Vintage Diving Stories?

[RickI]

Amazing coincidence. My boomer started when he was 15 helping out the local sheriffs department on search and recovery. Even back then, I would imagine there weren't that many teens involved in this sort of work.

 

[Paladin]

I was the only diver my age doing it around here. The other guys I dived with were all in their 40s or older. Boomer was ex-UDT and worked as a dynamiter on road construction. Hence "Boomer."

 

[RickI]

No other stories out there? Has to be, I know there are some incredible experiences out there. To prime things, here's a few from my end, just one liners only from 1980 and before.


Diving/drilling on the barrier reef looking for Columbus' Santa Maria in a mound of coral off Cap Haitian in 1970's Baby Doc Haiti.

Looking for a scuttled Hatteras sportsfisherman with a load of drugs along the reefs in 90 ft., with dead baby hammerhead sharks laying around on the bottom in lousy viz.

Taking the Florida Secretary of State free diving on a 1830's shipwreck with media.

Filming a crazy french guy with an electronic shark repelling device in a feeding behavior stirred up over the graveyard off Gun Cay in the Bahamas.

Searching for and finding a $1M high definition side scan sonar fish in deeper water.

Being a dive escort for a girl on her family's yacht for trips to the Bahamas at 16, she was crazier about diving extremes than I was too.

A bounce dive to 265 ft. for black coral off Cozumel at 16 into intense narcosis and O2 toxicity.

A bounce dive to 275 ft. because (... no good reason) at 17, fighting off a narc'd out diver and again sliding into O2 toxicity.

Doing a photogrammetric survey of dredging reef damage in 90 ft. with a wetsub.

Night dives in 180 ft. looking for spiny oysters in the sand drifting into the third reef at 90 ft.

Designing a training course for the Sheriff's office for UW drug interdiction at night at 90 ft. using a wetsub in 1977.

Almost getting castrated by a hungry permit while carrying a bunch of bugs in my hands conveniently but unwisely protected by my bathing suit.

Doing a bounce dive to 250 ft. on a wall off the Biminis at 16 with 2/3rds full 72 cft tank, like an idiot. Resulted in a low grade DCS, earned that one.


and lots of other strange, sometimes unwise but otherwise interesting stuff. So how about it, what strange, interesting and hopefully not too shocking experiences can you relate?

Rick Iossi

 

[Paladin]

RickI,
Pick a good one and tell us all about it. Then, if no one else follows suit, I'll tell another one. On a lighter note, of course.

 

[Slonda828]

Holy crap Rick, I take back everything that I have ever said about you. You, sir, are one crazy mug!

 

[RickI]

Well, that was my lure cast up above, but I'll bite instead with another. Looking forward to reading your story though. Come on guys, I worked in dive shops back in those days too. I KNOW there are tons of great stories out there, used to have to sit through them slinging and filling tanks all day as a young spud.

This didn't appear in the list, lots hasn't, funny how you forget this stuff and then ... there it is. Anyway, we were bidding on a National Marine Fisheries Service project aound 1978 involving studying King Mackerel fallout from gillnetting. Fallout can occur when too large a fish to get "gilled" in the net, gets its nose stuck momentarily and dies from something like a fish heart attack. It then falls out, drifts, goes to the bottom, and/or is ripped to shreds by marauding sharks, etc..

Sharkhunter aka "Fallen Kingfish Hunter?" We had another wetsub in mind to use however.
From: http://www.psubs.org

The Request For Proposal drected that we provide a shark resistant wetsub (see above) to observe mackerel fallout behavior, predation by sharks and generally schooling behavior around the nets. Oh, while we were at it, we were to pickup some of these large, dead "fallen out" mackeral for study by NMFS. All this in lousy viz. in storm tossed seas thick with fish schools, currents, invisible nets until you slam into them and a lot of sharks. No worries, a swim in the lap pool?

More about this and what actually happened in the end at:
Dive Stories From Back In The Day - FKA Kiteboarding Forums

RickI,
Pick a good one and tell us all about it. Then, if no one else follows suit, I'll tell another one. On a lighter note, of course.

Not sure we've met Slonda828. Only getting back into diving in the last couple after almost a decade absence for kitesurfing. Real mellow these days, don't even SCUBA dive anymore if I can avoid it. Just a snorkeler with a scooter.

 

[Paladin]

I pulled this one over from another thread I posted on:

(It happened in the summer of 1978. The equipment consisted of a Healthways steel 72, Aqua-Lung Aquarius reg, White Stag Deep SPG, USD Atlantis mask, USD Otarie fins, 5 pounds on a USD weight belt, USD diver's knife. I had just bought the Aquarius and this was my first dive with a single hose reg.)

One year, when I was just a kid, my family went to Tennessee for vacation. While we were there, we visited Tuckaleechee (sp?) Caverns. From that time on, I was fascinated by caves. By the time I reached my early twenties, I had spent thousands of hours exploring underground and crawling through some pretty tight places. I even became a member of the Tri-State Search and Rescue Team, specializing in cave rescue.

So, when my friend and I discovered a cave in the rock wall of a man-made lake where we were diving (I'm not going to say where because I don't want to tempt anyone), we decided to check it out.

Yeah, I know. We were young and stupid. I should've known better.

