And Now Stupid Diving News!

[Avonthediver]

And on to Stupid Diving news.....
Cameron Diaz almost swallowed by fish while diving


Adventurous Cameron Diaz was almost devoured by an angry fish while scuba diving during a recent tropical vacation.
The There's Something About Mary actress was exploring the seas off the coast of Mexico in Cozumel with her pals when she decided to get up close and personal with a massive grouper.
During an appearance on US programme The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on Tuesday, she recalled, "It was probably the size of a Volkswagen Bug (Beetle). And he's down there and he has these big old lips and somebody said, 'Oh you should pet him.'
"I'm rubbing its lip and I'm like, 'Oh my God, this is amazing!' I'm looking into its eyes, we're having this whole moment and all of a sudden it (inhaled) and I go (flying inside)... The only thing that stopped me was literally my neck.
"I'm like inside this fish, and I'm looking at him, he's looking at me and I'm like, 'What's gonna happen here?' And he... (spit me out) and I go flying backwards. And I have, like, a (oxygen) tank on and everything and I'm, like, rolling backwards in the water. So that was really good times."
WENN.com



Read more: Cameron Diaz almost swallowed by fish while diving - Story - Entertainment - 3 News (http://www.3news.co.nz/Cameron-Diaz-almost-swallowed-by-fish-while-diving/tabid/418/articleID/252835/Default.aspx#ixzz1twtOel2W)



This Treasure Hunter Says He Has Located Bin Laden’s Body

That smiling guy is Bill Warren, the Californian treasure hunter who claimed he was searching for Osama (http://abcnews.go.com/International/searching-bin-laden-body-treasure-hunt/story?id=13826193) Bin Laden's dead body back in June 2011. He didn't find him then, but now he claims he has located the cadaver. Talking to Spanish newspaper El Mundo (http://www.elmundo.es/america/2012/05/01/estados_unidos/1335899841.html), Warren says he has no doubt about where Osama is:

I've located where they threw him away. I'm the only one with this information. He's 200 miles to the west of the Indian city of Surat.
Warren—who claims he has discovered more than 200 shipwrecks during his career as a treasure-hunter—says that bin Laden's body is still at that same location, deep under water. His thought is that, since the Navy weighted down the bag, the body hasn't moved from where it was dropped. He is now trying to rent Russian deep diving equipment to locate his payload, and to conduct DNA tests once he finds him.
At least, that's what he believes. He says he pinpointed the drop point from photos recently released by the US Navy.
Warren is now in Azerbaijan, apparently working for their government in a contract to locate some old ships. But he is ready to start the diving for Osama's body bag: he says he's aiming at starting the mission on June 1, and that he may be able to find the body in "under a week." He also claims that the search would last a maximum of three months. He declares that his only fear is that the US Government would kill him or sink his boat.
Warren is now searching for $200,000 to finance the whole operation (Bill, I suggest Kickstarter (http://gizmodo.com/5897449/were-done-with-kickstarter)). He wouldn't have needed that money had he located the Trinidad, the famous Spanish ship loaded with Aztec gold that sunk in the coast of California in 1540. Warren has repeatedly tried to locate that treasure, once in 1976 and then again in 1987 (http://articles.latimes.com/1987-01-08/news/vw-2944_1_treasure-hunter). Back then he claimed he had located the Trinidad, but obviously he didn't.
Conspiracy theoriesThe same could probably be true with Bin Laden's body. It's highly unlikely that, even if he were right about the location—and again, there's very little chance he is—he would be able to find a body bag in the bottom of the deep sea.
Warren says he is doing this because he doesn't "believe the Obama administration" and he wants to have proof that it is really his body. But, if he doesn't believe President Obama and the United States Navy, why would the body be down there at all? If he thinks that they are lying, the most logical thing is to believe that they never buried the body at sea.
But who knows, maybe Bill will prove himself right this time. Or maybe the body will not be there because Osama bin Laden is alive and well, playing cards and drinking mai tais with Elvis and Marilyn, in that secret government paradise island in the middle of the Pacific.



