Diving Accomodation on Koh Tao
The past few days after the return from the Khao Sok we’ve been quite busy sorting out all the equipment and gear for the next serial of training and diving. We’ve also been gifted with 2 teenagers from Sweden who are here to gain work experience during their 2 week holiday. Although they have come here for big blue diving we decided to steal them for the day and get them to work taking pictures of our new resort.
Welcome to Big Blue Anders and Alicia!!
Here’s what they had to say about their first day…
“Today was the first day here at Big Blue for us. As Marine Biology students from Sweden we are here to gain work experience in the diving industry and its associated marine branch. We will be here for about 2 weeks and we hope to learn a lot about diving and also get a view of how the company runs. When we first came this morning we met Kayleigh who will be looking after us during our stay here. Today we have met almost everyone at Big Blue and all of them are really nice and welcoming. We were shown around and now have more understanding of how things work around here. The coolest thing so far must have been when Christos showed us all the equipment that is needed for technical diving and we learned about how to make sure you get the best air combination in the tanks depending on the depth of the dive planned. To sum up, we had a great day here at Big Blue! Everyone we met has been really friendly, happy and they are all very professional! We can hardly express how grateful we are to Big Blue for letting us come here and learn. We can’t wait for tomorrow!”
Christos has also been given a long awaited day off and decided to go free diving this morning as the sun rose over the mountains of Koh Tao. Not a bad way to spend a day off.
Below is a collection of our hotel we use for all our technical diving students.
Bonaire To Host Severely Injured Members Of U.S. Military
Representatives of DEMA/Be a Diver, and the North American office of the Tourism Corporation Bonaire will also be joining this group. All accommodations and diving will be provided, complimentary, by Captain Don’s Habitat Bonaire.
Each year the people of Bonaire open their arms to welcome each new group of U.S. troops who suffer life-changing physical injuries they received in combat while stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. This group of individuals represents the Special Forces Divisions of the U.S. Army, & U.S. Air Force and will experience not only the natural beauty and pristine waters of Bonaire, but also the warmth and friendliness of the Bonairean people and their genuine hospitality.
This year will be no different as the U.S. contingent will be kept busy with a variety of activities. First and foremost will be the completion of their PADI and HSA dive certifications, which will take place on Saturday and Sunday.
After they’re certified, they will continue diving throughout the week, both from the dock of Captain Don’s Habitat and via boat dives to Klein Bonaire and other famous dive sites. During the week, the group will enjoy a shopping trip to Jewel of Bonaire in Kralendijk, lunches and dinners at an assortment of Bonaire’s restaurants, sightseeing, and even a Texas-style BBQ.
The highlight of the week will be when the Bonaire community gathers to meet these extraordinary men at the annual reception held in their honor at the home of Lt. Governor Glenn Thode.
“We are pleased to welcome these veterans who have given so much for their country. It is our hope to show them that they may still lead active lives with travel and diving as an added dimension,” stated Ronella Tjin Asjoe-Croes, Director of Tourism. She continues, “There’s always been a special affinity between Bonaire and this program, and this year’s visit can only serve to further reinforce that bond.”
Many thanks go to the Sponsors who have pledged their contributions to make this event happen on Bonaire: 9Line, Adams Unlimited, AERIS, Bikers Bonaire, Bonaire KFC, BonaireTalk.com, Bonaire Quad Tours, Bonaire Tours & Vacations, Budget Car Rental, Buenos Aires Café, Captain Don’s Habitat, Caradonna Dive Adventures, Inc., Care Coalition, Chammyz, DEMA/Be a Diver, Dive Training Magazine, Henderson, H.S.A. International Training Center of New Jersey, Jack Chalk & Family, Jewel Of Bonaire, N.E.K. Advanced Securities Group, Oceanic, PADI, Patagonia Restaurant, Princeton Tec, Rum Runners, Scuba Do Rags, Sport Diver/Caribbean Travel & Life/Destination Weddings & Honeymoons/Islands Magazines, Tourism Corporation Bonaire and XS Scuba.
Located eighty-six miles east of Aruba, the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire offers year-round sunshine, low annual rainfall, pristine coral formations and the most thriving fish population in the Caribbean.
Ideal for adventurers, explorers and sun-worshippers alike, Bonaire offers myriad eco-adventure activities including world renowned scuba diving and snorkeling, windsurfing, kiteboarding, mountain biking, sea and mangrove kayaking, land sailing, horseback riding, nature tours, hiking, bird watching, sailing and deep sea and bone fishing. And with a selection of accommodations ranging from full-service oceanfront resorts and condominiums to guesthouses and small inns, Bonaire has something for every lifestyle and budget.
Bonaire is the recipient of the prestigious Islands Magazine/Caribbean Tourism Organization 2008 Sustainable Tourism Award and continues to be recognized as one of the top destinations worldwide for its sustainable tourism as reported by National Geographic Traveler magazine (March 2004) and Islands Magazine (December 2007), and as one of the top diving destinations in the Atlantic/Caribbean for seven consecutive years in the Scuba Diving magazine’s Readers’ Choice Awards. It was designated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as having the healthiest reefs in the Caribbean (January 2008), and as the Favorite Dive Destination in the World by About.com (June, 2008).
2009 brings the Celebration of the Parks to Bonaire, commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Washington-Slagbaai National Park and the 30th Anniversary of the Bonaire National Marine Park. There will be a variety of festivities and events throughout the year, celebrating these combined years of nature protection for the island.
For more information on Bonaire contact the Tourism Corporation Bonaire in the U.S. at 1-800-BONAIRE or visit Bonaire’s official web site
Technical Divers in Thailand Explore Sunken Village
In 1980 the Ratchaprapha Dam in Khao Sok National park was created flooding the region creating what is now called Chiew Larn Lake. Surrounding the lake are large limestone cliffs characterized topographically with karst formations, dense jungle and diverse wildlife. The dam is popular for boat tours, kayaking, trekking and rock climbing and more recently as a technical diving destination used by Big Blue Tech. for conducting deep technical and cavern diving courses and explorations.
In February of 2009 6 technical divers from Big Blue Tech – a technical diving facility in Koh Tao, Thailand – discovered a sunken village 60m deep within the central region of the lake. This discovery would open up more opportunities for future technical divers giving them the possibility to conduct serious expedition diving in conjuction with their course. We complete all our courses on wreck liveabords, sunken village and cavern expeditions or alternatively on a luxury Similan Islands liveaboard (as of December 1st 2009).
Our journey begins with a plan to re-visit the village and explore some caverns. The expedition was a combination of a TDI Extended Range Course and TDI Cavern Course. The members of the expedition team are James Thornton-Allan ( Instructor) Christos Kardana (Assistant Instructor) Andy Holdaway (Technical Diving Intern), Panos Iosifoglou , Steve Jeffs and Nate Weiss who are completing their training.
With any expedition comes logistics and support planning. Emergency evacuation plans would have to be set before leaving Koh Tao to ensure the right people knew we were in the area and were able to respond in the eventuality of any incident. In addition, the success of the trip depended on a high level of equipment requirements and performance including primary and redundant light systems, gps, sonar and technical dive rigs.
Arriving at the national park pier we immediately noticed the water had rose 5m / 15ft from since our last visit. Loading the longtail proved difficult since the pier parking area was submerged. Everyone pictched in and in no time we were cruising along the lake towards our floating hotel as the sun came over the mountains silhouetting the mist trapped by the eclipsing limestone structures.
The hotel we would be based at is a modest “raft house” called the Prival Raft House providing basic accommodation, excellent food and stunning surroundings . This system off wooden planks and walkways proved a bit weak for Andy who by any standard is a rather large man and broke several boards daily. For the entire crew the resort was quiet, peaceful, beautiful and friendly making everyone feel very comfortable and welcome. Big Blue Tech booked the entire resort for this expedition giving everyone their own room and private area. This also meant we could take over the whole place to put our compressor, set up charging areas for flashlights, a dry area and a wet area for hanging wetsuits leaving the bar area for relaxing and reading and. A few poor customers arrived, to be quickly sent on their way by the roaring of the compressor and the hissing and testing of equipment.
Our first task was to get straight into the water for the cavern course, This was ideal since the diving that would come later would be pitch black and in fresh water those two conditions need a bit of practice. Everyone needed to tweak their buoyancy but by the second dive of the day everyone progressed through the skills and training with ease. Learning to become a cavern diver focuses on using a reel, laying a line during your dive, advanced dive planning, diver trim and control with more challenging skills to follow.
The following day waking with the rise of the sun and watching the mist roll over the lake was a peacful and refreshing way to get out of bed. The staff of the resort prepared a western style breakfast and then we were off for 2 more cavern dives followed by a night dive. The cavern dives were completed with ease, those who were already certified could explore the overhead environment while those under instruction practiced already learned skills and excelled at new ones. During the 5 hour surface interval James and Christos headed off to the dive site of the sunken village to tie on a permanent buoy line. The sonar showed 59m indicating the depth had increased with the change in water level. Christos had not dived in the morning so was fresh to head down to tie on. The gps mark was taken from a fixed reel and lift bag in February, this same reel was found 2 meters from the shot line showing excellent precision in the communication systems taken with us. Christos actually found that the sunken city was at 53m which is well within the training limits of the TDI Extended Range. For Steve who initially requested a DSAT Tec Deep Course was thankful he changed to TDI because of the 50m maximum depth restriction of the DSAT course. Christos tied onto a concrete pillar and returned to the surface. In opur absence the rest of the team had been sleeping, out kayaking and fishing.
Before the day would end it was time for a night dive. This dive would help the students get accustomed to task loading and skills in a similar environment without the obligation of decompression. This proved an essential addition to training on reflection the following day.
The following and 3rd day everyone was woken by screams and moans from the woods which was the wild gibbon monkeys in the trees swinging and calling to each other. Everyone compared how they normally get woken up from the sound of traffic to a phone ringing but this would be truly unique. The noise would continue for hours of the morning as we got ready for the next big dives. This morning we had some engine problems so rather then lose the chance to do two dives we decided to do one under the resort. This would give the team a chance at some decompression dives in the darkness while we waited for the boat to be fixed. The area under the resort is a dense forest littered with various things dropped from above. The most unusual things were clothes, a saw, pots and pans but the most common were simply beer bottles and bottle caps. The challenge for the divers was to navigate through the trees and dense canopy and still retain some idea of location and destination. Arriving safely at the surface the longtail was fixed, 3 hour surface interval and then off to the Sunken City.
