Scuba stories.

[Twilight]

I just got advanced cert and I am just wondering if any of you peeps have any fun or scary stories to share about scuba diving

 

[HangOutdoors]

Well I don't have a scary story. But here is my foray in Scuba Diving.

We were going to Jamaica two years ago and I read online how they will certify you for a couple hundred dollars. I decided to take the online course through PADI for "Open Water Diver". I was pretty excited and nervous since I have never done it before. I went through the course and got through and passed the online portion, this was back in June of 2018.

We got to Jamaica and on the second day I went to the Dive shop and let them know that I put them down as who I would be certifying through. This was at our Resort. The guy says that he will take me in the pool the next morning and calls me over to the side of the shop and starts talking to me and tells me that it will cost me $1000. I said that is not what the resort told me when I called a couple months ago and that I want to talk to someone else. He indicated that the prices went up and that I would just need to pay him directly. I told him I will talk to the Mrs. and let him know. So basically I was upset, didn't budget for that much and felt like I was getting worked. I didn't want to cause any trouble for the guy since if he lowered the price and I went I wouldn't trust him, maybe.

So after a couple of days of being annoyed, I saw a sign that they do "SNUBA". Which is where they float a tank in a raft and give you a line and I think I went down 15' or something like that. So my Brother in law, two of his kids and I went and did the "SNUBA". For me it was pretty cool and I got the experience. Till this day I haven't gotten my "Open Water Diver" cert but it is on the radar. I found a couple places locally that will certify for a good price.

Someday I will get certified. FYI the water and camera added a few pounds I think!!!

 

[Twilight]

OH my gosh! What an intro to scuba lol a scammer. Just know that when they say you are done with scary training, they lied. They would then cut your air off while you are under water to let you feel how it is without air.......Did I really need to know that lol

 

[Twilight]

In my opinion all of the training was terrifying. Still don't know why craziness in me wants to do more training.

 

[PeterB]

Not sure I would term some as scary but rather exhilarating- diving the USCG Duane in strong current I remember doing a safety stop where looking into the current made my regulator free flow and turning my head pulled my mask off - then had to fight 6’ seas to get back on the boat
Another “memorable” dive was in low vis conditions in NJ - hanging on the anchor line for some deco time and suddenly see a giant eye appear- a whale passed inches from me - never saw a whale in those waters before - dropped my bug bag it startled me so much -
As for fun dives - too many to cover here - but night dives are - in my opinion- amazing!!
Enjoy the diving!

 

[Sbrown]

I'm a volunteer public safety diver with a water rescue and recovery crew, so most of my dives suck in one way or another and most people don't want to hear the kind of stories I tell. Congrats on the Advanced cert, it's certainly an achievement! Stay focused and you'll be a dive master before you know it, if that's where you're headed with it. Good Luck and enjoy your time blowing bubbles!

 

[zipper]

I have been a diver since 1981. Advanced and rescue In 1982, NAUI, later PADI. I joined a nautical archeology expedition in Whitehall, NY. at the Southern tip of the Lake in 82 known as The Whitehall Project. Our assignment was to survey the remains of 3 warships from the war of 1812, scuttled in a river nearby. The Battle of Plattsburg (NY) happened in 1814. The ships were the USS brig Eagle, the captured Brittish ship HMS Linnet and a US square rigged gunboat. A lot of work and a lot of fun. There was a book written about the the expedition. Chapter 5 here. https://jetboaters.net/media/20190806_page-65-jpg.6274/ A very accurate description of the Battle. I spent many weekends at the bottom of the lake with a metal detector in the 80's finding all the stuff shown below, with a buddy pictured below.









That is me



Never had a scary moment, but a lot of "Wow that's cool" moments with marine life and other inanimate objects. Night dives can be alot of fun.

 

[Julian]

most people don't want to hear the kind of stories I tell.

I found the stories you tell quite informative.....as in lessons in how not to die while diving.

I've been diving since 1987, typically only at resorts in the Caribbean. No thrilling stories to tell (thankfully)....some might think seeing 8' sharks is terrifying, but when they swim by without paying you any attention, its a bit anticlimatic.
Dive Sites include: Skaneateles lake (certified here in freezing water), St. Lawrence Seaway near Kingston (looking for cannon balls - didn't find any), St. Lucia, Antigua, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, the Keys.

 

[gthh]

I dropped my box anchor in 30' of water last weekend and will be suiting up next weekend to attempt a retrieval.
So maybe I will have a story to tell. I was certified in '78 and have always believed that the best training is to dive often, under different conditions and with experienced divers that share your passion.

 

[Twilight]

Funny story I have is

I have been a diver since 1981. Advanced and rescue In 1982. I joined a nautical archeology expedition in Whitehall, NY. at the Southern tip of the Lake in 82 known as The Whitehall Project. Our assignment was to survey the remains of 3 warships from the war of 1812. scuttled in a river nearby. The ships were the USS brig Eagle, the captured Brittish ship HMS Linnet and a square rigged gunboat. A lot of work and a lot of fun. There was a book written about the the expedition. Chapter 5 here. https://jetboaters.net/media/20190806_page-65-jpg.6274/ A very accurate description of the Battle. I spent many weekends at the bottom of the lake with a metal detector in the 80's finding all the stuff shown below, with a buddy pictured below.

