Diving for money

[ScubaTwo]

In ten years of commercial diving I did alot of it; in my years of scuba I've done many jobs similar to yours Bedford, but the craziest task asked of me I related in the "scuba humour" section - I'll re-post it here for a few giggles...

I found a "Close Encounter"...

Over the years I've been fortuneate to find all manner of nifty "stuff" - both recreationally & commercially, but nothing matched an experience in 1978 for sheer snorfs n' giggles...


In the summer of 78' I was 18 & always on the lookout for some deepsea adventure. One Wednesday evening I was thumbing through the local paper & found an article that asked the provacative question: UFO in local "bottomless" pond? The author quoted a local resident who insisted he & many others had witnessed a strange, pulsating glow emanating from a local spring-fed pond, which was reputed to be "bottomless." He & his troops had been swimming in the pond the night before & had witnessed the unearthly throbbing specter begin it's eerie pulsations just as the last light of the day slipped away...

Now it just so happened that I knew of this chap - he was a resident of an 18th century farm house, owned by an eclectic old lady who operated the home as the "House of Creativity" - a house of refuge for most anyone in pursuit of spiritual & creative matters. Our intrepid UFO-sighter was the resident poet, muser of mysticism & was known to wax on at length about the weightier matters of life, death & the nature of the cosmos...

No less coincidentally, the creative old lady was also my girlfriend's Grandmother.

The next evening the paper ran an even larger article on the mysterious goings-on at the bottomless pond - this time with pictures! Our fearless poet - come UFO speculator was front & center, rambling on about the real possibility of alien activities in the area. I tossed the paper aside & commenced to packing my dive gear - my Sister's boyfriend & I were taking his Jeep North for the weekend to do some deep river diving, in pursuit of artifacts from the voyageur days in Central Ontario...

Next day, late afternoon, & we're just about ready to head North when the phone rings. Who could it be but sweet Gramma"DoDo" ( no kidding - thats what they called her! ), owner/operator of the "House of Creativity." She wanted to know if I could dive the pond that evening & identify the source of the ghostly spectral pulsations that had initiated, without fail, the two previous evenings. I explained the situation to my buddy Andy & he reluctantly agreed to join in the hunt. We grabbed our ectoplasmic discombobulators, donned our "Ghostbusters" dive apparel, & raced to the scene...

We arrived to find Gramma DoDo, the resident poet-laureate / UFO maven, & a host of other chanting, balding hippie-types milling about, mumbling incantations & beseeching the "pond entity" to glow-forth. A reporter / photographer from the local paper was also on hand to record the historic encounter. Andy & I geared up & entered the pea-green soupy waters to begin our search. The best direction we could ascertain from the poet was that "it" was "out there" somewhere - indicated by a broad, majestic sweep of the arm. We decended at twilight, hoping the apparition would begin it's nightly light show, so that we might zero in on it's beacon. Within minutes we had located "bottom" in this "bottomless" pond as being 33', & the consistency of diaretic loon-poo. Visibility was near zero, & after a few sweeps, we surfaced to ask for more specific direction...

Gramma DoDo, in a flowing komono that did little to hide her ample girth, ascended a small promontory of rock near the edge of the pond, raised her arm slowly, and, like some ancient Tibetan mystic, paused for effect, then slowly lowered her arm, pointed, & in a voice from deep in the grave intoned: " It is there..."

We quickly decended, & out of the gloom it appeared...we froze in abject....hilarity! There before us was the mystery, the inter-galactic visitor - an amber yellow construction warning sign! One of those nifty pedastal warning lights with a photo-sensitive light cell, designed to activate the warning beacon at the approach of dusk...

I grabbed the sign, surfaced, & held the alien intruder aloft for all to see. There was a collective gasp form the anxious on-lookers, then a clot of nervous laughter began as folks realized how silly they'd been to believe we'd been invaded. I looked over to the poet, who was frantically, pleadingly, waving his arms in a downward motion. Ignoring his gyrations, Andy & I triumphantly emerged from the murk, bearing our prize...

