20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - The Diving Thread

[Richie]

Not really a dive though to be fair... If the ROV room was on dry land and not pitching and rolling I would be up for for a go !

The DPV would be cool ! Wonder if there is a speed record for one ? They have one for lawn mowers so who knows !

I would not mind one of those suits off James Bond... The deep sea ones with the claws on the arms... Could rip all manner of wrecks to bits with one of them !

[Renegadenemo]

The DPV would be cool ! Wonder if there is a speed record for one ? They have one for lawn mowers so who knows !

Tried one in Ullswater once. The wreck divers used to whizz around on them but I always preferred to closely examine the part I'd landed on rather than try to see the whole wreck. The one I tried was very powerful and even more difficult to handle. After hurtling along just under the surface for a while I got it all out of control and piled at high speed into the mud about 20m down. Couldn't just leave the infernal thing down there either as I'd have liked to do either. Oh no, had to dig it out of the ooze and return it. Glad to see the back of it, though, I reckon it would take a bit of learning to use it properly.

[Richie]

Get yourself on a PADI DPV course ....snigger..

[Renegadenemo]

Ha ha... Walked straight into that, didn't l...

[Richie]

But unfortunately even though you are a mixed gas / rebreather hooligan of the seas with more bottom time than a great many.....unless you first do the PADI open water course (means you can dive to 18m) followed by the drysuit speciality.(so you can stay warm and use your dry suit) You can't do the DPV speciality course. So alas I am sorry to say.....your just not qualified enough for the course mate

[Renegadenemo]

But unfortunately even though you are a mixed gas / rebreather hooligan of the seas with more bottom time than a great many.....unless you first do the PADI open water course (means you can dive to 18m) followed by the drysuit speciality.(so you can stay warm and use your dry suit) You can't do the DPV speciality course. So alas I am sorry to say.....your just not qualified enough for the course mate

Hmmm - bring me the person responsible for this nonsense and I'll take them on the 'can't see your hand in front of your face on an old triple-expansion steam engine covered in nets' speciality course. They can choose the season or state of the tide.

I was in Grand Cayman in the summer having a dip whilst the family went shopping or some such female pursuit and I heard a familiar accent on the dive boat. One of the leaders was from Hartlepool, which is just down the road from where I live. He knew many of the people I knew and all of the same places but he was horrified to learn that I'd dived in the North Sea and I was equally horrified to learn that he hadn't. Hartlepool is on the beach, for goodness sakes, and it's littered with wrecks too. How much coral, pretty fishes and turtles can one person stand!

[mtskull]

Like I say... If your buddy'd up properly and are checking your depth and contents regular it is just a gizmo...
If money was no object what dive related bling would you take with you on a dive ?

Pony Bottle. If I want it blingy, I'll glue a couple of Swarovski crystals to the strap.

[Dangermouse]

I'm in the ROV camp I think. Suspect my claustrophobia would not make me much use as a wreck diver!

There are more than a few places I'd love to drop an ROV into as well, just to see what's down there.

[Richie]

Got an early Xmas present in the form of a PADI course.... Anything to keep diving through the winter !

I chose the drysuit course, so today had the theory exam and pool session. My instructor was a nice older chap with a massive amount of dives under his belt, and a great deal of those done at depth and in dry suits.

Had to do a number of skill tests which were fun, but in comparison to wet suits...bloody hard!

Fin pivot was easy enough, but the nuetral hover was a lot tougher. I found my feet were desperately trying to get above my shoulders.... But I got there in the end ! Controlling buoyancy by the suit was weird but was awesome once I got the hang of it.

The runaway ascent drill for being dragged to the surface by your feet was fun.... The instructor give me some tips which are not in the book which seemed to work, and was a hoot doing it ! Being suspended upside down was somehow quite a nice feeling apart from the blood rushing to my head...... Got me thinking about Bills Deco hang.

Ended the session soaking wet though.... This drysuit lark is not what it cracked up to be ! I am ready to hand the thing over to be checked....

[Renegadenemo]

If the suit fits properly it'll not get you inverted to any great extent because there's just not enough volume around your legs that you can't fight it the right way up. An ill-fitting suit can be a real danger, especially if the boots are the wrong size. Had a nasty one in Norway once when a pair of boots inflated and blew my fin straps off my heels leaving me completely helpless and head-down. Try as I might I jut could not get my feet under me or the trapped air into the upper half of the suit so I could get rid of it. Had I been low on gas I could have drowned myself in the stupidest situation since I jammed my arm inside a ship's engine whilst chasing a lobster. The other option was to stab holes in my boots with my knife but on this occasion a pal of mine saw my predicament and hefted me the right way up. Made to measure drysuits for me after that!