and what is actually does inside your body.

Maybe you can find some inspiration from the wreck diving sites.

Like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Thistlegorm

This is a ship at about 100 feet deep and everyone can dive on it. You will see live shells. And all sorts of equipment from the second world war.

Orions Lord fucked around with this message at 08:53 on Feb 20, 2013

# ? Feb 20, 2013 08:48

Orions Lord: May 21, 2012

http://www.dirrebreather.com/index/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=25

CCR deep dives

More info and videos
http://www.tekdiving.nl/page/videos

Orions Lord fucked around with this message at 09:04 on Feb 20, 2013

# ? Feb 20, 2013 08:59

Jeza: Feb 13, 2011; The cries of the dead are terrible indeed; you should try not to hear them.

Thanks for all this. Gonna watch some of these things then report back with maybe a couple more detailed questions.

# ? Feb 20, 2013 12:09

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Orions Lord posted:

There is a terrible story and beautiful book also about the discovery of the U-Who http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-869

My mom got me "Shadow Divers" for christmas when it came out and it was the book that got me into wreck diving and now welp. I think she regrets her decision.

# ? Feb 20, 2013 19:34

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Jeza I don't want to get creative writing 101 up in here but if you could lay out some more details about why this character is doing this dive, what resources he has, and what the goal of his dive is, we could probably help more with the jargon, especially when it comes to equipment. Also I'm a horrible fiction writer but how much tension do you want in the dive scene? Is he somebody who is Batman rich and can afford the best and most redundant rig possible, or is he somewhere in the middle.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Feb 21, 2013

# ? Feb 21, 2013 04:53

SlicerDicer: Oct 31, 2010; PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE

Bishop posted:

Jeza I don't want to get creative writing 101 up in here but if you could lay out some more details about why this character is doing this dive, what resources he has, and what the goal of his dive is, we could probably help more with the jargon, especially when it comes to equipment. Also I'm a horrible fiction writer but how much tension do you want in the dive scene? Is he somebody who is Batman rich and can afford the best and most redundant rig possible, or is he somewhere in the middle.

Agreed, as a CCR diver I have to monkey with stuff to make it work.. I really am a CCR diver so I likely can answer most questions if I cant I have friends who do deeper stuff.

# ? Feb 21, 2013 06:06

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Slicer based off your rig and other gear you're the "Batman rich" guy in this scenario. Just sayin

# ? Feb 21, 2013 06:35

pupdive: Jun 13, 2012

Bishop posted:

Watch "The Abyss". There are some hollywood liberties taken but overall it is suprisingly accurate. Also if you have a guy going that deep for a long period of time, saturation diving should be something worth wikipediaing. Also possibly high pressure nervous syndrome.

Also listen to the commentaries on the AByss DVD. Well worth it since they explain all the liberties they took.

# ? Feb 21, 2013 10:02

pupdive: Jun 13, 2012

Also worth thinking about if the chracter is entering a moon pool in the laboratory there is no deco needed, since the environment is pressurized.

Sealab 2021

# ? Feb 21, 2013 10:03

Gromit: Aug 15, 2000; I am an oppressed White Male, Asian women wont serve me! Save me Campbell Newman!!!!!!!

Jeza posted:

I am writing a short piece of fiction under the constraints that it must contain something about which I know nothing playing a prominent role.

I'm curious, and don't want to come off sounding like a turd. If you have to write about something you don't know anything about, how is the result any different whether you are totally familiar with it, or you interview experts and get all the details from them?
I'm wondering if whomever set you this task wants to see what you write "blind", or if they are just testing your interview skills? I'd enjoy more reading a story by someone with no idea just to see what a layman thinks diving is about and how it works, personally.

But yeah, I'm not trying to be an rear end. I'm honestly just curious to know what the learning angle on this assignment is.

# ? Feb 21, 2013 10:22

Jeza: Feb 13, 2011; The cries of the dead are terrible indeed; you should try not to hear them.

