dive detectives on tv

[BradnerBoy]

"Old Man's Booty"....eeeewww! WTF have you got us watching Gabriel???

You can watch the full episodes here. I do not know if it'll work for viewers outside of Canada.

 

[Rhone Man]

Sounds a whole lot like Deep Sea Detectives; I am all for diving related shows, no matter how corny.

I am kind of ashamed that someone found a 'Ghost ship' on Saba banks (my back yard) in 2006 and I never even heard about it. What was the outcome of that episode (I can't watch the clips online outside of Canadia).

 

[BradnerBoy]

Sounds a whole lot like Deep Sea Detectives; I am all for diving related shows, no matter how corny.

Actually, that was for another show called "Pawn Stars", but I digress...

I am kind of ashamed that someone found a 'Ghost ship' on Saba banks (my back yard) in 2006 and I never even heard about it. What was the outcome of that episode (I can't watch the clips online outside of Canadia).

In the end, the ship was intentionally scuttled by the owner.

The ship in question originally broke down and was adrift and taking on water (believed to be an initial scuttling attempt) when a local salvage company towed it back to another island, where she stayed for some time for repairs. The salvage captain said he figured something fishy was up when they put a couple band-aids on her and sailed off.

What was so perplexing to the locals was that there were no distress calls made around the time she went down. When Mike and Warren dived her, it was striped and there was evidence of anyone going down with her. Well, now we know why.

As for viewing it outside of ze mutherland, try searching for a Torrent of it or use an IP Anonymizer. God bless the Interwebs.

 

[Slamfire]

"Old Man's Booty"....eeeewww! WTF have you got us watching Gabriel???

You can see other people watching real old man's booty here.

 

[rob1967]

Yeah, I get a big kick out of watching "Dive Detectives", I think I have seen every episode so far, they started quite recently. It's kind of funny how they try to "MTV" it with the rock music and other video effects. It makes "Sea Hunters" seem kind of stodgy. But I wish they were a bit more scientific. A bit of narration would be nice.

Last night, I saw the Saba ghost ship episode n the Caribbean. (I watched it off the PVR, I think it was on a few nights ago). Warren gets skin bends in that one.

I guess the final verdict was that it was a scuttle job, presumably for insurance money. Since there is no narrator, they kind of leave you guessing.

I really enjoyed the Philippines episode which aired a few weeks ago, when they dive on a lost US WWII submarine in Balabac straight. It's very deep, 300+ feet trimix dive, and I think that is the other episode where Warren gets bent, but I can't recall for certain.

All in all, I quite like the series.

 

[nadwidny]

Havent watched Deepsea Detectives...but like watching the Sea Hunters.
The Fletchers have done some really neat dives. Not always the way the "scuba police" would do it, but hey do get the job done.

It's not about scuba police it's that they don't get the job done, especially considering their budget. On most of those Sea Hunters episodes where Mike was on surface supply it was a waste of time to send him down in the first place as he was way too limited by his tether. I've been on several of the east coast wrecks that the Sea Hunters were on (one of them on the same day), and using OC and scooters we would cover and film so much more area than he did it isn't even funny. The only thing he did that we couldn't was when he went inside the L26 submarine. That we couldn't do. So that part was cool.

And his helmet cam footage is a joke. It's hard to believe that a producer would think that all those jerky, narrow shots would be acceptable for a TV show. Between the tether and the helmet cam it makes it a very frustrating show for me to watch.

I've only seen the Saba episode of the new show and it appears they have so far dropped the surface supply rig so that is a good thing. Their camera work is looking better. However I could do with way fewer shots of Mike's face as he swims along looking serious.

I especially like Warrens' "full suit, doubles, 2 stages, full camera rig," jump off the side of a Eastcoast steel trawler. Nothing like 500+lbs of diver hitting the water from 15'.

Nothing like destroying your camera housing and lights while doing that.

 

[wedivebc]

Sounds a whole lot like Deep Sea Detectives; I am all for diving related shows, no matter how corny.

I am kind of ashamed that someone found a 'Ghost ship' on Saba banks (my back yard) in 2006 and I never even heard about it. What was the outcome of that episode (I can't watch the clips online outside of Canadia).

Actually I recorded that episode. I could post it somewhere for you. It's an hour long show so the file is not small though.

 

[Slamfire]

It's not about scuba police it's that they don't get the job done, especially considering their budget.

I think I understand what you mean. Initially I took an interest in watching another show called Destination Truth. After a while it gets frustrating because the guys on that show never discover anything. Pretty soon it becomes obvious that if you've seen one show, you pretty much have seen the rest of them.

On most of those Sea Hunters episodes...
...I've only seen the Saba episode...

Last night I took the time to watch all 3 episodes that have aired so far. IMO these do have some crucial positive differences from Sea Hunters. First of all, there is more of the "getting the job done" element. They did figure out the Saba Ghost Ship, they did find the Flier submarine, and they presented facts for a decent case pointing to conclusions that are different from the official account of the Fitzgerald sinking.

Another difference is that the show seems to be slightly more from the divers point of view and not as much from the historian point of view -- Jim Delgado or the story teller point of view -- Clive Cussler. Maybe this opinion is skewed by the Saba episode because initially, the Ghost ship had no history and there was no story behind it. Nonetheless, the fact that they show a little more about the diving is a welcome change e.g. the bends, breaking your planned max depth and max ppO₂ to go check out the cargo bags on the Saba Ghost Ship, etc.

Going back to the getting the job done with the budget they have access to, nobody's perfect and I'm sure there are teams out there that could a more efficient job at cataloging, photographing and measuring a wreck. However, that is not the only concern of the fund providers. It may not even be the main concern. You gotta have guys that are personable to the camera, that can work out well for a tv channel, in short that'll bring in ratings. These guys already have a name and tv experience. They already have a track record for bringing in ratings. And they do seem to be getting the job done.

Considering all this, I personally think they are doing a great job. I enjoyed all three shows quite a bit. I do intend to tune in for the next time they air a new episode. I'll even go as far as to say that it seems to be one of the better diving tv programs currently out there. If you know about a better mainstream tv program please let us know about it. I'll be very interested in looking at it. 5thdx training videos don't count.

 

[coldwaterlloyd]

I give the Fletchers two thumbs up . Better than the usual TV crap .

 

[Jimmer]

I was out diving with Mike on Lake Erie earlier this summer, and of course was asking him about the show. He said he doesn't like how dramatized the show gets, but that part is out of his control, the producers and editors take over after he gets out of the water.