ScubaBoard Inspiring Terror!

[AfterDark]

I learn a lot reading threads here. Apart from mask clearing and ear equalization, my dive training in the 1980's focused on not going too deep, on coming up slow (follow the little bubbles to the surface), and on breathing all the time. Being overweighted was easier than being what I'd now call being properly weighted, because it made it easier to use the BC as an elevator. Now it's clear that I not only don't know a lot, but that there's probably a great deal that I don't even know that I don't know it.

Over on Reddit SCUBA, everyone seems fine talking about the pretty fish they saw. Which is kind of what my speed is too.

Here, there are a lot of things to learn from the underwater astronauts. I wasn't aware that it is possible to go down in a wet suit and not be able to come up, even using a BC. Nor was I aware of downcurrents along reefs that apparently function as freefalls to hell. Or of dynamic airway compression. Or of immersion pulmonary edema. Or of a lot of other things. And I'm not even talking about the perfectionism of the DIR cult, just dive physiology and whatnot in general. All the research in recent years is good, but it sure illustrates a gap between us recreational folk, and the people who are way into this! Still, the education is worth the scare, I reckon. So thank you to the people on ScubaBoard who teach the rest of us how to be safer!

Diving ain't bicycling riding or hiking. It's technical and takes a certain level skill to be done safely.
Diving beyond that skill level can have terrifying consequences.

 

[iamrushman]

for me scuba diving is fun, soothing, relaxing, meditational, and about being one with nature...so relax and just go with the flow / current.

 

[AfterDark]

for me scuba diving is fun, soothing, relaxing, meditational, and about being one with nature...so relax and just go with the flow / current.

With over a 1000 dives it should.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I learn a lot reading threads here. Apart from mask clearing and ear equalization, my dive training in the 1980's focused on not going too deep, on coming up slow (follow the little bubbles to the surface), and on breathing all the time. Being overweighted was easier than being what I'd now call being properly weighted, because it made it easier to use the BC as an elevator. Now it's clear that I not only don't know a lot, but that there's probably a great deal that I don't even know that I don't know it.

Over on Reddit SCUBA, everyone seems fine talking about the pretty fish they saw. Which is kind of what my speed is too.

Here, there are a lot of things to learn from the underwater astronauts. I wasn't aware that it is possible to go down in a wet suit and not be able to come up, even using a BC. Nor was I aware of downcurrents along reefs that apparently function as freefalls to hell. Or of dynamic airway compression. Or of immersion pulmonary edema. Or of a lot of other things. And I'm not even talking about the perfectionism of the DIR cult, just dive physiology and whatnot in general. All the research in recent years is good, but it sure illustrates a gap between us recreational folk, and the people who are way into this! Still, the education is worth the scare, I reckon. So thank you to the people on ScubaBoard who teach the rest of us how to be safer!

I have read here people promoting their own agendas, and promoting "further training." Someone even compared Diving with other Sports and stated that diving wasn't bicycling. Well, I have been diving for over sixty years, and bicycling several years more. Bicycling has landed me in the hospital twice, but never for diving.

I was in the Clackamas River today, at age seventy plus, solo. I was in diving an antique BCD called a Dacor Nautilus CVS, at High Rocks on the Clackamas River. I informed the lifeguards of my dive plans, then got into the river. I enjoyed seeing salmon smolt in The river current. On the bottom were some little fishes and sculpin that I observed fro a time. There is a wrecked SUV one the bottom, which now has a tree on it, yes, a huge tree, minus any leaves. The current was strong, and allowed me to cover a good distance. I found a fishing lure, and a electric device I didn't recognize. I wrote more on the dive here:

http://vintagescuba.proboards.com/thread/942/dacor-nautilus-cvs?page=11

The point is that this is a very good workout, and gets me out of the house doing some thing I love. I also at time contribute, for instance when there was a significant salmon kill and I videoed it.

Diving also gave me a background to understand physiology, biology, chemistry, and physics, allowing me to gain a science degree in zoology and professional certifications as a Cerztified Safety Professional and Certified Industrial Hygienist.

Jacques Cousteau, in his book, The Silent World, discussed some of the tragedies that his group experienced, but emphasized the wonder and exhilaration of the ipunderwater world. I would hope that here could do that too.