Bishop posted:

Jeza I don't want to get creative writing 101 up in here but if you could lay out some more details about why this character is doing this dive, what resources he has, and what the goal of his dive is, we could probably help more with the jargon, especially when it comes to equipment. Also I'm a horrible fiction writer but how much tension do you want in the dive scene? Is he somebody who is Batman rich and can afford the best and most redundant rig possible, or is he somewhere in the middle.

Right, I'm still fleshing out the finer details but in my head this is what the current layout is:

Speculative fiction, some decades into the future. Off the coast of Iceland. A fictitious space agency, say UNSA, runs an automated facility 400ft (or appropriate) below sea level. There is a massive pipeline between the facility and the surface down which maybe a few times a month prefabbed rocket shells are floated to the building down the pipe. Once at the bottom, the facility compresses LOX and LH2 and fills the rocket. It also fills the cargo payload with pure, desalinated water. I'm not 100% sure if I want the rockets to launch from under the sea or just be floated back up again, I'm deciding. Either way, the gist is that the facility takes all the raw materials from the sea and uses them to fire make a rocket to be fired into Lower Earth Orbit.

The plot is that a currently nameless Icelandic diver, and small crew, are the caretakers of the facility. He dives down every so often to perform routine maintenance. Something happens, I wouldn't want to spoil it, that implies that this backwater place has somehow been tampered with. So he is ordered to go and check it out. I would expect the diving prep/dive itself to take up somewhere around half of the narrative, in between a bit of context and the reveal.

He probably has pretty decent gear, especially if he makes the same dive semi-regularly. So he has what he needs. He dives off a pretty techy research vessel as well, so there can be communication between him and the people above. Also I figure it makes sense to have this place at ambient pressure.

Hope that is enough info!

Gromit posted:

I'm curious, and don't want to come off sounding like a turd. If you have to write about something you don't know anything about, how is the result any different whether you are totally familiar with it, or you interview experts and get all the details from them?
I'm wondering if whomever set you this task wants to see what you write "blind", or if they are just testing your interview skills? I'd enjoy more reading a story by someone with no idea just to see what a layman thinks diving is about and how it works, personally.

But yeah, I'm not trying to be an rear end. I'm honestly just curious to know what the learning angle on this assignment is.

This is a some work that is actually part of a little competition here on SA. Frankly, my idea has sprouted a little further than that so I will probably be writing it twice - once to fit into the given word limit, and once so I can fully flesh the story out for myself.

What does writing 'blind' help with? Well, an important skill for a writer is to sound like they know what they are talking about even when they don't - especially with regards to something like speculative fiction, sci-fi or even stuff like historical fiction. To write this kind of thing confidently, you have to know how to spend your time in order to research effectively and not look like a total idiot.

The actual clause of the competition I'm in says that not only must you not know anything about what you are writing about, but you must also get the answers to what you want to know from here in A/T. I mean, that serves partially to make it a bit more fun/engaging, but also to limit your options which makes for a more focused prompt. I agree that reading stuff by people who have no idea can be kind of interesting for a little while, but if it is something that you personally know a lot about then it just descends into being amusing, or worse, annoying. Hope that answers what you wanted to know.

# ? Feb 21, 2013 13:12

let it mellow: Jun 1, 2000; Dinosaur Gum

Jeza posted:

The actual clause of the competition I'm in says that not only must you not know anything about what you are writing about, but you must also get the answers to what you want to know from here in A/T.

That's fantastic. Between this thread, the aviation one, the porn one, jase's hustling thread, and the married to fake anime person one there should be both interesting and hysterical stories coming out of this.

# ? Feb 21, 2013 14:09

Bangkero: Dec 28, 2005; I baptize thee
not in the name of the father
but in the name of the devil.

Jeza posted:

The plot is that a currently nameless Icelandic diver, and small crew, are the caretakers of the facility. He dives down every so often to perform routine maintenance. Something happens, I wouldn't want to spoil it, that implies that this backwater place has somehow been tampered with. So he is ordered to go and check it out. I would expect the diving prep/dive itself to take up somewhere around half of the narrative, in between a bit of context and the reveal.