As Andy & I posed with our captive alien for a few pictures, the poet was seen to be racing Westward on his borrowed bicycle, never to be quoted again. Gramma DoDo
wanted to keep "E.T." as a reminder to all that "life is not always as it appears" or some other such weighty life-lesson...

As for Andy & me - well, our work was done there, it was time to pack up & head for the next adventure, somewhere, just over that horizon...

D.S.D.

:luxhello: Good story and good writing! I love it :god:

 

[hecker-the-wrecker]

 

[derwoodwithasherwood]

I usually charge a minimum of $100 cash to get suited up. On average, I probably take in around $2,000 over the summer. Basically this covers air, wear and tear on my gear and beer.

I don't know what the specific situation in Nova Scotia, but here in Ontario the Ministry of Labour inspectors are supposedly actively engaged in seeking out recreational divers that perform services for any sort of renumeration. If you take money, they want to see full compliance with commercial dive standards -- safety divers, dive supervisor, tether lines, communication system, medical standby, etc. etc. Also, rumour has it that this summer changes are due to force commercial dive training certifications and eliminate all the rec divers from such "commercial" work. They have no jurisiction if you do something for free, but if they can prove you were paid, then they can throw the book at you.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I heard a horrible pond maintenance story which should give everyone something to think about.

I woman in our area was doing some pond maintenance on her own pond, and somehow (I don't know how) got her leg in the outlet and could not move it. I also don't know how her neighbor, also a diver found out (he may have been helping her), but when he found out there was no way he could get her out, he got air tanks from a local shop and kept her in air while he searched for a solution. Eventually, they got some heavy equipment to pile dirt over the outlet pipe, thus damning it up and eliminating the suction.

Even an apparently simple job can be really dangerous.

The job I did most was turning fountains on in the spring and off in the fall. the fountains were floating and the pumps were on the bottom. The valves were up at the foloating fountain head. If you could see and if you knew for certain which valve was which (they had inner and outer sprinklers) you could have done it without scuba. I used scuba because it was easier to drop a couple of feet and get at the same level as the valve. One reason they had me do it because I have the equipment to get into cold water and the ponds were always cold when we did this.

Trust me I've turned down far more jobs than I've taken over the years.

 

[jrs_diesel]

Do you realize how many recreactional divers have died doing work around props - heck for that matter do you know how many pros have died doing this type of - seemingless easy work. Stop now unless you want to do it right.

If someone ever asked me to fix a prop or clean one, then the key will be in my hand, or the motor disabled to prevent starting.

 

[Gary D.]

If someone ever asked me to fix a prop or clean one, then the key will be in my hand, or the motor disabled to prevent starting.

Just see how fast you fill the suit with brown trout when they jack one of these around. No Keys and you would get shot tampering with the turbines.

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/9990/cat/500/page/4

Gary D.

 

[Leadking]

Who else does odd jobs?[/QUOTE]

Back in the 70's when I really started diving I was in my mid 20's. I really enjoyed diving and my LDS wanted to turn me into an instructor. I helped teach and enjoyed it but I didn't want to take something I did for enjoyment and turn into my job. I told them if I did that I would have to find another hobby and I enjoyed diving too much to do that.

Eventually I turned into a manufacturer of scuba equipment which I enjoy. It's close enough to diving but not my job.

 

[Bedford]

That's not bad money, should cover the cost of your DM course. However I am sure you are also paying the tax on that income and since it's commerical work, you would be doing it to standards that should be and are expected to be adherd to - for your own safety.

Do you realize how many recreactional divers have died doing work around props - heck for that matter do you know how many pros have died doing this type of - seemingless easy work. Stop now unless you want to do it right.

You're correct about doing it right. I don't do it alone. My dive buddy is a marine biologist with twenty year's experience. We each have a spotter on the surface at all times. We have another spotter out to warn all marine traffic in the area. We don't dive when the vis is too bad or the conditions are too rough.

 

[Sky Shark]

This is my first post...I just found this place today...I do a little side work now and then and usually charge $125.00 an hour depending on the job and the conditions...great site.