The final dive of the day would be conducted in 2 dives with constant surface support at all times. As we descended the water colour and temperature changed drastically. The water on the surface was green and 31 degrees celcius. As we descended the colour would change from light green to dark green then smoky green to light brown then dark brown and eventually black. The temperature would drop 6 degrees in the darkness with crystal clear visibility. The water was so still and so dark you lost the sense that you were underwater at all. Since the terrain was very much man made it felt like you were flying through the ruins of an old town at night. Our descent had taken 5 minutes. As this was a new depth for the majority of the team it was essential to head down slowly to allow the effects of nitrogen narcosis to come on gradual rather then sudden. Arriving at the bottom we had 10 minutes left before we would head back to the surface. Reeling off the down line and using it as a guide for the students we headed towards the village passing the old discarded reel left behind from the last trip in February.
All the divers buoyancy was perfect, at no time did any diver make contact with the bottom. Bouyancy and trim had been one of the focuses throughout the duration of the course and that allowed a clear and controlled dive. After moving past man made structures one member had reached their turn around pressure so it was back to the down line to make our ascent. The most shocking feeling during the ascent was the change in temperature from quite cold to very warm causing most divers to signal to their buddy “hang on a minute, i’m going to the toilet”. We were wearing tropical 3mm wetsuits which meant the change in water temperature would effect you in every way possible. Completing the decompression schedule and the mandatory additional safety stop we arrived back on the surface with laughter and smiles all fighting to tell their own story of the dive. Back on the boat and returning to the resort we would plan the following and final days dives and get to bed early. One of the significant changes most notice from decompression diving is the fatigue which combined with fun in the sun can make many sleepy.
Big Blue Tech enforce and strict no alcohol drinking on all our technical training and trips. The students have been dry since the very first day they put on a twin set with us and proves to be the key in minimizing risk in recreational technical diving, no matter how extreme of repetitive it may seem. Although many were too tired to drink anything this evening we did give Kayleigh (Panos’ girlfriend) a lot of grief for having a cold beer with dinner. Regardless of the rules it was to early celebrate since we still had two more dives to complete. One more dive being lead by the instructor which would be their final training dive and a final experience dive where the student would change roles and gain some confidence by leading their own dive leader.
The final day of diving was met with overcast skies and strong winds. The early morning dive exposed the students to even greater bottom time which allowed them to explore further from the down line looking at all the concrete structures and becoming more accustomed to functioning in the harsh environment. While the dives were being conducted the base camp of diving operations was being broken down and packed away from the journey home. The large 50L tank of oxygen and emergency kit was the only piece not stored away. The second dive of the day and final dive of the trip was conducted without problems. The students were exposed to dive times in excess of an hour and bottom times exceeding 20 minutes at around 55m.
Returning to the floating resort the students were jubilant in completing their TDI Extended Range Course and earning the title of being self sufficient deep technical and expedition divers
The expedition concluded with a road trip back to the Surathani pier followed by a night boat back to koh tao where the staff rinsed all the equipment and scheduled the necessary servicing before the next trip in October.
“Cheers for the Teck Diving. I had a great time. In retrospect, the training was everything I was hoping for and more.” Steve Jeffs – TDI Extended Range Diver
Roman statues found in Blue Grotto cave
A number of ancient Roman statues might lie beneath the turquoise waters of the Blue Grotto on the island of Capri in southern Italy, according to an underwater survey of the sea cave.
Dating to the 1st century A.D., the cave was used as a swimming pool by the Emperor Tiberius (42 B.C. – 37 A.D.), and the statues are probably depictions of sea gods.
“A preliminary underwater investigation has revealed several statue bases which might possibly hint to sculptures lying nearby,” Rosalba Giugni, president of the environmentalist association, Marevivo, told Discovery News.
Carried out in collaboration with the archaeological superintendency of Pompeii, the Marevivo project aims at returning the Blue Grotto to its ancient glory by placing identical copies of Tiberius’ statues where they originally stood.
Celebrated for the almost phosphorescent blue tones of the water and the mysterious silvery light flowing through fissures in the rocks, the Grotta Azzurra, as the cave is called in Italian, is one of the top attractions in Capri.
The island was the capital of the Roman empire between 27 and 37 A. D., when Tiberius made a permanent home there to take advantage of the mild climate and its seclusion.
Dividing his time among 12 villas and orgiastic feasts, the emperor used to bath in the almost hallucinogenic blue light of the cave, swimming among naked boys and girls.
The story goes that those who displeased him were thrown into the sea from a rock near his Villa Jovis. Perched 1,000 feet above the sea with Mount Vesuvius’s cone in the distance, this was the most magnificent of his residences on the island.
According to the archaeologists, the position of the Tritons’ shoulders (the arms are missing) would suggest that the marine creatures were blowing into large seashells as if they were trumpets.
Triton was known to carry a twisted conch shell, on which he blew to calm or raise the waves.
The recovered sculptures confirmed an account by Roman scholar Pliny the Elder (23 A.D. – 79 A.D.), who described the sea cave as populated by a Triton “playing on a shell.”
Now on display at a museum in Anacapri, the three statues have provided a glimpse of the original setting of the Blue Grotto.
According to the reconstruction, a swarm of Tritons headed by Neptune might have lined the rocky walls of the cave. Bathed in the magic light of the grotto, the statues stood with waters at their knees.
During the Marevivo survey, aimed at finding the original bases of the three statues, divers found a total of seven bases at a depth of 492 feet. This suggests that at least four other statues lie on the cave’s sandy bottom.
“The sculptures were all placed at the same level. It is likely that other statues will come to light as the project continues with new underwater investigations,” diver Vasco Fronzoni told Discovery News.
The Grotta Azzurra’s reputation as a natural paradise was seriously threatened last month. The cave was closed twice due to fears that its waters had been contaminated by raw sewage.
Aimed at returning the grotto to its full ancient glory, the Marevivo project is also expected to pave the way to a more strict controls to preserve the natural wonder.
“By next summer, tourists to the Grotta Azzurra will enjoy a really unique experience,” Giugni said.
South African shipwreck diver waits more than a decade for treasure
Red tape has kept Charlie Shapiro, treasure hunter, away from the 224-year-old wreck of the Brederode, which is laden with crated-up porcelain, tin and gold from Indonesia and China.
Centuries-old trinkets from rusty buttons to gifts destined for kings take up a room in Charlie Shapiro’s house – treasures from a lifetime spent combing the ocean floor for shipwrecks.
But the wreck diver’s trove is incomplete, as one of his richest recent finds lies waiting in the deep fathoms of the ocean a decade after its discovery, at risk from pillagers.
Shapiro found the 224-year-old shipwreck of the Dutch Brederode 11 years ago, but a series of mishaps has left him still waiting for government to grant him a permit to excavate its 120 million-rand (£10.1 million) cargo.
“That wreck was my baby, that was my life’s work,” Shapiro says of the ship which has dominated three decades of his existence.
From combing archives in Europe and South Africa, to a 16-year search and against-the-odds discovery of a ship considered an amazingly well-preserved archaeological find, Shapiro’s tale is literally of a treasure hunt.
Greed and disagreements broke up the group of salvors that he formed, and his permit to excavate the ship was lost in a whirl of law changes and a government moratorium on all permits, which has only recently been lifted.
Jonathan Sharfman, a maritime archeologist at the South African Heritage Resources Agency, told AFP that the Brederode, sunk in 1785, is a “completely unique kind of shipwreck. It has the potential to be really high profile”.
This means that Shapiro is unlikely to get his permit without in-depth excavation and conservation plans for the ship, which is still laden with perfectly crated porcelain, tin and gold carried from Indonesia and China.
“We just want to ensure everybody is doing what they should do. We can’t just allow it to be ripped out and sold,” said Sharfman.
“It’s a reasonably intact ship… it really is an amazing example. It presents a unique set of archaeological information.”
The ship, which belonged to the Dutch East India Company, is one of an estimated 3,000 shipwrecks sunk by the forces around South Africa’s unforgiving coastline, which have spawned legends of phantom ships around the treacherous Cape.
From the Shipwreck Coast on the west of the country all the way up to Namibia’s Skeleton Coast, these waters have struck fear into the hearts of sailors and many have perished.
Through the damp mist, the famous sea phantom the Flying Dutchman has been seen from time to time, steered by a Captain van der Decken, cursed to sail the seas for eternity after he insisted on rounding the Cape in foul weather.
Some beached ships have become popular tourist attractions in places like the tiny Northern Cape mining town of Koingnaas, but those that sank are difficult to reach, making the South African coastline an underwater museum.
Shapiro and his company have excavated ships such as the British Birkenhead, which sunk in 1852 and which became famous for starting the tradition of allowing women and children to save themselves first.
A section of his home holds perfectly preserved porcelain plates, weapons and valuable statuettes destined for kings of Portugal, France and England as a gift from the king of Siam aboard the Portuguese ship Milagros in 1686.
From a hoard of bloated wine bottles, an old vintage soured by sea water, to scary-looking medical tools encrusted with rust, Shapiro feels the rich historical legacy of shipwrecks is better kept where people can see it.
The permit tussle is a result of the Unesco convention on underwater heritage, which prevents commercial exploitation of ships over 60 years old, and which South Africa’s parliament has still not ratified.
“They want wrecks left in situ for future generations – what’s wrong with our generation? Wrecks are not there forever,” says Shapiro.
Now, he can only wait as his treasure lies on the ocean floor off the coast of Struisbaai, 220 kilometres (135 miles) from Cape Town, where he has already spotted people searching for the wreck site.
Wreck divers try old-school diving using 1940s-style equipment
Clad in a massive antique bronze helmet and weights, Bill Pfeiffer was the kind of diver the fish had not seen in decades.
But those extra 200 pounds did nothing to stop last Wednesday’s heavy ocean swell from flicking him back down to a shipwreck, his air bubbles rising from the sea floor.
