The Chairman
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I've been on every ScubaBoard Invasion, from the Keys to all the international ones. Surges too. 
Name 1 Scuba-related Thing You've Done Which No One Else Has
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I'm the first one to hold the rating of solo cave diving instructor to my knowledge.
I had taken the SDI Solo class from my TDI cave instructor in the cave environment. He got in trouble with SDI/TDI for teaching an SDI class in overhead. It was one of the best courses I had taken placing me in a myriad of very challenging situations requiring creativity to "survive" and not just rote procedures. It opened up a whole new world for me and led to a multitude of solo dives in several countries and the ability to sneak dive in places that couldn't be accessed without facing fines or jail outside the USA.
After I became a cave instructor, I thought a survival class for team breakdown in overhead or a solo cave class would be beneficial to those who wanted it. I was the technical director of PDIC at the time so I thought I'd use that clout to push for one of the two options. I approached the owners and board of directors. We had two GUE instructors on the BoD. One was a GUE Tech 2 IT and the other a GUE Cave 2 IT. I was laughed at and told, "Kid, if you can get that past our corporate attorney and the insurance company, have at it." I wrote the standards, the legal documents, training materials, and a letter explaining the safety aspect of the course and it was approved to the dismay of the agency.
I held the PDIC Solo Cave Instructor rating from 2007 - 2011. PDIC was sold to Tom Leaird of SEI who suspended most, if not all, tech and cave programs. I was offered the position of international training director for the Americas at PSAI which I held from 2011 - 2016.
Some of the things students learned: Take emergency oxygen into the water. Position cell or sat phones in water tight containers within reach if you are bent and cannot extract yourself from the water. Prusik yourself out of holes if you are too injured to climb with legs. Getting yourself or gear in and out of holes without rope. Have hydration, aspirin, etc., available in water. Wilderness first aid. Activate a cyalume light stick and keep it on in your pocket or notebook so you don't find yourself completely in the dark if your 3+ light sources fail. Start the dive on your bailout, back-up, then primary regulator to truly make sure they are working well wet and at depth. Techniques to slow and improve your heart rate and breathing. How to use your mask for bubble checks or as a mirror underwater. Modifications to buddy procedures. How to get more use out of your buddy bottle. Different gas management strategies. Underwater repairs. Creative challenges. Discipline reinforcement. More. I don't have the outline in front of me, but those come to mind.
I had taken the SDI Solo class from my TDI cave instructor in the cave environment. He got in trouble with SDI/TDI for teaching an SDI class in overhead. It was one of the best courses I had taken placing me in a myriad of very challenging situations requiring creativity to "survive" and not just rote procedures. It opened up a whole new world for me and led to a multitude of solo dives in several countries and the ability to sneak dive in places that couldn't be accessed without facing fines or jail outside the USA.
After I became a cave instructor, I thought a survival class for team breakdown in overhead or a solo cave class would be beneficial to those who wanted it. I was the technical director of PDIC at the time so I thought I'd use that clout to push for one of the two options. I approached the owners and board of directors. We had two GUE instructors on the BoD. One was a GUE Tech 2 IT and the other a GUE Cave 2 IT. I was laughed at and told, "Kid, if you can get that past our corporate attorney and the insurance company, have at it." I wrote the standards, the legal documents, training materials, and a letter explaining the safety aspect of the course and it was approved to the dismay of the agency.
I held the PDIC Solo Cave Instructor rating from 2007 - 2011. PDIC was sold to Tom Leaird of SEI who suspended most, if not all, tech and cave programs. I was offered the position of international training director for the Americas at PSAI which I held from 2011 - 2016.