We Need a new forum for this kind of stuff!

[Crush]

We Need a new forum for this kind of stuff!

That forum would be The Pub, me thinks.

[Tigerman]

...
We Need a new forum for this kind of stuff!
Oh, but we do! Its called "Tabloid media"

[Scuba_Noob]

Wow, so many things wrong with Cameron Diaz's story. First, I'm assuming that she's not a certified diver; otherwise, her instructor was horrific and she didn't learn anything (don't harass animals, safety, etc.). Thus, this is likely a discovery dive.

Someone said she should pet the grouper? How did she get that signal underwater? I'll bet she probably just misinterpreted or else the DM was just an idiot. Who suggests petting a Volkswagon-sized grouper (probably exaggerated)? Who pets a large animal's mouth?

And lastly, oxygen tank?

Holy crap, this story sounds like BS, and I'm hoping it's BS spewed (or else Diaz has a death wish). Makes scuba divers look bad, especially since this was on a popular late-night show with lots of publicity.

[AfterDark]

Wow, so many things wrong with Cameron Diaz's story. First, I'm assuming that she's not a certified diver; otherwise, her instructor was horrific and she didn't learn anything (don't harass animals, safety, etc.). Thus, this is likely a discovery dive.

Someone said she should pet the grouper? How did she get that signal underwater? I'll bet she probably just misinterpreted or else the DM was just an idiot. Who suggests petting a Volkswagon-sized grouper (probably exaggerated)? Who pets a large animal's mouth?

And lastly, oxygen tank?

Holy crap, this story sounds like BS, and I'm hoping it's BS spewed (or else Diaz has a death wish). Makes scuba divers look bad, especially since this was on a popular late-night show with lots of publicity.

" Makes scuba divers look bad" That would be true if she was a scuba diver but she just an A-hole, so no harn done.

[Tigerman]

I have no problem seeing a way to tell someone to pat the <creature> while underwater. Afterall, we DO communicate with signs under there anyways..

Also, everyone who have never exagurated a story please raise your hands..
(And I know everyone raising their hands is lieing btw)

[Dr Dog]

I have been in the water with a few groupers. Yes they are big, but the size of a car? Who has been in Cozumel this year? We would have seen that fish, at least one of us would have. I saw one that was probably bigger than me, but nothing close to car size. As a new diver, If I had come across a 600 pound fish, I would have never have thought to stick my hand out at it, I would have treated it like a would have a great white and gotten the hell out of there. I am thinking she was snorkeling, and made the whole story up by what she seen from the surface.

As for the body, who cares? Lots of dead people in the ocean.. Plus Osama bin Laden had pretty much been dead for the last 10 years

[Doc]

I too wish to swallow Cameron Diaz.

(Note to self: Obtain time machine first.)

[scallop]

I too wish to swallow Cameron Diaz.

(Note to self: Obtain time machine first.)

Don't think I would fight too hard if she swallowed a little bit of me.....

[Jim Lapenta]

Biggest grouper I ever saw was on the Spiegel Grove. We descended down over one section of the super structure to do a swim thru and the doorway was blocked. A grouper was just hovering there. Right inside the doorway. Standard hatch doorway and there was about a foot at the top and a foot at the bottom. Otherwise he was it. Mouth about halfway open and I could have easily stuck my head in had he opened all the way. One of the people I was leading was an experienced spearo. He estimated it at 375-400 lbs. Not as big as a VW but still friggin huge. It just kinda hovered there for a minute and then slowly backed into the passageway. Very cool experience.

[boulderjohn]

OK, I think people are going overboard on the Cameron Diaz story.

First of all, comparing the grouper to a Volkswagen is a literary concept that has been called hyperbole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbole)for thousands of years. It is exaggeration to create an effect. The speaker never intends that the listener is going to believe it to be an actual attempt at an accurate description.

