Diver missing - Pelham, Alabama

[DvrSkip]

We don't know his dive plan. But given that he was planning on 2 hours of dive time, it is likely that he was planning on spending time in the shallower parts of the quarry as well as the deeper parts. Having searched the shallower parts, they have now turned attention to the deeper parts, and that is slow going. The cold and depth will limit divers to about 20-30 minutes unless they add decompression time, which is not reasonable really. Better I would think to limit dive time, sit out an hour or two, and do more diving in a day instead of two longer deco dives. The cold really limits what can be done. I've done an hour and a half at depth there, and the deco at 20 feet was very welcome it was warm as bath water in comparison to the deeper part of the dive.

The bottom is often a layer of black fog a foot or two above the mud bottom. Sometimes it's thinner and wispy and other times it's so dense it swallows 10w HID lights. I have pictures of a buddy in the "fog." All you can see is his head, which sticks up out of the fog. The rest of his body is in the fog and not on the bottom. Trying to find someone on the bottom requires searching by feel. Other times I've seen the bottom clear as day, with virtually no black fog at all.

skip

 

[rigdiver]

Was any paperwork found with regard to pre-dive checks? "Solo Certified" and "Re-breather" don't equal Solo Rebreather certified. Any info on type of unit?

RIP Brother.

 

[tstormdiver]

Was any paperwork found with regard to pre-dive checks? "Solo Certified" and "Re-breather" don't equal Solo Rebreather certified. Any info on type of unit?

RIP Brother.

Perhaps I am mistaken (I still consider myself as a rebreather newbie),... but as far as I know, there is no such thing as a Solo Rebreather Certification. I basically boils down to the diver's prior training, experience & how much risk they are willing to take.

 

[darushin]

Perhaps I am mistaken (I still consider myself as a rebreather newbie),... but as far as I know, there is no such thing as a Solo Rebreather Certification. I basically boils down to the diver's prior training, experience & how much risk they are willing to take.

There isn't a Solo Rb cert. Most RB training is conducted from the solo "carry enough to save your own butt" philosophy first and Team diving second.

 

[Wookie]

There isn't a Solo Rb cert. Most RB training is conducted from the solo "carry enough to save your own butt" philosophy first and Team diving second.

Completely off topic, but I know very few rebreather divers who carry individual bailout. Almost all plan for team bailout, because 40's are easier to carry than 80's.

 

[Wayne at DiveSeekers]

Completely off topic, but I know very few rebreather divers who carry individual bailout. Almost all plan for team bailout, because 40's are easier to carry than 80's.

Really? Maybe team B/O on real Deep Dives, but then you are also staging bottles. This kind of place, no reason to not carry enough bailout (not saying that this is the case!)

SOLO Course actually states Recreational Limits, No Deco & No Rebreathers! Locally at Dutch Springs, you are allowed to dive solo but within SDI/TDI standards so they do not allow it for Rebreather Divers. However, it is fairly common with these group of divers. Unfortunately, concerns come from liability and our judicial system. As most know, this is a whole other topic!

 

[darushin]

Completely off topic, but I know very few rebreather divers who carry individual bailout. Almost all plan for team bailout, because 40's are easier to carry than 80's.

To me it really depends on the diving. I usually do team bailout when diving in high visibilty (ie 40s) and solo bailout when in overhead or low visibility environments. Unfortunately a lot of rebreather divers still consider bailout an after thought when planning a dive.

---------- Post added October 8th, 2014 at 02:28 PM ----------

More updates:
Search for missing Tennessee diver in Pelham focusing on quarry's deepest areas | AL.com
Search for Tennessee diver in Pelham targets area based on 'significant indicators' | AL.com

---------- Post added October 8th, 2014 at 02:36 PM ----------

Was any paperwork found with regard to pre-dive checks? "Solo Certified" and "Re-breather" don't equal Solo Rebreather certified. Any info on type of unit?

RIP Brother.

Assuming he had good trim and buoyancy, I am going to speculate it was a ECCR and not a MCCR or HCCR with a CMF as the CMF would fill the lungs and probably give him the lift needed to surface.

 

[CaveMD]

Daren was not just an "experienced" solo diver. Daren was one of the better cave divers I've known who regularly dove solo in caves ranging from easy silly stuff like little river to the nest and anywhere in between.

 

[darushin]

I looked up some info on it and it looks like a typical hole in the ground quarry with sunken treasure to look at.

 

[roll_tide_daniel]

As a diver in town, I can confirm that it is just a basic hole in the ground quarry. It has a lot of stuff in it to look at... for a quarry, and goes quite deep, but doesn't have caves or anything like that.