“The line that I’m on is strumming like a banjo string,” Pfeiffer recalled of his experience climbing back from a dive on the Black Warrior wreck using 1940s-vintage hardhat diving gear. “It snapped again and tossed me off. I told the deck crew, “I’m off the rope, and I’m on my way back to the bottom.’ “
Pfeiffer was safe inside a U.S. Navy Mark V helmet made in 1943, a system so reliable that the Navy used essentially the same equipment from 1917 to 1979, said Bob Rusnak of the Historical Diving Society.
“Right after World War II you could by them for $100. They were surplus. Now they’ll cost you $8,000,” Rusnak said of the iconic bronze diver helmets. “The Mark V is one of the safest dive systems ever made. With the umbilical air supply, he could have stayed down there for two days.”
The helmets with their porthole vision are mostly museum pieces now. A hardhat diver’s ensemble stands like a statue to greet patrons at Bahrs Resturant in Highlands, and John Wayne still wears a hardhat when he fights that fake octopus in the 1948 movie “Wake of the Red Witch.”
But meanwhile Rusnak and other divers are collecting and restoring the old gear. The Black Warrior dive may have been the first recreational wreck expedition using vintage hardhat equipment, said the participants, a group of divers from New Jersey and New York.
“It was pretty intense,” laughs Maureen Langevin, who with her husband Steve lives in Laurence Harbor and runs their boat Dive Voyager Expeditions out of Shark River. They shot in-water video of the Black Warrior dive in pounding three-foot seas and rising wind off the Rockaways. “We wanted to stay longer, but the captain pulled the plug.”
The idea for the trip started when Rusnak was talking to longtime Long Island dive captain Steve Bielenda. The Historical Diving Association’s mission “is to preserve and maintain the history of diving,” Rusnak said, and the association holds weekend rallies at water-filled quarries inland so recreational divers can try out old Navy hardhat gear and other restored equipment.
“It goes back to World War II, when all the technology we use today got started,” Rusnak said. “The modern diver has no idea how we got here. They just walk into a dive shop, take some lessons and buy equipment, and go diving in the Bahamas.”
Rusnak wondered aloud to Bielenda that “it would be something to do it on an offshore wreck.” Bielenda replied, “Let’s do it” and began calling his contacts in the diving community.
The Langevins were contacted to recruit their video skills to the project, and captain Bill Reddan provided his boat Jeanne II from Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn as the platform.
On Wednesday the weather was not good, but “this was either going to happen or it wasn’t” because of the volunteers’ work schedules, Rusnak said.
They headed out to the Black Warrior wreck site, where the paddlewheel steamship ran aground on the Rockaway sandbars in 1859. Its wooden hull long ago pounded into the sand, the ship’s boiler and other features survive in about 35 feet of water. It’s one of the most popular dive destinations off New York Harbor because the fine silt bottom still surrenders tableware and other ship artifacts.
Rusnak said Pfeiffer, who is president of the Long Island Divers Association, was the choice to wear the Mark V helmet and suit. “Bill has dove in this equipment, and he wanted to do it in the worst way,” he said. Conditions worsened with east-southeast winds pushing seas into the harbor approaches as the dive crew arrived, and Pfeiffer went into the water around 8:30 a.m. Suited up, he lumbered to the stern ladder, and appreciated what old-time divers carried on their shoulders and legs: “They had to be amazing athletes.” But once in the water, “the equipment is very light,” Pfeiffer said. By adjusting air controls, a hardhat diver can regulate his buoyancy. “If you want to, you can almost shoot out at the surface.” Restricted visibility is one psychological factor with the old helmet, he said. “It felt much darker underwater than with any kind of scuba gear.” The Langevins accompanied Pfeiffer with their cameras – -dodging the bucking boat and the massive helmet on Pfeiffer’s head – -while commercial diver Ray Tucker went in as the safety diver in his lightweight modern hardhat gear. Other scuba divers were ready as additional safety. Pfeiffer walked around the wreck, communicating with the deck crew and Tucker by intercom, until captain Reddan decided the surface weather was building to hazardous possibilities.
“Neither one of them wanted to come up,” Rusnak said. After the sea surge launched Pfieffer off the line like an arrow, he adjusted the buoyancy controls on his suit and slowly settled back down to the sea floor on his feet. The deck crew carefully hauled him back up by the umbilical lines.
“It was exciting,” Pfieffer said. The whole team was very professional.”
Tech Divers Recover WW1 Relic
After almost a century on the sea bed a priceless World War One relic has finally been restored and put on display.
The ten-ton deck gun from the SS Laurentic was raised from the sea last year by a team of divers from Downings in County Donegal.
They have now restored the weapon and put it on show at the local pier.
The gun was one of eight guns on the Laurentic and the second to be recovered from the sea bed.
The divers spent two years diving on the wreck before lifting the gun using a massive air bag.
It was then towed ashore by a fishing boat and lifted by a crane onto the pier in Downings.
The local community raised 5,000 euro to pay for the salvage operation.
One of the four divers involved, Ivan Irwin, said it was a complex operation as none of the team had any experience in lifting such a heavy object from the sea bed.
“Had it not been for the support of local fishermen and the wider community in Downings, the gun would still be lying on the Laurentic,” he said.
“There is a wealth of history lying off our shores and very few people get to see it up close.
“At least now locals and visitors will get the chance to examine the gun and see at first hand the craftmanship that went into making a weapon of this type,” said Ivan
The divers are now collecting the shells from the wreck to place alongside the gun and hope to have an official unveiling in the coming weeks.
Built in Belfast in 1908, the Laurentic was on its way to Canada to collect ammunition for the war effort in 1917 when it struck a German mine off the Donegal coast.
More than 300 men lost their lives, and a further 300 were rescued.
The ship was carrying over 3,000 gold bars at the time.
It is now owned by Derry man Ray Cossum, and while most of the gold has been recovered, some of the bars are thought to be still on the wreck.
How Deep is Too Deep?
During diver training, dive students are normally drilled to avoid diving beyond 130 feet / 39 meters. However this depth limit recommended by most of the training agencies is not forged in stone. Historically, it appears that it probably emerged from the U.S. Navy, possibly as a result of equipment limitations at that time, and the work restrictions imposed by the relatively short no-stop times available at greater depths.
An increasing number of divers dive beyond the 130-foot limit, some routinely and others occasionally. The advent of dive computers has negated much of the decompression penalty and dive restrictions previously associated with deep diving, and has no doubt encouraged the current trend. In addition, the increased availability of a variety of gas mixtures has enabled more divers to venture deeper and deeper.
Deep diving demands vast amounts of knowledge, experience and discipline, as well as appropriate preparation and equipment, since deep diving is fraught with potential hazards.
An old friend of mine used to teach diving at a tropical resort. The instructors routinely dived on air to depths approaching 300 ft (90m) and beyond on their days off. During such a dive, one instructor became unconscious at about 200 ft (60m) without obvious warning. He fell away and out of reach of the others before anyone could get it together to do anything. His body was never recovered.
Elsewhere, another diver diving at just over 165 ft (50m) on air on a wreck was seen to become unconscious and to convulse. Luckily his buddies managed to rescue and resuscitate him.
These are not isolated stories, and there are many similar reports involving deep air dives and mixed gas dives.
Unconsciousness underwater is often associated with deep diving accident reports. It usually results in drowning. A number of conditions can cause a diver to lose consciousness underwater.
All of which are exacerbated by depth. Blackout underwater may not be due to a single cause, but may result from a combination of physiological or physical factors.
Nitrogen narcosis can become a very serious adversary on deep air dives. Although we can acclimatize ourselves to the affects of narcosis to some extent by regular exposure to depth, it can still sneak up and very quickly overcome us when we don’t expect it. Although conventional wisdom states that the narcosis appears on arrival at a particular depth and usually does not worsen with continued exposure at that particular depth, many divers are aware that it can quickly be precipitated by exertion or stress at depth, without further descent.
Divers who have had to quickly deal with a problem at 200 ft (60m) on air realize the extreme difficulty of reacting rapidly and appropriately. Sometimes the mind-numbing effects of narcosis can strike suddenly and make appropriate reactions almost impossible. Extremely high levels of stress can be precipitated instantaneously and, unless controlled, panic and injury are likely results. Narcosis may be the direct cause of unconsciousness in a diver at depths somewhere in excess of 200 ft. Narcosis can be reduced by using certain gas mixtures. However, this involves the appropriate equipment, preparation, training and care since new potential hazards are introduced.
Carbon dioxide acts as a respiratory stimulant and can cause depression of the central nervous system (CNS). The effect depends on the level of carbon dioxide in the blood.
Hypercapnia increases narcosis and the likelihood of CNS oxygen toxicity. In addition, it may increase heat loss, alter heart rhythm and predispose to decompression illness. If the carbon dioxide level gets too high, and it can on deep scuba dives — especially if a diver is very anxious and / or exerting him/herself — the diver may go unconscious without warning. Certain divers are more susceptible to severe hypercapnia for a variety of reasons and are therefore more at risk.
When divers breathe oxygen at partial pressures greater than about 1.5 atmospheres (ata), it may rapidly exert a toxic effect on the brain. A diver breathing air at a depth of around 200 ft is exposed to an oxygen partial pressure of 1.5 ata. CNS toxicity is a limiting factor and a very real danger in deep diving since it can cause a diver to convulse and/or become unconscious with little or no warning. The likelihood of CNS oxygen toxicity increases with exposure time, cold, exertion and hypercapnia, and the depth and time of onset can vary greatly between individuals and from dive to dive.
The high nitrogen load accumulated by the “fast” and “medium” body tissues during a deep air dive can cause substantial bubble formation during or after ascent unless the decompression is properly controlled and conducted. Some of these bubbles may form in or enter the arterial circulation and cause neurological problems. This mechanism may be responsible for some underwater blackouts during ascents from deep dives.
Various data indicate that deeper diving is associated with a substantially increased risk of decompression illness. This risk appears to increase at depths beyond about 80 ft (24m). In addition, using a dive computer to guide decompression from deep air dives appears to increase the risk further due to the greater dive times allowed and the increased unreliability of the algorithms at depth. More and more divers have adopted the use of various gas mixtures in the belief that it will reduce the risk of decompression illness. However, recompression centers still treat a significant number of these divers.
