Favorite Scuba trips (or Scuba horror stories)

[Akula]

When reading through the thread "Adventure, Excitement, A jedi Craves not these things!" I noticed that quite a few people mentioned Scuba in thier exploits.

Being a Divemaster myself, I am always curious to hear others' stories about people's favorite, funniest, worst, strangest dives. These don't have to be resticted to just scuba - feel free to include items about free diving, snorkling, ice golf, or anything else underwater.

For me, one of my favorite dives was on the HMCS McKenzie off of Sydney, Vancouver Island, southwestern British Columbia. This was a 366' Canadian Destroyer Escort sank intentionally as an artificial reef in 1995. Information on the ship itself is here , just click on the 'Our Ships' link at the bottom of the screen, and find the McKenzie. By the way, I've been on several of the ships listed - all fun.

This is not an entry level dive with depths of over 100 feet, sometimes very cold water, and a very strong current area. This dive must be planned with attention to both the tide and current tables. The first time I was on this wreck, it was quite impressive. As you descend along the anchorage line, you come up on the bow of the ship and see some of the deck guns in place as well as the superstructure. The boat is pretty much upright, with maybe a 5-10 degree list. It's interesting going through the bridge and other areas of the ship. At one point, we were on the exterior of the ship, going from one of the aft decks to an upper deck. The first person in line, for the fun of it, used the ladder as would be done on the surface. Strange thing was, is that the rest of us lined up behind him to go up as well. After about 15 seconds, it was like "hey, gravity doesn't work here, I'll just swim up to the next deck." On the safety stop, it was also a bit of a ride because the current came up, and we were out like flags along the anchor line.

Anyway, I liked it because it's a quality wreck dive, but there is also a lot of life on the ship itself and a very beautiful setting on the surface.

What's your story?

 

[oldnewbie]

My favorite dive is off the coast of Pompano Beach, here in Florida.
It's called he "Aqua Zoo", and it lives up to its title.

About 70 feet, vis is for miles, and the water is LITERALLY filled with life.
Jew fish larger than me, moray eels, rays that swim right up to you and rub there bellies on your head!!
There is also a small wreck that you can penetrate, not real impressive, unless it's your first.

Can;t wait to get back there. recently got my Son certified, now I have my own dive buddy

 

[OULobo]

My favorite was when my fiance and I went to Blue Spring in FL. It is a natural spring in a state park. We walked up to the springhead through the stream in our gear because the current was too strong to swim. When we got to the springhead we dove down to about 10 ft where the spring emptied into the stream and played tag with a few armored catfish for a while. Then we went into the spring. We climbed vertically down to about 60 ft., to where the spring goes horizontal. We aren't cave certified and didn't have lights so this was as far as we could go. The "cave" is actually a formation of hardened mud, sediment and silt that is compacted into the sides of the spring. We hung out for a while at the bottom and then came back up. The best part was that the exit was about a 1/4 mile down stream, so we had a relaxing drift dive back to the exit.

Another fun trip was to Andros Island in the Bahamas. I was there for school and we had already been out to the reef. While reefs are fun and I usually find something new everytime, I like to dive in some interesting new spots. Later in the trip we went and dove a local estuary. The whole riverbed was covered with neat little parts of sea life, like sea horses, shrimp, crabs and small colorful fish. The best part was that we timed the dive as the tide let out and so we were literally flushed into the ocean as the tide emptied the estuary. We were moving so fast that we had to maneuver around a few bridge abutments that were in our path. To give you an idea of how fast we were going, one guy didn't pay attention and broke his arm when he slammed right into a pylon. His trip was over. As we were spat out the mouth of the estuary we saw quite a few sharks at the mouth getting ready for their nightly hunt in the estuary and enjoying any morsels the fast current would yeild. Then we just paddled back up to the beach which was the same beach our cabins were on. No need for a car or boat.

 

[OUMoose]

There's a story involving Rum on that trip IIRC too...

