Another Eagles Nest fatality

[The Chairman]

I thought you couldn't even go into the solution tube for any reason unless full cave certified

There are no cave trolls present to stop you. I've been to the tube and the only thing that stopped my descent was common sense. Nothing down there worth dying for.

 

[boulderjohn]

Just for information....

For PADI, teaching trimix in a cave requires the instructor to be a cave instructor and the student to be full cave certified.

 

[KevinNM]

This is a public site, so it would be near impossible to impose these restrictions without spending an insane amount of money to keep someone there 24/7 to keep tabs on everyone

A few exemplary executions might gain the attention of the clueless. Having to bail your class and instructor out of jail...

 

[CuzzA]

I want to add a general statement here on getting an open water certification. This may or may not have anything to do with this incident, but I think it's worth noting since it was brought up earlier.

I was in a class the other day and as many of you old timers know , some of you were diving before there was such thing as a cert. One of the guys in the class had been diving long before there was any certifications offered. He finally got around to getting certified out of the necessity of getting fills and OP access. I've heard this story many times on here.

Again, no idea if that has anything to do with this incident and it may not even matter. But given his age, it's quite possible he wasn't some novice off the street who walked into a shop. He very well could have been diving many times before in the past.

 

[cerich]

I want to add a general statement here on getting an open water certification. This may or may not have anything to do with this incident, but I think it's worth noting since it was brought up earlier.

I was in a class the other day and as many of you old timers know , some of you were diving before there was such thing as a cert. One of the guys in the class had been diving long before there was any certifications offered. He finally got around to getting certified out of the necessity of getting fills and OP access. I've heard this story many times on here.

Again, no idea if that has anything to do with this incident and it may not even matter. But given his age, it's quite possible he wasn't some novice off the street who walked into a shop. He very well could have been diving many times before in the past.

The owner of Scubaboard (@NetDoc ) has actually known Charles since their teens..I suspect he can address that thought.

 

[boulderjohn]

I was in a class the other day and as many of you old timers know , some of you were diving before there was such thing as a cert. One of the guys in the class had been diving long before there was any certifications offered. He finally got around to getting certified out of the necessity of getting fills and OP access.

I doubt there are many people like that. NAUI started offering certifications in 1960 or 1961--not sure which. Before that there was Los Angeles and the YMCA.

Here is a story about the need to be OW certified. The diver in question was on a special dive trip in Australia in 1967. When the boat captain insisted that no one could dive without a certification card, he was in trouble. He explained that his father had taught him to use scuba when he was only 7 years old, and now, 20 years later, he had completed thousands of dives but never been certified, since certification did not exist when he learned. The captain would not allow it. Eventually the crew talked the captain into allowing Jean-Michelle Cousteau to dive on that trip, and when he returned home, he went immediately to PADI to get his certification so he would not have to go through that again.

Jean-Michelle Cousteau was the second human being to breathe off of the Gagnon-Cousteau regulator, and he had to get certified while still quite young. How many people have you met that started before he did?

 

[bumcikaz]

I doubt there are many people like that. NAUI started offering certifications in 1960 or 1961--not sure which. Before that there was Los Angeles and the YMCA.

Here is a story about the need to be OW certified. The diver in question was on a special dive trip in Australia in 1967. When the boat captain insisted that no one could dive without a certification card, he was in trouble. He explained that his father had taught him to use scuba when he was only 7 years old, and now, 20 years later, he had completed thousands of dives but never been certified, since certification did not exist when he learned. The captain would not allow it. Eventually the crew talked the captain into allowing Jean-Michelle Cousteau to dive on that trip, and when he returned home, he went immediately to PADI to get his certification so he would not have to go through that again.

Jean-Michelle Cousteau was the second human being to breathe off of the Gagnon-Cousteau regulator, and he had to get certified while still quite young. How many people have you met that started before he did?

My dive buddy has his padi ow card from 1969 lol

 

[The Chairman]

I believe Chuck came to be a Scuba enthusiast just recently. When we caught up a year or so ago, I was surprised he had just gotten certified. I was one of those who was diving many, many years without certification. There were certifications available, but frankly I was scared of them.

 

[CuzzA]

@NetDoc my mother always tells me stories of how much she loved diving. Never certified.

She finally stopped as she got older and I think started to realize she wasn't invincible. And she didn't want to go through the training.

Florida. Lots of water. Lots of divers. I imagine many people took their first breath underwater off a friends rig.

 

[redacted]

A few exemplary executions might gain the attention of the clueless. Having to bail your class and instructor out of jail...

Are you suggesting we need to call for government licensing and harsh penalties for failure to fo!low the law?