I'm done forever with SCUBA diving!

[Waterwulf]

My Wife and I and our two German Shepherd Dogs went on a month long RV trip from Arizona up thru Virginia and down to Florida and then back to Tucson. I was able to set up some drift diving at Rainbow Springs. Unfortunately, while checking my gear in the parking lot, I discovered a tiny pinhole leak in a fitting on my regulator so I decided to just do the trip on a snorkel instead.

I have to back up a few years here, to 2006. I was an Officer for a large Law Enforcement Agency. At that point, I had twenty years in. I had a runner one night and chased him. Unfortunately for me, I caught him but was alone. He ambushed me, beat me unconscious and then stomped and kicked me for a while. He threw my radio into the ditch but I did not loose my weapon. I was unable to deploy it but I had such a death grip on it to keep him from getting it, that the Paramedics had to give me shot in my arm to make the muscles release it even though I was unconscious. (The Sarge told me about it later) I had several broken fingers, broken ankles, broken ribs, a broken arm and a cracked skull along with a Sub Arachnoid Hematoma. I have some brain damage and am disabled. I used to fall down a lot and not be able to get back up. Elevators were terrifying and escalators are impossible unless I ride them backwards. Physical therapy made it a lot better but I still fall down if I'm not careful.

I was careful getting out of Rainbow Springs at the ramp but I fell hard. I realized then that my days of diving with a tank on my back were over. If I had had a tank on my back, I could have been hurt possibly badly or maybe hurt somebody else. No more SCUBA diving for me. It's time to give it up. I'm almost seventy years old and have been SCUBA diving since I was about ten years old. I'm just to old and broken down to carry a tank around on my back anymore.

So instead, I'm going to start hose diving and leave the tank on the surface. I think it's called SNUBA now but I always called it Hookah diving. I've already got the rig and just have to try it out in the pool. I might even be able to talk my Service Dog into diving tandem with me since he won't have to carry a tank on his back!

 

[MB NZ]

Good luck with your next adventure!

 

[Tigerpaw]

Best wishes to you! Have you considered sidemount diving?
You attach the tanks while in the water and you unhook them before you get out. You also have the option of using two smaller 40's which are way easy to handle. Just wanted to give you something to consider should Snuba gets boring to you.

 

[rsingler]

^--- THIS!
Two 40's is more than an AL80 (77.4).
Your buddy can hand one or both to you in the water. Easy, peasy.
I'm so sorry to hear about your past. Thank you for your service.
But if you have ANY regrets, really consider tiny sidemount.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

With age I do emphasize with you. I've gotten to the point where I sometimes don't have the strength to climb up the swim step and up the ladder to the deck on my favorite commercial dive boat. On a 3-day trip to the California Channel Islands on a lobster trip last year I went back to a standard old weight belt rather than integrated weights so I could take it off on the swim step and hand it up to the deckhand before climbing up to the deck. That worked OK but it was still difficult to get back up. I have side-mount experience cave diving over the last 25 years but, at least for me, that configuration really isn't conducive for covering lots of ground hunting for lobster and spearfishing for halibut. Oh yeah, I did try a set of HP 40's in a side-mount configuration but wasn't pleased with it, at least for me. I thought about using a smaller tank, but I need at least a set of twin 45's or a single LP 95 to have enough air to do the kind of dive I need to for said seafood acquisition dives. I'll figure something workable out. Great to see you are looking at a Hookah rig to keep you bubbling away! My 2psi. M

 

[happy-diver]

I built a ghetto version from a horse collar Seaquest Octo Inflator and stuff long before Zeagle

Code 3 BCD - Zeagle

The Zeagle Code 3 BCD is a next-gen BC for military, coast guard, law enforcement, marine patrol and fire and rescue personnel.

www.zeagle.com

Have a look in here with the option of wearing a small tank vertically on the back either or too

https://www.huishoutdoors.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Zeagle-BC-Manual-2019-Print-Pages1.pdf

A beautiful thing, for those quick long awkward hard cliffy check what's under there jaunts

I said it was ghetto, should I put it back into service or maybe just stick to diving my B.U.M.

 

[waxyourboard]

Good luck in the future

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Thank you for your service, sorry to hear about your ordeal. Already great suggestions in this thread if you change your mind.

 

[mac66]

My Wife and I and our two German Shepherd Dogs went on a month long RV trip from Arizona up thru Virginia and down to Florida and then back to Tucson. I was able to set up some drift diving at Rainbow Springs. Unfortunately, while checking my gear in the parking lot, I discovered a tiny pinhole leak in a fitting on my regulator so I decided to just do the trip on a snorkel instead.

I have to back up a few years here, to 2006. I was an Officer for a large Law Enforcement Agency. At that point, I had twenty years in. I had a runner one night and chased him. Unfortunately for me, I caught him but was alone. He ambushed me, beat me unconscious and then stomped and kicked me for a while. He threw my radio into the ditch but I did not loose my weapon. I was unable to deploy it but I had such a death grip on it to keep him from getting it, that the Paramedics had to give me shot in my arm to make the muscles release it even though I was unconscious. (The Sarge told me about it later) I had several broken fingers, broken ankles, broken ribs, a broken arm and a cracked skull along with a Sub Arachnoid Hematoma. I have some brain damage and am disabled. I used to fall down a lot and not be able to get back up. Elevators were terrifying and escalators are impossible unless I ride them backwards. Physical therapy made it a lot better but I still fall down if I'm not careful.

I was careful getting out of Rainbow Springs at the ramp but I fell hard. I realized then that my days of diving with a tank on my back were over. If I had had a tank on my back, I could have been hurt possibly badly or maybe hurt somebody else. No more SCUBA diving for me. It's time to give it up. I'm almost seventy years old and have been SCUBA diving since I was about ten years old. I'm just to old and broken down to carry a tank around on my back anymore.

So instead, I'm going to start hose diving and leave the tank on the surface. I think it's called SNUBA now but I always called it Hookah diving. I've already got the rig and just have to try it out in the pool. I might even be able to talk my Service Dog into diving tandem with me since he won't have to carry a tank on his back!

What hose diving rig do you have?

 

[Kahuna.]

Another option for you for the occasional vacation dive could be the new Avelo system. It's purported to be 30lb lighter than regular backmount gear.