Certain studies suggest that microbubbles are often present after dives, particularly deep dives, especially if ascent has not been appropriately executed but even after what is generally considered to be a safe ascent. Some hyperbaric specialists fear that microbubbles, although asymptomatic, may cause cumulative neurological damage in divers. However, to date, the evidence does not appear to be consistent.
Unless adequately prepared for, deep diving carries a higher likelihood of an air supply emergency. Increased ambient pressure means increased air consumption. In addition, narcosis may hinder a diver’s ability to properly monitor and manage the air supply. Despite the improvements and superior performance of much of the modern diving equipment, malfunctions do occur. The deep divers who value their hides ensure that they have adequate backups of various essential pieces of equipment, including an independent and adequate air supply.
Buoyancy compensation can sometimes become a critical factor on deep dives, especially in cold water where greater insulation is required. Unless compression of the exposure suit is adequately compensated for by BC or dry suit inflation, a diver may become very negatively buoyant at depth.
Wreck divers may sometimes prefer to be negatively buoyant, but problems can develop if the air supply is low and the diver needs to ascend fairly quickly.
Various experiments have demonstrated that, at low cylinder pressures, it is sometimes impossible to inflate a BC (or dry suit) at depths approaching 130 ft, especially while breathing simultaneously from the regulator. This problem would be magnified at greater depths. At times, a negatively buoyant diver who is low on air may find it difficult, or even impossible, to ascend without ditching their weight belt. If the weight belt is ditched, it is unlikely the diver will make it to the decompression line to get some extra air and perform any necessary stops.
Some divers routinely dive to depths in excess of 165 feet/50 meters on air, although over recent years gas mixtures such as heliox and trimix have become far more commonly used for very deep diving as they are less narcotic. These divers are often, but not always, conversant with the substantial risks and demands of these dives and choose to push the limits for their own reasons. Such divers are usually well equipped and well prepared for the dives. Most usually manage to get away with diving to these depths with no apparent problems, others do not. Some of the unfortunate ones are left with permanent disability; others die.
On the other hand, there is the “occasional” deep diver. These divers are generally less experienced than regular deep divers, are on a dive trip with a group, and are drawn into diving deeper than they normally do because of the more relaxed holiday atmosphere and because “everyone’s doing it.” Such divers are often not sufficiently trained, mentally prepared and appropriately equipped to deal with a problem should it occur on a deep dive.
It becomes obvious that there is no safe depth limit that applies to all divers all of the time. A diver’s ability to cope with depth depends on a number of highly variable factors. The depth of the onset of the effects of the exotic cocktail of elevated pressures of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen, coupled with the sensory deprivation and stress associated with diving, are not always predictable. A dive to 80 feet in cold, dirty water can be far more hazardous than a dive to twice the depth in warm, clear waters. Factors such as visibility, water temperature and diver experience and preparedness greatly affect a diver’s comfort and safety, rather than depth alone.
Divers in remote locations must also be aware of the complications associated with medical evacuation. These can include significant delays in retrieval due to lack of current availability of an aircraft and and/or medical team, the distances involved, as well as the accessibility of some airstrips in darkness or adverse weather conditions. Such delays can impact the amount and the effectiveness of the subsequent recompression treatment, and the likelihood of residual injury.
In addition, once a diver has been evacuated and/or treated for DCI, they will be advised to avoid air travel or driving to altitude for between three days and six weeks post treatment to avoid recurrence of symptoms. This can certainly impinge upon the diver’s travel and work commitments.
As with many things in life, one must balance the risks against the benefits and make a decision. However, it is essential to have a real understanding and appreciation of the risks.
What is Technical Diving?
Technical diving (sometimes referred to as Tec diving) is a form of scuba diving that exceeds the scope of recreational diving (although the vast majority of technical divers dive for recreation and nothing else). Technical divers require advanced training, extensive experience, specialized equipment and often breathe breathing gases other than air or standard nitrox.
The concept and term ‘technical diving’ are both relatively recent advents,[note 1] although divers have been engaging in what is now commonly referred to as technical diving for decades. The term “technical diving” was first coined by Michael Menduno, editor of (now defunct) diving magazine AquaCorps in 1991.
Definition of ‘technical diving’
There is some level of professional disagreement as to what the term should encompass. It was not that many years ago that NITROX diving was considered “technical”; however today NITROX is not normally considered technical. Some say that technical diving is any type of SCUBA that is considered higher risk than conventional recreational diving. However, some advocate that this should include penetration diving (as opposed to open-water diving), whereas others contend that pentrating overhead environments should be regarded as a separate type of diving. Others seek to define technical diving solely by reference to the use of decompression. Certain minority views contend that certain non-specific higher risk factors should cause diving to be classed as technical diving. Even those who agree on the broad definitions of technical diving may disagree on the precise boundaries between technical and recreational diving.
PADI, the largest recreational diver training agency in North America, defines technical diving as “diving other than conventional commercial or recreational diving that takes divers beyond recreational diving limits. It is further defined as an activity that includes one or more of the following: diving beyond 40 meters/130 feet, required stage decompression, diving in an overhead environment beyond 130 linear feet from the surface, accelerated stage decompression and/or the use of multiple gas mixtures in a single dive.”
NOAA defines technical diving in this way: “Technical diving is a term used to describe all diving methods that exceed the limits imposed on depth and/or immersion time for recreational scuba diving. Technical diving often involves the use of special gas mixtures (other than compressed air) for breathing. The type of gas mixture used is determined either by the maximum depth planned for the dive, or by the length of time that the diver intends to spend underwater. While the recommended maximum depth for conventional scuba diving is 130 ft, technical divers may work in the range of 170 ft to 350 ft, sometimes even deeper. Technical diving almost always requires one or more mandatory decompression “stops” upon ascent, during which the diver may change breathing gas mixes at least once.” NOAA does not address issues relating to overhead environments in its definition.
The following table tries to set out the broad indicative parameters of what is normally regarded as technical rather than recreational diving.
Technical dives may be defined as being either dives to depths deeper than 130 feet / 40 meters or dives in an overhead environment with no direct access to the surface or natural light. Such environments may include fresh and saltwater caves and the interior of shipwrecks. In many cases, technical dives also include planned decompression carried out over a number of stages during a controlled ascent to the surface at the end of the dive.
The depth-based definition is derived from the fact that breathing regular air while experiencing pressures causes a progressively increasing amount of impairment due to nitrogen narcosis that normally becomes serious at depths of 100 feet / 30 metres or greater. Increasing pressure at depth also increases the risk of oxygen toxicity based on the partial pressure of oxygen in the breathing mixture. For this reason technical diving often includes the use of breathing mixtures other than air.
These factors increase the level of risk and training required for technical diving far beyond that required for recreational diving. This is a fairly conservative definition of technical diving.
Inability to ascend directly
Technical dives may alternatively be defined as dives where the diver cannot safely ascend directly to the surface either due to a mandatory decompression stop or a physical ceiling. This form of diving implies a much larger reliance on redundant equipment and training since the diver must stay underwater until it is safe to ascend or the diver has left the overhead environment.
Decompression stops
A diver at the end of a long or deep dive may need to do decompression stops to avoid decompression sickness, also known as the “bends”. Metabolically inert gases in the diver’s breathing gas, such as nitrogen and helium, are absorbed into body tissues when breathed under high pressure during the deep phase of the dive. These dissolved gases must slowly be released from body tissues by pausing or “doing stops” at various depths during the ascent to the surface. In recent years most technical divers have greatly increased the depth of the first stops, so as to reduce the risk of bubble formation before the [more traditional] long shallow stops. Most technical divers breathe enriched oxygen breathing gas mixtures such as nitrox during the beginning and ending portion of the dive. To avoid nitrogen narcosis while at maximum depth it is common to use trimix which adds a percentage of helium replacing nitrogen to the diver’s breathing mixture. Pure oxygen is then used during shallow decompression stops to reduce the time needed by the diver to effectively rid themselves most of remaining excess inert gas in their body tissues and reducing the risk of “the bends.” Surface intervals are usually required to prevent the residual nitrogen from building up to dangerous levels on subsequent dives.
Physical ceiling
These types of overhead diving can prevent the diver surfacing directly:
* Cave diving – diving into a cave system.
* Deep diving – diving into greater depths.
* Ice diving – diving under ice.
* Wreck diving – diving inside a shipwreck.
Extremely Limited Visibility
Technical dives in waters where the diver’s vision is severely impeded by low-light conditions, caused by silt or depth, require an elevated level of aptitude because of the knowledge and skill required to operate in such an environment, and because visibility impairments are often caused by moving water currents. The combination of low visibility and swift current make these technical dives extremely risky to all but the most skilled and well-equipped divers.[citation needed]
Gas mixes
Technical dives may also be defined by the use of hypoxic breathing gas mixtures other than air such as trimix, heliox, and heliair. This definition is derived from the fact that breathing a mixture with the same oxygen concentration as is found in air (roughly 21%) at depths greater than 180 feet / 55 meters results in a very rapidly increasing risk of severe symptoms of oxygen toxicity. The first sign of oxygen toxicity is usually a convulsion without warning. This convulsion usually results in a fatal accident, as the regulator falls out and the victim drowns. Sometimes the victim may get warning symptoms prior to the convulsion. These can include visual and auditory hallucinations, nausea, twitching (especially in the face and hands), irritibility and mood swings and dizziness. Increasing pressure due to depth also causes nitrogen to become narcotic, resulting in a reduced ability to react or think clearly (see Nitrogen narcosis). By adding helium to the breathing mix, divers can reduce these effects, as helium does not have the same narcotic properties at depth. These gas mixes can also lower the level of oxygen in the mix to reduce the danger of oxygen toxicity. Once the oxygen is reduced below 18% the mix is known as a hypoxic mix as it doesn’t contain enough oxygen to be used safely at the surface.