Some of the things students learned: Take emergency oxygen into the water. Position cell or sat phones in water tight containers within reach if you are bent and cannot extract yourself from the water. Prusik yourself out of holes if you are too injured to climb with legs. Getting yourself or gear in and out of holes without rope. Have hydration, aspirin, etc., available in water. Wilderness first aid. Activate a cyalume light stick and keep it on in your pocket or notebook so you don't find yourself completely in the dark if your 3+ light sources fail. Start the dive on your bailout, back-up, then primary regulator to truly make sure they are working well wet and at depth. Techniques to slow and improve your heart rate and breathing. How to use your mask for bubble checks or as a mirror underwater. Modifications to buddy procedures. How to get more use out of your buddy bottle. Different gas management strategies. Underwater repairs. Creative challenges. Discipline reinforcement. More. I don't have the outline in front of me, but those come to mind.
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I've peed in my wetsuit while I was wearing it....
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That's gross, and I would never do that.
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@boulderjohn
You experienced and posted the following
"A few days ago, I was looking at a giant green moray, whose head was poking out of a hole in the reef. The moray started to come out slowly toward me, so I slowly backed up, still facing it. It continued to move slowly toward me, so I continued backing up. Eventually we reached the point that it was completely out in the open. It's tail was on the ground, the main part of its body was vertical, and the neck bent so the head was still facing me. Our heads were about 3 feet apart. It just stared at me, perhaps intrigued by its reflection in my mask. It looked like a snake charmer with a cobra. I don't know how long that would have continued, but eventually I moved on. "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FYI
Very common event ...
At one time when morays were plentiful and divers few divers often would have eels voluntary emerge from their holes. or enticed out by an offering of a small fish or a tid bit of sea food .Always a distraction from some what mundane dive .
In early diving in Baja while spearfishing, if the spear fisherman got too close to an eels hole it was common for them to come out of their hole and follow the spear fisherman or latch on to a strung speared fish - A free snack for the eel and a thrill for the spear fisherman.
On frequent occasions a free swimming ell would be encountered either hunting or changing their residence
In the late 1950s the Bauer brothers, the late Don and George, presented a film at the International UW Film Festival at the Santa Monica Civic auditorium titled "Eel Snacks." As the title suggest it was about eels and feeding eels many totally out side the protection of their holes
What is now new and exciting was once common activity ...And you can say that you have been a participant in an event t very few modern divers will ever experience
Life it great when you are wet and on every dive a new and exciting event occurs
SDM
You experienced and posted the following
"A few days ago, I was looking at a giant green moray, whose head was poking out of a hole in the reef. The moray started to come out slowly toward me, so I slowly backed up, still facing it. It continued to move slowly toward me, so I continued backing up. Eventually we reached the point that it was completely out in the open. It's tail was on the ground, the main part of its body was vertical, and the neck bent so the head was still facing me. Our heads were about 3 feet apart. It just stared at me, perhaps intrigued by its reflection in my mask. It looked like a snake charmer with a cobra. I don't know how long that would have continued, but eventually I moved on. "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FYI
Very common event ...
At one time when morays were plentiful and divers few divers often would have eels voluntary emerge from their holes. or enticed out by an offering of a small fish or a tid bit of sea food .Always a distraction from some what mundane dive .
In early diving in Baja while spearfishing, if the spear fisherman got too close to an eels hole it was common for them to come out of their hole and follow the spear fisherman or latch on to a strung speared fish - A free snack for the eel and a thrill for the spear fisherman.
On frequent occasions a free swimming ell would be encountered either hunting or changing their residence
In the late 1950s the Bauer brothers, the late Don and George, presented a film at the International UW Film Festival at the Santa Monica Civic auditorium titled "Eel Snacks." As the title suggest it was about eels and feeding eels many totally out side the protection of their holes
What is now new and exciting was once common activity ...And you can say that you have been a participant in an event t very few modern divers will ever experience
Life it great when you are wet and on every dive a new and exciting event occurs
SDM
Aww, we missed 1 in the Keys. So that title is all yours!I've been on every ScubaBoard Invasion, from the Keys to all the international ones. Surges too.
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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.
Other than seeing a few patches of mud and sand that no human has likely seen before or since, anything else is too embarrassing and stupid for anyone to repeat.
Must be so much less stressful to teach without students mucking things up....
I found I can do a good job of mucking things up on my own like when I discovered why a stick map of the Old Freetown System in the Bahamas had "Trap Door" written on it.
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