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Diving destinations

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by Fishtigua, Oct 4, 2008.

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  1. Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    Diving is such a part of our jobs, cleaning bottoms, checking moorings or untangeling nets and fishing gear.

    Ok, so where is the most unusual or unwelcome place you have ever had to dive?

    Fish

    No College Jokes please.
  2. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    The Miami River at Merrill Stevens is about my worst, the saving grace was swimming with a Manatee bigger than I could get my arms around drinking off a hise onboard- I have photos of this somewhere.
  3. Arendie

    Arendie New Member

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    Boats and Diving... I feel obligated to resurrect this thread.

    While not actually diving to work on a boat, I was diving in a marina.

    My dive buddies and I thought it would be like a treasure hunt to dive under the docks where all the yachts stay during the summer months. We picked our spot, dropped to the bottom and discovered that visibility was about 1 foot. NICE! or, not. So we go back up to the surface and decide that we're each on our own with a meeting interval and drop back down to discover our treasure.

    As I'm resting on the bottom, looking for the waterproof rolex and misc jewels, I get the thought in my mind that this is sort of the type of conditons rescue divers deal with. I wonder what it must be like to be searching and then be face to face with what you're looking for. Just about that time, my buddy swims by... mask to mask about a foot apart... Ahhhhh!!

    That was one of my goofiest dives.
  4. wscott52

    wscott52 Senior Member

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    I generally like warm clear water. The worst dive was under a 70' shrimp boat at the docks in Thunderbolt on the Wilmington River with zero visibility and a 3 knot current to replace a thru hull transducer for a captain friend. I could have started a commercial diving career right then as 3 other captains watching me get dressed/undressed came up to see if I would go under their boats for various problems.

    Best diving was probably Cozumel 40 years ago. They didn't even have dedicated dive boats then but were using big wooden fishing boats with ladders over the side. Visibility was 200' and marine life was plentiful.
  5. chesapeake46

    chesapeake46 Senior Member

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    Picture this......

    Green water. Not ocean green but almost antifreeze green.
    The job was to inspect, by feel, the supports of a public road bridge that crosses a settling pond that belongs to the customer.
    The two divers quoted an unrealistically high price for the work.
    The customer accepted.
    The divers were hosed off with a firehose after the dive.
    The job took 1 day at the end of which the divers suits were becoming gooey.
    When they saw how the suits had been affected, the customer replaced them, no questions asked.
    This was prolly 25 years ago.
    One diver now works with me.
    We use him in dark places to see what we are doing.
    He gives off a soothing glow.
  6. lovinlifenc

    lovinlifenc Member

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    Many years ago in a very small town on the Chesapeake, I was called to dive on a famous author's brand new boat. When I arrived, he explained that his watch had removed itself from his wrist during their docking procedure. I quoted him $300 to suit up and see if I could find his watch. He then said he could find another cheaper diver, not knowing that I was about to call the two other divers in town and warn them of this cheapskate. Later that evening I found myself, and the two other divers, doing a recreational dive in the marina at 3am. We just happened to find a very nice 18kt gold Patek Phillipe watch! I guess he chose to sacrifice his $50k watch instead of paying someone 300 to find it for him. Imagine that!
  7. Ormond Bert54

    Ormond Bert54 Senior Member

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    Got to get off the boat to dive the fresh water cenote's south of Playa del Carmen Mexico. There are many and some excellent dive companies that lead dives and from whom cavern diver or cave diver certification can be obtained. Still the coolest dives I have done.
  8. luckylg

    luckylg New Member

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    Most of my dives have been around sunken boats on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. Visibility over 6" is almost unheard of and frequently it's nil. Can't say I have a favorite memory of diving myself (they all suck), but one with a hired diver does stick out.

    As a highly skilled rebreather training diver with countless hours in and around wrecks, Ron was always my go-to diver when the job required more than I was willing to take on. A 26' Peterson sailboat was sunk and someone in the marina had cut the sternline so the boat was on the bottom at the stern and at the surface at the bow. Ron suited up and jumped in, got his bearings, and went down to scout out the situation. I stood on the dock and watched bubbles go to, then past, then further past the wreck. Ron surfaced two berths over right next to and facing the hull of another Peterson sailboat at which point I yelled, "don't worry about it, Ron...It's already done."