Nitrox is another common gas mix, and while it is not used for deep diving, it decreases the build up of nitrogen within the diver’s body by increasing the percentage of oxygen. This reduces the nitrogen percentage, as well as allowing for a greater number of multiple dives vs “standard” air. The depth limit of Nitrox is governed by the percentage of oxygen used, as there are multiple oxygen percentages available in nitrox. Further training and knowledge is required in order to safely use and understand the effects of these gases on the body in a diving situation.
“Deep air”/extended range diving
One of more divisive subjects in technical diving relates to using compressed air as a breathing gas on dives below 130 feet/40 meters. Whilst the largest technical diver training agencies still promote and teach such courses (TDI, IANTD and DSAT/PADI), there is an increasingly vocal minority (NAUI Tec, GUE, UTD) which argues that diving deeper on air is unacceptably risky, and argue that helium mixes should be used for dives beyond a certain limit (100 – 130 feet, depending upon agency). Such courses used to be referred to as “deep air” courses, but are now commonly called “extended range” courses.
Deep air proponents base the proper depth limit of air diving upon the risk of oxygen toxicity. Accordingly, they view the limit as being the depth at which partial pressure of oxygen reaches 1.4 ATA (which occurs at about 186 feet/50 metres). Helitrox/triox proponents argue that the defining risk should be nitrogen narcosis, and suggest that when the partial pressure of nitrogen reaches approximately 4.0 ATA (which occurs at about 125 feet/38 meters) helium is necessary to offset the effects of the narcosis.
DAN does not formally reject deep air diving per se, but it is keen to point out a number of additional risks which such diving involves.
Equipment
Technical divers may also use various forms of less common diving equipment to accomplish their goals. Typically technical dives involve significantly longer durations than average recreational scuba dives. As decompression stops act as a virtual overhead, preventing a diver with a problem from surfacing immediately, there is a need for redundant equipment. Technical divers usually carry at least two tanks, each with its own regulator. In the event of a failure, the second tank and regulator acts as a back-up system. Technical divers therefore increase their supply of available breathing gas by either connecting multiple high capacity diving cylinders and/or by using a rebreather. The technical diver may also carry additional cylinders, known as stage bottles, to ensure adequate breathing gas supply for decompression with a reserve for bail-out in case of failure of their primary breathing gas. The stage cylinders are normally carried using an adaptation of a sidemount configuration.
Training
Technical diving requires specialised equipment and training. There are many technical training organisations: see the Technical Diving section of List of diver training organizations. Technical Diving International (TDI), Global Underwater Explorers (GUE), International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD) and National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) seem to be popular as of 2009. Recent entries into the market include Unified Team Diving (UTD), and Diving Science and Technology (DSAT), the technical arm of Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). The Scuba Schools International (SSI) Technical Diving Program (TechXR – Technical eXtended Range) was launched in 2005.
British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) training has always had a technical element to its higher qualifications, however it has recently begun to introduce more technical level Skill Development Courses into all its training schemes, by introducing technical awareness into its lowest level qualification of Ocean Diver, for example, nitrox will become mandatory. It has also recently introduced trimix qualifications and continues to develop closed circuit training.
Divers Explore Sunken Village in Thailand
Today Big Blue Tech and divers under instruction for their TDI Extended Range course leave Koh Tao island for the main land for 5 days of deep technical diving in Khao Sok National Park. In Khao Sok National Park resides a sunken village and buddhist temple which has become a popular attraction for technical divers since it’s discovery by Big Blue Tech in February of 2009.
This expedition takes 6 technical divers half way across thailand for true remote diving.
Today consisted of boosting o2, servicing regulators, emergency planning and loading of massive pile of technical diving equipment needed for such diving which is enough. One diver alone will be equiped with the following.
3 torches, 2 reels, 2 lift bags, 1 o2 at 200 bar, 1 nitrox and 1 twin set. Double bladder wing, spare mask, cutting tools, gloves and pockets.
With 6 of us diving and 1 for surface cover you can imagine the day has been very hot and sweaty while sorting out the logistics. However, on the up side all the work and planning gives these divers a unique experience unlike any other.
During this time there will be no news. We will be back in contact on the 24th of September.
Simon Garrity – SSI Instructor Trainer
Congratulations are in order for Simon Garrity who has become a SSI Instructor Training here at Big Blue. Simon has been a member of staff here for many years and has moved into the prestigious role of training future SSI Instructors and Dive Control Specialists.
A big party was held in his honor at Vibe bar on Sai Ree beach with a free BBQ.
Simon immediately gets to work starting SSI Instructor level training from full instructor courses to cross over. He’s even got our recreational dive masters an upgrade from PADI Divemaster to SSI DiveCon so they can teach more and offer more to our customers.
Cave Divers Risk Their Lives to Explore the Underworld
For the past 14 years, photographer and filmmaker Jill Heinerth has been exploring underwater caves around the world, from lava tubes off the coast of North Africa to icebergs in the Antarctic. Wired.com recently caught up with Heinerth to talk about some of her most exciting cave diving moments, as well as the recent technological advances that have made cave diving easier, safer and more accessible to recreational divers. This gallery showcases some of Heinerth’s best underwater images and includes captions adapted from our conversation with her.
Above: “My Neighborhood Cave” in High Springs, Florida
Heinerth snapped this photo of herself as she descended through the tannic water of the Santa Fe River into her neighborhood cave in High Springs, Florida. The swirling orange blaze above her comes from the mixing of river water, stained red by decaying cypress trees, with crystal blue spring water flowing from the cave. The giant black mask she’s wearing is connected to a special diving tank called a rebreather.
“Basically, it does the same thing as a space suit,” Heinerth said. “In normal scuba gear, you’re inhaling gas and exhaling a column of bubbles into the water. But in a rebreather, you’re actually recycling your air, with carbon dioxide getting scrubbed out of the mixture and oxygen getting added back in. With an electronic rebreather, you can tune the gases that you’re using, so that in deeper water you can use helium and other gases to get the optimal mixture of breathing gas for deep water.”
TDI Decompression Procedures in Thailand
Today Big Blue Tech completed a TDI Decompression Procedures course for Andy Holdaway, Panos Iosifoglou, and Steve Jeffs under the instruction of James Thornton-Allan. Additionally the course was joined by Nathaniel Weiss who is perfecting his skills under supervision of Technical Divemaster Christos Kardana
The TDI Decompression Procedures course, which was combined with TDI Advanced Nitrox, covers a variety of unqiue skills and training to allow the diver to complete decompression dives up to 45m using a variety of oxygen based gas mixes.
The course began with advanced buoyancy skills, equipment orientation, gas planning, task loading and handling advanced mixes of nitrox.
Today the students completed 2 accelerated decompression dives at Chumphon Pinnacle dive site in Koh Tao Thailand. The goal of all dives was to not touch the ground at any point or make contact with any object using their newly honed buoyancy skills. It was also essential to deploy a lift bag on every dive, the lift bag and reel can often lead to problems with loosing depth control or entanglement.
The students final dive exposed them to a 24 minute stop at 4.5m. Although they had already cleared their schedule according to their Suunto Vytec DS gas switching computer (provided as standard on all courses) it was essential for the students to build up tolerance to hanging in water in a controlled manner.
Tomorrow begins the start of the TDI Extended Range course which will begin with advanced oxygen handling, simulated in-water recompression procedures (full face mask), decompression buddy breathing and a variety of unique skills found only in the TDI syllabus. The TDI Extended Range course will then hit the road for Khao Sok where the students will complete their TDI Cavern Course and finish the deep dives on the sunken village in the middle of the national park. This option for training is only open to the most comfortable technical student due to it’s remote and challenging environment.
All images copyright Christos Kardana – Big Blue Tech
European diver plans to break world record in Malta
A scuba diver will next weekend attempt to break a Guinness World Record by spending 40 hours underwater in aid of the Aquatic Environment Protection Charity he recently set up.
The world record for salt open-water dives stands at 24 hours and 35-year-old Irishman Sean McGahern, who only started diving six years ago, is gearing up for the challenge, determined to break it.
His training so far has seen him stay underwater for 12 hours, trying and testing his equipment, gas mixes, decompression times, nitrogen and central nervous system levels, anything that goes into keeping a human being alive in a fish’s environment for close to two days.
The event will be held at the Reef Club at the Westin Dragonara Resort in an underwater valley that is always sheltered. Only a force five wind and more would be a cause for postponement.
Mr McGahern is “quite confident” he can survive the 40 hours underwater, starting on Saturday at 3 a.m. to surface at 9 p.m. on Sunday. “No one has ever tried to do something like this here,” he said.
He has clocked up about 700 dives since he took up the sport as a mere hobby before deciding to take things seriously four years ago, becoming an instructor in two.
Mr McGahern is not put off by the fact that an attempt to break the record last December failed due to computer glitches and he will have no fewer than four top-of-the-range computers strapped to his arms, each costing about €1,400, just in case one shuts down.
Mr McGahern is not short of plan Bs and will even have a laminated sheet with pre-planned dive details in the eventuality that even the land-based computer monitoring his moves goes haywire.
The worst-case scenario is that he goes back to basics – to the way things were done before technology took over.
Neither is he put off by the fact that someone is already planning to break his record next month. “I plan to do the same next year,” is his comeback… and the competition goes on.
Working as security man at a bar, Mr McGahern knows a thing or two about safety measures and no stone has been left unturned. He will be wearing a dry suit designed for this purpose, complete with electric transmitters and battery packs to warm him up inside.
At a depth of 15 metres – and definitely not higher than 11 as Guinness stipulates – for almost two days, Mr McGahern is actually likely to feel warm. In fact, his dry suit, hanging after a 12-hour trial, may be wet on the inside… but from sweat!
It has been fitted with a latex sock around his neck to seal the opening and ensure water does not seep through. One of his trials, in fact, had to be cancelled when the neck opening started to move and he was up to his ankles in water.
Mr McGahern will also be wearing a full-face mask, which means he need not have to keep a regulator in his mouth as this could easily fall out due to muscle fatigue. But if that contraption were to fail, he has quick-release toggles to remove it, another two regulators strapped to his neck and a normal mask on stand-by at his waist.
Only a limited area on his neck is being constantly exposed to the salt water, which can have a “pickled” effect on the skin and lead to brittleness and erosion. But water-resistant, salt-barrier creams seemed to be doing the trick, he said.
