I am skeptical about a close friend of mine and her diving experience.

[flots am]

• You can't get certified in a shark tank, although there are places where you can SCUBA dive with sharks, in a tank.
• She could be a Master Diver. It's not a lot of extra work and doesn't require a high skill level. If she had a good Master Diver class, she would be ranked about a 3 on my RealDiver(tm) Scale.

• Might kill self if something bad happens, buddy is on his own.
• Will probably be OK, probably can't rescue buddy
• Will probably be OK, might be able to rescue buddy
• Will be OK, buddy will probably be OK
• Will be OK, buddy will also be OK.
• Will be OK, buddy will be OK, anybody nearby will probably be OK.

• It's entirely possible she was paid 60,000 to survey shipwrecks. Maybe pesos or pre-war German marks.
• Only God can keep a shipwreck stable during a storm.

She's either crazy or a lot of fun.

I'm married and haven't been on a date in about 20 years, so my crazy-o-meter is kind of rusty.

flots.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

A friend of mine got paid $1200 to take pictures of a grate in a pond. Took longer to gear up than the actual project. She had a couple of gigs like that. Wouldn't take long to rack up $60,000 at that rate per grate. Of course, she had her instructor's, he he.

The last pond drain/grate I surveyed was done by feel. Tried it with my 12 watt LED and it was just a faint white blob on my hand. Could not see the display on my predator until I pressed it to the lens on my mask. Fortunately it was only 15 feet deep max and no snapping turtles. At least the owner said so and I was more comfortable believing him. Only made 150 bucks for that 15 minute dive though.

 

[Steve_C]

I will just point out that we are getting OPs version of what was said.

My experience is that most nondivers use Master Diver and Dive Master interchangably. I have had nondiving friends repeat things I said and get it backwards and wrong over and over again.

Also if some one hears the words cage, shark, etc. who knows how they will permute it. More than once I have had some one say something about me in my presence that made me want to say "No you idiot that is not at all what we talked about last week when we talked about diving" but I usually let it pass.

Not saying she is not a chronic liar. Just saying that we have no idea what she really said.

 

[bakodiver391]

I know a guy who travels the world for the US Parks service to document shipwrecks. Does he make 60k a year? I don't know, but he is the most gifted photographer I have ever seen. That's what it takes to hold down one of these jobs, as well as being willing to travel with 20 pieces of luggage with a total weight of about a ton.

 

[iluvtheocean]

could have been in 60,000 YEN == $580 US
this thread could also be a troll to begin with
we would need more info...

 

[chillyinCanada]

If I were the gal I'd be asking myself why should I trust some guy who's putting all my business out on the internet. On the other hand OPS should probably just quit going out with those young gals. I don't think he's in it for the veracity factor.

---------- Post added March 7th, 2014 at 03:00 PM ----------

P.S. to Jim, just another fine example of it's not what you know but who you know. guess your pond work wasn't related to the oil and gas business.

 

[Wookie]

I sometimes get paid stupid money to do stupid diving jobs. Like, thousands of dollars per day to do a 1/2 hour dive with a camera. Taking pictures of "stuff". For Navy contractors. I have a professional liability policy (no, not like a DM's professional liability policy, mine cost $25k per year) so that the folks I'm taking pictures for won't get sued by my widow, and if we don't get the picture and screw up their million dollar test, I don't have to dig in the bank of the hip for the million.

I don't hire 22 year old divers to do this.

 

[Rich Keller]

Her story might be possible but it is highly unlikely. So that just leaves crazy but that can be a good ride for a while if you are getting what you want from it. Like the guy who had a crazy brother who thought he was a chicken. When asked why he did not take his brother to a shrink he said "I would but I need the eggs."

 

[Diver0001]

Dating her, you say..... hmmmm

R..

Hello everyone,

I would first like to state that I am not a diver. However, I just recently started dating a woman who claims to be a "Master Diver" who says she is an active diver. Some of the things she says seem to be completely false. For instance, she said that she is often paid exorbitant amounts of money (60,000 if you include living expenses, diving expenses etc etc) to survey shipwrecks that are documented in the Caribbean during hurricanes, etc. in order to make sure they remain stable during the storm. She also claims to have swam in a tank of sharks to receive her license etc. Now I know that the majority of this is completely ridiculous from the amount of research I have done, and getting to know her more I can tell she is an exaggerator. I would just like to know if there is any validity to anything she has said...

Also, I am not sure if age comes into play, but she's 22 and claims to have started diving at 14.


Thanks

 

[tech_diver]

She might trying to impress you so she can get in your pants. Guys do that sort of thing all the time (other guys, not me...).

"So there I was, hundreds of feet underwater surrounded by man eating sharks with only my dive knife to fight them off..."