Jupiter diver in trauma center after ‘upper extremity’ injury

[Hetland]

Entirely out of idle curiousity: what'd he say? I guess for a shoulder/elbow-length one you'd have to visit your local SCA chapter's meet-up and talk to their armourers, but AFAIK they do all sorts of fun stuff: riveted Al, butted Ti, welded steel... Probably costly but compared to hospital bills, lost work, etc. (chopper gas bill?), I expect you could buy two, pay double, and still come out ahead.

The sharks they feed in the Caribbean are typically reef sharks. Their behavior is much different than what you see from a lemon shark, even tigers and hammerheads, which are the three sharks you're most likely to see in these Jupiter dives. Lemons care nothing about humans, you're something to steer around on their way to a fish. I had one sample a strobe once, and she didn't even put a scratch on the housing plastic. The tigers (in this context) are about the same, but they're more curious once they're relaxed, and they like to explore things, especially contrasting colors, and anything yellow (Randy warns you about this, and instructs you how to act if one gets too close for comfort). Greater Hammerheads also don't care about you unless you're a fish. They're very skittish, and they can literally sense you're excitement. You really have to relax yourself, and be completely calm for one to get close to you.

Chain mail would weigh Randy down, and he wouldn't be able to move as quickly as he needs to to keep all the sharks wrangled. The sharks watch each other, and quickly figure out what gets them a fish, and what gets them ignored.

 

[scubadada]

There are many strong proponents of Randy's program, as well as many detractors. It will be interesting to see how this event changes perceptions, or not.

 

[ronscuba]

I dive 2 boats out of Boynton Beach, FL that makes this point. One boat has a maximum of 13 divers, when full, it is extremely crowded with barely a place to walk. The other boat takes up to 17 or 18 divers but seems much less crowed. This is mainly due to storage and open space that allows you to safely move around. If divers would stop bringing luggage with them, and all kinds of unnecessary stuff, these problems would be much alleviated.

I dive 3 operators out of Boynton Beach, Florida. One more routinely has a more experienced clientele and more commonly does advanced dives. However, the other two do drops for more experienced divers as well as the less experienced. Everyone wins and is happy with the diving.

What boats are you talking about ?

I have dove with Splashdown and Underwater Explorers.

 

[tilikum]

He might not be running his program for quite some time if the bite is that severe.

 

[scubadada]

What boats are you talking about ?

I have dove with Splashdown and Underwater Explorers.

I would imagine you know the answers to you questions. Underwater Explorers takes just 6 divers and has more experienced divers, dictating more advanced sites. Loggerhead is the bigger boat, Starfish is the smaller boat. I have only dived Splashdown a few times, it takes out a large number of divers.

 

[scubadada]

He might not be running his program for quite some time if the bite is that severe.

Do you have follow up information?

 

[tilikum]

No only what is surmised in the facebook link. I thought I saw the term reattachment used which implies more than just a bite.

 

[Johnoly]

... The guy had a card, but he was not ready for that dive. Randy saved that guy's life that day. Pissed or not, he's still alive...

Very true, just because you have a card doesn't mean you are ready to do a particularly very advanced dive which many Jupiter dives are. I wouldn't put an AOW diver in 70ft mini-season lobster dive with swift current when he has only 25 dives logged. I've seen many divers get a "parked time-out" after their 1st dive on a boat because staff thought safety was in immediate danger because of the diver. One look at how a person's equipment is set up and you have a good idea.

 

[dmaziuk]

No only what is surmised in the facebook link. I thought I saw the term reattachment used which implies more than just a bite.

I does sound like just a bite. You just have to remember that humans are mostly soft squishy goo with various critical components located pretty close to the surface. While some other critters are good at biting.

 

[drrich2]

It can run without Randy being there for awhile, I suspect. The 3 days I dove with them around 1st week of May, 1st day I didn't see Randy, 2nd day Randy was on the boat with us, 3rd day Randy was at the pier and saw us off but wasn't on the boat with us, and a man named Josh did the shark feeding on all 3 days; when Randy was along, he had a scooter and I remember him getting dropped separately. I think he might've been looking to spear some additional bait, but I'm not certain of that.

Richard.