The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world

Re:The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site i... by izacus on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @07:07AM (#26954367)

Yeah, I'm a beginner diver (< 15 dives) too and I've been a bit horrified just how easy and loose some of the diving centers play with safety and capability checks. Just like you said, most of them don't even check if you passed the shipwreck advanced diving cert.

You're experience matches mine so I'm now extra careful to vet all the diving centers - especially looking for complaints of divemasters being too "hardass" on people and demanding good equipment / qualifications. A lot of other divers are still surprised that my inital diving instructor actually checked if I could do the required 200m swim by demanding that I do it in the pool before starting training.

I've also bought my own equipment because of that - who knows just how well the regulators, dive computers and BCDs are maintained in those places. It's scary enough that you need to trust them with air and tank quality.

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Re:The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site i... by retSava on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @08:04AM (#26954778)

I took the basic (open water?) license in Australia, and the group were sent into a pool to tread water for 20 minutes or something. Now, I can barely swim. Really poor buoyancy and bad technique I guess, so have never really learned.

If the instructor had looked away from the TV for a second he would've seen and flunked me, which would probably have been a good thing. I'm stupid. Went through with it and out on a couple of dives which I enjoyed greatly, but now ten years later still haven't dived again and won't until I can swim. Having kids does stuff to your sense of self-preservation.

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Re:The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site i... by permo-w on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @08:22AM (#26954918)

top tip: most humans can float as long as their lungs are full

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Re:The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site i... by ubermonkey on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @08:37AM (#26955043)

Being super lean and carrying mass in large muscles will ruin this, fwiw.

In my late 20s I was militantly fit and also very into rock climbing. I supplemented this with some lifting to balance things out; people who ONLY climb end up looking a little weird as the lats develop out of proportion with the rest of you.

Anyway, even with a lungful of air, my neutral buoyancy point was like 8-12" below the surface.

Alas, I am now 51.

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Re:The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site i... by professoretc on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @11:17PM (#26965147)

Same here when I was younger (i.e., less fat). With a full breath of air in me, I'd float, but exhale a bit and I could sink to the bottom of a 12 ft pool without any effort on my part.

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Re:The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site i... by qzw on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @08:45AM (#26955110)

Only if they're not panicking and thrashing about.

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Re:The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site i... by permo-w on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @10:28AM (#26956312)

true. it’s definitely easier said than done, but it’s a useful fact to have in your head

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