"The Last Dive"...anyone else read it?

[Quest]

O-ring once bubbled...

I have read all those and here is what I thought...

*Last Dive - great book

*Deep Descent - good book

*Rapture of the Deep - good book

*Neutral Buoyancy - still reading it

I thought last dive offered some valuable learning lessons.

What about these other books above? I was pondering between buying "Neutral Buoyancy", "Deep Decent" or "The Cave Divers".

Just not sure which one offers the most valuable lessons?

 

[O-ring]

Quest once bubbled...


I thought last dive offered some valuable learning lessons.

What about these other books above? I was pondering between buying "Neutral Buoyancy", "Deep Decent" or "The Cave Divers".

Just not sure which one offers the most valuable lessons?

Neutral Buoyancy is more of a history lesson with the author's diving stories thrown in...not much there. Deep Descent is all about diving the Andrea Doria and all the diving fatalities on the wreck. Has some good history pieces and is written by a technical diver who has dove the wreck himself a few times. The Cave Divers is about cave diving .

If ya wanna read about "lessons" and lessons = diving accidents, Deep Descent is full of them..

 

[WreckWriter]

raybo once bubbled...


I don't know if it was intentional (but given Bernie's account of his own psychological intropsection of why he took the risks he did, I would think it was to a certain extent) but I got the impression that the focus on the bickering was what contributed to their demise.

The bickering was a big part of their relationship. Bernie set things up very well by helping us "get to know" the Rouses, showing us the bickering but also the deep love, and, most critically in the end, the competitivness (sp?).

I thought the book was excellent. I own it in book form and in audio book (tape) form.

WW

 

[hargettdds]

"Fatal Depth".... Kind of a piggy back on the last dive. Just came out this year. I have read last dive at least twice. I believe that no matter what your supposid experience level is if you are not learning you are forgetting. There is always something I can gleem out of almost any non fiction book about scuba, no matter the exact speacialty. Sure Fatal Depth is all about the seeker and the doria and a handful of deaths one summer, but it is a page turner. There are four different personality types that die mostly due to their personality. I could really identify. Any way just wanted to post that if you liked last dive you will love fatal depth. Got mine on amazon.

 

[King Kong Matt]

hargettdds once bubbled...
There are four different personality types that die mostly due to their personality.

How did Richard Roost or Vince Napoliello die "due to their personality"?

I'm not necessarily disagreeing, I'm just trying to understand exactly what you mean by this...

-kkm

 

[O-ring]

King Kong Matt once bubbled...


How did Richard Roost or Vince Napoliello die "due to their personality"?

I'm not necessarily disagreeing, I'm just trying to understand exactly what you mean by this...

-kkm

IMHO, Napoliello died because of something totally inexplicable. He grabbed his buddy's reg at depth, breathed out of it for a bit, said he was not out of gas, switched back to his own backgas, and then just swam past two anchor lines. He was later found bobbing on the surface, apparently omitting all his deco.

Did he breathe the wrong gas at depth? Was there something wrong with his backgas? Was his iso closed? I can't remember all the details, but that one was really mystifying...

Refresh my memory...wasn't Roost the one they thought passed out due to co2 retention from skip-breathing?

You can't count Murley as a Doria death, IMHO...the guy had like 85 dives, was morbidly obese, had diabetes, and was doing trimix checkouts on the Doria. His instructor and the boat should have never let him near the Doria, IMHO.

 

[Spectre]

O-ring once bubbled...
If ya wanna read about "lessons" and lessons = diving accidents, Deep Descent is full of them..

Sheck Exley's books are good for that as well. Blueprint for survival is good, but a little dry and instructional. Probably of no interest to anyone other than serious cave/wreck divers. Caverns Measureless to Man is very well written and very entertaining. It'll make you cringe.

 

[King Kong Matt]

O-ring once bubbled...

IMHO, Napoliello died because of something totally inexplicable. He grabbed his buddy's reg at depth, breathed out of it for a bit, said he was not out of gas, switched back to his own backgas, and then just swam past two anchor lines. He was later found bobbing on the surface, apparently omitting all his deco.

Did he breathe the wrong gas at depth? Was there something wrong with his backgas? Was his iso closed? I can't remember all the details, but that one was really mystifying...

In addition, the Medical Examiner's report indicated an enlarged heart and occlusion of the arteries (I believe...might double check that).

O-ring once bubbled...

Refresh my memory...wasn't Roost the one they thought passed out due to co2 retention from skip-breathing?

I don't know it was specifically as a result of skip-breathing, but they did conclude that it was "deep water blackout"

O-ring once bubbled...

His instructor and the boat should have never let him near the Doria, IMHO.

Agree, and from this perspective, his personality and his inability to figure out a reasonable limit given his skills and his experience cost him.

 

[O-ring]

Can't remember what happened with McGurr...I know what happened with Ormsby, that one was an easy call. I think I am in the minority in that I don't find the Seeker or its captains to be culpable in most of this stuff...

 

[WreckWriter]

O-ring once bubbled...
I think I am in the minority in that I don't find the Seeker or its captains to be culpable in most of this stuff...

I don't either.

WW