I was doing a hull inspection at the 10th Ave Marine Terminal and this big bull sea lion just swam up, grabbed my GoPro setup by the strap, and took off with it into the murk... Has anyone else had wildlife straight up swipe their gear down there?
I was doing a deep inspection on a bridge piling near Seattle last Tuesday when my air started feeling weird. Not low, just off. My buddy Dave tapped my tank and gave me the cut sign. On the surface he said I was holding my breath between breaths, like I was scared to exhale all the way. I thought I was just being careful but apparently I was building up CO2 without knowing it. Got to talking with an old timer at the shop the next day and he told me half the divers he meets have the same bad habit from their first training dives. Now I'm trying to retrain myself to breathe like I'm sleeping, slow and steady. Has anyone else caught themselves doing this or am I the only one who spent years being an idiot?
Last week I had my tablet flood out at 60 feet and lost my whole dive log for that job. My mentor Bill, who's been diving since the 80s, just smiled and handed me his grease pencil slate. He was right all along - when it comes to underwater record keeping, simple and waterproof wins every time. Any of you guys still using slate or have you found a reliable digital option?
I've been running an old Viking drysuit with those clunky metal valves for 8 years, never had a leak. My buddy just dropped $800 on a new membrane suit with the slim valves and it failed on the third dive. Anyone else sticking with the older gear or am I just lucky?
I was looking through the latest CDC stats on commercial diving deaths and saw that between 2005 and 2015, there were 28 deaths in the Gulf of Mexico alone. That sounds small but when you figure how few divers are actually working down there, the rate is way higher than construction or fishing. Most of them were from guys going too fast on ascent or using bad gas mixes. Has anyone else looked at those old accident reports and found something that made you change how you dive?
I was out in the Gulf last month on a 90 foot platform job and watched a guy's bailout fail during pre-dive checks because he had a cheap flex hose on it. That hose had a pinhole leak you could barely see but it was dumping pressure fast, he almost missed it. The O-ring on a braided stainless hose is way more reliable for that setup and it's not even that much more expensive, like $40 difference. How many of you are still running flex on your bailout and have you actually tested it under full pressure recently?
I was swapping stories with a guy named Roy after a dive in Port Fourchon last week. He mentioned he takes a small sip of water before descending to keep his throat open and ears clearing easier. Tried it on my next 40 foot drop and it actually made a difference for me. Has anyone else heard of little tricks like that to make equalization smoother?
I swapped my usual thick neoprene for a 3mm compressed neoprene drysuit last week on a job in San Pedro. Thought it would be easier to move around down there, but after 45 minutes at depth I was shivering so bad I couldn't grip my tools right. Had to call topside to pull me up early and finish the inspection from the boat. Anyone else run into trouble trying to cut weight on insulation in cold water?
I ran a Kirby Morgan 19 for about 4 years on oil rig jobs in the Gulf, and finally tried one of those lightweight fiberglass hardhat helmets on a salvage job off Port Arthur. The difference in drag and weight underwater was huge, but now I'm dealing with neck soreness from adjusting to the new balance. Has anyone else dealt with this kind of muscle strain after switching helmet styles?
Bought a custom heated valve for my drysuit last month thinking it would keep me warm on North Sea jobs. First deep dive at 30 meters it shorted out and started smoking near my chest. Anyone else had a fancy gadget go wrong underwater like that?
When I started diving offshore in Port Fourchon, a guy named Pete told me to spend the extra $600 on a good trilam drysuit instead of the cheap crushed neoprene one I was eyeing. I ignored him, and 8 months in the zipper blew out during a 50-foot inspection job in 55 degree water. Had to abort the dive and cost the crew half a day. Anyone else learned a hard lesson from ignoring advice on gear?
Was working on a seawater intake valve off the coast of San Pedro. Got a face full of silt when the back pressure hit but I kept my cool and finished the job in under 20 minutes. Anyone else have a close call that ended up feeling like a win?
I was doing a hull inspection on a supply vessel near St. John's when my main air supply valve jammed open and started free-flowing. Had to manually override the backup regulator while swimming against a 2-knot current to reach the emergency ladder. Would you have fought the current or tried to surface slowly with a runaway bottle?
I dropped $500 on that fancy repair kit for my drysuit last year, and after three failed patches that leaked worse than before, I honestly think you're better off just sending it to a pro and saving the headache, anyone else had zero luck with those DIY kits?
He swore by wet suits even in 40 degree water up in Puget Sound, claiming dry suits make you lazy about thermal protection. I get his point about staying sharp, but after a 6 hour job last winter I’m not convinced. Anyone else have a strong preference for one over the other in cold conditions?
An old saturation diver I was working with pulled me aside after a bell run and said I was gripping my cutting tool too tight. He showed me a looser hold where you mostly use your thumb and two fingers to guide it. I tried it on the next hyperbaric weld prep and my arms weren't burning after 20 minutes. Has anyone else had a simple hand change fix their fatigue like that?
Last month on a pier inspection in Galveston I had a flange that wouldn't hold pressure no matter what I did. Turned out to be a hairline crack in the valve body itself that I missed because the silt was covering it. How long do you guys usually spend tracking down these small leaks before you start pulling everything apart?
I signed up for a harbor cleanup dive through a local group near Fells Point. We were supposed to be down there for 2 hours, but we pulled up so much junk it took almost 4. Shopping carts, tires, fishing line wrapped around everything. The worst part was the sediment stirred up from all the debris made visibility drop to maybe 2 feet. We had to feel around by touch for a lot of it. The organizers said they do this every 3 months and it never gets better. I get that harbors collect garbage, but this felt like nobody even tries. Has anyone else done cleanup dives in a busy port and seen it this bad?
Overheard a guy telling a new diver to just strap on an extra 20 pounds. Doesn't matter, he said, you'll sink fine. Anyone else think that's bad advice for a newbie?
I was using a fancy double figure eight with a backup knot and he told me to just use a clove hitch and a half hitch like everyone else. Been doing it that way for 6 months now and it's way faster plus never had an issue. Any of you guys get called out for overcomplicating deck stuff?
I was down in Port Fourchon last month doing a bell dive on a platform riser repair, and I noticed something weird. About half the guys on the barge were wearing those Kirby 901 hats with the stiff vis trim, and they were all swapping out their standard visor bolts for brass ones because the stock ones kept snapping off in the current. Meanwhile the other half were still rocking the older Kirby 500 with the softer trim and had zero issues. I asked one of the older tenders about it and he just laughed and said the 901 trim is made for oilfield cleanup, not for underwater bolt work. Has anyone else run into this problem where the trim catches on everything when you're trying to do fine manipulation?
I was on a job off the coast of Louisiana last spring and my primary air line got snagged on a wreck. If I hadn't double-checked my bailout bottle before the dive, I'd have been in real trouble. Now I always run a quick gear check with my tender before any deep water entry.
Bought a used Kirby Morgan band mask off a guy in Louisiana for 300 bucks and the thing fogged up so bad I couldn't see my own hand after 10 minutes down. Anyone else deal with this or did I just get a lemon?
I was diving on a pipeline job near Port Fourchon last August and kept complaining my drysuit was leaking at the neck seal. My dive supervisor finally pulled me aside and said 'it's not your suit, it's how you're prepping the zip before each dive.' He showed me I was missing a full 10 seconds of wax application along the groove where the zip teeth meet. After I started spending 30 seconds on that one spot instead of rushing, I went from getting damp on every dive to bone dry for a full 3-week hitch. Has anyone else had a supervisor point out a tiny habit that was causing big problems?