Capt Jim Wyatt
Hanging at the 10 Foot Stop
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New signs at various Florida State Parks.
New Florida State Park Signs
- Thread starter Capt Jim Wyatt
- Start date
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Here to hoping that people listen or that the rangers enforce it on the people that don't.
Finally! No misuse of "open water divers."
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
I know this doesn't apply to Ginnie, but I was coming out of the ballroom as a free diver was coming in. I was on my SF2 with no lights playing golem, and his reaction when my head popped up was truly comical. He couldn't get out of there fast enough.
One of my best friends drowned from shallow water blackout while freediving to the grate in the ballroom back in 1995. It devastated me, and I've been alarmed and concerned about the rise in "cavern freediving" the past five years. One of the reasons that I supported pulling the gold line at Devil's Eye out to the 30' spot was because I was afraid a free diver would get entangled in a spiders web of lines.
I'm glad to see the new signs, hopefully it come with some enforcement too.
I'm glad to see the new signs, hopefully it come with some enforcement too.
Soloist
Contributor
I remember being completely dumbfounded the first time I saw some guy fly past us like a bat out of hell from the depths of the ballroom at Gennie. This was during our cavern training with @Capt Jim Wyatt back in 2014.
I've never understood the appeal of serious free diving. About 2 years ago we were in Mexico and there was a freediving class going on at Angelita. The students kept getting back to the floating buoy and then passing out. Once guy started convulsing. And then we saw a similar incident at Royal last year. I'm already limited on brain cells. I don't need to hold my breath underwater and try to kill more of them.
Besides if you want to pass out dilaudid pump is more reliable and safer.
I've done a fair bit of freediving in the ocean. There's a simplicity that makes it blissful - sort of akin to throwing on a set of 104s for a cave dive instead of a CCR with a ton of bailout, or doing a recreational drift dive with a single 80 versus anything else.
BTW, remember, those classes are meant to push you and take you to the edge of your limits. People going out and freediving for fun don't typically try to push themselves to the point of blackout.
Ana
.
It is perfectly ok to not understand that appeal.
However, for the ones that do understand it, freediving is a wonderful activity. I get the feeling that what you witnessed was a controlled exercised with a particular purpose. Again, unless those people were forced to perform those exercises, understanding from others is not required.
There are some who don't understand the alluring of caves. Even if those caves are dry, even less if they are submerged.
What I find amusing is that somehow a group decides that is ok to go on a cave only with the equipment and certs. "THEY" decide is safe. History has shown that accidents happen even to those with the right equipment and certs, so why the limitations? Safety in a cave in relative. But scuba divers as a group is more powerful than freedivers, and by that I mean: more of them, older with more time and money in their hands to lobby their agendas. Definitely an issue they can easily assert their dominance , unlike any issue with boaters or fishermen.
I'm just happy that the lack of understanding doesn't hit the ocean as often.
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