Your most expensive dive

[Belzelbub]

@Belzelbub, yikes! Lots of people subscribe to the mantra that "a bad day diving is better than a good day at the office." I think you can firmly put that myth to rest!

Yeah, I thought that this would be top. But then I read 100Days report. He wins... Or maybe more accurately, loses.

 

[boulderjohn]

I was newly certified to be diving normoxic trimix, and I was going to Florida for a vacation. I was hoping to get in a tech dive while there. The course director at my Colorado shop had worked for a shop in Fort Lauderdale in the past, and he knew a tech diver (instructor) there. He thought the guy might want to do a dive with me, and he got me the guy's email address. I wrote to him, telling him the circumstances and asking if he would be willing to do a tech dive with me. He said he would.

He set everything up--chartered a boat, got me tank rentals, and got us both expensive trimix and deco gas fills. It was not until we were getting on the boat and it was time to pay up that I realized he expected me to pay for everything--my tank rentals, my trimix fills, his trimix fills, my deco tank rentals, both of our deco gases, and the full cost of the boat charter. He was acting as my guide, so I had to pay everything. I checked my email later--there is no hint in there that I was asking for anything other than a dive buddy. In fact, it was pretty damn clear. I found out later that the tanks I rented were all his, so he was charging me for renting his tanks, too. I was too meek and timid to protest, and it is damn lucky that I had a wallet with a bunch of hundreds in it to pay for it all.

While we were diving the wreck of the Hydro Atlantic, he signaled me to ask how much gas I had. I signaled back, showing that I still had plenty to continue the dive. He immediately thumbed the dive. When I asked later why, he said he did not know me and had no idea what my gas consumption would be, so he had thumbed early. When we got out of the water, I still had more than half of my trimix remaining, and I am sure he had more than that. So I paid many hundreds of dollars for a short tech dive to about 160 feet. My friendly "buddy" got a free dive and went home with hundreds of dollars of gas that I paid for left over for his future diving pleasure.

 

[flymolo]

I'll bite- I somehow lost my light monkey primary reel the other week, presumably while standing on the boat ladder and taking off a bailout bottle to hand to a crew member. Sadness!

 

[Bob DBF]

If it involves cocaine and hookers, does it count??

I guess if there was a dive involved, there was talk of a power head in one post so I guess the posting rules are pretty flexible.

 

[100days-a-year]

May want to rethink life if hookers and blow go with diving of any kind.

 

[scubadada]

It was me and we are truly blessed to be safe,we were hit by a freighter while anchored just inshore and South of Frying Pan Light.
It was about 1130PM Thursday in 100' of water.
Onboard were 2 other divers,we had just finished day 1 of a 3 to 5 day trip.

The vessel hit our bow and we were drug along the freighter when our anchor line fouled on his bow.The Aunt T immediately listed 45 degrees to port.The anchor freed and we slid along his hull after perhaps 20 to 30 seconds of being drug along slowly destroying the Aunt T.The Aunt T did not right herself when the freighter cleared as the bow was crushed and taking on water with 2 bilge pumps pouring steady streams out and high water alarm sounding.

I had instructed the crew to hand me knife as I was on the gunnel with the freighter hull only a couple of feet to my back as I made to cut the anchor line just before it freed.As we were obviously sinking I used the knife to cut the painter line on the liferaft with enough scope to guide it around the hull to the stern port corner where we boarded after gathering what safety and personal items we could and crew donning lifevests.I had the crew activate the onboard EPIRB.

All this took less than 5 minutes.Once safely away and settled in the raft we used my satphone to contact my wife as she was the emergency contact on the EPIRB and told her to relay to the USCG that it was a valid activation and we were in the water.She then relayed the direct number to the involved USCG sector and we remained in contact the entire time.A good samaritan sailboat motored to our position with a hour or so and remained on station until a USCG asset reached us.They had told us a Patrol boat was on the way from Oak Island but a Helo from Charleston reached us first and airlifted us first.

I cannot thank the USCG enough for their professionalism and the speed at which they operated.Even with all the safety gear it was the USCG that gave us the feeling of being secure after a harrowing and traumatic collision.My wife was also impressed by how they kept her abreast of our condition.All 3 divers are home and well,with one serious injury from the impact,a sprained or twisted knee on one crewman.

We all will return to the sea at some point in some capacity.
Tony Hancock

Either the one where my wife fell in love with diving or my last one where we were ran over by a freighter losing the boat, all gear and a business.
Both are seriously big ticket, one was worth the price of admission.

There was a short thread about it in the incident forum in 2018.

Long story short and the incident has not been resolved so I'll be vague.

We were diving offshore on a multiday commercial trip when we were struck at night by a freighter, sunk and subsequently rescued by our amazing and underappreciated USCG.

We all ( 3 ) lived although not without some consequences. Boat, compressor and all gear as well as a lot of personal and business stuff was onboard.
When everything is done legally, I'll post up what I am able.
One thing you can be assured of is that practically no one takes enough safety precautions and few have enough safety gear when it really matters.

@100days-a-year easily wins this one. I am glad that he is still alive and able to post. My hat is off to you, sir

 

[Manatee Diver]

May want to rethink life if hookers and blow go with diving of any kind.

Welcome to Miami, hookers and blow go with everything!

 

[Doc]

Trip to Antarctica for 6 dives....cost included flights, accommodations, boat, and a lot of really interesting touring....but cost/dive was maybe $800....

1980, there on a Russian ship. A Gazillion Rubles, give or take.

1977, Cichen Itza, Cubic Metric Dollars (not mine)

And that “free” every Tenth Trip to CocoView.

 

[Bierstadt]

@boulderjohn I may just be a simple Great Lakes denizen, but I am pretty sure that is called "shark diving."

 

[azstinger11]

I was newly certified to be diving normoxic trimix, and I was going to Florida for a vacation. I was hoping to get in a tech dive while there. The course director at my Colorado shop had worked for a shop in Fort Lauderdale in the past, and he knew a tech diver (instructor) there. He thought the guy might want to do a dive with me, and he got me the guy's email address. I wrote to him, telling him the circumstances and asking if he would be willing to do a tech dive with me. He said he would.

He set everything up--chartered a boat, got me tank rentals, and got us both expensive trimix and deco gas fills. It was not until we were getting on the boat and it was time to pay up that I realized he expected me to pay for everything--my tank rentals, my trimix fills, his trimix fills, my deco tank rentals, both of our deco gases, and the full cost of the boat charter. He was acting as my guide, so I had to pay everything. I checked my email later--there is no hint in there that I was asking for anything other than a dive buddy. In fact, it was pretty damn clear. I found out later that the tanks I rented were all his, so he was charging me for renting his tanks, too. I was too meek and timid to protest, and it is damn lucky that I had a wallet with a bunch of hundreds in it to pay for it all.

While we were diving the wreck of the Hydro Atlantic, he signaled me to ask how much gas I had. I signaled back, showing that I still had plenty to continue the dive. He immediately thumbed the dive. When I asked later why, he said he did not know me and had no idea what my gas consumption would be, so he had thumbed early. When we got out of the water, I still had more than half of my trimix remaining, and I am sure he had more than that. So I paid many hundreds of dollars for a short tech dive to about 160 feet. My friendly "buddy" got a free dive and went home with hundreds of dollars of gas that I paid for left over for his future diving pleasure.

Since I paid for the tanks and the gas, I would have emptied the tanks after **** like that....