Scuba Snopes

[Quero]

Okay, you bet. The Moray with the strongest jaw ever noted in the species.

I'm thinking industrial accident with a good story inserted. Mythbusters did get a story idea on this.

There's already been another thread on this, so I won't bother, but the "whole thing smelled fishy" from the camera handling on down.

Haha, okay. I win the bet then. This is more than the "a friend of a friend told me this story" kind of thing that's impossible to verify--we've got details that can be checked and documented. The guy's name is Matt Butcher. The story was reported in the mainstream press at the time it happened and has had follow ups. I was here on the island at the time--it was in 2005, my first year here, so I didn't know the guy at the time, but it was the talk of the town. He was diving from a boat called Queen Scuba at a dive site called East of Eden. The table coral where 'Emma' the moray lived for many years is still there. Emma disappeared after some time and the coral was eel-less for several seasons, but this season there's a new eel living under the same table coral. After his incident Matt still worked here with various companies, though I have never worked with him. Last I heard he was working on Phi Phi. Here's one of the initial news reports:
Phuket NEWS:
There have been follow up stories as well, including mention in a National Geographic publication with images here:
Morays: The Alien Eels | Nat Geo Wild
Morays: The Alien Eels | Nat Geo Wild

 

[vladimir]

Cousteau:
Dynamite + Belize = Blue Hole

I thought this one was true, until a few minutes ago. Not that he created the blue hole with dynamite, as Doc's equality might suggest, but that he gained access for the Calypso by dynamiting the surrounding coral. Based on a couple of minutes of googling, I still think it might be true (unsubstantiated, they say), but now that I think about it, I don't recall seeing any obvious sign of it at the Blue Hole, at either mooring. Does anybody know?

 

[Doc]

Haha, okay. I win the bet then. This is more than the "a friend of a friend told me this story" kind of thing that's impossible to ....

So it wasn't a friend who told you. Good.

i have seen a 7' Moray repeatedly chomp on a broomstick (that was wrapped in meat). He never even nicked the yellow paint off of it.

Crunchbird, my ass. ( to use the punch line from a very old joke )

Thumb caught in a motor? That I would believe.

Thumb bitten off by a Moray- a fish that has teeth only good for clasping~ they swallow big stuff whole.... That's his story (for whatever reason), and he's stickin' to it.

Must be true, I read it on the web page for the Thai Weekly World News.

Don't be so sure about NatGeo, either~ they went with a web story on the "fire diver" hoax, too. (And, just to be fair, so did the management staff at DAN when that BS rolled around the first time)

---------- Post added March 16th, 2013 at 10:53 AM ----------

I thought this one was true, until a few minutes ago. Not that he created the blue hole with dynamite, as Doc's equality might suggest, but that he gained access for the Calypso by dynamiting the surrounding coral. Based on a couple of minutes of googling, I still think it might be true (unsubstantiated, they say), but now that I think about it, I don't recall seeing any obvious sign of it at the Blue Hole, at either mooring. Does anybody know?

Supposedly it was done to position the Calypso in the center of the hole for an aerial photo.

From the air, you can see an area where this might have occurred, or maybe it's just natural. The top rim of the hole is very shallow and has suffered from storm damage since all time.

i once asked Albert Falco about this and his only comment was that he was not aboard the ship during that voyage.

The only thing I draw from this is the best view of the Blue Hole is from the air, that's about the only one you ever see, especially from the Belize Tourist Board. I also saw it from 20,000 feet once while passing over on the way to RTB.

Remarkable from that angle.

Or, as Jimmy (JJ from "Good Times") used to say, "dy-no-mite"

 

[drl]

Mythbusters busted the one about the diver scooped up and dropped on a forest fire. It's impossible; the water scoop intake is too small and the suction inadequate to pick up something the size of a person.
I suspect the story about the commercial diver and the jellyfish is fake too, but it's a really funny story!

 

[Tortuga68]

Diving with a heavy steel tank, no ditchable lead, run out of air (or you want to sae enough to alllow diving under s ahip if one should "try" to run you over), a thunderstorm erupts, whitecaps are everywhere, youhave dead fish on your belt, sharks come around, the boat can not find you and can not conduct a search due to nearly zero visibility and... you want to keep your head down to look for the sharks that come too close so you can poke them with a speargun?

That's a pretty unique set of circumstances... Then again you're a pretty unique guy; probably the only one on SB this would ever happen to.

I can think of two ways to avoid the situation, and another to correct it - none of which involve a snorkel. But that's another story and, as the OP noted, not a "snope"

Back on topic, how about Viagra/aspirin helps offgassing/prevents bends by thinning the blood

 

[ianr33]

Ben is in Vortex.

 

[Tortuga68]

Cousteau:
Dynamite + Belize = Blue Hole

It wouldn't surprise me, given some of the other things he did (dynamite fish survey, shark revenge killings etc)

 

[JamesK]

Ben is in Vortex.

It's true! I saw it on some documentary. LOL!!!!

 

[vladimir]

That's a pretty unique set of circumstances... Then again you're a pretty unique guy; probably the only one on SB this would ever happen to.

I can think of two ways to avoid the situation, and another to correct it - none of which involve a snorkel. But that's another story and, as the OP noted, not a "snope"

Back on topic, how about Viagra/aspirin helps offgassing/prevents bends by thinning the blood

Here's a good thread, with the participation of a few specialists (MDs). It's 5 years old, however. It does not answer definitively whether aspirin might help prevent DCS (though the study quoted below, taken from that thread, seems to), but it certainly rules out the mechanism ("thinning the blood") you suggest.

ASA which inhibits the thromboxane A2 pathway and Hep which inhibits thrombin generation have no protective effect on DCS incidence. Clopidogrel, a specific ADP-receptor antagonist, reduces post-decompression platelet consumption.

ASA is aspirin.

 

[Tortuga68]

I wasn't suggesting it, I was citing the theory