Anyway, Fuzz led the way and I followed him into the cave. The passage was tight and Fuzz kicked up the sediment to the point where I couldn't see squat. I groped along behind him, hands out in front, trying to keep up. Then, I suddenly found myself in clear water and Fuzz was nowhere in sight. I switched off my light to see if I could detect his light. Nada. Black as Hades. At that moment, I felt my tank grate against the ceiling for an instant, then come free.

I realized that I must have taken a side passage and was separated from Fuzz. I started to back out, but couldn't. I was stuck. My tank was lodged in a depression in the ceiling and I couldn't move. My first thought was to simply unbuckle my harness and slip out from under the tank, then pull it out of the cave after me, but the passage was too tight and I couldn't get my hand down to my waist to release the buckle. I thought about cutting the harness away at the shoulders but my knife was strapped to my leg, out reach.

Out of options, all I could do was watch the needle of my SPG as my air slowly ran out. I thought about my parents and my girlfriend. I thought about how stupid I was and I wondered how long it would be before someone found my body.

At 500 psi, my J valve started honking its low air warning. At 300 psi it would cut off and I couldn't reach the rod to turn on the reserve. Panic was about to set in when I felt something moving along my left leg. It moved up to my waist and I felt a tug at my harness buckle. Then, something grabbed my ankles and yanked me backward and free. I pulled my tank after me and followed Fuzz back out to open water. On the way, I had to open the reserve. When we were back on the boat, I had this overwhelming urge to give ugly ol' Fuzz a kiss. I settled for a hug and a handshake.

 

[D_B]

.... Wow

to the stories ... all of them

 

[shackle]

I pulled this one over from another thread I posted on:

(It happened in the summer of 1978. The equipment consisted of a Healthways steel 72, Aqua-Lung Aquarius reg, White Stag Deep SPG, USD Atlantis mask, USD Otarie fins, 5 pounds on a USD weight belt, USD diver's knife. I had just bought the Aquarius and this was my first dive with a single hose reg.)

One year, when I was just a kid, my family went to Tennessee for vacation. While we were there, we visited Tuckaleechee (sp?) Caverns. From that time on, I was fascinated by caves. By the time I reached my early twenties, I had spent thousands of hours exploring underground and crawling through some pretty tight places. I even became a member of the Tri-State Search and Rescue Team, specializing in cave rescue.

So, when my friend and I discovered a cave in the rock wall of a man-made lake where we were diving (I'm not going to say where because I don't want to tempt anyone), we decided to check it out.

Yeah, I know. We were young and stupid. I should've known better.

Anyway, Fuzz led the way and I followed him into the cave. The passage was tight and Fuzz kicked up the sediment to the point where I couldn't see squat. I groped along behind him, hands out in front, trying to keep up. Then, I suddenly found myself in clear water and Fuzz was nowhere in sight. I switched off my light to see if I could detect his light. Nada. Black as Hades. At that moment, I felt my tank grate against the ceiling for an instant, then come free.

I realized that I must have taken a side passage and was separated from Fuzz. I started to back out, but couldn't. I was stuck. My tank was lodged in a depression in the ceiling and I couldn't move. My first thought was to simply unbuckle my harness and slip out from under the tank, then pull it out of the cave after me, but the passage was too tight and I couldn't get my hand down to my waist to release the buckle. I thought about cutting the harness away at the shoulders but my knife was strapped to my leg, out reach.

Out of options, all I could do was watch the needle of my SPG as my air slowly ran out. I thought about my parents and my girlfriend. I thought about how stupid I was and I wondered how long it would be before someone found my body.

At 500 psi, my J valve started honking its low air warning. At 300 psi it would cut off and I couldn't reach the rod to turn on the reserve. Panic was about to set in when I felt something moving along my left leg. It moved up to my waist and I felt a tug at my harness buckle. Then, something grabbed my ankles and yanked me backward and free. I pulled my tank after me and followed Fuzz back out to open water. On the way, I had to open the reserve. When we were back on the boat, I had this overwhelming urge to give ugly ol' Fuzz a kiss. I settled for a hug and a handshake.

That wouldn't have been Nickajack lake would it?

 

[RickI]

Great story, congratulations on making it out! A number of us have had a Fuzz intercede when we needed it most. Glad he was able to find you. Do you recall his side of the story, i.e. when he discovered you weren't there and how he went about finding you?

My first dive in Warm Mineral Springs in 1977 or so, I did a tour of sorts with the lead archaeologist, Sonny Cockerell. Went down a bunch of the fixed lines to various paleo and archeo digs in the springs. More about that later. Anyway, I recall standing on the bottom near one of the sources at around 230 ft. with an inclined rock ceiling overhead and pretty narc'd. I was checking out the scenery, on air, looking at the pressure gage, etc.. but felt no compulsion to move or ascend. Was ok just to stand there, not sure if I would have moved or not. Sonny came along gave a thumbs up and that is what we did. A lot milder than your experience, still narcosis can do that sometimes. Keep you somewhat aware in la la land but lacking the incentive to get out of Dodge. Had it another time at about 170 ft., even forgot I had a large hogfish on a spear. Had been away at school and deep diving for many months contributing to things.

Please keep the stories coming. High drama, a narrow miss or just an unusual but memorable experience, lots of great tales from back in the day.