He probably has pretty decent gear, especially if he makes the same dive semi-regularly. So he has what he needs. He dives off a pretty techy research vessel as well, so there can be communication between him and the people above. Also I figure it makes sense to have this place at ambient pressure.

Hope that is enough info!

1st option: full face mask to communicate with dive crew and CCR setup. Theoretically there could be suspense in having to worry about CO2 build up in the full face mask if the diver exerts too hard...

bad rear end option: double hose regulator with twin manifold ala James Bond Henchmen.

Comedy option: single pony bottle with a spare air backup.

(go with the 1st option)

Bangkero fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Feb 21, 2013

# ? Feb 21, 2013 18:29

Crunkjuice: Apr 4, 2007; That could've gotten in my eye!
*launches teargas at unarmed protestors*

I THINK OAKLAND PD'S USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS JUSTIFIED!

If he was a maintenance diver he'd never realistically descend from the surface without a support team. That would mean surface supplied air/commercial diving helmet unless he spent time on the station during his maintenance, then i could theoretically see a CCR. If he had a CCR setup, theres no way they'd let him down by himself though right other divers who know more about commercial diving than me?

# ? Feb 21, 2013 18:40

Bangkero: Dec 28, 2005; I baptize thee
not in the name of the father
but in the name of the devil.

Crunkjuice posted:

If he was a maintenance diver he'd never realistically descend from the surface without a support team. That would mean surface supplied air/commercial diving helmet unless he spent time on the station during his maintenance, then i could theoretically see a CCR. If he had a CCR setup, theres no way they'd let him down by himself though right other divers who know more about commercial diving than me?

you're definitely right, but for creating a story I figured a CCR would at least allow for longer NDL times. I don't even think many CCR divers use a FFM but he'll need to communicate with the dive team somehow. Unless the story can segue the decompression stops (or time in a decomp tank) the protagonist will have to do. Then commercial diving would be most accurate.

Adding support divers in water would be a nice touch as well, giving him the ok at different depths.

# ? Feb 21, 2013 18:53

SlicerDicer: Oct 31, 2010; PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE

Bishop posted:

Slicer based off your rig and other gear you're the "Batman rich" guy in this scenario. Just sayin

NANANANANANANANANAAN BATMAN

Crunkjuice posted:

If he was a maintenance diver he'd never realistically descend from the surface without a support team. That would mean surface supplied air/commercial diving helmet unless he spent time on the station during his maintenance, then i could theoretically see a CCR. If he had a CCR setup, theres no way they'd let him down by himself though right other divers who know more about commercial diving than me?

He is Icelandic need I say more? and CCR is commercial diving unit see the PP1 very similar to my Mark 15 but was designed for the oil and gas industry.

http://www.therebreathersite.nl/05_Reviews/innerspace_porpoise_pack_1.htm

http://www.therebreathersite.nl/11_Closed%20Circuit%20Rebreathers/biomarine_mk15.htm

I have pics of a PP1 and Mark 15 laying around if you want to see.

SlicerDicer fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Feb 21, 2013

# ? Feb 21, 2013 19:21

whaam: Mar 18, 2008

God diving is looking like its going to be really expensive. Just finished my $450 certification and now I'm looking to get some gear so I can dive locally but woo boy it ain't cheap. Looks like about 1k for a dry suit, 200 for a cheap basic reg, 500 for a bcd and thats just scratching the surface. I can't really afford that right now and probably not even later this summer. The local dive shops rent kit for like $45 a day if you already have the suit, but that seems like it would add up quickly. After the suit what is the first piece to buy? The BCD seems smart because it is so central but its also the most expensive it seems. Also getting a wet suit would be a lot cheaper than dry but would a 7/14mm full suit be comfortable in 10C water? Not talking about multiple dives just single 20minute dives.

