What's the most idiotic thing you've have witnessed divers doing?

[PEIDiver]

Two things come to mind. First we once had a visiting diver (who also happened to be an instructor) back roll out of the boat right on top of his buddy. The buddy was temporarily stunned and required five or six seconds before he came back to his senses to confirm he was ok. I can still remember the look of terror on the divemasters face as the guy went over the side.

The second incident involves two very recently certified divers. Through the lobster season we usually dive using a trap line to decend and then follow the trap line for our dive. This means we are diving in prime lobster habitat. On the return trip back the line the viz suddenly dropped off dramatically. Well, it turns out this buddy pair found a good sized lobster under a rock and were determined they were going to get their hands on it. Now, not having a snare, these guys mounted an excavation project using their hands and knives to dig the rocks away. Once exposed one buddy grabs the lobster by it's midsection and proudly display it to everyone in the general area. Not finding anyone overly impressed by the display he shruged his shoulders and then tossed the critter away. Back at the dive shop we relate this story back to the divemaster and I don't think I've seen these guys on a charter since.

Anyways, in my 48 dives these are the only really bone headed things I've seen done.

 

[Big-t-2538]

One...at Gilboa
One gentleman got out of the water at the floating dock with a staircase leading up. He proceeded to doff his mask and hood, but kept his fins on. In his attempt to walk across the slippery dock...WHAM...face first into the 2 x 4's. He proceeded to stand back up (with the doubles still on his back and fins on) to say "well, that's the second time this week"

Two...at a quarry where there is a wade in entrance, this diver had full SCUBA gear on (fins and all) walking towards the water. He gets to the edge and dives in face first into what had to be no more than 10 to 18 inches of water. He kicked out and descended....no communication with anyone.

 

[jrtonkin]

The wreck of the "Wetmore" in Tobermory.

The boiler of the wreck comes within a few feet (2 or 3) of the surface, and some yahoo decided he'd _stand_ on the thing... Now even ignoring the "don't damage the site" type etiquette, this is still putting his full weight on a sheet of rusting metal, and one that probably gets a fair bit of weathering every winter.

If he had of gone through the boiler, even if he didn't slash open his femoral artery on the edges, I don't know how we'd have managed to get him out if he was stuck.

Of course, this was the guy with the most expensive/tech gear on the charter.

And then the guy goes and complains about people yelling at him not to do this...

Jamie

 

[rebelrph]

While drift diving I usaully try to be the last diver . A "fatherly" thing to make sure everyone is doing o.k.
On a wall dive at Coz. another diver went below the 100ft dive profile - maybe to 115 , no real big deal, but when he kept decending... I knew he was narc'd . The DM was down current a good ways and I couldn't get his attention. So, I went to get the narc'd diver. finally caught him at 145ft and he was still going down. I pulled him up slowly and got him re-oriented about 80 feet or so, Continued up slowly, normal saftey stop and no big deal. But think about the "what ifs....."

Anyway, alls well that ends well....

Todd

 

[Shadow]

Really dark night. Awesome dive about to happen - or not. My buddy realized, with a cold shock, that he had forgotten to zip up his suit! In the dark, I hadn't seen it either. He was not getting that lovin' feeling as his suit quickly filled with 50 degree water! Had to abort the dive...

Another fun sight is me beginning to descend with my snorkel in my mouth ... Glub, glub ...

