When Were You a Diving Stud?

[Chip Elliott]

Other than being hit by a fishing boat, screaming in for a fish weigh in during a no visibility summer storm in Delray, FL, I've had no outlier experiences.

Can't leave it there dada, hit by a boat??????

 

[Chip Elliott]

I was recovering a truck from one of our back waterways that had been found by a couple out fishing. It was night, and being Florida, there were alligators. Nothing big, a couple of 6 or 8 footers who hung around and watched the process. I hooked the truck up, and eventually had to rig a lift bag to get it over a lip. It was a long evening, but it made it worth while when I came out of the water and the woman started gushing about how I had the biggest balls she'd ever seen.

Ummm, 8 foot alligators aren't big? Man, how tall are YOU? LOL.

 

[scubadada]

Can't leave it there dada, hit by a boat??????

@Chip Elliott

August 3, 2013, went on a routine drift dive in Delray, FL. Descended on a beautiful, sunny day, ascended in a torrential downpour, rain blowing horizontally, clouds and/or fog, visibility of near zero. Out of the fog comes a center console going very fast directly for me and my flag. I had a couple seconds to start an emergency descent. Luckily, the hull just caught the tail of my tank and one of the props just clipped my left foot, resulting in a minor laceration and a small avulsion fracture of the 1st metatarsal. I did fine, missed 10 days of diving, it could have been much worse. The boat captain was cited by the FWC for reckless boating, excessive speed, and no lookout. I would like to think we both learned things that day without much harm being done.

Weather like this always brings back memories, though they are fading. I always dive with a good strobe, to increase my chances of being seen.

I wrote a much longer account of this incident that was published as a letter in Alert Diver in Q4 2014, in response to an article entitled Boat Collision and Propeller Safety.

Good diving,

Craig

 

[ReefGuy]

Ummm, 8 foot alligators aren't big? Man, how tall are YOU? LOL.

I look MUCH bigger underwater.

 

[The Chairman]

Ummm, 8 foot alligators aren't big? Man, how tall are YOU? LOL.

Half of that is just tail. An eight footer will watch an adult human, but they'll stay their distance... especially if you're farting at the mouth! 10/12 foot is where they get interesting and can start making the water dance. Now, that's a sight.

 

[ReefGuy]

Half of that is just tail. An eight footer will watch an adult human, but they'll stay their distance... especially if you're farting at the mouth! 10/12 foot is where they get interesting and can start making the water dance. Now, that's a sight.

We were cleaning up after an alligator attack a couple of years ago, and there was a 14' bad boy about 200 yards down the canal. As the safety diver, I was keeping my eyes on it. Then I had to take an evidence container down to the diver, and when I came back up, he was gone. We wrapped up.

 

[RyanT]

What kind of Triggerfish are we talking about in the Gulf? We have a bunch of Gray Triggers on the East coast, they act fairly aggressive, but only occasionally nibble. It's one of the reasons I wear a full suit, usually with a hood

Yep, same species. I've had them occasionally go for a nibble underwater, but in this case, I can't really blame the fish, I had shot it after all!

Any guy that can laugh over a triggerfish bite in the rump meets the definition of stud in my book. Those beasties can shred rock with their jaws.

Thanks Lisa, I can assure you I wasn't laughing at the moment!

 

[The Chairman]

Only bull gators can do this. Look at 2:20 into the video:

​

 

[DaveJo127]

The other day I was surface swimming when a piece of seaweed touched my bare leg and I didn't even flinch. Beat that.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I finally thought of one, but it might only qualify in the mind of one person...

I was anchored a little ways offshore. My ex and I were done diving and were getting ready to head back to the launch ramp. The anchor was stuck. I looked at the depth-finder and it said 47 feet. So I put on my mask and snorkel and flippers, took a few deep breaths, and down I went. The visibility was only about 4-5 feet (was better when we were diving) so it all seemed just a little bit spooky. I finally located the anchor which was stuck under a big rock. The depth-finder was likely reading the tops of the rocks so I was probably at about 55 feet. I freed it and placed it where it could be hauled up. I surfaced and told my ex to haul up the anchor. It was stuck again. Down I went again, only this time I swam back up with the heavy Danforth anchor and about 20 feet of 1/4" chain. This time I handed it to her.

She was impressed anyway.