New Experience in Pond

[av8er23]

I had a friend call me today and said that somone had accidently ran a jeep into his pond. He asked me if I would dive down and attach a cable or rope to the bumper so they could pull it out. I told them I would try. I called another friend to go with me. We both geared up and swam out to where it was suppose to be located. We were informed that the depth was approx. 30 feet
The surface temp was great very comfortable but vis was only about 2 feet. As we starting going down the temp rapidly decreased. By the time I was around 15 feet the vis decreased to about 1 foot. my breathing started to really speed up and I was taking rapid short breaths. This made me feel pretty uncomfortable. I think it was primarly the temp of the water that made my body start doing that and the vis was not too comforting neither. My buddy continued to about 25 feet where he said he did not reach the bottom and it was too cold for him. Has anyone else experienced something similar to this? We never found the jeep and they want us to come back tomorrow with wetsuits. I am really not too sure about this. The one thing that concerns me is your cannot tell how fast you are going down and really even which way is down. I have a fear of running up on a tree at the bottom (we were warned that there was a tree nearby). I am looking for some experienced advice.

 

[The Kraken]

Well, you can tell the approximate depth of the pond by the height of the dam.
If you're having concerns with your rate of descent, get a good float and clip a reel to it, that way both you and your buddy can use it as a down line.

Trees can create an entanglement hazard, but not generally. Usually they'll just scare the crap out of you because they've probably bleached out over the years and look very much like the bony hand of death reaching up to grab you. (I'm sure that little tidbit of info will lower your SAC)

Decreasing temps and visibility in unknown diving environments have quite a drastic effect upon one's SAC if one hasn't done much of this type of diving.

Relax. Plan your dive and allow for all contingencies.

the K

 

[scubafool]

Experienced in this sort of thing I am not. But you don't seem to be very comfortable with the whole idea, so maybe you should pay attention to your own misgivings.

 

[The Kraken]

Scuba, I tend to agree with you somewhat, but if we never extend our horizons we never gain new ground.

Prudence, however, is always recommended.

the K

 

[Hank49]

Get a small boat and float out over where you think the jeep is. Drop a big sinker down on a line until you "bang it". Or go back and forth a little until you find it. It should "ping" a bit though. Tie it off to a buoy and descend down that line nice and slow.

 

[DeepSeaDan]

I had a friend call me today and said that somone had accidently ran a jeep into his pond. He asked me if I would dive down and attach a cable or rope to the bumper so they could pull it out. I told them I would try. I called another friend to go with me. We both geared up and swam out to where it was suppose to be located. We were informed that the depth was approx. 30 feet
The surface temp was great very comfortable but vis was only about 2 feet. As we starting going down the temp rapidly decreased. By the time I was around 15 feet the vis decreased to about 1 foot. my breathing started to really speed up and I was taking rapid short breaths. This made me feel pretty uncomfortable. I think it was primarly the temp of the water that made my body start doing that and the vis was not too comforting neither. My buddy continued to about 25 feet where he said he did not reach the bottom and it was too cold for him. Has anyone else experienced something similar to this? We never found the jeep and they want us to come back tomorrow with wetsuits. I am really not too sure about this. The one thing that concerns me is your cannot tell how fast you are going down and really even which way is down. I have a fear of running up on a tree at the bottom (we were warned that there was a tree nearby). I am looking for some experienced advice.

...experience level as "Rookie" - not a recommended experience level for the kind of diving you're describing.

Leave this type of diving to professionals.

In Ontario, if you were to perform this dive & receive financial remuneration for your efforts, the dive would be classified as "commercial", & you would have to follow the regulations laid out in the Provincial diving regulations governing commercial diving operations.

Cold water, low / no visibility, potential obstruction(s), lack of specialized training + ill-equiped, in-experienced divers often = injury or death.

Please don't risk your safety foolishly.

* Check out my thread "This is criminal" in the Accidents/Incidents section for further perspective.

Regards,
D.S.D.

 

[dbg40]

I AM, experienced in this kind of thing, and I can tell you this.....The Kraken is on the money, good advice, use it, and learn somthing new. Next time it wont be so bad.

ps (I HATE the bony hand of death thingy)

 

[Chris Sawallich]

Sounds like a typical case of nervousness.. The deeper and darker, the more your SAC rate increases... One suggestion always dive with some type of exposure protection. Water sucks out the heat from your body astromaically faster than the air. Always keep yourserlf warm, espically your head.. Never go past your comfort zone, and ALWAYS stay with your buddy, even if you are in ten feet of water.. Three rules are not to break.. You dont cross the street without looking both ways everytime..

 

[teknitroxdiver]

Yeah, I've had that happen twice. Once, I attempted to go diving in a flooded rock quarry. Vis was about 8' at the surface. However after getting down to about 12', there was a thermocline and a drop in vis down to about 2'....we aborted shortly after I descended directly into a nice rock projection, which I couldn't see until impact.

Case 2. There's a popular creek close to my house which people go to all the time and swim, and get drunk, and other things. Which means they lose a lot of stuff in the water, such as necklaces and rings and such. Since I had just tested my new bp/w in the pool, I had an AL80 waiting with 2500 psi still in it, so I decided to go use that air. Water was warm, and it was a pretty nice place, other than methane bubbling up through the bottom, and a bottom that was so soft near shore that you had to pretty much jump in on your back so you started floating instead of walking. Anyway...viz was 10' on the surface dropping to less than 1' on the bottom.

I note that your profile says you're experience is 'rookie'. Don't do it. Tell them you aren't doing it, and don't do it. Slogging around in the murk with trees and jeeps along with a steel cable is not a good place to be.

If you're thinking about doing this, send GaryD a PM. He knows about that kind of stuff, and will tell you what you need to know. (Note: that doesn't mean he'll tell you how to do it)

 

[av8er23]

This is all good advice. Am I suppose to just feel around until I fell something like a jeep? A flashlight was not doing much good. We were dropping an weight close to where it was suppose to be. It was hard to tell what it was hitting...mudd bottom, the top of the jeep, the hard hood ect..