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That is me

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Never had a scary moment, but a lot of "Wow that's cool" moments with marine life and other inanimate objects.

OMG nice

 

[msavold]

My wife, daughter, and I are AOW and my son is for now just Open Water. Our daughter started it when she was 14 (some 15 years ago) and wanted to scuba and my wife thought no way we're letting her go off on a boat full of strangers on her own. So she got certified, and then our son and I thought we might as well too! It's been great.
I'd say the time I felt most uncomfortable was cave diving in the Tampa area. Gave me the creeps and I was the only one to stay outside. We've done some wrecks - even on our AOW checkout off the Keys - and I didn't mind those as much (but then I also never go into tight (ie: less than, oh, 6' across) spaces or spaces where I can't see out.
When it comes to fun AND scary, I always pull out my photographs from our 25th anniversary trip to French Polynesia.
First dive was off a Zodiac. We get to the dive site and the boat is circled by (black tip) sharks...! Man, you never saw a group of people take SO long to "get ready"! A couple of the locals that were with us jumped in first (we thought "chum's away!") and when a respectable amount of time had passed with no excitement we jumped in.
I have NEVER gone through a tank of air that fast!
By the end of the week it was old hat and we almost became blase' about it.



My wife is in the blue wetsuit, seemingly blissfully ignoring the black tips swimming around us.


Crappy picture of a lemon shark - note diver behind for scale... Yeah, there's some perspective trick going on but that sucker was BIG!

Not a cheap trip but fantastic.

 

[msavold]

Oh, yeah, night dive on the Great Barrier Reef from a live aboard. An amazing amount of sea life around (and yeah, again there were moments when you'd move the flashlight and realize a shark was about a yard away from you... That was also a SHORT dive!

I'd say my worst dive experience though was also off the coast of Australia (our daughter did a semester abroad there so we just HAD to go). I was the first one off the boat. Jump in and as I turn around to signal to the boat that I'm OK, the tentacles of a Portuguese Man O War drag across my face. (No hood but with reg and mask and a full suit, there's still not much that you'd think he'd hit but yep, he got my cheeks, forehead, etc. So I got out, not sure how I'd react to the sting. I was furious. Pissed me off for days. (Just a never ending itch and some scars that took weeks to disappear, BTW.)

 

[Steve Risley]

I've been certified for about 8 years and go with my two sons quite a bit. We mostly dive in the Keys & Caribbean, but we did get the opportunity to dive in Hawaii (Big Island). While we were there, we heard all the stories of the two resident tiger sharks that live & feed off the fisherman's scraps in Honokohau Harbor. We planned to do two shore dives in the harbor to try and see the tiger sharks. The first dive was a dud, no tiger sharks. Before our 2nd dive, we talked to a few locals and they asked us if we were going to do a 2nd dive and we said yes, they said you cannot do two dives and not see one of the tiger sharks. That restored our hope and by golly did we ever see a tiger shark...it was massive about 14ft. and as wide as a car. We were in disbelief. We were in about 75ft. of water and hunkered down on a ledge and the shark just circled use like it was patrolling the area. Now when ever we go diving, if we don't see a shark, it's kind of disappointing, but hard to top that experience. I would say the only other experience that was thrilling was in St. Croix. There was a huge drop off about 100 yards from shore and at about the 85ft. mark reef sharks would appear out of nowhere. I think at one point we had about 5-6 swarming around us, coming right at us and then veering off at the last minute. The local dive shop told us that they were checking us for fish, apparently it's a common place for spear fishermen and they were looking for a fee meal. Those are my two best stories so far.

 

[Sbrown]

I do have one kind of funny story. I was doing a search in the Delaware River during flood stage, so the water was full of debris and particulate. It was what we refer to as "blackwater". Literally cant see your hand in front of your mask, even with a flashlight. Dark enough to make you hallucinate. You get the idea.
Anyway, when its black like that, I have to search by feel, which means working right on the bottom, in this case about 25ft depth. So I'm searching among the rocks and logs and other assorted debris and I find something that feels like what I'm searching for.....so I grab it......and it MOVES! A LOT! I squealed like a little girl. DidI mention I was on live comms with the surface team? Still not sure exactly what I grabbed ahold of, but I'm thinking maybe fish can't see any better than I can down there. My guys still make fun of me for that episode every chance they get.
Small aside note, that's also the dive that started out with my tender (new guy, not my normal tender) putting me on my pony bottle instead of my main, so I ran out of air 5 minutes into the dive at 25 ft in blackwater. I can say that all the blacked out mask training I'd done came in super helpful and some of the hard lessons I learned we use in training to this day.