It could get lonely, boring and dark down there and Mr McGahern has made provisions for this eventuality. He plans to keep active, engaging in a clean-up of the sea bed and offering specialised courses in underwater navigation, mapping, buoyancy and photography.
Neither will he be deprived of food but he will have to be satisfied with a diet of sugary juices, sugared water and soups he can sip out of energy-drink bottles as well as cream cheese and pâté from tubes. What he does with the food once it has been digested is another story…
Mr McGahern will also be regularly changing his twin-set tanks as no air breaks are allowed.
And when it’s time to sleep… well, even that can be arranged it seems. During his last trial, he did manage to catch 40 winks in his water bed.
He will also be constantly backed up by three divers and in the company of organised night dives. And the support will be spilling on to the shores, with friends travelling from overseas to back him in his aim to raise funds for the installation and improvement of facilities, such as toilets, at dive sites.
The plan is also to tie marker buoys with wire as their ropes are often cut by fishermen, the buoys removed and nets cast to catch fish in these areas, Mr McGahern lamented.
Donations for the cause can be made to the Maritime Environment account number 4001843991-1.
Technical Diving and Stress
Stress is a medical term for a wide range of strong external stimuli, both physiological and psychological, which can cause a physiological response called the general adaptation syndrome, first described in 1936 by Hans Selye in the journal Nature. As we all know, stress surfaces in our everyday lives and can affect everyone differently. Being late for a meeting, trying to juggle too many things at once, or dealing with a loved one’s death can all induce different levels of stress. Almost anything in life today can cause some form of stress, whether it’s physical stress or psychological stress. Learning how to deal with stress is something we begin to do very early in life, and everyone’s ability to cope can be different as well as change over time.
Stress is also very alive in diving. Every diver can encounter physical stressors while diving, such as the diving environment, like water temperature, animal life, currents, visibility, and depth, as well as equipment-related stress and fitness level stress. Equipment-related stress is often too common amongst divers who have not adapted well or learned how to use their equipment properly and efficiently or can happen when equipment is poorly maintained and has routine malfunctions or failures. Fitness level stressors can include poor swimming skills, low endurance levels, and equipment carrying problems. All of these elements can increase a divers stress level.
Psychological stressors can be a variety of things, from peer pressure and dive requirements pressure to competency levels and dive expectations. All of these stressors, as well as life stressors can all play a roll and affect a diver’s ability to mentally and physically handle the requirements of a dive.
Technical diving stressors
In technical diving, the “requirements” of a dive increase considerably, and as a result, stressors can increase exponentially and place considerable more pressure on a diver. Technical diving exposes divers to a whole different level of stressors, although the stressors still fall within the physical and psychological categories. Technical divers carry more equipment, dive deeper and longer, and perform staged decompression. Technical diving increases your task loading and thus can increase the amount of actual and perceived stress on a diver. Perception is a powerful weapon and can create panic and hysteria in a diver even if the “actual” stressor or threat is not that bad. Maintaining control of your brain and stress levels is key for a technical diver.
Penetrating a wreck and diving in a cave force a diver into an overhead environment, meaning that there is no direct escape to the surface. When inside a wreck or cave, the conditions are dark, potentially silty, and require competent decision making skills. Depth of a technical dive, decompression requirements, environmental conditions (currents, visibility, water temperature, etc.), bottom time, and the increased requirement of equipment all play a roll in the stress levels of a technical diver. Any one of these by themselves can create stress on a diver, but when technical diving, many of these elements are combined do to the nature of the dives. Being in a silty part of a cave, 1,000 feet from the entrance and 250 feet deep, with a scooter and stage bottle strapped to you with decompression obligations before you can surface and having a regulator failure can place incredible stress on a diver as well as the dive team. You must be able to deal with the situation quickly, while maintaining composure and heading safely for the exit. Panicking can lead to death.
Other stressors on the technical diver or dive team are swimming and exertion demands, egos and peer pressure, disorientation, dependency on another diver in the team, lack of training, poor technique or skill levels, perceived physical threats (shark, etc.), and differences in breathing rates. As a technical diver, you are exposed to many of these potential stressors and you need to be aware of them and know how to deal with them.
Recognizing stressors
Technical divers must be aware of the task loading and potential threats that can lead to excessive stress for every dive. They must be able function adequately under pressure and know how to deal with the stress monster when it leaps on their back. Technical divers must also be able to recognize stress indicators. This is important for your safety and for the safety of a dive team. Some stress indicators are: increased breathing rate, tensing or freezing up, eyes opened wide (big eyes), inability to communicate, fixation on something (i.e. pressure gauge), and flight (bolting for the surface or exit). Knowing these indicators and being able to recognize them early is extremely important for the safety of a dive team. Discussing these elements with every member of the team so that each team member can recognize potential problems can be the difference between having a great dive and having a problem dive. Recognizing stressors early and dealing with them quickly and smartly can create comfort and confidence within a dive team.
There are also important personal stress indicators that technical divers should be aware of and know how to recognize within themselves. These indicators can clue you in on how “you” are feeling about a particular dive and can help to guide you in “your” decision making process, before, during, and after the dive. Elevated anxiety levels, feeling uneasy, nervous, or scared, having irritability, increased heart rate and adrenaline levels, and being apprehensive are all strong indicators of stress. Being self-aware, following your intuition, and acknowledging your stress levels are all important factors in developing your ability to understand and deal with stress.
Ways of controlling diving stress
One of the most important factors in controlling stress is to first recognize that stress exists as we talked about in the previous section. The tools necessary to control stress levels are self and team awareness, proper training, and by applying the new skill sets you’ve learned and practicing them over and over. Skills that have not been practiced and drilled become apparent when a dive takes a turn for the worse. Practiced skills rise to the surface and take over, where as unpracticed skills are quickly forgotten in a time of emergency.
The first step in stress control is focusing on your own personal training in both your physical skill set as well as your mental skill set. Your training should be ongoing and should be routinely evaluated for effectiveness and it should be practiced over and over. If you’re lacking in certain areas, seek help or training.
Other things you can do to control and reduce stress before and during a technical dive are:
- Locate like-minded dive team members
- Make a clear dive plan
- Dive the plan you created
- Discuss the dive procedures with everyone
- Make a clear bailout plan if you have to cut the dive short
- Maintain your equipment
- Know your equipment
- Use the appropriate equipment for the dive
- Practice with your equipment
- Don’t introduce too much “new to you gear” on any one dive
- Communicate clearly with everyone on the team
- Communicate your concerns to the team
- Make sure the team knows and understands the same hand signals underwater
- Know the environment you’re diving in (water temp, currents, etc.)
- Get a good night’s sleep before the dive
- Hydrate well prior to the dive
- Intake the proper calories to sustain you through the dive
- Mark your decompression tanks and place them or carry them so that you know exactly what gasses are in them and at what depth you’re switching to them so that it’s smooth and easy
- Practice relaxation techniques prior to the dive
- Go through the dive in your head (visualize the dive)
- Know each of the skill levels for each member of your dive team
- Go over emergency skills with everyone on the team prior to the dive
- Communicate your dive plan to someone on the surface
- Carry a set of backup tables if you’re diving a computer in case the computer fails
- Calculate turn around times for the dive based on depth, time, distance, gas consumption, etc.
- Know “your” abilities, limitation, and training level. This is extremely important. Over-judging your abilities can significantly impair a dive team if you’re called upon to perform during a stressful situation and you’re skills and mindset aren’t up to the task.
References:
Millott, Robert F., Murphy, Milledge, Horodyski, Mary Beth, and Delude, Neil. Article: “Stress and Decompression Illness: Are They Related?”
Mount, Tom and Gilliam, Brett. Mixed Gas Diving. San Diego, CA: Watersport Publishing, Inc., 1993.
Mount, Tom. Technical Diver Encyclopedia. The International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers/IAND, Inc., 2003.
Safety Issues for Sport and Technical Diving: Training and Equipment
by Gary Taylor
This incident occurred nearly 13 years ago. I had just returned from the NSS-CDS Workshop and was helping a fellow cave instructor teach. The Memorial Day weekend and the Workshop meant that there were plenty of divers at the springs and sinks of North-Central Florida.
We decided that Sunday night we would get away from the group for a fun dive and determine the degree of difficulty in diving Cow Spring on the upstream side with back-mounted doubles, rather than a sidemount configuration (which was the traditional fashion in which the upstream side as visited at that time). We put our doubles in the fill tank at Hollis’ River Rendezvous and waited for Jim to fill them.
It took a while for the fills due to the all you could eat Barbecue Buffet and Jim was helping to serve guests in the restaurant that evening. During the wait, a diver asked me, “Where are you guys going to dive tonight?”
Instead of my usual vague, “We haven’t made up our mind,” I told the truth and said, “Upstream Cow.”
I immediately got the reply, “So are we!” (so much for avoiding “the crowd”).
My intuition told me, “Something isn’t right!” At first, I dismissed it as me just wanting to have the only silt stirred up at Cow to be that of my dive buddy and myself. (In other words, I wanted it to be very clear! I don’t go in caves to feel my way through, but rather to enjoy the beauty.)
That little voice wouldn’t be dismissed so easily. “Ask more questions!” it said. So I asked this other diver, “Are you sidemounting?” To which he replied, “Yes, these are my cylinders there and my buddy is bringing his.”
One look at the cylinders and my intuition soon chided, “I told you so! What is wrong with this picture?” One cylinder, an aluminum 80, had a rather thin piece of black surgical tubing around its’ middle, barely held on by one tie wrap. No stage straps, D-rings, clips, etc. You could almost hear the voice whisper, “I’m a sidemount wanna-be.”
The other three cylinders, all aluminum 80’s, were completely naked (with the exception of the hexagonal topped cylinder boots). I don’t know about your “inner voice” but mine has a sense of humor — not always appreciated by everyone (not always 100 percent politically correct, either). It was busy in the background saying things like, “I bet these guys will come equipped with ‘cave snorkels!’ You know the boots are probably so they can set their cylinders upright, should they have to drop one during the dive.”
Now that I had them cornered, I asked, “Have you guys ever been in the upstream side of Cow?”