# ? Feb 21, 2013 21:55

Tree Dude: May 26, 2012; AND MY SONG IS...

whaam posted:

God diving is looking like its going to be really expensive. Just finished my $450 certification and now I'm looking to get some gear so I can dive locally but woo boy it ain't cheap. Looks like about 1k for a dry suit, 200 for a cheap basic reg, 500 for a bcd and thats just scratching the surface. I can't really afford that right now and probably not even later this summer. The local dive shops rent kit for like $45 a day if you already have the suit, but that seems like it would add up quickly. After the suit what is the first piece to buy? The BCD seems smart because it is so central but its also the most expensive it seems. Also getting a wet suit would be a lot cheaper than dry but would a 7/14mm full suit be comfortable in 10C water? Not talking about multiple dives just single 20minute dives.

I got certified, mask, fins, booties, snorkel, 3mil suit, regs, computer, bcd, weights... All pretty basic poo poo but everything I needed shy of air for less than $1500. Obviously diving in the conditions you're trying to be in would jack up the costs but I'm not sure you're shopping in the right place.

# ? Feb 21, 2013 22:09

Loving Africa Chaps: Dec 3, 2007; We had not left it yet, but when I would wake in the night, I would lie, listening, homesick for it already.

whaam posted:

God diving is looking like its going to be really expensive. Just finished my $450 certification and now I'm looking to get some gear so I can dive locally but woo boy it ain't cheap. Looks like about 1k for a dry suit, 200 for a cheap basic reg, 500 for a bcd and thats just scratching the surface. I can't really afford that right now and probably not even later this summer. The local dive shops rent kit for like $45 a day if you already have the suit, but that seems like it would add up quickly. After the suit what is the first piece to buy? The BCD seems smart because it is so central but its also the most expensive it seems. Also getting a wet suit would be a lot cheaper than dry but would a 7/14mm full suit be comfortable in 10C water? Not talking about multiple dives just single 20minute dives.

Buy everything used. As to suit i'm not sure what it's like but in the uk if you want new http://www.seaskin.co.uk/ is a very popular choice. Cheap made to measure suits that come with some pretty decent reviews. I borrowed someones 15 year old TLS350 for my handful of drysuit dives and it fit perfect so i'm going to be looking for one of those (or buying this one) when i've got the money together.

In diving news i'm going to gozo in easter! Not for a diving holiday but hoping to do some cool wreck diving while i'm there.

# ? Feb 21, 2013 22:09

Crunkjuice: Apr 4, 2007; That could've gotten in my eye!
*launches teargas at unarmed protestors*

I THINK OAKLAND PD'S USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS JUSTIFIED!

whaam posted:

God diving is looking like its going to be really expensive. Just finished my $450 certification and now I'm looking to get some gear so I can dive locally but woo boy it ain't cheap. Looks like about 1k for a dry suit, 200 for a cheap basic reg, 500 for a bcd and thats just scratching the surface. I can't really afford that right now and probably not even later this summer. The local dive shops rent kit for like $45 a day if you already have the suit, but that seems like it would add up quickly. After the suit what is the first piece to buy? The BCD seems smart because it is so central but its also the most expensive it seems. Also getting a wet suit would be a lot cheaper than dry but would a 7/14mm full suit be comfortable in 10C water? Not talking about multiple dives just single 20minute dives.

What size dry suit do you wear?

# ? Feb 21, 2013 23:32

whaam: Mar 18, 2008

Crunkjuice posted:

What size dry suit do you wear?

No idea, I'm medium/tall in wetsuit sizes 6' 175lbs. I figure thats a pretty standard size for shopping used but I don't see much locally so far. Everyone I talk to says avoid the wetsuit so I think that's settled, just not sure how to afford it all. Was at the local dive shop today and even their beat up regs and bcds were very pricey. I assume the regulator is one thing you don't want to buy second hand from a shady craigslist deal?

# ? Feb 22, 2013 00:24

rockcity: Jan 16, 2004

Check on Scubaboard's classified section. I got a bunch of my gear off of there in practically new condition for quite cheap.

# ? Feb 22, 2013 01:37

Gromit: Aug 15, 2000; I am an oppressed White Male, Asian women wont serve me! Save me Campbell Newman!!!!!!!

Jeza posted:

What does writing 'blind' help with? Well, an important skill for a writer is to sound like they know what they are talking about even when they don't - especially with regards to something like speculative fiction, sci-fi or even stuff like historical fiction. To write this kind of thing confidently, you have to know how to spend your time in order to research effectively and not look like a total idiot.