SeaRat

 

[AfterDark]

@Ratliff How much have you learned from bicycling compared to diving? Diving ain't bicycling.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

@Ratliff How much have you learned from bicycling compared to diving? Diving ain't bicycling.

I have learned lots from both sports. While different, they have many of the same safety aspects. Falls are huge in bicycling, as are crashes. Scuba divers also fall, on boats, upon entry and exit. So proventing falls is important in both sports.

From bicycling, I have learned to largely prevent what I call "car/bicyle interactions." Most bicycling fatalities have to do with bicycle/auto crashes, and the more interactions between the two transportation methods, the more the possibility of a fatal crash. I look for ways around these interactions; I use a local bicycle map which shows routes which have bicycle lanes, which are better than traveling in a traffic lane with cars, where they must make some decision about how to cope with a slow-moving bicycle by either passing or staying behind until there is a good means to pass (I have done this with bicycles, to the consternation of some cars behind me, when it was not safe to pass the bicycle). I also have trail routes which stay completely away from autos, and the route I used today to go to church was a combination of trails and bicycle laned roadways, which minimize bicycle/auto interactions. I am very visible on my bicycle, wear reflective clothing, having yellow fenders and panniers on the bicycle, and lights both front and back. I always wear a helmet too, as my bicycle helmet has saved my life (see the helmet below).

Now, let's talk about diving. To be at the same risk as bicycling, diving would be done mainly within boat traffic lanes, with speed boats, motor boats, and even cruisers traveling within ten feet of the diver's flag. (Yes, I know that sometimes these boats use a dive flag as a turn-around buoy, but not at the rate fo over 60 per hour.) The hazard of falling was touched on above, but we divers rarely fall from anything but same level, not from height like a bicyclist. Divers rarely wear helmets when diving, but my and my buddy were found by the U.S. Coast Guard off the Oregon Coast when the waves went from 5-7 feet (manageable for our exit point) to 15-20+ feet while we were out, and we spent 3 hours watching from beyond the surf line after being rolled by o 20 footer, and deciding not to attempt a second exit. Luckily, our girl friends called the Coast Guard, and they saw my red helmet with white strips on top (a white-water kayaker's helmet with a snorkel attached) See the photos below, where the first was us going out, the second us after being rolled, and the third the shoreline at Rocky Creek State Park, taken while we were out there. The helmet was key to us being picked up. Now, we have the inflatable buoys divers can carry, but in the 1970s, we did not.

I'm being called to supper, so I'll add more here a bit later. This is sufficient to show that there are similarities between the two sports though, and that bicycling has been more hazardous to me than diving.

SeaRat

 

[Bubblesong]

@John C. Ratliff in our town a bicyclist got hit by the air cushion of a passing truck, just at the moment he was by a telephone pole and was killed as he got air-pushed helmeted head hitting the pole.
I only ride bikes on the rails-to-trails and even there i am a danger to myself and others, and any frogs that can’t hop out of my way fast enough, (THAT was quite the back-tire-spray horror)

 

[pauldw]

So John, how's diving at Rocky Creek? We had a nice picnic there, but my diving has been down the coast. Is it permitted to dive off the sloping shelf in front of Depoe Bay? Have you dove Cape Perpetua?

 

[John C. Ratliff]

So John, how's diving at Rocky Creek? We had a nice picnic there, but my diving has been down the coast. Is it permitted to dive off the sloping shelf in front of Depoe Bay? Have you dove Cape Perpetua?

I have had a number of dives off Rocky Creek, but the one pictured above was in December, and a poor choice (I was a bit younger in 1973). When the ocean is calm, it has all the attractions of a rocky coastline, with anemones, crabs, solitary coral, sea bass, cabazon, wolf fish (wolf eels to some), etc. Visibility can exceed 20-30 feet at certain times of the year too, as there are no estuaries to muddy the waters.

I don't know about Depoe Bay, but since it is a very active port, with the Coast Guard there (that's who picked us up, and they were so happy to finally get live pickups), and many fishing boats, I would not dive there.

I may have dived Cape Perpetua, but if I did it was in the 1960s when we were spearfishing off paddleboards.

SeaRat