 

[Akula]

My favorite was when my fiance and I went to Blue Spring in FL. It is a natural spring in a state park.

My introduction to cave/cavern diving was in Florida at a place called Paradise Springs in Ocala. My wife and I rented the canister lights, and after the briefing, had some of the more memorable dives from that particular trip. The spring itself isn't a complex system. The entry was maybe 20 feet circular, and if you went down the section to the north, you ended up in a decent sized chamber where you can check out the fossils and deposits. Then proceeding to the shaft to the south, it was a fairly constant down angle that went into a few chambers. Again, fossils and interesting structure to look at. When we had a depth reading of 75 feet, you can look up the shaft you just came down and see a nice tunnel of light.

The best part was that this was a fresh water dive, in relatively warm water compared to what we were used to. Just a shorty wet suit, no weight belts, and no need to rinse off your equipment.

 

[OULobo]

There's a story involving Rum on that trip IIRC too...

shhhhhh. . . . I'm older and respectable now. Or atleast I have most people convinced of that now.

 

[OUMoose]

LOL... your secrets will always be safe with me, bud...

 

[oldnewbie]

All the springs up in North Florida are beautiful. 72F year round!

 

[Akula]

Wanted to revive this thread, so here's another.

I was diving with a group of 5 other people in the Cook Islands, off of Rarotonga. We were coming up on a rather large bommie, and saw a small damsel fish come up away from it, and it was making a bee line for the lead guy in the group. At first it was 'look at the fish coming up to greet us", but it kept going. The lead diver stopped, and the rest of us just watched this little 3 inch fish swim right up to the lead diver and nip him right in the middle of his forehead. Even though we were underwater, you could tell everyone started laughing because of the amount of bubbles being released from everyone's regulators. Overall, a great series of dives in clear, warm water.

By the way, my picture for my avatar is a shot I took on the dive right before this fish encounter. I was at a depth of 80 feet, and the diver was around 60 feet, strobe turned off.

 

[mj-hi-yah]

I see you are a Divemaster :ultracool ...that explains the great picture you took! I'm hoping to begin my certification with my husband in August. It's something I've always wanted to do. He's going, mostly for my sake and to get a refresher. He hasen't done a dive in a couple of years. We tried last year, but life got in the way.

Here's my snorkeling story. I was in Aruba with a group and a girlfriend of mine had never snorkeled before. She was very particular about the way she looked, acted etc., and she was squeamish about using used equipment and complained a lot about generally everything associated with it, she finally got up the nerve and very carefully climbed into the water and was slowly and cautiously snorkeling close to the boat. A couple of us were still on the boat, and the person running the excursion took out a loaf of bread and asked if we'd like to see something very cool. He then proceeded to drop the bread a little at a time around my friend to feed the fish. It was cool, a couple of fish came up to feed. It seemed to make her snorkel about a bit more quickly, and then he began to throw almost a whole bag of bread crumbs around her. In an instant there where tons and tons of fish completely surrounding her, and gobbling up the crumbs and she quickly lifted her head and began thrashing around and screaming. The fish were harmless, and she wasn't hurt. Just knowing her though it was quite a sight. He called them Bread Fish, but I'm sure there is more scientific name for them. Anyway when my friend got over the shock we all, especially her, because she has a good sense of humor, had a very good laugh! I suppose it was his way of dealing with those complaining customers!

MJ :asian:

 

[Akula]

First timers in the water can be a lot of fun.

Related to me by a coworker on a previous project - Just finishing up a spearfishing trip in the South Pacific, the dive boat was starting to pick people up. Each diver had a surface float attached to thier rig, to let the boat know where the diver and/or the shot fish were. While they were heading over to pick up the last diver, the first-time spearfisherman, got lucky. He shot a very large, fast fish (I apologize for not remembering the species.) Instead of letting go of his rig, getting to the boat, letting the fish tire out, follow the float and retrieve the fish, he did just the opposite. The sight from the boat was the locator float doing a zig-zag all over the area with this stream of bubbles closely following it.

