Name 1 Scuba-related Thing You've Done Which No One Else Has

[Brandon]

I swam inside the mouth of a humpback whale once, baleen plates on both sides of me, entire body inside, staring at its pharynx. Real life Jonah.

Whale of a tale? It passed away and was towed to shore for study, and I was helping my marine biologist buddy collect various samples to determine cause of death. We had a bit of a scramble to try to find an underwater camera, and ultimately didn't end up with the correct combo of camera bodies / housings. Too bad it wasn't in the GoPro era, or all the kids would be trying it.

 

[Sam Miller III]

@Wookie

C'mon, Dr. Sam, tell us what you were first (or only) at. Unless it has to wait for the book... There must be a tidbit you can toss us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frank,
Best I can do..
Other than being bit by a Moray 3 times-- an event that one never forgets

FYI
In California we must capture lobsters by hand -- they are often in deep dark holes with at symbiotic relationship with Moray. When reaching in those deep dark holes for a lobster you are reaching on blind faith that you will pull a lobster out to the hole.
If what you have grabbed is some what solid you have a lobster--- if it suddenly tightens up like a biceps muscle. Well ole friend you have a Moray !

You have two options - let go of the moray and back away slowly or pull you hand out as fast a speeding bullet - Either way there is a chance of an unpleasant encounter

For probably 50 years I have had a encapsulated Moray tooth in the second joint of my index finger on my left hand. It is enlarged and has restricted mobility and on occasion it is painful

It is recognized that moray ells are just and occupational hazard to acquiring a lobster for diner

Cheers from California - where it all began

Sam Miller
PS
Hombre, We are all one-- just a bunch of lousy divers on this board - please call me Sam ...leave the Doc title to those who need the title for their egos ....sdm

 

[Scared Silly]

I certainly hope no other diver here on ScubaBoard has done half the stupid things I have!

We have all done stupid things, most of the time we get away with it. Unfortunately when we do not, we are typically dead.

So with that thought in mind..

A friend who as youngster really wanted to try scuba diving so they improvised a scuba cylinder. They pumped it up full of air and breathed through an attached hose, releasing air via a valve. It worked great, except their improvised scuba cylinder was his dad's old pressurized sprayer can that had been filled with pesticide.

 

[northernone]

We have all done stupid things, most of the time we get away with it. Unfortunately when we do not, we are typically dead.

So with that thought in mind..

A friend who as youngster really wanted to try scuba diving so they improvised a scuba cylinder. They pumped it up full of air and breathed through an attached hose, releasing air via a valve. It worked great, except their improvised scuba cylinder was his dad's old pressurized sprayer can that had been filled with pesticide.

Two for one. Diving AND fumigating for parasites.

Brilliant child I was, we rinsed it in lakewater first. It worked better than the bellows on the end of a hose we used prior. Perfecting "loose lips" to not inflate like a balloon while not dropping the hode was as much an art as a science...

Good times, better than stale air in my diving bell.

Ok, enough about the good "old" days.

We lived.
Cameron

 

[Bert van den Berg]

When my son was doing his 2nd open water dive for his open water certificate I tagged along but went my own way to collect some scallops. The limit in New Zealand is 20 scallops per diver. I came ashore with 18. When my son returned to the beach with his instructor he shyly pulled two scallops out of his BCD pocket. The instructor never saw him gather them.

 

[Akimbo]

I was a solo diver at 13. Probably not the only one but the only one that I know of so far.

Make that two (and probably x100s). I was certified at 11 and made my first true solo about a year later. Not really all that big a deal in those days. I was at less than half my proven free-ascent depth.

 

[Johnoly]

On every 1st dive each day, I send a text message from 90 ft deep with detailed u/w conditions to the boat captain.

 

[scubadada]

I have just under 1500 dives and can't think of anything I have done that many others have also. That's OK with me. Of course, nobody has dived with my wife, son, and daughter at the same time, and that's the best thing I have ever done

 

[drrich2]

I've no reason to think it's unique, but perhaps unusual...I've been tail-slapped by a tiger shark. Did 7 'shark feed' dives over the course of 3 days with Emerald Dive Charter out of Jupiter, Florida. On one dive we settled in at the back of the Esso Bonaire wreck, watched the shark feeder work with a tiger shark (one close to 10 feet long), and somewhere in all this he gestured that we could come down to the sand (I think around 85 feet or so deep?). We're in a group on our knees in the sand, and the tiger comes toward us, then turns to her right (my left) and swims right in front of our group. When she did that, she accidentally tail-slapped me (not hard) on the trunk (e.g.: chest I specifically remember).

It's something that happened to me as opposed to something I did, but it's a special memory I enjoy.

Richard.

 

[Diver Dave1]

Perhaps I have 2 things with photo and video for proof.

1) At Moorea at 60-70 ft, a friendly turtle arrived and the dive guide picked up a piece of sponge. He motioned for me to be ready with the camera. He removed his mask and reg, put the sponge in his teeth and the turtle took it out of his teeth! Here is the photo.
Underwater - shiningseastudio
http://www.shiningseastudio.com/Underwater/Underwater/
2) At Socorro, two sharks were passing in front of me and I was shooting them with video. They turned straight at me and charged by. The first one smacked my camera and my left shoulder as it passed. I have it on video but not posted it online yet. You can here the SMACK in the video sound feed. Back on board the Rocio Del Mar, one of the other divers came up to me and exclaimed, "I saw a shark hit you!" Sadly, he did not get it on video.