https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYuMN206Jzo Interview with Tarek Omar (the diver rescuer in the article) and location shot. Much better than reading the article.
Go to 30:00 and just look at it. It's literally luring people in.
Thanks, very helpful.
The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world
121–130 of 302 posts
Re: The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world
#122I'm an experienced diver (PADI dive-master, ACUC instructor, IANTD gas-blender and normoxic trimix diver, TDI hypoxic trimix diver and dive-master) with several thousands of dives of which many at 100m+ (330 feet) depths. I lived in Dahab where for 16 months I assisted training technical diving instructors in the blue hole and at other less touristy dive sites around there. The blue hole is in not a particularly dangerous dive site, but its popularity attracts the most cocksure types trying to prove something. The main attraction at the blue hole is the arch. It's a 40 meter archway who's apex is at 56 meters and leads from the cylindrical blue hole out into "the blue", where depths are insane and theres nothing but water anywhere you look. It's very beautiful, especially while the sun is rising, as it faces East. 56 meters is not particularly deep, but it's deep enough for any beginner and even most advanced divers to get seriously narced (drunk on nitrogen). It's also _just about_ deep enough for the partial pressure of oxygen to reach a critical point where oxygen becomes toxic. When it does, your muscles try to burn off the excess oxygen and you temporarily lose control of them, they shake, so your chin and cheeks start to twitch and you can easily drop your regulator. When the twitching is over, you involuntarily take a deep breath...
If you're an experienced diver, know your narcosis limits, know your oxygen toxicity limits, know your air consumption, havn't had a drink the night before, and are physically fit, maybe you can pull it off without trimix. Otherwise, it's an absolute beginner's dive with the right gas blend.
Re: The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world
#123https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYuMN206Jzo Interview with Tarek Omar (the diver rescuer in the article) and location shot. Much better than reading the article.
Wow, just watching it gives me anxiety. Makes perfect sense what is happening and why divers can easily die there.
Thanks for the link.
Re: The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world
#124I'm an avid diver; got certified as soon as I turned 12 years old and have had some great adventures and life lessons diving and continuing my training and education. After many many conversations and encounters on dive boats with others (some seasoned, most tourist / rec divers) - I believe that 90% of the industry sees diving akin to a roller coaster ride instead of Skydiving. The risks with scuba are there for you…
First class of dive course at CWRU:
Older Navy diver instructor walks in "So I know each of you is coming into this class with different levels of experience. What we're going to do first is a short test on your proficiency for 20 minutes.
It will be graded on completeness, not correctness. You are not expected to know all the answers. I'm just interested in gauging what you know.
Be aware, there are a lot of questions for the time, so I suggest you work quickly to get through all of them. Make sure you read and follow all instructions.
Do not turn your paper over and start until I've handed all of them out and said go.
hands out tests
Go."
12/14 people in the class start furiously scribbling
The first sentence on the test?
"If you read this sentence, please continue to hold your pencil, but do not write on this test. Wait until time has expired."
It always stuck with me as one of the best lessons about diving. Both in what you should do, and what our natural inclinations to actually do are.
Re: The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world
#125Diving seems like one of the recreational activities where it is easy to end up doing something much riskier than you intended (another I'd say is alpine hiking): 1. Being able to easily sign up for a dive at an all-inclusive resort makes it seem more 'fine', you get a false sense of security that you will be taken care of. 2. Dive shops tend to be fairly relaxed with checking if someone is properly qualified to go o…
I dived the Blue Hole in Belize and was shocked by the slack attitude of most of the other divers on the boat. I'd just completed my Advanced Open Water (with a deep dive) so was very conscious of the regular air checks, however despite a detailed dive briefing with emphasis on the pressure cut offs at each depth, about half the party ended up having to be given supplemental air at the final safety stop.
Although I'm sure that there are many irresponsible dive operators out there, there are clearly also divers (many of whom were at least experienced enough to bring their own equipment) who don't take responsibility for their own safety.
I don't know if that's a training issue, or just a human stupidity issue.
Re: The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world
#126I'm an avid diver; got certified as soon as I turned 12 years old and have had some great adventures and life lessons diving and continuing my training and education. After many many conversations and encounters on dive boats with others (some seasoned, most tourist / rec divers) - I believe that 90% of the industry sees diving akin to a roller coaster ride instead of Skydiving. The risks with scuba are there for you…
“not even go through the most basic safety checks prior to diving” From my experience the dive operators in tourist spots often don’t want you to touch anything. Kind of makes sense because most tourists like myself only have a very vague recollection of the procedure.
If you really have only a vague recollection of basic safety checks you shouldn't be diving - seriously.
Re: The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What you describe sounds like a terrible and irresponsible trip to me. That is typical of tours and resorts. These are not in the US where the law might investigate. Just some divers who will show anyone around. Many will teach you to dive, a two hour course is enough for a simple dive (ie.something you could snorkel to), then they take you on a first dive that needs far more training.
In the US there typically won't be a legal investigation unless someone suffers a serious injury or death. And even then it will typically be handled as just a civil issue (wrongful death lawsuit and insurance claim).
Probably, I'm not into diving so I can just report what I've observed from my friends who are. Though insurance in the US tends to be stricter about what they allow.
Re: The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world
#128I'm an avid diver; got certified as soon as I turned 12 years old and have had some great adventures and life lessons diving and continuing my training and education. After many many conversations and encounters on dive boats with others (some seasoned, most tourist / rec divers) - I believe that 90% of the industry sees diving akin to a roller coaster ride instead of Skydiving. The risks with scuba are there for you…
[deleted]
Re: The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world
#129I'm an avid diver; got certified as soon as I turned 12 years old and have had some great adventures and life lessons diving and continuing my training and education. After many many conversations and encounters on dive boats with others (some seasoned, most tourist / rec divers) - I believe that 90% of the industry sees diving akin to a roller coaster ride instead of Skydiving. The risks with scuba are there for you…
“not even go through the most basic safety checks prior to diving” From my experience the dive operators in tourist spots often don’t want you to touch anything. Kind of makes sense because most tourists like myself only have a very vague recollection of the procedure.
It's a vicious cycle though: tourists don't know how to dive safely so instead of making sure they know, we'll just set up their gear and throw them in the water. Tourists learn that this is normal, and become even less likely to know how their gear should be configured, which makes the next operator more confident in their decision to not let the tourist set up their own gear.
The crew on a dive boat in a tropical destination could very well be a 20 year old newly certified divemaster who's been up all night partying - there's no way I'm letting that person be responsible for making sure my air supply is connected and turned on before throwing me in the water, or any of the other standard pre-dive (BWRAF) safety checks that all certified divers are taught to do.
Re: The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
“not even go through the most basic safety checks prior to diving” From my experience the dive operators in tourist spots often don’t want you to touch anything. Kind of makes sense because most tourists like myself only have a very vague recollection of the procedure.
If you really have only a vague recollection of basic safety checks you shouldn't be diving - seriously.
In Israel a short refresher course is mandatory if you haven't dived for six months. IMO any reputable company should require the same.