Death at the Blue Hole

[Mr T.]

Ah well...

Dear Bren,

This post is about a muppet with a death wish so why do you have to muddy the waters by having a go at training agencies?

Was I muddying the waters or having a go? Not at all. I merely gave a review of my experience of Russian divers and provided a little qualifying background info. Funny: you're the only one to pick on that, don't ya think?

(oh, and thanks for the attempt at neg-rep (anonymous too! tut, tut!): although you might want to 'contribute' 50 or more posts before giving any more out as they don't count before then).

If PICs are being signed and C-cards issued improperly then that is a matter for PADI Russia which is based in this country, in Bristol - the cost of a local phone call if you have something to tell them.

And like this is news?

So what am I now? The local PADI police? If PADI can't police their own franchises, then that's their lookout. Just coz this guy opted to do the 'Muppet Cossack Death Wish: On-fumes-at-100-metres Speciality Course', it is not my problem - regrettable though it may be.

PADI don't even teach air diving to this depth so how are you making the connection? Stop - Breathe - Think - then post.

Kev, there are a numer of things PADI don't teach e.g. Macramé, wet-welding and how to construct a cantilever bridge: but as with all diver agencies and schools - it doesn't make allowances for wankers. And anyway, you're still addressing this thread like it's some inter-agency ruck - which is most certainly is not. If you want that, there are other forums which will cater for and accommodate you - YD is not one of them. Stop - Breathe - Think - FACT.

The world is full of idiots, macho men, morons and scuba gods and those that just won't listen.

On that, we can agree.

Thanks to them we are all tarnished with the untruth that diving is dangerous - it is not, even for those of us that do it day in day out for a living.

I can see what you're getting at - even if the brush-strokes are a little too broad. Most diving carries with it an element of danger/risk - it's the mitigation of that risk which attempts to address more divers becoming incidents: whether you do it for a living or not.

To die diving is just pathetic. I intend to die in bed with me flippers on!

May all your dreams be wet ones!

Kev.

Or rather can be pathetic - some, indeed most of the time, it is merely tragic and unfortunate and down to avoidable circumstances. But that's a whole different thread.

[Snash]

We also were discussing the fatalites here and I was quite surprised to find out that it is around 70 per year. Which does sound rather a lot.

70 wow - very frightening when seen as a "raw" figure.

When you say "here" I assume you mean the Red Sea/ Egpytian waters.

Regards

Simon

[Andy Phillips]

No, what was said was, "at one point we were loosing 70 divers in peak season".

The diving at the Blue Hole has been tightened up considerably, to the point where you have to work quite hard to get to do the Arch, even with the correct equipment / gas. This is why I am somewhat surprised by this, and find it hard to believe it was a local operation. The last thing they want to see is the Blue Hole closed, it is there major attraction and the thing that brings a lot of people up from Sharm.

Andrew

[Helen F H]

I think a lot of people have underestimated the work involved in diving something like this. Having read the writeup from Louise Trewevas on Dnet this is a very challenging dive.

I suspect that a lot of people see blue water as removing a lot of the risk of this kind of dive - it doesent remove all of it.

[Mark Chase]

However, back in the days when I dived through the Blue Hole (depth to the top of the tunnel then was 56m according to my logbook).

The guides suggest entering the arch by following the edge of the reef around on your left and dropping down to 60 as the reef turns right. This puts you hard on the left side of the arch and from this position you can see the exit point within a few meters of entering it. It is also the shortest rout through. If you look at the diagram of the arch offered by Divermag you would see the top of the arch on the left is deeper than the right hand side. In my logbook we entered the arch at 61m obviously a couple of M below the ceiling. We dropped down to 100, which was the plan, but our dive guide informed us that if we were not comfortable with the depth we could get through the arch at a minimum depth of 80m. Joe Davin of Joe Divers was our guide so I took his word for it.

ATB

Mark Chase

[Michael Lowrey]

I think a lot of people have underestimated the work involved in diving something like this. Having read the writeup from Louise Trewevas on Dnet this is a very challenging dive.

I suspect that a lot of people see blue water as removing a lot of the risk of this kind of dive - it doesent remove all of it.

There's also the people on holiday factor. In my experience, individuals are less inhibited in their actions generally when they are out of town or on holiday. They are not around their normal peer group and the constraints and expectations that implies. Do something stupid at home, you'll get a bad reputation for which there may be social consequences. Do something something stupid while on vacation in Egypt, you're anonymous and there are fewer if any social consequences.

Of course, doing something stupid while diving is a good way to die.

Best wishes,

Michael