Muck Stick

[DarinMartell]

Ok, a reply on the "what piece of gear can you not dive without" thread reminded me of what the owner of Emeral Coast Scuba out of Destin told a couple of students when I was out with them. She said that one of the best things you can have with you is a stick. Could be a spear, a tickle stirck, anything. This is used to push off a a open area to keep from hitting something. She also used the example of how we could have stuck it in an open area of the floor and walked down it head first to look under the ledges of the reef we were on. The person on the other thread called it a "muck stick", it is a long piece of metal with a wrist lanyard to keep a hold of it and ring to clip it off.

Anyone make one of these?

[texdiveguy]

Yea it's called have decent 'buoyancy control'....you don't need 'no' stick for any such things as this instructor described to her students. There are tools that can be specific to wreck diving at times. There are 'bang sticks' used in heavy shark infested waters under certain conditions. But I would see no reason to make/carry a walking cane like she described.

[SarahBella]

I found a piece of flat metal with what looked to be a handle bar grip on it one day...I was told it was specifically for Abalone. It was heavy and around a foot long. It seemed like a good thing to have but I have never dove with it. No Abalone and good boyancy makes that one more thing I dont want to carry.

[cummings66]

I'm betting it was a story told to entertain students, to catch the gullible. Congratulations, you've been caught.

No instructor would ever advocate something as hokey as this, it is a joke plain and simple.

[whse56]

Never heard of a muck stick in diving. I did meet a diver once that carried a two foot stick when he dove in water that could have sharks. He thought he could scare it away by poking it if it got to close. I think it was more of a morale tool than actually being good protection.

[DarinMartell]

I don't think she was blowing smoke because two people on the "What one piece of gear" thread mentioned it, chinacat46 & Compudude

I did a google search and came up with alot of hits. Looks like something used mostly to steady a diver to get a good photo.


A home made one

Look in his left hand
http://static.flickr.com/111/2909945...fe6a6b.jpg?v=0

Look whats hanging off him
http://static.flickr.com/110/2909947...d16cae.jpg?v=0

[texdiveguy]

Originally Posted by DarinMartell

I don't think she was blowing smoke because two people on the "What one piece of gear" thread mentioned it, chinacat46 & Compudude

I did a google search and came up with alot of hits. Looks like something used mostly to steady a diver to get a good photo.


A home made one

Look in his left hand
http://static.flickr.com/111/2909945...fe6a6b.jpg?v=0

Look whats hanging off him
http://static.flickr.com/110/2909947...d16cae.jpg?v=0

Still see no use for one lest your hunting 'bugs' or something. Just something else to dangle and try to mess with....thanks for posting the photos.

[Jipps]

i could see a use for it if your hunting lobster or maybe to steady your camera, but otherwise i wouldnt carry one. Personally i carry a lobster snare and a speargun, that is enough gadgets for me to worry about carrying underwater

[No Misses]

I can honestly say that I used a muck stick :-). Well, actually it was a lobster tickle stick. The vis got so bad that I ran head first into a coral head. After that, I used the tickle stick like a blind mans walking stick. I now refer to these poor vis dives as "Hellen Keller dives". tap, tap, tap.

BTW, lobsters love poor vis. They come out and walk around like it is night time.

[MLenyo]

Originally Posted by No Misses

I can honestly say that I used a muck stick :-). Well, actually it was a lobster tickle stick. The vis got so bad that I ran head first into a coral head...

Ouch! were you hurt at all?