Their reply was, “No, but we’ve poked our heads into the entrance.” The warning alarms were now going off at full blast! As most of you cave divers know, Cow Spring upstream is considered an advanced cave dive. The look on my face must have betrayed the thought processes taking place within, because the two divers quickly disappeared remarking to Jim, “We’ll be back for our cylinders in a little bit.”
Before supper that night, I related the conversation I’d had with the two divers to my dive buddy and fellow cave instructor. I told him I didn’t want to dive Cow upstream if we “had to eat the silt of the dive team of Laurel and Hardy — or, worse yet, had to be part of a recovery team.
During supper, I put on my detective hat to try and find out if anyone knew the background of these two divers. After a short time the facts were quickly in hand: They were found to be only cavern certified. Both had been observed pushing beyond the cavern zone at several sites. They had justified what they were doing to others because, “Cave equipment and training just costs too much.”
I was at this point livid. My dive buddy arrived at the table in his usual “timely” manner and must have sensed what I was thinking. I asked him if he remembered almost twelve years previous, while we were camping at Peacock Springs, watching Mark Leonard twice warn a couple of divers from Oklahoma that they should stay out of the cave zone because they lacked both the equipment and the training for such dives.
He answered in the affirmative. Then I asked, “Do you remember the outcome?” He indeed did remember that in less than an hour and a half, after listening to Mark warn them, he witnessed his first body recovery from a cave. I remarked, “Same scenario — they don’t have the proper equipment nor the proper training to do the dive — not to mention experience.”
My buddy said, “I don’t think they are going to show up. They know you are ‘on to them’. I think they decided instead to go on a night dive at Troy Spring.” My comment was, “I hope so because, should they show up, I would be the last person in their book to be nominated for Mr. Congeniality.”
Fortunately (for us and them) Laurel and Hardy didn’t show up that Sunday night at Cow Spring. We had a great dive. We surfaced, somewhere after midnight from an awesome dive with a half-hour deco, to the sounds of owls hooting in the woods. I hope that by “Divine Providence” this article finds its’ way into the hands of the mis-adventuresome duo while they still have time to “repent” — before the demons of the watery netherworld lay claim to their life through the gate of their own ignorance.
Moral of this story: The price of proper training and proper equipment (training and tools) is quite inexpensive compared to:
* The price of pain and suffering in the event of death or injury to:
o The victim.
o The surviving buddy (if one survives).
o Family.
o Friends.
o Acquaintances.
* The price that could have to be paid by the dive community in:
o Additional government regulation and restrictions.
o Negative publicity and public sentiment.
o Closed or severely restricted access to dive sites.
o Increased course and equipment prices to cover higher liability insurance premiums brought on by deaths and injuries.
Proper Training
Divers need proper training for specialized environments, equipment and gas mixtures.
* This may involve training for a particular environment such as: Cave Diving, River Diving, Ice Diving, Wreck Diving, etc.
* It may involve training for the operation of a specialized piece of diving equipment such as: Full Face Mask, Twin Sets (Doubles), Dive Propulsion Vehicles, Rebreathers, Dry Suits, etc.
* It might involve training for the use of various breathing mixtures (such as Air, Nitrox, Oxygen, Trimix, and Heliox) at a variety of depths and for decompression applications.
Sometimes training may involve a combination of the above types of training.
The training you get is only as good as your instructor. Here are some things to consider when selecting you dive instructor for any particular dive course:
* Level of training.
* Diving background.
* Performance of the instructor for the level of training.
* Ability to convey knowledge and concepts (teach).
* Level of knowledge in the subject being taught.
As in any profession, those with the greater levels of expertise may charge a bit more. Remember that it took time and money to obtain their level of expertise and will doubtless require more to maintain it! One should be very wary of an instructor who has risen through the ranks too quickly. If an instructor brings a high level of expertise, a majority of diver will be willing to pay for it.
Proper Equipment
When it comes to equipment selection, too many students put the cart before the horse. Students will sign up, ask what equipment is needed and with little more than a “shopping list” go out to purchase equipment for Sport or Extended Range/Technical diving equipment.
Hopefully, when they come to class, it will turn out that the equipment they purchased actually is suitable for the type of diving that will be doing. During the lecture section on equipment, all fingers are crossed that the small fortune the students have invested in their new diving equipment will not become a major loss. “You must have the right tool for the job”, a quote my grandfather was fond of, couldn’t be more appropriate when applied to proper selection of dive equipment.
To avoid problems:
* Schedule with your dive instructor, where possible, a time prior to the course to obtain advice as to what is equipment will be needed for the course as well as the criteria that should be used in selecting the equipment.
* Read through the Equipment section(s) of the course manual.
* Check the complete list of required equipment as outlined in the certification agency’s Standards and Procedures for that course.
In addition your instructor should also have listed the appropriate equipment required for the environment(s) in which you will be operating during training (and as it fits your goals afterward). Find out the additional equipment your instructor deems necessary above a beyond that listed above.
* Become educated about a wide variety of equipment choices (brands and models) that would fit the course criteria.
* Find out from your instructor if it is appropriate and workable to wait until they have covered equipment lectures for the course before selecting your diving equipment.
* Your instructor should quiz you as to your future diving goals and needs as they apply to equipment usage. This way you may be directed into dive equipment that has broader latitude of cross-platform usage.
I can’t over emphasize the importance of proper equipment selection. When applied to Extended Range or Technical diving, where the environments are less forgiving of poor choices, inadequacies, undependability, lack of primary redundancy, you must be certain that you have the right tool for the job.
Equipment must be viewed as what it truly is: underwater life-support. The selection process is an essential part of proper training as well a diving safety.
Remember:
* “Dive safety happens not by accident!”
* “Plan your dive. Dive your plan.” — Hal Watts
Gary Taylor is President of the Professional Scuba Association International (PSAI).
Gallery: Underwater Cave Photographers
Cave diving photography is one of the most challenging and potentially dangerous kinds of all human activities. A lot of things can go wrong when you go into a deep cave. Many more can go wrong when the cave is also filled with water. This said, imagine doing the last two while at the same time being occupied with the right angle and perfect lighting of a beautiful underwater cave shot. Not the easiest job on earth, ha? Naturally, this kind of activity requires special training and equipment. Cave diving is not a game. According to American Caving Accidents, a special yearly report of The National Speleological Society tracking cave diving accidents, 50 American divers have died in 44 fatal cave diving accidents since the year 2000 and until end of 2007 and the numbers keep going up. So, just to make sure – if you are not certified and trained for cave diving, don’t even think about trying it.
Gladly, in reality most underwater explorations end up with a satisfied diver and some very good stories, while some of them even have spectacular underwater photos to tell their stories for them. Following is a photo compilation from 6 cave diver-photographers who have followed the rules and came back to share their experience and photos with us. All images are copyrighted and are the property of the corresponding photographers. For more about Cave Diving see Wikipedia.
Wes Skiles
The underwater caving photographs of Wes Skiles are of the most well known and highly valued available nowadays anywhere in the world. Skiles is a professional high-definition nature photographer and film director and the CEO of Karst Productions, specializing in high-risk operations of nature exploration projects.
His clients include world leading media channels including the National Geographic with which he made quite a few amazing projects. During his career Skiles has won many awards including the HDFEST Deffie for Best Documentary Film (twice), Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival (finalist, 2003) Gold Aurora Award (2003), Crystal Reel Awards (2003) and Best Educational Film Cine Golden Eagle 2003.
http://www.wesskiles.com
Deighton
Deighton does not seem to be a professional cave diver yet he practices the combination of cave diving and photography and manages to obtain exceptional results with his photos. The above were taken during his cave diving journey in Mayan Riviera, Mexico on November 10-14, 2005. More photos from Deighton on this Picsa webAlbum.
Andreas W. Matthes
Andreas Matthes is a highly experienced Closed-Circuit Rebreathers Cave (CCR) Instructor living in Mexico who has been training CCR cave diving since 1997, conducting thousands of cave dives world wide. Matthes received the NSS-CDS International Cave Diving Safety Award as well as the NACD Wakulla Gold Award for 1000 completed cave dives, both in the year of 2001. For more about rebreathers technology see here.
Other than being a professional underwater cave diver and photographer Matthes is also an avid webmater. He runs a website dedicated to closed-circuit rebreathers (CCR) cave diving, a type of mixed-gas system, enabling descent to much greater depths than can be safely reached with oxygen rebreathers or normal compressed air equipment. For more about rebreathers technology see here. The above photos were taken in Mexico with an Olympus 3030 digital camera during a CCR exploration journey. The camera was placed into a Light and Motion Tetra housing featuring a screw-on wide angle lens converter.
http://www.andreaswmatthes.com
Allen Wooten
With a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree Allen Wooten spends most of his time doing Corporate Accounting for a Fortune 500 Company in South Georgia USA. On other times, just about every other weekend, Wooten likes diving to the North Florida caves.
Wooten is a certified member of the NSS-CDS and DAN and practice various technical diving activities including sidemount, drysuit and scooter/DPV diving, as well as cave diving photography. He has a low-volume garage factory for gas mixing of nitrox, trimix, and deco bottles at home and has previously adopted 50 ft of cave passage in the deep section (165 ft deep) of Lower Lower Orange Grove Sink.
http://www.cavedivingrocks.com
John Blausey
With 14 years of dive experience John Blausey has a record of thousands of dives all over the world. He is the principal instructor and manager of AcmeScuba, a company specializing in various adventurous dive training including night dives, deep dives, search and recovery and underwater photography.
As a Master SCUBA Diver Trainer, Blausey provides a complete diver training program set forth by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors. The above photographs were taken Jul 24, 2007 during an underwater caving trip in Dominican Republic. The camera in use is a Canon PowerShot G7. More photos from this dive on Blausey’s Picsa webAlbum.
Nick
Not much is known about Nick except for his first name and the fact he is a skilled cave diver and a talented underwater cave photographer. The above photo selection was taken on Jul 31 – August 1, 2007 during Nick’s caving journey in Florida. More photos from Nick on this Picsa webAlbum.
PADI Cave Diver Certification Released (DSAT)
PADI have released a statement inviting qualified Cave Diving Instructors from other agencies to write and submit distinctive specialty outlines for PADI. Many in the industry believe this is a move to have experienced cave instructors provide outlines and information to support the move for the technical diving branch of PADI called DSAT to introduce a program without the nessesity of being responsible for the outcome.
