SO, I just finished Last Dive -

[Daylonious]

I thought Chowdury did a great job tracing the history of technical diving (Starting with Exley, and going all the way through to 2000) - but was suprised that by the last chapter in the book - pretty much all the pioneers of the sport are *gulp* dead.

Berman, Exley, etc. Not to mention the vast numbers of people that have had severe DCS hits and multiple chamber rides. I think in Shadow Divers, Chatterton said something along the lines that people that think multiple chamber rides are just a part of the sport are idiots and he wouldn't dive with them.

One of the more interesting aspects of the book was the discussion on the psychological drives that make people do extreme-type sports (flying, skydiving, deep technical diving, etc).

I think Chowdury's right - there are some people who are content to dive and just *touch* the Doria, and there are those who won't be satisfied til they get in there and find a prize.

I think I'm one of those second people.

Made me realize that I have *LOT* of training to do. Before reading the book, I wasn't at all interested in cave diving - but now I've come to realize that if it will make me a better deep wreck diver, then I'd be an idiot not take the training.

Anyhoo, good book, good read. The other theme I seem to be taking away from recently reading Shadow Divers and Last Dive is 1) don't skimp the $$$ - use trimix when appropriate 2) never unclip your stage bottles and LEAVE them somewhere for g!d's sake - that's just asking for trouble.

D.

 

[Scottri]

I met the author a couple of years ago at DEMA, he's a very nice guy. I've known a few cowboys in the sport and a lot of them are accidents waiting to happen. I also know some tec divers that I've learned a lot from.
I agree that it was a good read!

 

[PerroneFord]

It's a slippery slope my friend... welcome.

 

[Soggy]

but was suprised that by the last chapter in the book - pretty much all the pioneers of the sport are *gulp* dead.

One of the pitfalls of being a pioneer is that you don't know what might get thrown at you until it is too late. Thankfully, we have learned from their mistakes and hopefully fewer people will repeat them.

 

[BarryNL]

One of the pitfalls of being a pioneer is that you don't know what might get thrown at you until it is too late. Thankfully, we have learned from their mistakes and hopefully fewer people will repeat them.

Plus, these guys generally knew they were doing some high risk cutting edge stuff. Sure, Exley could probably have done simple cave dives forever without problems but he chose to push the boundries knowing that there's no such thing as a safe dive to 900+ feet.

 

[loosebits]

Uh oh... cave training... be careful, they put something in the water in Florida. It will suck you in and you'll be making the 14 hour drive to Lauraville every chance you get and daydreaming about it when you can't. The walls in my office are wall-papered with cave maps and photos.

Less than a month to Akumal, 3 and 5 months until I'm back in Florida.

Oh, you're allowed to drop bottles in caves