61 replies to this topic

[Bubble2Bubble]

Enjoy your Dive and see all the little fishies and creature's. but Watch your buddy and the Others in the group also.
Last time I dove a guy in our group swam up to me a pointed out my fin strap had come undone. after a short pause I was back with the group again.



B2B

[Latitude Adjustment]

Your mother and snorkeling taught you to inhale before decending, don't! Exhale as you go under and you may find you need less weight on your belt.

[jextract]

On a rough-water exit, get out before the guy with the camera does (Gar?)!

[SquattingRadishDM]

On a rough-water exit, get out before the guy with the camera does (Gar?)!

Why? So he can take a picture of all those lumbering, wetsuit-clad divers bounding up the ladder and elagently exiting the water?

[Marvel]

On a rough-water exit, get out before the guy with the camera does (Gar?)!

VERY good advice, Jamie! Now, how can we get rid of the evidence???

[triggerfish]

eels really DO have sharp teeth.

[IRONPIG]

best tip...
be a faster swimmer than your buddy

And I thought this only applied if being chased by a large
Kinda like hiking I dont have to be able to outrun a bear just my buddies

[IRONPIG]

Your mother and snorkeling taught you to inhale before decending, don't! Exhale as you go under and you may find you need less weight on your belt.

Good tip,I was told this a couple of years ago and it let me drop several pounds of weight.

[TraceMalin]

I think the best diving tip I've ever heard is the cave diving mantra:

"Anyone can call (terminate) a dive at anytime for any reason."

This can even be done on the boat or on shore before gearing up or entering the water. If someone doesn't feel comfortable and wants to "call" or "thumb" it, no pressure should be put on the diver to make the dive. Questions should only be directed to determine the problem or reasons the diver doesn't wish to dive or after the dive is called underwater. On the surface, perhaps a new dive plan or less aggressive dive could be done? But, if a buddy wishes to opt out then you must respect that decision. Underwater if you see a thumb up, return the signal confirming the dive is over and get the heck out of Dodge. No questions. Over. Up.

I've seen many instances when a male diver tries to coax his girlfriend, wife or kids into pushing their limits when they are obviously stressed or reserved about making a dive. This is inexcusable and should not be done. Many fatalities have occurred even on shallow reefs when a diver wasn't mentally ready to dive or was stressed. Lack of focus leads to lack of situational awareness and stress leads to panic. No dive is worth a life. Lost money for bagging a dive can be earned back, but lost people cannot.

I've called several dives at the tech level. I was surprised that even cave divers hassled me and accused me of wussing out when I've done so. I lost respect for those who didn't live by this life-saving mantra. I'm still alive and part of that is knowing when I shouldn't be diving. I've made dives on scuba two hours after suffering a thoracic squeeze while deep freediving and coughing up lots of blood. I've had 3 shallow water blackouts while freediving. I've been bent. I've had CNS O2 toxicity. I've been deep wreck diving while having a high fever and bronchitis. But, on each dive I was completely mentally ready to deal with the whatever could have happened as were my buddies. None of these ever happened during an extreme dive. They all happened during less aggressive dives. So, with God's grace, our training and mental preparedness I am still alive. I never dive when I'm not comfortable or "with it" mentally. You should never accept less than 100% readiness from a buddy. Your life and your buddy's life might depend on it. The life of ones you love might depend upon you deciding to call the dive if you think they aren't truly ready but they are afraid to say so. Leadership sometimes means excusing yourself from a dive even though you are fine so as not to endanger another.

Trace

[Walter]

Trace,

The primary reason I hated The Last Dive was the Rouses did not follow that rule. If anyone ever violates that rule by giving any other diver any hassel at all about calling a dive, I jump on that person hard. That's not merely a cave diving mantra, it's a hard and fast rule we all need to live by. Thanks for mentioning it.

[Blublood]

On a rough-water exit, get out before the guy with the camera does (Gar?)!

VERY good advice, Jamie! Now, how can we get rid of the evidence???

You guys are just much too funny...I just saw this. The evidence will be at the Smithonian soon. or if you prefer you may just go to the SD.Com photo gallery and look through the Bonair trip!

[TraceMalin]

Trace,

The primary reason I hated The Last Dive was the Rouses did not follow that rule.  If anyone ever violates that rule by giving any other diver any hassel at all about calling a dive, I jump on that person hard.  That's not merely a cave diving mantra, it's a hard and fast rule we all need to live by.  Thanks for mentioning it.

Walter,

Yes, I totally agree with you. I used to see the Rouses around Dutch Springs from time to time and I recall talking to Chrissy one day. I never heard them get into any of the famous bickering the few times we crossed paths. But, when reading The Last Dive and Shadow Divers I just get as irate as you when reading about that.

Trace

[Neptuner]

thread gang! As a newbie, I find all of this information very helpful... it's MUCH better to learn from others experiences rather than living through your own mistakes. Thanks!

P.S. Now if we could just get our children to understand that we'd be all set! LOL!

[TraceMalin]

One other tip that I came up with was inspired by the movie Blackhawk Down and actually impressed my GUE instructor, Bob Sherwood. In the beginning of the movie we are introduced to U.S. Army Rangers who look up to the secretive Delta Force special operations soldiers. They see the Delta guys taping their blood types to their boots before the joint mission. I thought about how "dogtags" and extra measures like tape on boots in the film help medical personnel save lives. I realized that most of the serious diving accidents will often place the diver in danger of being unconscious and unable to provide a medical history. Some divers will keep such documents in wallets, logbooks, etc. which are often locked in hotel rooms, safes, in cars and not always readily available. If you have to be medevaced at sea by USCG helicopter the crew and other divers might forget to check for important information or that information may not be easily found or not available on the dive boat. Since I always carry my wetnotes in my right wetsuit or drysuit pocket, I've dedicated the last page to all of my medical information, a brief medical history, my health care insurance policy numbers, contact numbers, organ donor, blood type, allergies, etc. If I'm unconscious, EMS and other rescue/medical personnel will have all they need to treat me if I'm not able to provide important information myself. This info will most likely end up traveling with me unless my suit is cut away, but my teammates know it is there as well as boat crews. I'd also recommend medic alert bracelets/jewelry. Your DAN/insurance info may be on your gear bag, but having info on your person may save your life.

Trace

[Diverbrian]

Good advice on the medical info. I hope that I never to worry about it, but if I do...

As to Walter's comment about why he didn't like The Last Dive. I agree that it burned me that father and son were acting like that. But, what I did like is that the authors of both books pertaining to the incident pointed to WHY we have this rule. It would have burned me more if they had made it look like it was a good thing to be a tough guy instead of how being two guys being "tough" cost a woman her husband and son in the same bloody day.

Like many of us, I have commenced a dive when I was not one hundred percent healthy. But, I have always been mentally ready to accept the risks of that dive and adjusted said risks to my condition that day or I don't go. I also rip into people that don't accept a called dive as just that! There is always another dive day.