New diver advice--what are the dangers?

[dishonored]

Hey guys a upcoming diver here.
I saw a recent thread here on sharks while diving. What are things too look for when me or my buddy might be in danger. Most of my diving will be in Florida near Pensacola, and the majority at the rigs from grand isle.

Other than sharks what are some other good things to watch out for.
Pretty much any advice that a new diver would need to know. Especially about sharks.

Also, reading through the accident section... Man it seems like somewhere almost every day or every other day someone dies relating to scuba.
I'm not finished with my OW training (just finished section one of eLearning tonight) but I am curious to know what DCS and narcosis is as well as any other things.

 

[SCUBA_Phil]

Carry a big dive knife. You only have to swim faster than your buddy to escape - the knife can be used to slow him down!

 

[tamas970]

Ain't a new joke...

Carry a big dive knife. You only have to swim faster than your buddy to escape - the knife can be used to slow him down!

 

[PsyWulf]

Sharks are barely worth noting on the concern scale,diver error is the thing to watch out for - and scorpionfish family

DCS and Narcosis are discussed in your course

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I've only ever been attacked by two things in the water. Damselfish and Mrs Dog...

The critters you see don't have any reason to attack you, unless you're doing something stupid. There are a few territorial critters like damselfish that will try to chase you away but they're not exactly dangerous.

All the stuff you've heard about "don't wear anything shiny because the barracuda will attack" and such? Forget it. It's a bunch of bovine scat.

Things to watch out for? Stupid divers. Complacent divers. Divers beyond their training and experience. Stupid boaters who thing dive flags are race lane markers. Fishermen. Poor buoyancy that results in touching things you ought not touch (see scorpionfish above...). The list is long, but it doesn't really include any sea life that you need to beware of.

 

[Jai Bar]

Forget the sharks- majority of them are either shy or coward or both. Most probably they go away without you even noticing they existed. Hollywood movies gave them very very bad reputation and PR.

The most reckless aggressive fish that I've ever met are clownfish. Yes, like Nemo from the movie. You go diving near one of these little dudes, prepare yourself for being attacked. The most dangerous part of clownfish attack is when you start LMAO. That, and also if by chance they do manage to get your earlobe ;-)

Forget about carrying a rambo knife for self defense- most probably you'll end harming yourself by mistake. You just need a small cutting device to cut fishing line and the such, just in case.

Enjoy diving, it's a wonderful thing!

Oh, and never harass the fish you see. however small they may be, many of them do have teeth and may bite, sting and defend their life, if threatened. Also, they may spend energy defending from you, to be surprised and eaten by another fish, or it disturbs their life routine (breeding, watching their eggs etc) so better restrict yourself only for watching...

Sent from my myTouch 4G

 

[Griffo]

I'll second the Damselfish comment - only fish that has attacked me out of nowhere. Vicious little buggers - while not that painful it scared the bejeezus out of me as it woke me out of my super relaxed gentle drift, and caused me to kick some coral. Rude little thingies!

 

[RJP]

Other than sharks what are some other good things to watch out for.

Ghosts... and aliens.

 

[Quero]

You're getting a lot of jokey responses, and that's mostly because we all know what you don't, which is that sharks are very cool to see, but not all that commonly seen. They certainly don't hunt divers, although when one is swimming right towards you trying to figure out what you are (they have poor eyesight), you can hardly help but experience a noticeable rise in your heart rate until they give a little flick of their tail and head off away from you. Again, they don't hunt divers.

Stuff to watch out for that can hurt you and that many people do​ get hurt by--lots of things can sting in self-defence, like fire coral, hydroids (look like pale ferns underwater) and anemones, so watch out not to grab anything since you won't know if it stings until it's too late. The worst fish I've ever encountered in relation to defending its territory aggressively is the titan triggerfish. They're mean and have big teeth that can bite a chunk out of you, so when I see them, I just give them lots of room so that I won't unintentionally invade their space. Damselfish, yeah, they're funny--they'll swim right into your mask to go nose-to-nose with you, but they're so small that they can't do any damage. The most annoying fish we've got here is the little blue-streak cleaner wrasse. Sometimes they decide to clean out your ear canal or pluck the little fuzzy hairs over your upper lip and cause you to startle--right when you're about to press the shutter for a prize-winning photo, of course.

 

[drrich2]

The comments on the very low risk of shark problems assumes neither you nor anyone near you is spear fishing, I believe. If you decide to dive with a spear fishing buddy, or with a group where people are spearing, triggering thrashing struggles and blood in the water, that's a different issue.

Barracuda attacks on divers in water with good viz. are indeed rare, but not unknown, and there are some threads on the forum that seem worrisome. But put that against the fact barracuda are fairly common and divers see untold legions of them without problems. Respect them, but just seeing one is no reason to get out of the water.

Big green moray eels usually don't bother people. In some parts of the Caribbean we hear of some accosting people hoping for lionfish handouts. I don't think this is something you need to be worried about. As long as one is cozy in its reef, I try not to get closer than a yard from the head, and watch the animal in case it gets agitated. But it's unlikely to attack.

When I'm swimming right over the bottom in the shallows shore diving Bonaire, scorpionfish are a hazard. On the reef, lionfish could be if you're especially careless and blunder around for some reason, but from what I've seen low risk. Similarly, assuming you stay off the bottom, stingrays shouldn't be a hazard.

Shore diving, stepping (or falling) on a sea urchin is a hazard, and surge can sweep you into some fire coral (been there, done that).

Watch where you put your hands. Mooring lines can have stinging organisms like fire coral, and if you don't wear gloves, that's an issue. Someone on the forum got nailed by a bristle worm, and they can bring the pain from what I've read.

I don't know whether jelly fish are common in your area, but that can be an issue.

Be mindful that 'shark' is pretty generic; many are rather small and/or highly unlikely to bother a human. Learn which potentially dangerous species are fairly common in your area. Even then, be mindful that the overwhelming majority of the time when the dreaded Great White Shark swims past a human it does not attack. Yes, if I ever see one in the wild and I'm not in a nice steel cage it will freak me out.

You can learn more about narcosis on recent threads discussing deep diving on air. Glad you have an interest in DCS and narcosis, since I would guess panic, rapid uncontrolled ascent, lung over-expansion injuries such as arterial gas embolism, running out of air, or failing to ditch weights in the rare event you need to (when panicked at the surface, or at depth if you have trouble ascending and it's necessary for some odd reason) are riskier for you now than getting nailed by Jaws. I mention the weights thing because it's said sometimes divers are found presumably drowned with their weights not released.

Richard.