Trespassing golf ball diver fatality - Sainte-Julie, Quebec

[kelemvor]

(* worst dive was 'goose crap lake' in central Alberta in the mid 2000s)

I have to hand it to you Canucks. You do a fine job naming things.

 

[bletso]

We had a local guy here that made a decent amount doing it but he used a suction dredger and sorted the muck top side

 

[scorpiofish]

I looked into it years ago. Local 36 hole course. 22,000 balls per month. It's a terrible way to make a living. I saw the courses being built. They bulldoze crap and push it to where it will be underwater. It is best done with a hookah. More time, less entanglement potential. Cover every part of you body. Power wash all your stuff when you are done. Zero vis. Snapping turtles. Broken glass.

Balls are weight counted and sent to be refurbished. The people who do the refurb make the most money. The guy who hires the divers and sells to the refurb guys makes some money. The divers who get hired to sweep the bottom with their hand and stick balls in bag make very little.

Making a living diving is either not fun or pays little, sometimes both.

 

[Danseur]

Did one day of this. Um, Nope...

I had diarrhea for 3 days. Headache for 2. Cost me more in broken gear than I made. I wouldn't do it again without FFM, latex hood, and probably a Vulcanized Rubber suit.

I could tell I was low on gas by the stiffness of my SPG hose. Also did SM and could tell by how they floated... Ugly stuff.

 

[Ben_3]

Maybe there was something more valuable then golf balls to be found..

 

[DandyDon]

In the southern US we get this risk every summer: Brain-Eating Amoeba (Naegleria Fowleri): FAQ, Symptoms, Treatment Early in my diving years I had a GF in Houston who thought she wanted to get into Scuba. I flew down for a visit and took my gear & camera to dive during their checkout dives. I forget the name of the pit north of Houston, but it was certainly warm, stagnant water. Now that I know better, I can't believe that they dive those pits.

 

[Belzelbub]

This is crazy to trespass to take golf balls ...

No kidding. At least where he did it, he didn’t really need to worry about local wildlife too much.

Reminded me of this story from my area a little while ago. Alligator bites man’s face at Largo park

 

[PBcatfish]

i can only imagine how much fertilizer run-off is in those ponds....ive seen videos of golf ball divers....it is some nasty looking water.

I've done some emergency repair diving to service a seacock on a blue water yacht that was anchored in the ICW, while the tide was going out. The fertilizer runoff from the sugar fields gave me a noticeable burning sensation before I was in that muck for even a minute. Fertilizer run off can be very bad stuff.