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#31
07-15-2007, 03:18 AM
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Re: July\'s Bastille & Sevens Thread
Haha darn; when I saw this thread title I thought it was about Bastille Day - Viva La France!
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#33
07-16-2007, 12:12 PM
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Re: July\'s Bastille & Sevens Thread
Ugh, good luck. Strep scares the hell out of me; it's always super bad when I get it, and I can easily be the only guy out of a huge group that gets it every time. Or even gets it then a month later gets it again.
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#34
07-16-2007, 01:14 PM
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Re: July\'s Bastille & Sevens Thread
Stranger than Paradise is great. It also got me into Screamin' Jay Hawkins, which I'll be forever grateful for.
I'm with Wynton on the paralyzed with work bit this month. I got promoted at work, but still have to do all my usual stuff on top of the new stuff. I'm basically in the office 8 - 13 hours a day, 5 - 7 days a week. Fortunately, I have a sister visiting tomorrow, so I'll be cutting the hours down significantly, leaving only the things that have to be done once a day. It does mean some things will fall behind, but nothing that will affect day-to-day operations. I'll have time while she's here to finish up my rescue diver course, but won't have any time to get some real dives in. Yesterday, a girl we were diving with panicked at 31 meters (98 ft). I hadn't been around a panicked diver before, and it's terrifying. They want to get back up to the surface immediately, but ascending from that depth quickly can leave someone brain dead or worse. At the least, we'd have to bring her to the hospital to spend some time in a recompression chamber. Luckily, we were able to calm her down enough to do a slow ascension, decompressing at the right depths. Although 31m isn't that deep, this was our second dive of the day, and nitrogen levels in our systems were high. I feel a little responsible for the whole thing, as I could tell she wasn't prepared for an advanced dive, but I wasn't leading the dive and didn't want to push the issue if the leader felt she was ready, and he did. No harm done, in the end, though, and all of us gained a little experience. Now, time to get started on the first of my many to-do lists...
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#36
07-16-2007, 03:31 PM
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Re: July\'s Bastille & Sevens Thread
[ QUOTE ]
Yesterday, a girl we were diving with panicked at 31 meters (98 ft). I hadn't been around a panicked diver before, and it's terrifying. They want to get back up to the surface immediately, but ascending from that depth quickly can leave someone brain dead or worse. At the least, we'd have to bring her to the hospital to spend some time in a recompression chamber. Luckily, we were able to calm her down enough to do a slow ascension, decompressing at the right depths. Although 31m isn't that deep, this was our second dive of the day, and nitrogen levels in our systems were high. I feel a little responsible for the whole thing, as I could tell she wasn't prepared for an advanced dive, but I wasn't leading the dive and didn't want to push the issue if the leader felt she was ready, and he did. No harm done, in the end, though, and all of us gained a little experience. [/ QUOTE ] That is very scary. Glad everyone is okay. How long do you want to your ascension take from that depth with how many stops? Also curious, what is your deepest dive?
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#37
07-16-2007, 03:52 PM
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Re: July\'s Bastille & Sevens Thread
My deepest dive to date is 38.4m. That's likely to be beaten in the very near future. Most of the people I dive with go 40+ regularly, and we're planning on taking a weekend trip soon to some of the deeper spots in the islands. Over half my dives are in the 33 - 36m range.
As for ascension, we go by whatever the dive computers tell us. Ordinarily, we'll take about 15 - 30 minutes to get back from the deepest point, ascending 5 meters every 2 - 5 minutes. The last stop, the deco stop, is at 5m, and for us it ordinarily lasts between 8 and 10 minutes. The stops are different for every dive, as it all depends on how long you're deep and whether you've already dived that day. The rule of thumb is to use the data from the most conservative computer for safety's sake. If my computer tells me I have to do a deco stop for 7 minutes and my buddy's reads 15, we stay at that point for 15. Deep dives are looked down upon by a lot of the diving community because of the greater risk, but the computers now are good enough to keep everyone safe. There's only been one death in recent memory on the island from ascending too quickly, and that happened because the guy held his breath going up. Besides potential equipment malfunction, the real danger in deep diving is nitrogen narcosis, which alters your perception. One person I've dived with has been known to remove his mouthpiece underwater, trying to talk. We don't take him deep anymore. You always dive with buddies. If this girl hadn't been with us, she'd probably be in a hospital right now.
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#39
07-16-2007, 06:56 PM
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Re: July\'s Bastille & Sevens Thread
[ QUOTE ]
Although 31m isn't that deep, this was our second dive of the day, and nitrogen levels in our systems were high. [/ QUOTE ] Is it possible that the nitrogen level caused her to flip out? Do you get used to nitrogen levels after lots of dives or is the potential for the brain to malfunction possible even with the most experienced divers. I think it would be odd to panic out of the blue at that depth because it really doesn't feel much different than 20 or 30 feet above. Did the lady say why she panicked? Were you in a rocky/cavelike area, where there strong currents, big fish, low visibility, etc? I love to dive but I haven't done it nearly enough. However, I have had 2 very scary incidents. The first was a drift dive in very rough waters with high current a long ways from shore in Hawaii. We went up and the boat wasn't there are we couldnt see anything due to the big waves. Leader ordered us back down and we held on to rocks at 50ft to keep from moving off the point. But, I essentially ran out of air and I locked with partner and we had no choice but to ascend. Luckily, the boat found us (it had tangled in rope due to rough waters). The second was a night dive in a rough channel in Belize. I was running out of air and I kept signaling the dive master that I was about out but he didn't care. So, I moved about 20 feet above him and hovered. I ran out and surfaced but it was right at the end. I could have killed him as I would have been smashed to bits on the rocks in the dark if I had to surface outside the channel. What is your most harrowing diving experience?
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#40
07-16-2007, 11:29 PM
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Re: July\'s Bastille & Sevens Thread
[ QUOTE ]
I love to dive but I haven't done it nearly enough. However, I have had 2 very scary incidents. The first was a drift dive in very rough waters with high current a long ways from shore in Hawaii. We went up and the boat wasn't there are we couldnt see anything due to the big waves. Leader ordered us back down and we held on to rocks at 50ft to keep from moving off the point. But, I essentially ran out of air and I locked with partner and we had no choice but to ascend. Luckily, the boat found us (it had tangled in rope due to rough waters). [/ QUOTE ] Utah, doesn't rough water severely diminish visibility below or can you still see cool stuff if you go deep enough? [ QUOTE ] The second was a night dive in a rough channel in Belize. I was running out of air and I kept signaling the dive master that I was about out but he didn't care. So, I moved about 20 feet above him and hovered. I ran out and surfaced but it was right at the end. I could have killed him as I would have been smashed to bits on the rocks in the dark if I had to surface outside the channel. [/ QUOTE ] It's this kind of story that makes me terrified to try it. This is like my nightmare.
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