Diving Without certification...

[friscuba]

Not so much I'm questioning if I should go as much as if I do, will it end up beyond what they say. Deeper diving, 15 ft turns into 60-100 (doubtful in the keys), currents, visibility can all come into effect.

That being said, I think I'm going to do it as long as the conditions are right. I will have my own gear and being I'm with a DM, along with knowing the basic fundamentals in shallow water, I think it may just be a great experience. It would be different I guess if it was with some other newbs wanting to go diving rather instructing. I will let you know about it this coming weekend. Thanks again for all of your input on the situation. seems to be about 50/50

Whoa! Hold the bus! I'm half way through this thread and can't believe the last paragraph... hopefully others are chiming in the rest of this thread but I can't go any further.

"seems to be about 50/50"... does that make it OK? You've got some people saying 15 feet is no big deal, and some people saying 4 feet can kill you. Did you stop to consider that maybe some people aren't aware of the risks, and others who just don't care, as well as a few who just like to encourage acts of stupidity?

If you're going to try it, you and your friends ought to spend a night in a Holiday Inn Express... that'll make it OK, wouldn't it?

 

[friscuba]

I like this topic of discussion, because honestly when I read that statement of 15 ft not being a big deal, I had no idea the consequences of holding your breath at that depth?! Until someone brought it to light, I would of had no idea.. i knew that holding your breath on the way up while scubadiving breathing with a full set of lungs was a NO NO, but, I certainly didn't know that its biggest factor was in that last 15 ft!!!

Interesting and thank you for bringing it to light. Being a avid spearfisher, I know that you can hold your breath to your hearts desire, but even then, scubas a whole new world...

Note: I was talking to my wife's buddy (whose been diving for over 15 years) about the lung expansion, and even he didn't know that......wow. Again, a good reason to be certified.

The biggest factor is not the last 15 feet... it's the last 4 feet or so, anything more just compounds it.

Your buddy not knowing that is one good reason not doing it.

As for the freediving vs scuba diving thing goes... sounds like you don't know what goes on. When you freedive, you take a breath of air at the surfaces, it compresses as you go down then recompresses essentially to it's original size as you return to the surface. It can't expand beyond the size of your original breath. On scuba, if you take a full breath at ANY depth, and hold it and go up, it will expand beyond it's original full breath volume... this is what can rupture your lungs.

My wife's father nearly died in 15-20 feet of water pulling up an anchor on scuba years ago, he only held his breath for part of the ascent, it was enough to put him in the hospital for a few days. Lucky he lived.

 

[boulderjohn]

Whoa! Hold the bus! I'm half way through this thread and can't believe the last paragraph... hopefully others are chiming in the rest of this thread but I can't go any further.

Why not take a few minutes to skim through the thread and see if the issue has been addressed beyond all reasonable levels of thoroughness before raising it as if it were a new issue?

 

[vladimir]

As for the freediving vs scuba diving thing goes... sounds like you don't know what goes on. When you freedive, you take a breath of air at the surfaces, it compresses as you go down then [-]recompresses[/-] expands essentially to it's original size as you return to the surface. It can't expand beyond the size of your original breath. On scuba, if you take a full breath at ANY depth, and hold it and go up, it will expand beyond it's original full breath volume... this is what can rupture your lungs.

Edited for clarity, Friscuba--hope you don't mind.

Just to make the risk clearer to the OP and any other non-divers, the big risk is an arterial gas embolism, where a bubble blocks the flow of blood to the brain, causing rapid onset of stroke or death.

 

[captain]

Rule of the thumb for me is "would I let my child do this". We've all done some more or less stupid things in our lives and survived (obviously as we post this). But would you let your child do it?

Yes and I did the leading.

 

[captain]

My wife happened to pick up a copy of Caribbean Travel and Life magazine in the doctors office.
Here verbatim is a letter a reader wrote to the magazine.

"A few years ago my wife and I went to Isla Mujeres to learn to dive. After 10 days my wife went home, and I stayed to continue my dive certification. Two months later I became a dive master and was hired by the shop. I lived like a local for three months. What a life! There is nothing like seeing the beach and eating fresh seafood every day."

I guess if he had stayed another couple of weeks he could have become an instructor. Scary

 

[Md Spear]

If nothing else, swimming over a reef wearing a weight-loaded BCD or weight belt without good buoyancy control, you're a threat to the corals.

Richard.

thats priceless

with out a doubt Hurricane wilma in a few hours destroyed more reef life and corals than 29 years of millions of divers ever could. proofs on the reefs. you'd have to be a hellofa pig to compete w/ wilma.

so remember ........if you're a threat to the corals, you better stay home!!!

 

[MrGoodie]

Don't do it... the greatest pressure change is in the first 30 feet of water. If you hold your breath even from 15 feet you will damage your lungs...

 

[Akimbo]

The biggest factor is not the last 15 feet... it's the last 4 feet or so, anything more just compounds it.

Your buddy not knowing that is one good reason not doing it…

I must have missed the part where his buddy was ignorant of Boyle's law in addition to the various flavors of Pneumothorax and gas embolism. Assuming his buddy judges that lmurtha1 accepts that holding his or her breath on ascent while using a breathing apparatus will cause a horrible death, the rest of the half hour basic course will go fine.

 

[Deep-6]

I'm glad you ultimately decided against going. You seem to have alot going for you and throwing it all away just because you didn't want to wait a couple more weeks. Seemed wreckless. It's also noteworthy to remember that a good dive buddy is not one that takes off on his buddy then laughs it off. When you're just starting out, the best investment you can make in regards to your own safety, is to have a good safe proper dive buddy. One who won't push you beyond your depth limits. Your pal already demonstrated a willingness to push you beyond your training just by making an offer like this. I don't know your pal, but he dosen't sound like anyone I would ever want to dive with. As you've already read, scuba diving at any depth is serious business. Stay safe brother, and when in doubt remember these immortal words of Keanu Reeves,
-pain heals
-chicks dig scars
-glory lasts forever
Maybe that particular quote was a bad example.