Next, signalling that you should pet it can be easily accomplished by pointing at it and making a petting motion.

Finally, notice that the word "oxygen" is in parentheses. That means she didn't actually say it. Whoever wrote the transcript added it in the theory that it was making things more clear.

[DivemasterDennis]

I saw a very large grouper off Key Largo at the City of Washington dive site, but it was not as big as Volkswagon- closer to smart car size, somewhere between a smart car and a Vespa. It was probably in the 350 to 400 pound range. A local diver on the boat that day swears he had a grouper suck a camera right out of his hand on a dive. I recall a piece on TV a few years ago where a very long haired anglo free diver had his arm sucked in by a grouper and struggled to get free. Does anyone else remember that?? Or the guy's name?
DivemasterDennis

[Tigerman]

Ive never seen a grouper larger than, maybe a 5-yearold kid :/
Napoleon wrasse however I have seen bigger than a large diver.

I HAVE seen other fish that by FAR outgrow a beetle though.
Infact Ive seen fish thats more like the size of a bus - then again it was called a whale shark :D

[Doc]

Cameron was diving with Kirstie Alley, so I dunno.

[dmoore19]

You mean like this guy? He is around 400 lbs

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff438/dmoore192/Cozumel%20and%20Aquarium%20Photos/Picture014.jpg

[Dsix36]

Don't think I would fight too hard if she swallowed a little bit of me.....

I am guessing that little is the operative word here?

[matt_8777]

I have heard "stories" about small women divers being inhaled by very large Jew fish in Florida so that happening doesn't really suprise me. The fact that she sounds like the a kid telling a "my fish was bigger than your fish" story tells me that she doesn't know a thing about Goliath Groupers. She is a pretty tall girl that could probably inhale a whale, I mean get inhaled by a whale but not a grouper. Biting her hand could be possible. Anyway, sounds like she had a good time.

[scallop]

I am guessing that little is the operative word here?

You been lookin under my wetsuit?????

[boulderjohn]

I have heard "stories" about small women divers being inhaled by very large Jew fish in Florida so that happening doesn't really suprise me. The fact that she sounds like the a kid telling a "my fish was bigger than your fish" story tells me that she doesn't know a thing about Goliath Groupers. She is a pretty tall girl that could probably inhale a whale, I mean get inhaled by a whale but not a grouper. Biting her hand could be possible. Anyway, sounds like she had a good time.

I'm not sure of your point here. Could you explain further? You use both the terms jewfish and goliath grouper, and I am not clear on whether you are talking about two different fish or the same fish.

[diver 86]

A guy at work this week was bragging about catching bream last week as big as a van. When I made fun of that statement, he pointed out that he said they were as big as his hand. Life is more interesting when you don't hear well..

[matt_8777]

I'm not sure of your point here. Could you explain further? You use both the terms jewfish and goliath grouper, and I am not clear on whether you are talking about two different fish or the same fish.

Yes, the Goliath Grouper is also called the Jewfish

[Scuba_Noob]

OK, I think people are going overboard on the Cameron Diaz story.

First of all, comparing the grouper to a Volkswagen is a literary concept that has been called hyperbole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbole)for thousands of years. It is exaggeration to create an effect. The speaker never intends that the listener is going to believe it to be an actual attempt at an accurate description.

Next, signalling that you should pet it can be easily accomplished by pointing at it and making a petting motion.

Finally, notice that the word "oxygen" is in parentheses. That means she didn't actually say it. Whoever wrote the transcript added it in the theory that it was making things more clear.

Yup, clearly I overreacted with my initial response. I understand the hyperbole and the exaggeration, but many people who have little experience with diving might not take it in jest.

It just often peeves me when people make scuba diving seem dangerous and extreme to non-divers. It's not that bad among random people, but on a nationally-broadcasted talk-show from a famous celebrity, it might have a lot of people believing the wrong thing. Scuba diving can be dangerous, but if you practice safe habits, it should be relatively safe.