Must work on those OW basics - BWARF(Z) and SORTED

 

[DiverBuoy]

Shadow once bubbled...
Must work on those OW basics - BWARF(Z) and SORTED

... And work on your acronyms - Begin With Review And Friend (or my favorite alternative - Breathing Water Really Ain't Fun, which works well for your descending on snorkel power) and SORTD - Signal Orient Regulator Time Descend

One story about myself. During my Wreck certification, my instructor tangled the reel. with about 50 feet of line floating freely in the water, he signaled low on air, my eyes got big and he shot up the mooring line - abandoning me. Now solo diving at 105 feet on the Yukon, my problems didn't end there - I had become completely entangled in loose line, trying to figure out my delimma I became even more severly entangled and got pulled by the surge through one of the giant cut holes in the hull - this pulled the line taught and hung it on the rusty grooves in the edge of the hole. I was now wrapped AND pinned. I was basically dead - until a twin tank nitrox diver came along and cut me free - with only 800 psi left I surfaced safely and managed a very slow breathing safety stop. I was so very upset at the instructor we had some serious words on the boat.

here's a personal best: I have one of those UK HID light cannons I got a key man deal for 62 bucks. I was trying to change the batteries but no matter what I tried I couldn't get the lens off - it was vacuum sealed apparently. So thinking I was smart I tightend a bug buddy I had onto the cap and put the rest of the unit in a vice and began pounding on the screw on the side of the bug buddy (I'm thinking this will provide the leverage necessary to ratchet off the lens. On the second whack I hear that distinct pop a bulb makes when it shatters ($85.00 to replace). The gas in the bulb further tightened the lens's grip. Anyway I finally got the lens off by taking it to pep boys auto shop and using a fuel filter cam to remove it. I still can't get over my stupidity - replacing the bulb cost me $23.00 more than the entire light cost originally.

Most insane thing I've ever seen another diver do (I've seen this more than once) diver leaves BC and fins on the sand with 15 foot hose (or longer) and with only a wetsuit and weight belt and regulator in mouth - crawls and squeezes head first into 2 1/2 foot wide hole in a rock wall to catch bugs. Eventually only a hoze hanging out of the hole is showing. On the boat I looked more closely at his wetsuit it was ripped to shreds with his red scrapped skin showing through in a half dozen places. Not all of the damaged done on that dive mind you - but a clear record of a long history of insanity.

 

[Welshman]

Reading these stories this morning you realise that there are some people who if you put them in a 10 acre field with but a single hole in it - they will fall in!!!

 

[jdb]

Diving a wreck this summer we were swimming along the edge of the ship, where the hull meets the sand when we come along this full scuba setup. BC, regulator, tanks. No diver in sight. My depth gauge was reading 95' at the time. After a few seconds of me and my buddy looking at each other in confusion here comes this diver out from under the hull who proceeds to put his equipment back on and continue his dive. After surfaceing we find out that he had spotted a rather large lobster but couldn't get to it with the BC and Tanks on sooo.. off goes the BC with the regulator still in mouth but still couldn't quite get far enough under, so he takes a deep breath and lets go of the regulator and pulls himself farenough under the hull of this ship to get to this lobster only to loose him on his way back out.

 

[wrecNcaver]

jdb once bubbled...
Diving a wreck this summer we were swimming along the edge of the ship, where the hull meets the sand when we come along this full scuba setup. BC, regulator, tanks. No diver in sight. My depth gauge was reading 95' at the time. After a few seconds of me and my buddy looking at each other in confusion here comes this diver out from under the hull who proceeds to put his equipment back on and continue his dive. After surfaceing we find out that he had spotted a rather large lobster but couldn't get to it with the BC and Tanks on sooo.. off goes the BC with the regulator still in mouth but still couldn't quite get far enough under, so he takes a deep breath and lets go of the regulator and pulls himself farenough under the hull of this ship to get to this lobster only to loose him on his way back out.

Reminds me of an incident at Ginny. Seems an OW diver got in at the Devil's ear. (For those not familiar, this is a cave system) He proceeds to take off his BC/tank and leave it just inside the exit to the chimney. He is then seen taking a deep breath and swimming down the gold line a ways, then turned and rode the current back to his gear. Did this until an instructor kicked him out. He couldn't figure out why he was kicked out!

 

[nicodaemos]

Welshman once bubbled...
Reading these stories this morning you realise that there are some people who if you put them in a 10 acre field with but a single hole in it - they will fall in!!!

LOL