    I sent Ron down for a lot of lost items and always gave him a bad time when he couldn't locate them which was most of the time. Outboards, props, anchors, lower units all escaped discovery with Ron in the water. Then, on a beautiful summer day in Portland, I dropped a small (black) Allen wrench while working on an outboard. Normally I'd have let it go but it was hot and the wrench was from a brand new set. I rigged up the hookah and jumped in. After five minutes of looking around a few feet away I worked my way back to the location where I thought the wrench would be. Sure enough I surfaced with wrench in hand. First thin I did after securing the gear? Called Ron to gloat!

    My last story about Ron is after a huge ice storm laid several shed roof marinas to waste in Portland. There must have been 100+ boats sunk in the area. Among them was a 26' Bayliner cuddy cabin at an open marina. After I cleared 6" of snow and ice from the docks Ron suited up and jumped into the icy marina water. Cold doesn't begin to describe the conditions, and on top of that the boat had discharged a substantial quantity of gasoline. During one moment of frustration Ron spit out his regulator to holler about something and took in a mouthful of gas. Let's just say that the fish had some fresh food a few moments after!
  9. Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    My best dive was in the Coral Sea off the coast of Vanuatu on the way to Australia. Its a jumble of reefs and cays that goes on for hundreds of miles.

    I was working on M/Y Katalina (now Astarte II) a 220' motoryacht with a dedicated diveroom that folded out from the side of the hull, had chilled bottle refilling for 12 tanks, all the best toys (huge spearguns, Helimasks, stainless sharksuits, etc...), also a Heli portable recompression chamber.

    We had dived the Caribbean, Galapagos, Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Fiji and Tonga and loads of other almost untouched atolls and islands. Then we came to the Coral Sea.

    Wow, I have never seen such brutal beauty, not the pretty corals of the Tropics but a lived-in and living organism. It pulsed and was moody because the weather wasn't great. On one dive, while dodging reef sharks and other much larger leg-munchers, Filthy Phil and I stumbled across a huge old anchor snagged in a coral hole.

    It was one of those anchors with a timber crossmember from about the 1820's and later, the iron seemed to be in good condition. We told the skipper, P.D and the divemaster Bryce Valentine about it. Over a few beers it was decided we would raise it and take it aboard as a souvenir.

    Now, the thing is..........erm, I had never used a liftbag before, let alone one the size of a baby elephant. As the liftbag was attatched to the anchor we filled the orange vinyl globe with air from a seperate tank. As the other guys wiggled the anchor free from it's resting place, more air was added to the bag. On top of the bag is a little stainless valve that is opened and closed as the air expands closer to the surface to control the lift rate.

    The word 'Control' is not to be used with what happened next. As a certain small lad twiddled the stainless knob, the anchor gracefully lifted for the first time in a century and glided. Then she picked-up a bit of speed.

    Speed is relative but none of my relatives have ever gone this fast. Whoosh, she was gone, a 2 foot castiron fluke whisked infront of your nose. When uncontrolled bags hit the surface they often deflate and shoot back down, normally with a big encore. Thank heavens, this one stayed afloat. The anchor was craned aboard the boat.

    What the heck do you do with a bloody great anchor that size? We gave it to the Cairns Yacht Club in Queensland. I think it's still on the front lawn today.
  10. PropBet

    PropBet Senior Member

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    As a rescue diver, search and recovery diver, salvage, and heavy lift, deep dive, trimix, rebreather, etc. I've got a few stories. I don't have the time to digest a few particular dives, which I'll come back to this thread later but the worst of it were probably one of two particular dives: (in summary)

    1. Sewage treatment facility. 0 vis. drysuit, dry hood, gloves, etc. 0 water contact. This was a search operation for a human body. Did this for the cause as a rescue diver 'who would' in a missing body case.

    2. Mixture of concrete and water. Again 0 vis. Water contact. Dry suit, Depth, roughly 75 feet. Was sent down to retrieve a tool which was dropped from a work platform where they were building / pouring bridge pillars over a river. Did this on contract / by referral and was paid quite well for it. Apparently this was some 100K tool that was about the size of a shoebox.

