View Full Version : Tall Tales and Brown Neoprene
So what’s your hairiest dive? What get’s you brickin’ it on a dive? Low viz? Washing machine current? Big seas? Great white shark nibbling your fins? Depth?
According to my logbook, my top 3 hairy dive experiences are:
3. Getting back on the dive boat in stormy conditions off Jackson Reef in the Tiran strait :eek:
2. Surface conditions caused by an unexpected force 9 after a dive on the Lochgarry off Rathlin :eek: , and,
1. A down-current that hit me during a foolish (I admit) solo effort off Lochaline Pier :eek: :eek: .
The most dodgy, though, was probably the Jackson Reef experience. I think Bubblemaker was there too and can validate my sentiments (or else condemn me as a woose who just exaggerates stuff). After a one hour dive in a strong current, we surfaced, already fatigued, into a significant swell on the exposed side of the reef. The boat was rocking and tipping with its nose into this swell, and we were strung out in a long line waiting to be picked up. Adrian B and I were at the back of the queue, either through chivalry or fear, I can’t remember which. We watched in horror as our comrades ran the gauntlet of the pitching ladder to the dive platform. The platform itself was rising a good 2 metres off the surface, and then smacking back down with a bang every 10 seconds or so. If you fell from the ladder and under the platform, then it looked like curtains.
I watched Adrian negotiate the ladder, and just as he reached the top, our worst fear was realised and he slipped and fell back into the water, just as the boat slipped back down the swell and the platform came crashing down in an explosion of white foam exactly where his head had been. I can remember feeling a massive adrenaline rush as I realised that I was going to have to rescue my possibly mortally wounded buddy from under the bucking hull of the dive boat. There was a lot of distressed shouting on deck, and I swam in towards the back of the boat, looking for a bloom of red in the surf …
Bizarrely the FB was unharmed, and seemed to just bob to the surface from somewhere underneath me. He was a bit flustered, but undamaged. I suppose the undertow had pulled him back away from the advancing stern of the boat, or something like that.
Exhausted, it took us another 10 mins or so to grapple our way up the bucking bronco dive ladder, to finally flop down in front of the obligatory Red Sea lunch of fried chicken, rice and okra.
That was a day to remember. I think the bottom line for me is that the dodgiest thing about diving can be the surface conditions.
I’ll tell about the Rathlin and Lochaline brown thinsulate moments another time …
bubblemaker
05-04-06, 09:39
Ahh.. i remember it well...i was one of the first back on the boat, and was sitting on the bottom deck trying not to spew!!! MOC was a legend though... being the salty dog that he is, the swell didn't bother him in the slightest.. he stood at the back of the boat, and when it crashed down on the water, he reached out, grabed a bit of kit, nad dragged whoever it belonged to onto the deck!! from where i was i just saw sky.. water..sky..water.. etc etc...
the dive after it was amazing though.. a drift from Ras bob to Ras Nasrani...Stunning!
Ahh.. i remember it well...i was one of the first back on the boat, and was sitting on the bottom deck trying not to spew!!! MOC was a legend though... being the salty dog that he is, the swell didn't bother him in the slightest.. he stood at the back of the boat, and when it crashed down on the water, he reached out, grabed a bit of kit, nad dragged whoever it belonged to onto the deck!! from where i was i just saw sky.. water..sky..water.. etc etc...
the dive after it was amazing though.. a drift from Ras bob to Ras Nasrani...Stunning!
When I was half way up the ladder the captain decided to move the boat
and I landed back in the water and had all the fun of getting on the ladder again, great fun.
But as u say the last dive soon made me forget the exit
and the fireman was a star lifting divers out the water
like they were 2 stone kids.
When I was half way up the ladder the captain decided to move the boat
and I landed back in the water and had all the fun of getting on the ladder again, great fun.
Yeah! I forgot about that bit! That was hilarious!! :D :D :D
Sorry, Ding, I mean, that was terrible!
bubblemaker
07-04-06, 16:15
When I was half way up the ladder the captain decided to move the boat
and I landed back in the water and had all the fun of getting on the ladder again, great fun.
i seem to recall a certain Mr B had a similar experience, which resulted in the tragic loss of his light canon!!!
I went for strong current and i would just like to clarify me decision....
Strong currents, going with them.... good stuff :cool:
However, currents taking me the opposite direction than that i wish to go just annoys me! And sometimes worries me somewhat!!!! :eek:
bubblemaker
09-04-06, 18:58
However, currents taking me the opposite direction than that i wish to go just annoys me! And sometimes worries me somewhat!!!! :eek:
And as i recall, sometimes your wee legs don't have the strength to fin into currents!!!!
The platform itself was rising a good 2 metres off the surface, and then smacking back down with a bang every 10 seconds or so. If you fell from the ladder and under the platform, then it looked like curtains.
sounds really hairy.
i had a similar experience on the exact same reef.
not quite as dramatic, but there was some red stuff involved.
similar as i suggested, a rapid current followed a big 1m+ surface swell, not quite a 2m but not a kick in the pants off it.
my turn for the ladder after being hauled in on a rope with a washing up liquid bottle on the end.
now for the bad timing!