 

[mj-hi-yah]

First timers in the water can be a lot of fun.

I agree! We took our kids to the Bahamas and my little guy was only about five at the time. My husband was diving, so I took our son snorkeling and it was really choppy and I almost didn't let him go in, because I was nervous for him and he got really upset, so they gave me a lifeline for him to hold onto and thankfully that did the trick. They also gave us a bag of food and it was so cool to see how totally excited he was when the fish came around. He just kept lifting up his head going, "I SEE A FISH!" "I SEE ANOTHER ONE!" It was great!

While they were heading over to pick up the last diver, the first-time spearfisherman, got lucky. He shot a very large, fast fish (I apologize for not remembering the species.) Instead of letting go of his rig, getting to the boat, letting the fish tire out, follow the float and retrieve the fish, he did just the opposite. The sight from the boat was the locator float doing a zig-zag all over the area with this stream of bubbles closely following it.

Sounds very funny! :lol: They must have gotten a good laugh watching him, but did he manage to hold onto the fish? I guess that would have made it worth it for him...

 

[OULobo]

The sight from the boat was the locator float doing a zig-zag all over the area with this stream of bubbles closely following it.

Now that would be my kind of ride.

 

[oldnewbie]

On a sad note....

We just lost a couple of Cave Divers this week, took all day to retrieve them from Eagle's Nest.

 

[Akula]

We just lost a couple of Cave Divers this week, took all day to retrieve them from Eagle's Nest.

I just read a news article about this and would like to note that even though these divers were experienced, and had all of the right equipment, things can still go wrong. ANYTIME you do any sort of penetration dive, whether it's a cave, a wreck, ice, or just a serious overhang, be overly careful.

A quote from the article - "Veteran cave diver Oestrich said the Eagle's Nest was a beautiful cave that's not especially dangerous, "but anything that deep and long can be a bad thing."..."You need to stay within your comfort level," he said. "When that voice starts talking to you about not being in there, don't wait until it starts screaming.Get out."

 

[mj-hi-yah]

On a sad note....

We just lost a couple of Cave Divers this week, took all day to retrieve them from Eagle's Nest.

That's a terrible story. Experienced divers - what went wrong in this case?

It brings me to my snorkeling horror story...while in the Caribbean for a family wedding a bunch of us went to a man made lagoon at the popular resort we were staying at, and as we were snorkeling we came across a distraught boy and his mom. The boy told us his brother disappeared into a hole. I was with my sisters and the three of us tried to swim down to rescue him. I'm a fairly strong swimmer and was unable to go very deep, because there was a wall of water forcing me up. It turned out that the hole was a waterfall return and the grating that was supposed to cover it was off. At first there were no lifeguards stationed at the lagoon or anyone to help us. We tried everything we could think of to try and save him, after a long while some help arrived but it was way too late. People move very slowly there. It was the most awful thing I've ever experienced and very sad for his family. It's a very long story, but those in charge at the resort and local authorities tried to cover things up...I'll never be able to go back to that resort, or Island again...

 

[oldnewbie]

That's a terrible story. Experienced divers - what went wrong in this case?

We may never know.
With my very limited experience with cave diving, it's real easy to loose your direction, the silt can be stirred up with the slightest fin kick.
And your bubbles can form on the ceiling making a mirror effect.. thus looking up seems like the floor....

Of course, with safety measures, backup lights, a line with direction markers strung from the opening, it becomes safer.......

 

[Akula]

Of course, with safety measures, backup lights, a line with direction markers strung from the opening, it becomes safer.......

Also backup tanks, backup regulators...anytime there are extreme circumstances, it's a good idea to at least double up on everything. I saw a documentary on some people that were mapping out some unexplored areas of Nahoch Nah Chich. Most of those guys were carrying four tanks, two on the back, and one on each thigh, and also two or three regulators. This is one of the top, if not the best, cave systems in the world with miles and miles of interconnecting passageways. It's on my list, but I haven't made it there yet.