"Swim-through" okay for open water divers?

[MtnDiverColorado]

In the past, dive guides I've used have done a pretty good job during the dive briefing describing any swim throughs, and making sure we were comfortable with them at that time, then before the swim through, and after. One of my first was Palancar Gardens in Coz, which I loved, but I did come away with a determination to improve my buoyancy.

My direct response to the question is that it is way too broad. As others have said, it depends on a lot of things, but I think they can be appropriate, and in most circumstances are.

Just my .02 as a purely recreational diver...

 

[jadairiii]

Since you decided not to answer my question, I will ask it again. What class specifically teaches students to enter overhead environments such as short swim-throughs like the wheelhouse of a wreck? I ask because I am sure i have seen hundreds of posts on ScubaBoard telling divers not to go into even the simplest overhead environment without certification. I am just asking for the name of that certification.

I did, a class that can teach a diver serious gas management. As to an actual name. There is none because you can have one diver, brand new to the sport, that was really taught gas management, on the other hand, you can have a diver, full cave certified, that is still clueless of proper gas management. Cave divers still die with empty tanks, not far from the opening.

A swim-through of a 10' wide wheelhouse in 80' of water can be as deadly as being a mile back in a cave......if you run out of gas at the wrong time.

IMHO, divers get caught up with the term "overhead environment" as if it is some dangerous, magical place. When a student graduates from their basic open water scuba class, they "should" have good gas management knowledge, good trim, good buoyancy control, good fin technique and a firm grasp of situational awareness (my very first post on this subject). Everything one needs to do a short swim-through.

So I will ask this question of you, if the diver's basic scuba class did not teach them those most basic of skills, what other course does?

 

[boulderjohn]

I did, a class that can teach a diver serious gas management. As to an actual name. There is none because you can have one diver, brand new to the sport, that was really taught gas management, on the other hand, you can have a diver, full cave certified, that is still clueless of proper gas management. Cave divers still die with empty tanks, not far from the opening.

A swim-through of a 10' wide wheelhouse in 80' of water can be as deadly as being a mile back in a cave......if you run out of gas at the wrong time.

IMHO, divers get caught up with the term "overhead environment" as if it is some dangerous, magical place. When a student graduates from their basic open water scuba class, they "should" have good gas management knowledge, good trim, good buoyancy control, good fin technique and a firm grasp of situational awareness (my very first post on this subject). Everything one needs to do a short swim-through.

So I will ask this question of you, if the diver's basic scuba class did not teach them those most basic of skills, what other course does?

I am completely baffled as to what your post has to do with the appropriateness of swim-throughs for OW divers.

 

[jadairiii]

I am completely baffled as to what your post has to do with the appropriateness of swim-throughs for OW divers.

To summarize, swim-throughs are always appropriate for OW divers if they were taught how to actually scuba dive, and that's the catch. I thought that was obvious.

To quote Yossarian, that's some catch, that Catch-22.....

 

[broncobowsher]

So do I need a cave class if I boat dive? I might accidently run out of air while under the boat.
(yes, that is a sarcastic comment)

I was looking for the aggregate plant dive in lake Mead (when it had water). There was a tunnel that people dived through all the time.

 

[JoeTPhilly]

I did my first real open water diving at AKR off of Roatan and I've gone back there.

AKR seems to delight in taking their loosely led boat groups through swim-throughs. By "swim-through" I mean tubular passages through the reef open on either end. Usually several meters, sometimes tens of meters long. Some more; some less. Those formations that I've been through there usually have room for a diver to go through OK but at some point along the way usually not clear for two divers comfortably.

If it's a narrow, closed top formation, more than just a few yards long, I tend to just solo it up to the top/side of the reef and wait it out looking for the bubbles to pop out the other end. It is not so much the concept of the swim-throughs, but the lack of coordination and instruction for the group and a broad capability continuum amongst the divers. Some of the folks on the boats are really good, some can barely manage putting their "flippers" on pointing the right direction. A briefing that goes "We'll drop in to 75' on the wall then make our way forward to a swim through and circle back to the mooring line. We'll be down 45 minutes and might see a green moray. Everybody ready? Pool's open!" doesn't get it done. How about including "Does anyone have problems with a swim through?" or "once we get to the swim-through, entrance and exit are at about 40 feet depth, it's about 50 feet long with a minimum clearance of about 3 feet in one place after it makes a slow turn to the left. Go in, maintain your buoyancy and don't bump, touch, or stir up anything, do not stop - keep up with me and the diver in front of you. Did I mention do not stop? There will be people behind you. Did I mention nailing your buoyancy? You with the camera, this is not your opportunity to stop and hover for a few minutes to try and get the perfect shot of that wooly snooted cave worm hiding in the crack. Keep going because you've got people behind you that need to keep moving. Do not execute a Warhammer maneuver with people behind you in the tube..."

On those early dives getting trapped behind someone who decided to stop with others pushing up behind me caused a great deal of anxiety. We'll leave it at anxiety....

I'll go with a few other known, capable divers when we're all on the same page, with accessible redundant air/equipment and we understand the plan and what's going on... Cattle car? I'll usually go look for bubbles at the top of the formation unless I'm the first one in line behind the DM...

Yeah, my experience at Anthony's Key was similar. I was not a fan of the Dive Master.

 

[JoeTPhilly]

Just to stir a little bit ... Granted, this is way out there, but what happens in/to the dive-through if there's an earthquake?

Thought had never really occurred to me, but it happened on my last trip to RTB. I think it we were on Overheat Reef site. It was really deep, about 60 km NW of Sandy Bay, big scary noise and nobody knew what it was until we were topside.

But the question occurs to me what if the seabed started moving locally...

OMMOHY

Ha. I was in Roatan at the same time when the quake hit. We were diving the Odyssey wreck. I was floating on the surface or boarding the boat and never felt the earthquake. Would have been interesting if it had hit while some were swimming through the Odyssey stairwells.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Yeah, my experience at Anthony's Key was similar. I was not a fan of the Dive Master.

Me, too. My wife and I swam around some of those swim-throughs where we felt we would be crowded in by other divers, or have to witness them banging up the coral. We did do a few of the wider swim-throughs, and on one or two a grouper who had been shadowing the group followed us through. We also declined to do the wheelhouse swim-through on whatever wreck, which we felt was challenging enough due to the depth; deep and overhead are two strikes, and we decided that two was enough for us on that particular day. I think it was after the wheelhouse swim-through dive that one of the other divers on our boat near-boasted about how he sucked his tank dry.

 

[boulderjohn]

To summarize, swim-throughs are always appropriate for OW divers if they were taught how to actually scuba dive, and that's the catch. I thought that was obvious.

To quote Yossarian, that's some catch, that Catch-22.....

To summarize, swim-throughs are always appropriate for OW divers if they were taught how to actually scuba dive, and that's the catch.

Thanks!

And to summarize my point, it is pretty much a cliché that divers should not enter even the shortest of overheads without the appropriate certification, but the appropriate certification does not exist.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Ha. I was in Roatan at the same time when the quake hit. We were diving the Odyssey wreck. I was floating on the surface or boarding the boat and never felt the earthquake. Would have been interesting if it had hit while some were swimming through the Odyssey stairwells.

I didn't see/feel anything WRT movement but the noise disturbed my calm. Not used to hearing two gigantic tectonic plates smashing into each other just a couple miles from the dock..

Had a discussion with Doc Angelo (didn't know he was an audiological rocket scientist). He explained why I heard high-pitched noise before the low pitched noise from the quake... Sound wave frequency difference and velocity of various frequency in land mass. Made sense since the quake originated deep inside the crust below the seabed.