But you aren't writing about something you know nothing about if you heavily research it and then write, that's all. At that point you know lots about it.
But I'm not here to derail. Like I said, I didn't ask in order to sound like an rear end - I was just curious to know more about why you were doing it. And you've answered that.
Thanks.

# ? Feb 22, 2013 03:17

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

pupdive posted:

Also listen to the commentaries on the AByss DVD. Well worth it since they explain all the liberties they took.

I think James Cameron got bent during filming as well.

pupdive posted:

Sealab 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WixMBWVKJ6Q

drat you now I've gotta go watch some Sealab episodes again.

Also W/R/T Jeza's contest, here are the rules:

quote:

Thunderdome Week XXIX: Written in the Stars

Judges: Kaishai, Echo Cian, and Martello

I love the Zodiac, don't you? All that predestination, all that symbology, all that fulfillment of a vital role in the tabloids, and all of it based on patterns in the stars that ancient astrologers must have been drunk as hell to see. Your prompt this week is Written in the Stars. Write a story of up to 1,200 words based on the Tropical Zodiac sign to which your regdate belongs--mine would be Scorpio, for example.

Your story must relate to your sign in some way, whether that means its symbology, its mythological ties, or some random OkCupid quiz's description of its attributes. You may want to go with Astrology.com instead of OkCupid, though, since I'm not going to hunt down anything too obscure.

And! Your story must also include some technology, field of study, or other form of specialized knowledge that you currently know nothing about, and that knowledge must play a significant role. No drat tossing in a reference to your protagonist's career in astrophysics and thinking you're done. You need to do some research, and you need to do it in the Ask/Tell subforum. Either post in an established thread or start your own.

My evil twin wants to provide misinformation just to see if any of the judges notice.... "and at 400ft, he switched to his pure oxygen bottle"

Bishop fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Feb 22, 2013

# ? Feb 22, 2013 03:19

Crunkjuice: Apr 4, 2007; That could've gotten in my eye!
*launches teargas at unarmed protestors*

I THINK OAKLAND PD'S USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS JUSTIFIED!

Bishop posted:

My evil twin wants to provide misinformation just to see if any of the judges notice.... "and at 400ft, he switched to his pure oxygen bottle"

"My rebreather had a malfunction at 350 feet and i had to do something fast. I grabbed my wrench, knocked the valves off my stage bottles and rode them to the surface like the rockets on a space ship"

# ? Feb 22, 2013 05:27

Unimpressed: Feb 13, 2013

That's obviously unrealistic. You should add that you dropped your weights first.

# ? Feb 22, 2013 08:50

Mr.AARP: Apr 20, 2010; I was born after Kurt Cobain died. Now you feel old.

I made friends with a Harbor Seal tonight. :3:

We had a tag team operation going where I would find the fish with my dive light and she would chase them down. I think we racked up a kill count of around 15 by the time I headed back into shore.

In retrospect I'm really glad I didn't see any sharks...

# ? Feb 22, 2013 09:00

Fungah: Jul 2, 2003; Fungah! Foiled again!

Hi Diving thread.

I am going to be in the Florida keys on vacation in early June and I would like to get a couple of dives in (its not a diving holiday per se). I have PADI OW + 2 dives (last dives were in November) and my friend has OW + 20 or so additional dives. Can anyone recommend any good dive sites/companies with good people and equipment in that general region with the constraint that they should be relatively easy dives and not too deep (i.e. 18 or so meters)? We don't know exactly where we'll be but we're happy to travel a bit out of our way for something special.

Edit: I forgot to say that if possible I would love to see sharks and/or turtles because they've eluded me thus far.

Fungah fucked around with this message at 12:20 on Feb 22, 2013

# ? Feb 22, 2013 12:05

rockcity: Jan 16, 2004

Fungah posted:

Hi Diving thread.