In an official release PADI says:
In true technical diver tenacity, comments from technical diving forums have been quite sceptical. In one instance “DecoBob” said:
“Why would i write a course outline, risk having my work amalgamated into their structure and pay for it when i already issue a well respected and recognized cave diving certification”
In response PADI has claimed that the benefit come from the respect of the entire brand and marketing support behind the program. In addition to this move in the vast restructuring of the DSAT Tec Rec system has been the invitation to cross over technical instructors for free (pre-requisites apply) and generally change the entire course structure to more resemble their closest competitor TDI (technical diving international)
For more information, you can find the read the DSAT Tec Rec Blog
Technical diver suffers burn injuries wreck diving
A diver has suffered burn injuries following an incident off the Old Head of Kinsale yesterday.
The man was diving near the wreck of the passenger ship Lusitania when his heat pad he was wearing ruptured. It is believed the man suffered burns to 30 per cent of his body. Such pads help to alleviate the cold during dives of greater depth.
According to a Coastguard spokesman, the man had been diving for 20 minutes at the time and was at “an extreme depth” of some 90 metres (some 300 feet) when the incident occurred.
The man, who was with a number of other divers, managed to make his way to the dive boat following a controlled ascent.
The Coast Guard received a call at 2.20pm and a Waterford-based helicopter airlifted the man, who is Irish, to Cork airport. He was then taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital. A rapid-response unit with a doctor was also in attendance, and the man arrived at hospital at 3.45pm.
A spokesman for Cork University Hospital described the man’s condition as “stable and comfortable” and said he was not suffering from decompression sickness.
It has been confirmed the man was diving under licence issued by the Department of the Environment.
The Lusitania, which lies some 12 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, sank after it was torpedoed by a German submarine on May 7th, 1915 with the loss of over 1,100 lives. The wreck is subject to a heritage order due to its historical significance.
Team America Dive Tech in Thailand
September 11th
A US Marine Officer, former US Airforce Engineer and a Private Security Consultant joined Big Blue Tech today for some decompression diving. All three men hail from New York and came to Big Blue Tech for different reasons but all dived together this morning.
Mike Borneo, US Marine Captain joined Big Blue Tech to get his TDI Advanced Nitrox but quickly moved on to complete his TDI Decompression Procedures course as well. Mike is on cultural attachment to the US Embassy in Thailand before his next deployment overseas in the new year.
Steve Papapanos, former US Airforce Engineer is travelling through thailand and came to Big Blue Tech for the same reasons as Mike and will continue his travells through the rest of Asia.
Nathaniel Weiss, Business Consultant for Private Security Companies overseas joined Big Blue Tech for his TDI Extended Range course and Khao Sok Expedition at the end of the month but came out today to receive a Technical Refresher before going straight into the course. Nathaniel will join 3 others later this month to start his extended range.
The course was conducted over 4 days and exposed the divers to accelerated decompression to 45m. The divers learned complex dive planning, equipment configuration and new diving techniques to allow them to dive deeper and longer than before.
The students enjoyed the diving so much the signed up for some additional experience dives right after the course. It was a great pleasure hanging out with these lads since we’re very much an ex military school and wish them all the luck in the future.
Canadian harbour sewage woes prompt new diving rules
Navy divers are taking extra precautions before jumping into the polluted Halifax harbour.
The sewage treatment plant on the Halifax waterfront broke down in January. Since then, 82 million litres of raw sewage and wastewater have been flowing into the harbour.
Leading Seaman Amalia Baptista has certainly noticed the difference.
“The worst part is when you’re on the surface and you’re getting ready to go down and you have all these things floating on the surface. Usually, you should keep your mask on and keep well sealed,” she said.
Baptista and other navy divers were out Tuesday for a corporate-sponsored beach sweep around Point Pleasant Park, off Blackrock Beach.
Since January, they’ve had to trade in their wetsuits for full protective gear that limits their exposure to pollution. The decontamination procedures include rinsing with fresh water, using antifungal ear drops and soaking gear in chemicals.
“We don’t want to get anyone sick due to the conditions,” said Petty Officer Jeff Smith, a dive trainer with the naval reserve.
In addition, the navy has designated parts of the harbour near sewage outfalls off-limits for dive training.
The sewage treatment plant malfunctioned on Jan. 14 following a power outage. Raw sewage flooded the station, destroying several kilometres of cable and electronic equipment.
Municipal officials have taken several steps, including adding large deodorant blocks, to mitigate the sewage stench.
Baptista finds the water “pretty dirty and stinky,” particularly compared to how it was when the sewage treatment plant was running. She said the harbour was much clearer then.
“It’s sad to see all this garbage and all this raw sewage being pumped into the ocean,” said Baptista.
Leading Seaman Robert Barker doesn’t like the floatables, either.
“We have a few nicknames for some of the things we come across from time to time,” said Barker, another diver.
Navy officials say there have been complaints about the foul sewage stench at the HMCS Scotian facility next to the sewer outfall, but no illnesses linked to it.
Officials with the Halifax Regional Municipality have said the sewage treatment plant will be fixed by the spring.
North Miami Beach detective dives into depths of dirty work
On one of North Miami Beach Detective Jim Randazzo’s first recovery missions as a police diver, he made a rookie mistake.
He found a plastic bag, its contents a mystery, and lifted it above his head to carry over to the canal bank.
Before he made it, the bottom of the bag fell open and the decomposed body of a dog — and the water it had been sitting in — spilled all over him.
“I’ve never done that again,” said Randazzo, who lives in Sunrise and is part of the North Miami Beach’s nine-member dive team.
That’s just one of the situations police divers encounter every time they splash into one of South Florida’s murky, animal-infested canals.
“When we are done with some of the dives, you can’t get to a bar of soap fast enough,” said Randazzo, 48, who is married with two daughters. He also works on the city’s SWAT team.
A North Miami Beach police detective’s salary ranges from $78,000 to $83,000, not including benefits.
Randazzo makes an additional $10 a week as a diver.
In order to become a police diver, a person must be a sworn officer and have advanced scuba certification. They must also take an 80-hour course to hone their skills: how to tow cars out of canals; rescue passengers after a plane crashes into water; and examine ship hulls for bombs, drugs and contraband.
It is not uncommon for them to come face-to-face — or face-to-tail — with snakes, crabs and the occasional alligator.
Divers often swim right into fluids that leak from vehicles dumped or accidentally driven into Miami-Dade waterways.
“Diesel is the worst,” said Randazzo, noting the stomach pains that follow. “It’s like drinking an entire pitcher of water in Mexico.”
Randazzo acknowledges the job often yields tragic discoveries: Divers sometimes stumble upon victims when performing routine searches.
Even wearing a mouthpiece, Randazzo said such discoveries have an unmistakable effect on his senses. “It’s like a pungent, sweet chocolaty taste that you will never forget. Never,” he said. “Once it gets in your mouth, it never leaves.”
On a recent Monday, Randazzo donned his flippers, 80-pound tank and wet suit and carefully jumped into North Miami Beach’s Snake Creek Canal as part of a training exercise.
When Randazzo surfaced, he was covered in green weeds and algae, carrying a rusted “No Parking” sign.
“It’s actually pretty clean today,” he said. “When you can see your hands, that’s a good day.”
Just another Lazy Afternoon in Paradise
August 9th 2009
Big Blue Tech found itself with a complete day off with the end of one course and another series of courses scheduled to begin. The Tech Crew used this say to service equipment, order new gear and plan for the series of incoming students and events.
Some of the activities included working more on one of our project rebreathers slated to be dived on next month. We’ve taken a old Drager Dolphin SCR and converting it to a side by side tank system with a mounting unit for a backplate and wing. Currently being engineered is a flexible manifold found already on the Halcyon rebreather. On this day we sorted out the scrubber and checked all the major features like possitive and negative pressure, flow rate and bubble check before taking it diving. The advantage of this little breather is for shallow caves and recreational diving. The film Sharkwater was created using one of these rebreathers so we’re hoping to integrate this unit into our future technical videography courses.
In addition to getting the rebreather organized was boosting pure oxygen to 200 bar for our remote technical diving expedition in Khao Sok where getting oxygen fills on the dive site will be difficult. This was also a chance for crew to show our intern how these systems work and how to operate them.
And much like any normal day at Big Blue Tech the local staff and divers came by for a coffee and a chat in our relaxed atmosphere.
Tomorrow will be very different with the start of an Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures Course.
Phuket’s ‘Coral Reef Squadron’ 90% destroyed
Phuket’s ‘Coral Reef Squadron’ sunk off Bang Tao Bay last November is 90 percent missing or destroyed, the Thai Dive Association admitted today.
Rainer Gottwald, head of the Thai Dive Association (TDA) technical committee, said TDA divers visited the site on Wednesday and were only able to find one of the 10 aircraft that formed the artificial reef.
Storms and heavy monsoon season currents were to blame, Mr Gottwald said.
Failure to follow instructions by some members of the team who chained the aircraft to large concrete blocks, and subsequent damage by trawlers,may also have played a role, he said.
The destruction of the site was ‘very upsetting’, given all the work and expense put into the project by the TDA and the numerous other agencies and organizations involved, he said.
The project was initiated by the Bangkok-based For Sea Foundation and funded to the tune of 4 million baht by the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organization, which hoped the reef would boost tourism in the area.
The project also received a great deal of private-sector sponsorship.
Mr Gottwald said the TDA would have to learn from its mistakes and would probably use train wagons instead of aircraft in future projects.
The ‘Coral Reef Squadron’ consisted of four Douglas C-47 Dakota Skytrain military transport aircraft and six Sikorsky S-58T helicopters.
The TDA divers were only able to find one Dakota during the dive on Wednesday, which followed a series of heavy storms, he said.
TDA divers will survey the area to try and learn more about the fate of the aircraft when sea conditions improve, he said.
Mr Gottwald said he did not think currents would carry the aircraft to the shore, because if that were going to happen it probably would have done so already.
The missing aircraft were probably buried beneath the sand, he said.