BANG, face first onto the ladder, burst my nose which flooded my mask with blood & so we named it The Red Sea.
this was the last dive of the week & i was never so thankfull to be back on the boat.
bubblemaker
14-04-06, 22:29
BANG, face first onto the ladder, burst my nose which flooded my mask with blood & so we named it The Red Sea.
this was the last dive of the week & i was never so thankfull to be back on the boat.
doesn't sound like much fun...you do get some damn impressive swells out there.. it would be awsome to take a RHIB out in!!! haha..get some air time...:D
doesn't sound like much fun...you do get some damn impressive swells out there.. it would be awsome to take a RHIB out in!!! haha..get some air time...:D
Sounds like fun as u know a rib has only 2 speeds
the second is the best :D :p :)
dive granny
25-05-06, 22:00
I see these were last month but I was in Oz! I think that was one of the dives I missed! Don't like big swells. I struggled to get back on after the Thistlegorm even with Dutch Eddie doing his best to help me. Also wasn't too happy drifting off Bass Rock for 45 mins and 3/4 miles out on the wrong side either. ps Did Mr B not lose his camers not his torch. x:eek: :eek: :eek:
Lizardland
26-05-06, 00:45
My worst dive this year was my first with a pee valve in my suit. An hour into it I opened the valve and, er, released. Nothing. The hose had a kink in it, it was agony, felt like my kidneys were floating. Took another hour of swimming, wriggling and underwater fondling to right it. I peed for a solid eight minutes and was groaning with relief.
Probably my nearest miss was a solo dive pushing air a little bit too deep. I was starting to hear bells and my vision was fading out. I shat myself and think it was just instinct that pointed me up and got me finning. It wasn't til I got to my first deco stop and calmed down that I was able to read my computer properly. I nearly had a fit when I saw what it said, I totally misread it, I'd been a good 20m deeper than I'd thought it said.
A few years ago whilst diving in a cave in France I had every torch I was carrying pack in. I'd dropped a couple of cylinders halfway in that I needed to get out and deco with, with no light there was no way I could have found them and I wasn't carrying enough air for the deco and the swim. Just before my last torch died I saw a bit of green, a SL4 that somebody had lost. I switched it on, it worked and lasted long enough to get me out. Someone was smiling on me that day. First thing I did when I got out was dump my kit, walk to the local shop, by a bottle of wine and necked the lot in about 15min.
Worst experience was diving a cave there when one of our divers was long overdue on the return. I had to dive to find him, I really thought I was going to look for a body. It was a horrible feeling, it's a very grim place, the rock is really black, we were diving there illegally and I was expecting to find the worst. I spent nearly an hour searching and decided to bin it. I got to the surface and the guy was out and OK. He'd apparently got lost, headed down the wrong passage and spent the time trying to squeeze through a tiny exit hole.
But the one thing that scared me completely witless was doing a night dive at Finnart in December, seeing a grey monster flash past me. It was a seal. I don't like being in the water with things with big brains, I was back in my car in about 60s :)
A few years ago whilst diving in a cave in France I had every torch I was carrying pack in. I'd dropped a couple of cylinders halfway in that I needed to get out and deco with, with no light there was no way I could have found them and I wasn't carrying enough air for the deco and the swim. Just before my last torch died I saw a bit of green, a SL4 that somebody had lost. I switched it on, it worked and lasted long enough to get me out. Someone was smiling on me that day.
Jaysus! I had to go to the loo after reading that ...
In my less clued up days diving the Hispania when the current was running like a train. Clean change of underpants please;)
I was inside the wheelhouse of the shuna the day after it was found removing the bolts that held one of the portholes on. I had entered through a door two people could swim through but had kicked up the viz trying to get this porthole. As u seasoned divers know brass is like divers gold and I had forgot all about time, air and deco.....until my old aladin pro (the grey one) started beeping at me....10min deco thats ok I thought, then I looked at my contents gauge 40 bar. Shit I thought I'l have to leave this porthole and someone else will get it..... but no air, have to go....went to leave.....shit cant find the exit....I can hear my heartbeat get faster....I look up and can see a green glow.....I fin up and can only get my head through.....My heartbeat gets louder and faster....but wait I see another hole about 1 meter away, I line myself up with the hole drop back through and feel along the wheelhouse roof untill I find the hole..... relief as my head and showlders slip through....shit my first stage catches on the hole....by now my heart is trying to break through my ribs.....think what am I going to do....I decied to remove my tin and stabi and shove it through first then swim through and refit on the wheelhouse roof.....Contents gauge reads 10 bar... head for the rope and start to ascend....at 25m I swap onto a 3l with 50/50 and slowly ascend to 3m where I finish the cylinder.....heartbeat back to normall.:eek:
alexmaclennan
07-08-06, 04:25
Frightening as my first experience of strong currents in open water. Everyone hanging straight off the shotline going onto bow of TG. Hiding behind deck structures and dropping into holds to keep from being torn off the ship (or so it felt). Fighting against current to get back to the line. Legs tiring and heart sinking. Everyone on boat bar 3 of us went straight to strong drink.
But three of us went down to do a night dive. No current. No other divers. Went round top and bottom storeys of both No1 and No2 holds. Finished by nipping into Foc'sle. At 50bar asked Mike where is out. He points up to hole in ceiling. Out I go and shotline is just there........
Alex
dive granny
07-08-06, 23:32
I wondered why we found or should I say saw two pairs of boxer shorts at furnace. Didn't think it was a scary dive (except for getting in and out!!) or maybe the fishermen got so engrossed in their sport they don't have time to 'go'.:( :(