Three Russian divers missing in Egypt

[Arizona]

Ben_ ca,

Ha! "Always remember: "Divorce comes right after Diving in the yellow pages"

Thanks for the post on the Wah, wah article. A sound most hope never to hear! I think this quote sums it up, "Natural selection is a slow process."

Think about what we learned from previous divers and move ahead. As stated, information is now available and training unheard of a few years back is standardized and available for those seeking it . I am sure you all read about the stunts in Sharm el Sheikh with single non redundant air dives to 90m that started thread. Wow, that sounds conservative compared to the Wah, wah article.

AZ

 

[Mr.X]

Just back from playing with my octo's and feeding them some dungies. they missed me for a few days storms made water not so desireable. So Mr X I was at catalina island last month for a hyperbarics convention and H.G. Wells got an award there and had a very interesting talk on how he came up with the nitrox tables and nitrox diving.
After the awards we had a few drinks and mingled around got to get to know him a bit, He's a very outstanding and down to earth guy. He also has spent more time underwater than anyone in the world, of course thats saturation diving in the sea labs. If you want to meet some old time divers before they die, try a hyperbarics convention when its in your area. and thanks for the clarification.

Cheers. I would certainly have loved to meet Dr. Morgan Wells. A genius. USC's chamber attracts some very interesting and influential folks. It's literally a gas...in a good way. On any given day you can see a diving dignitary working, or just visiting. One great aspect of their program is education. I have taken several groups there during the past two decades to learn and ask questions. They always came back a bit changed, and a tad more conservative in their diving approaches.
Karl Huggins is the manager. He is the author of the Huggins table. The early Orca computers where programmed using his tables/algorithm.

Which leads me to think...were any of these divers wearing a computer? I'm sure it was have displayed HUGE warnings? Very sad. But then again, I do see foreign divers flagrantly violating dive rules. I love it when divers during the Surface Interval light up cigarettes and puff away, or fail to take advice on limiting dangerous dive practices.

X

 

[shoredivr]

It's a very well written book by a true explorer. He was so humble yet did things that most of us could only dream about.

BTW: This book has both: Good success stories as well as cautionary tales.

Agreed!

When the book was reprinted I was quite happy to be able to read it.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

On the sunday of the convention are dive charter stopped at the chamber, Mr huggins gave us a tour of his chamber. He told us about his chamber table that he made up that is stuck right on the chamber itself. Dr. bill was doing a video and probably caught it all on tape, It was interesting to learn cause the hyperbaric doctors were explaining right along with him and questioning the table so it made it clear. karl is a very stand up guy also.
And yes there computers were flashing and audio alarm turned off. If there computer could'nt turn off audio, maybe that distraction intensified there reactions immensly on the ascent or even at there bottm depth.

 

[WetFatCat]

Without hesitation he said the Russians were the ones that troubled him the most. Big risk takers, adventurous to a fault.

That looks to be true and I believe that has an explanation. Diving is still hardly affordable adventure (in turms of public opinion and availability) in Russia and pople who go in are mostly adventurers.

 

[ReefRaf]

Hi Guys,

I dived Elphinstone reef with 12 other guys the day after those 3 guys disappeared. We were told of their disappearance after we came back from our first dive which took place at 6h00 am, a couple of boats were already searching for the guys around the reef.
We saw 2 teams made of 6 guys equipped with 2 tanks going into the water, and a third team with 2 guys Trimix equipped.
¿90m dive? seems that they were looking forward to reach the deep famous Elphinstone arch.
I took some pictures of this reef this same day, can be viewed at Flickr: Photos from rortegacoste

When we asked our divermaster if some hyperqualified divers among us could give a shot at the arch we were just answered a clear "NO way!".

Sea condition was rough, strong currents, including vertical.
We did dot make it below 40m on the first dive.

By the way russians divers have a really bad reputation amoung dive operators over there, specially regarding their strong booz consumption and lack of respect with security measures.

Did they finally find their bodies?

Raphael
rortegacoste@yahoo.com

 

[Tollie]

Hey Great pictures... the shark sequence is cool. heavy seas for sure.

Hey what are you guys doing with the shaving cream? Whipped cream?

 

[MarkUK]

¿90m dive? seems that they were looking forward to reach the deep famous Elphinstone arch

Raphael,

The arch at Elphinstone isn't that deep – you can hit it at around 52m. Deep yes, but not 90m, so I reckon they were going for the bottom, or nearer it.

Mark

 

[ReefRaf]

Hi Mark, after we asked if we could make a go for the arch, and got a negative answer from both dive masters, reason given was that the entry is efectively at about 56m deep but you then reach more than 70m on its way out (through some kind of tunnel?).
They added that there can be some strong current downthere which empeaches you go out easily.
Tollie, we played a little with a yoghurt no cream!

Next trip will be from Sudan or Djibouti, anyone dived there?

Raphael

 

[Fionab]

the entry is efectively at about 56m deep but you then reach more than 70m on its way out (through some kind of tunnel?).

Raphael

Tunnel ? there is no tunnel it is just an arch of rock and the "swim through" is a couple of metres at most, definitely doesn't hit 70m.