While watching a program on OLN I saw a diver ascend right in to the bottom of the boat. It hurt just to see him get wacked right on the top of his head. Look up when you ascend.
Be careful
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Zept
Contributor
A couple of months ago my buddy and I were ascending through the murky brown liquid that passes for water around here. Suddenly she raises one arm over her head. 'Hm,' I think, 'I wonder if she's heard something.' I couldn't hear anything and didn't give it any further thought.
We surfaced to find a dive boat passing 3-4m from our heads.
Not one of my finer moments.
Z
We surfaced to find a dive boat passing 3-4m from our heads.
Not one of my finer moments.
Z
OP
Thats close!! The sound is sometimes hard to discern. The best I can describe is its somethiing like a medium to high pitched buzz. I stop my ascent if I hear it when I'm close to the surface and look all over for the boat and listen for the sound to fade away.
This is the primary reason why divers are told to "look up... reach up" when asending (the left arm is up with the hand on the inflator/deflator to let air out as you ascend).
It is also a good idea to look ALL around as you SLOWLY ascend (the slower, the better). Many people forget that because diving takes place in THREE DIMENSIONS they should be aware of where they are in relation to the surface and other things in the water.
~SubMariner~
It is also a good idea to look ALL around as you SLOWLY ascend (the slower, the better). Many people forget that because diving takes place in THREE DIMENSIONS they should be aware of where they are in relation to the surface and other things in the water.
~SubMariner~
Many years ago, my friend was struck by a sailboat. They don't make much noise. I usually halt at 10', stop breathing, and listen very intently. However, a boat moving at idle speed is not easy to hear. If it can be heard, the direction is difficult to ascertain. I always look up as a matter of routine, don't want to strike my own boat; besides, I like to check the bottom paint anyway.
kelpmermaid
Contributor
it was a sea gull. He saw my bubbles and was swooping down to see if I was something edible. He barely missed my head. We both screamed. The hand above the head thing is a good idea.
ebbtide
Guest
was just last summer when on the bottem (60 ft) that a fishing boat went over head . the sound from the desel motor and the prop was defning, it was if it was going to eat me up , so it felt ,
the next week i was in the same aera and the local ferry witch i had timed to to be gone , was on its way back to dock beacuse of an emergency , being afraid of getting sucked up i quickly made my way back to my down line witch was attached to my boat . figured it wouldent run over my boat and flag . that was loud ,
could feal the prop as it went through the water .
never want to be arround it ever agin .
the next week i was in the same aera and the local ferry witch i had timed to to be gone , was on its way back to dock beacuse of an emergency , being afraid of getting sucked up i quickly made my way back to my down line witch was attached to my boat . figured it wouldent run over my boat and flag . that was loud ,
could feal the prop as it went through the water .
never want to be arround it ever agin .
I read an article I probably found the link to in a post, I can't remember. The gist of the story is 2 divers were making an out of air ascent and hit the dive boat whose engines were running but the prop was in idle. They hit hard enough to engage the prop and both divers sustained fatal injuries when the thing started turning in their faces. Sharks don't scare me, boat props do! Machinery does not wince in pain or change it's mind about doing harm if you make an aggressive move toward it.
When we dove the Nekton Pilot we did a drift dive where the Nekton followed the group as we drifted along. I searched for the boat every time I heard the engines even though we were at 80 feet. At the end of the dive we surfaced as a group and the captain would back the boat toward us and cut the engines. The order "swim, swim, swim" was given and 4 people would swim the 200 feet or so to the boat and board. Once the divers were aboard the captain re-positioned the boat so the next 4 could board and so on until the whole group was aboard. When I saw that big boat backing toward me all I could think was "get out of the way!" and started backing up in terror! My buddy had to hold my hand to keep me from running away from the boat, I was so focused on being "eaten" by the props! Let's just say it didn't take me long to get on the boat once I swam to it, didn't even take off my fins, just climbed the christmas tree ladder and that was just because I wasn't going fast enough to do a dolphin jump onto the deck!
Ber
When we dove the Nekton Pilot we did a drift dive where the Nekton followed the group as we drifted along. I searched for the boat every time I heard the engines even though we were at 80 feet. At the end of the dive we surfaced as a group and the captain would back the boat toward us and cut the engines. The order "swim, swim, swim" was given and 4 people would swim the 200 feet or so to the boat and board. Once the divers were aboard the captain re-positioned the boat so the next 4 could board and so on until the whole group was aboard. When I saw that big boat backing toward me all I could think was "get out of the way!" and started backing up in terror! My buddy had to hold my hand to keep me from running away from the boat, I was so focused on being "eaten" by the props! Let's just say it didn't take me long to get on the boat once I swam to it, didn't even take off my fins, just climbed the christmas tree ladder and that was just because I wasn't going fast enough to do a dolphin jump onto the deck!
Ber
had you reeled your dive flag in so you were slose to it while surfacing?
Zept
Contributor
I should have put up a safety sausage when surfacing -- and I certainly will in future -- but this was one of those 'compounding problems' dives. We got frustrated, gave up and came up.
We lived (fortunately) and learnt... but I'm well aware that I got a couple of gifts from the dive gods that day.
Z
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