How do you help?

[Darcey]

I've done a few dives into the Mississippi to recover lost prescription sunglasses as well as deck chairs that blew away in a storm. Viz was zip but I managed to find what I was looking for both times since we knew roughly where they landed.

I always love a good search and recovery dive as well as helping out...and I just hope I can be of more service in the future when things go plop in the water!

 

[Acadian]

undoing lobster trap toggles from boat props

 

[xjeslesx]

Recovering lost lobster pots. Clearly props of fishing line, rope, and whatever people can get stuck on there.

 

[Dive IDC]

I've been working with the ARSBC (Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia) on the newest dive site that they'll be putting down later this year (HMCS Annapolis ... a 365 foot destroyer). A week and a half ago we did a bottom survey of the area where they'll be sinking her.

Since September I've also been up there a few times to help strip her of all the potentially hazardous materials that they either want to keep out of the water or removed for safety reasons. That's not diving (and in fact, it's hard work) but it's done for the purpose of diving.

And it's gonna help all the divers who'll eventually visit this ship ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

We've actually put together a volunteer page for getting the awareness out to the local community regarding the extraction of the HMCS Annapolis. Lots of hard work is correct!

Spread the word HMCS Annapolis Volunteer Information | International Diving Centre

 

[macado]

Have recovered lost lobster pots and boat anchors Nothing too fancy or exiting yet.

I was doing a shore dive last year and a boat signaled to me that their anchor was caught. He said he had spent over an hour trying to un-catch the anchor and was ready to cut the line. Easiest 80 bucks I've ever made; I didnt even ask for anything.

 

[cloudflint]

Ive done alot of mooring inspections, quite often people will ask us to swim down and have a look. I also had a guy who bought a motor sailor and after having it in the water for a few months decided to try sailing with it only to discover the keel board which was meant to drop down was jammed up so me and some friends dived under his boat and freed it up and scraped a huge amount of barnacles from it.

The dive club im in also do safety cover for triathlons and stuff like that, mainly just kitted out with mask and snorkel but we usually have a couple of SCUBA sets on the boat in case a rescue turns into a body retrieval

Ive also done some diving inspecting a golf club which is on an island in a river so sometimes needs to be inspected to make sure the sides aren't being eroded away

Never made any momentary gain from any of these for fear of coming a cropper of the HSE but got some nice lunches out of it

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Back when I was a golf ball diver, I got a call about a lady who put her cart in the water. I called her back and arranged to work on the recovery in the morning (since I was scheduled to work that course). Unfortunately that particular lake bank, had a steep slope for like 3 feet, then a vertical wall cut into the rock for about 12-15 feet, an honest 90 degree drop.

She called me back later that evening and told me to "never mind" she got some "professional" divers to recover it.

So the next morning, I was working the course for an hour or two (diving other ponds) and curiosity got to me so I made my way to that particular pond. It was freaking awesome.

The divers had got a very large golf maintenance tractor with a chain and were trying to pull the cart out. The tractor had 6 foot diameter wheels and had dug a good foot into the golf course with spinning wheels. They had recovered two golf bags from the cart which were thrown on the bank, they had one guy in a wetsuit holding a yellow rope which was presumably tied to the other diver and they wear tearing the crap out of the course.

Visibility is normally less than 2 feet in this pond. The tractor was going back and forth dragging the chain back 4-5 feet, digging huge ruts and was making no headway. Clearly they had been at it for a while.

I approached the lady and she explained that she had contacted some professional dive instructors from the local dive shop to do the work. I explained to her that there was a vertical cliff underwater and that no amount of pulling was going to get the cart up the wall and over the crest. (of course the professionals probably expected a nice gradual lake bank, but they shoud have know better, once they located the cart).

I asked her if she wanted to pay me $100 or have her cart totally destroyed? She agreed and I went down to take a look. The clowns had taken a BC down and inflated it under the roof of the cart and they had like one 100 lb lift bag on it too. I don't know what a golf cart weighs but it is filled with lead batteries and a BC in the roof ain't gonna cut it!

I had brought no special gear because she told me I was "off the job" the night before. I got them to stop smashing it into the wall and sent the lady back to her house to bring me all her garbage cans. I snagged the crappy yellow rope the divers had been using for a tether, chopped it into several pieces, tied off a garbage can to each corner of the cart (in zero vis), inflated the plastic cans and the cart popped out in a few minutes with a quick pull on the chain.


Easier than picking up 1,200 balls @ $0.08, I guess.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I like to do what I call "diver PR". Several of our local dive sites are next to fishing piers. During the winter months ... when fishing activity is virtually non-existent ... I'll collect fishing lures that people have lost. As fishing season approaches, I'll sort them in a plastic container, bring them to one of the local piers, and give them to the fishermen.

It's like tossing french fries to a bunch of seagulls ...

One time I was diving at a place called Langley, which has us swimming literally alongside a pier where people commonly have crab pots out. There was only one pot out that day ... a young couple with a kid, probably 7 or 8 years old. Before the dive I like to go out and let people know I'll be swimming past their pots, and that if I see any legal crabs I'll put them in the pot ... "if you see me tug on your line, pull the pot up". This day I found three whopping big male dungies, which I put in the pot, tugging the line. Sure enough ... up it went. After the dive, they came over to thank me, and offer me one of the crabs (I declined).

Sometimes a little PR goes a long way toward getting along with those who use the same resources for different reasons ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[gcbryan]

We had a water taxi damage a metal mooring piling a few years ago and city engineers asked if I would dive that spot to see where the problem was (I just happened to be there while they were there topside).

I took a picture and forwarded it to them. They thought it was pulling out at the base but it was actually welded in the middle and was about to fall apart (in two).

Some friends and I located a buoy attachment point (cement block) and installed a new buoy at a state park in the San Juan Islands at the request of the ranger. I can't really call that one volunteering as he refunded our camping fees for 3 days as "payment"

What started out as an easy assignment turned out not to be. Located the cement block was a nightmare which became obvious as soon as we submerged...the bottom of the entire bay was covered with kelp/bottom cover. We ended up using our search and recovery skills that have seldom been used!

 

[MarcvsTheBard]

Sounds like a great idea!