    Best diving, probably somewhere in the Caribbean (Likely Saba or Dominica) or perhaps Turkey or Greece or the Cook Islands.
  11. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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  12. PropBet

    PropBet Senior Member

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    no, not at all. When I got certified, all I wanted to do was see all the pretty fish. That button was flattened shortly thereafter and I started my technical training.

    I enjoy they both, so long as the technical diving really never becomes "work" as is always kept as a hobby or training used to assist others when and where I can from the single and sole stem of good nature that I have been able to keep alive for these some number of years.

    Search and rescue and heavy lifting was more geared to volunteer work and community work (contribution).
  13. Kafue

    Kafue Senior Member

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    To ask for the best dive is as much a matter of mood at the time as location.
    For bragging rights I could say Mocambique, or Mauritius or Indonesia.
    Fact is it was off the Gold Coast on 9 Mile Reef in 4 knotts current at 45', unusually good 100' vis hanging onto a rope & float "flying" over a deep reef.

    HOWEVER.....reading posts like yours FISH, there is no comparison!
    Ironic that the "Owners" of many of the BIG boats never get to enjoy the experiences of the crew!
    If there is a heaven AND... IF you end up there, hope you aren't dissappointed!
  14. Fireman431

    Fireman431 Senior Member

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    I also was a Dive Rescue member, but with the Fire Department. Worst dive? Retention pond around 30' deep, 1' visibility, black mucky water, looking into a discovered van for the body that was supposed to be with it. The van was missing for a week. Ever see a body that was submerged in runoff water for 8 days? Much less 12" from your face? :eek:

    Everything was coming apart when you touched it. We had to actually bag the person under water so we didn't lose any pieces (sorry if too graphic).
  15. Ken Bracewell

    Ken Bracewell Senior Member

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    After 17 years in the Caribbean I finally made it over to Saba for a dive this weekend. Absolutely the BEST diving I've ever experienced. The pinnacle off the west side of Saba was a fantastic reef dive with plenty to see, but the best was yet to come. Over dinner and a few too many glasses of vino, we learned that there is a not-often-explored wreck on the Saba Bank. We managed to find someone who knew someone who used to know someone who may know the coordinates. That got us close enough to start a search grid, which landed us right on the "Ghost Wreck" HLNMS Snellius Encounters Undiscovered Wreck Off the Saba Bank | | All At Sea - CaribbeanAll At Sea – Caribbean
    Special thanks go to Tony and Sherry from Saba Deep!
  16. sagharborskip

    sagharborskip Senior Member

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    Ken-

    I worked on "Cuan Law" out of the BVI for a little over 4 years...aside from Saba's dive shops and the "Caribbean Explorer", Cuan was the only other vessel allowed to conduct its own dives in Saba w/out having local dive guides.

    Needless to say, we visited there often and I've been lucky enough to rack up over 100 dives there...the pinnacles are awesome...Shark Shoals my favorite, Eye of the Needle, Third Encounter, etc.

    To the OP-

    I've been to Galapagos twice and the diving there is fantastic...south pacific to come!
  17. PropBet

    PropBet Senior Member

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    Ughhh! I'm jealous! I miss diving Saba. You post brings back great memories of the outstanding diving to be found there!
  18. Garry Hartshorn

    Garry Hartshorn Senior Member

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    My most great scary and awesome dive was going over the drop off at Nissan Island in PNG. The worst was either in Auckland harbor looking for a set of security keys that the OOD on HMAS Cook dropped over the side or finding and plugging the black water discharge on HMAS Onslow while in Sembawang so that the engineers could replace a faulty valve.
  19. Bamboo

    Bamboo Senior Member

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    I lived in Micronesia for a decade- and most all of that while working in the marine tourism field. I was one of Sam's first dive guides for Sam's Tours in Palau- and I dived from Helen's Reef just above the equator to Kayangal. Palau is God's marine disneyland. The best wreck I dived was a toss up between the ex-flag ship "Nagato" and the aircraft carrier "Saratoga" in Bikini atoll. Was there twice for nearly a month total.
  20. weto

    weto Senior Member

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    Worst/Best

    The worst ? I was a hard hat diver (in shore) in my former life and I would have to say any of the rivers in New Jersey, specifically the Hackensack area. The best was def. the Fiji Islands or Belize or the Bay Islands or Great Barrier Reef or.... ;)