I witnessed something stupid & potentially very dangerous on a recent dive.

[Mtrewyn]

Originally Posted by Skinsfan1311

Upon hearing that the top of the coral-head below was only about 40', this one guy tells his wife that he's going to dive in and see if he could touch it. He then proceeded to try to do so.

Wow first not following instructions!!

was he trying to "free" dive while snorkeling? or was he on scuba?

I know this is dangerous but does anyone know some one that has been "bent" from something like this?

just wondering

[matt151617]

Originally Posted by Vercingetorix

And Darwin misses yet another excellent opportunity

Ha, I always think of the same thing when I hear about stupid people.

[wgt]

Originally Posted by Mtrewyn

Wow first not following instructions!!

was he trying to "free" dive while snorkeling? or was he on scuba?

I know this is dangerous but does anyone know some one that has been "bent" from something like this?

just wondering

Many cases of DCS are linked to breath-hold diving to depth following the breathing of compressed inert gas. In these individual cases, cause and effect is difficult to confirm, however. Also, the exact risks are difficult to assess, as nobody knows how common the practice is and how many intances result in DCS. Also, there are no standard parameters for breath-hold diving (e.g., depth, rates of descent and ascent, use of equalization techniques). Nevertheless, these individual cases are consistent with interactions among principles of off-gassing, typical and less typical anatomy of the human circulatory and pulmonary systems, and physics (e.g., Boyle's law, Henry's law).

As for a specific instance, I vividly recall a teenager who repeatedly dived from the top deck of a dive boat to see how deeply underwater he could propel himself (during a surface interval). He became quite ill. On ther other hand, I was with some divers on a blue-water snorkel with dolphins during a surface interval. A number of the divers snorkeled deep to get a closer look at the passing spinners. None became ill.

[Mtrewyn]

Thanks for the info, I was just wondering,

I know that in life there are a lot of things that "could" happen, but for some reason they don't,

so any info I love to get. I read the DAN reports, and the accident articles in the dive mags all the time.

[wgt]

Originally Posted by Mtrewyn

Thanks for the info, I was just wondering,

I know that in life there are a lot of things that "could" happen, but for some reason they don't,

so any info I love to get. I read the DAN reports, and the accident articles in the dive mags all the time.

No problem -- always happy to help if I am able.

[gregor]

Bounce diving

good description here, a little bit long, but goes over the physiology of why it's bad to bounce dive, or snorkel dive for that matter after any scuba dive.

[Sasha_K]

Great reminder here guys. thanks for posting.

[Skinsfan1311]

[/quote]

Wow first not following instructions!!

was he trying to "free" dive while snorkeling? or was he on scuba?

I know this is dangerous but does anyone know some one that has been "bent" from something like this?

just wondering[/quote]


Sorry for the delayed response.

He jumped in to cool off, during a surface interval. He "free" dove.

We were about 15 minutes into the surface interval, after an initial dive where the max depths for most divers was around 100'. A few divers dove a tad deeper.

The DM on the boat told us that he saw someone get bent doing the same thing, in 10' of water.

[scubarobin]

yup, a group returned from Coz a few years ago and were talking about being there and 4 people got bent at their dive op in 1 week... common denominator? You got it - free diving on surface intervals. Yes, apparently some DMs don't know not to do it. The 3 people we spoke with were furious that the DM let them do it (the teenage son got skin bends, the others who got bent were in another group). They were discussing with our LDS about suing. LOL My comment to them is they should have remembered the discussions about DCS in class (they had just done their OW class with my husband as instructor a few months before the trip and I know how much he talks about safety). The guy shut up and we never heard another thing from them. Sometimes people are sooooooo stupid and forget that once they get certified they are responsible for their own behavior!

[Monkeylemon]

I'm glad the guy was OK, too, but besides the danger to himself, he should also get slapped upside the head for even wanting to touch coral. A divemaster worth his salt will tell people ahead of time never, never.