I am going to be in the Florida keys on vacation in early June and I would like to get a couple of dives in (its not a diving holiday per se). I have PADI OW + 2 dives (last dives were in November) and my friend has OW + 20 or so additional dives. Can anyone recommend any good dive sites/companies with good people and equipment in that general region with the constraint that they should be relatively easy dives and not too deep (i.e. 18 or so meters)? We don't know exactly where we'll be but we're happy to travel a bit out of our way for something special.

Edit: I forgot to say that if possible I would love to see sharks and/or turtles because they've eluded me thus far.

What keys are you going to be in? I dove with Silent World when I was in Key Largo at the recommendation of Bishop here in the thread and they were great, we did a couple reef dives and saw quite a bit, sharks, barracuda, rays, etc. I also dove in Key West, but did the Vandenberg wreck, which is deeper than you'd like to go.

# ? Feb 22, 2013 14:45

Fungah: Jul 2, 2003; Fungah! Foiled again!

rockcity posted:

What keys are you going to be in? I dove with Silent World when I was in Key Largo at the recommendation of Bishop here in the thread and they were great, we did a couple reef dives and saw quite a bit, sharks, barracuda, rays, etc. I also dove in Key West, but did the Vandenberg wreck, which is deeper than you'd like to go.

Well we will consider travelling to whichever key will offer the best places to dive from.

Edit: I checked out Silent World. Thanks for the recommendation, it looks great. Any more recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Fungah fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Feb 22, 2013

# ? Feb 22, 2013 16:04

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 05:31

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

I'd go with Silent World. It's a shop that is small enough to customize trips for their divers (it's also one of main tech diving shops in the Keys), but they also have the boats and resources to get you anywhere. "Cattle boats" which have a dozen or more divers on them suck. Silent World just runs small boats, 8 or so maximum. When you make your booking just be sure to specifiy the type of dives you want. They basically catagorize their trips into 3 sections: "shallow" will get you two dives where you probably won't pass 50 feet. "deep/shallow" would be either the spiegel grove or duane wreck and then a shallow reef, and "double dip" which is two dives both on the same wreck (It's almost always the Spiegel unless someone requests something else. There's also their tech only trips but you won't be accidently be getting booked on a run to a 200ft deep wreck. If nobody asks for anything specific, it's the captain's discretion on which site to hit.

They run morning boats and afternoon boats if there are enough people. I've seen a lot of people that do the morning trip, grab lunch, then do the afternoon trip. That's a good way to hit 4 sites in a day.

Call in advance and get a few dives scheduled. No need to use the jargon I gave, just tell them when you're gonna be there and what type of dives you want. There are a lot of sites in Key Largo: far more than anywhere else in the Keys. Since you're new to diving and just OW you probably can't go past 60ft, correct? that puts the deep artificial reef wrecks out of play. I'd recomend the benwood wreck, which is 40ish feet deep and pretty broken up, but you can see the structure and a lot of good sea life.

Beyond that I'm honestly not very up to date on how the reef system is doing at various sites. I pretty much only do their double dip (single long dip for me :smug:

) or tech suicide missions. When I want to do a shallow reef I use my own boat and go to Carysfort reef, which is pretty out of the way of the rest of Key Largo but real close to me. Silent world might be the only shop that occasionally goes there.

It's got a sweet 6 mile offshore lighthouse (that is actualy in just in a few feet of water) You can climb to the top of it but it's not the safest thing to do. Here's a pic of my friend (also a goon but I don't think he posts anymore) hanging from the top of it. He's on the top right side. First you have to get on it, then you make your way into the old crew quarters (they had to crew the lighthouse to keep it running in the old days), then you have to go up a horrible rusted out spiral staircase until you get to the top. It's quite the experience. The view from the top is incredible on a clear day. PS it's also illegal So if you want to try it you need to make sure Bishop's dive boat of doom is ready to roll.

*I'm not a paid shill for them or anything, I've just done a large majority of my tech diving and training with Silent World so I feel some loyalty. I'm not lying about their level of service though. If you have any issues PM me.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 08:19 on Feb 23, 2013

# ? Feb 22, 2013 18:05

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Ask us about SCUBA (and other forms of) diving!

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