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

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

#131

Post by ghostpepper »

ddls wrote: post #122

I'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 dang…

There's a short documentary about it on youtube where (IIRC) they claim most of the fatalities are people who try to swim through the arch on a single standard aluminum 80 tank.

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

#132

Post by belorn »

agent008t wrote: post #16

Diving 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…

Going to the red sea I had a similar experience with the guide ending up going inside a wreck with a group where many just had the continuation course after open water, through no out-of-gas situation.

It is a common discussion topic I hear among divers, and almost everyone who been diving for a while has had a similar experience. Dive guides get basically all of their income from tip, and it creates a strong incentive for them to bring guests into areas which the guest might not be qualified to be in. Same for instructors at popular resorts.

To me the whole experience was a major incentive to get better training and gear so that next time I won't be under qualified to do the dive, and the more training and equipment I get the more I realize how dangerous diving can be and how little redundancy recreational diving have. The basic premise for open water dive is that you should be able to rocket to the surface at any point, and that there is a second diver next to you at all time. Being the last person inside a wreck is neither of that.

But I will end this comment by saying that one should not let guides ruin ones enjoyment of diving. There is a lot of great diving to be done within the limits of recreational diving.

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

#133

Post by ghostpepper »

ArtWomb wrote: post #53
agent008t wrote: post #16

Diving 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…

Am certain if you ask 100 beginner divers, 99 will have their own brush with death adventures! Mine came in the form of a six foot barracuda getting a bit too close for comfort. I am sure if I hadn't played it cool. Had somehow attacked or acted aggressively to shush it away (when I was a guest in it's deep sea domain). It would have enjoyed a nice lunch of fresh human flesh. The second was going below the hard deck…

I'm very curious what gas blend were you using at 300 ft - I'm fairly sure that would be fatal on air or even nitrox.

I'm also shocked that you could come up from that depth with any sort of urgency and not be seriously injured / killed by some form of DCS.

Maybe I misunderstood and you were not a beginner, because otherwise that tour operator has no business running a dive op.

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

#134

Post by joering2 »

JPKab wrote: post #117
maratc wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no marine biologist but you can be certain that humans are not a regular diet of barracudas. Once, a 5-meter tiger shark came to me out of the blue and got too close, but as humans aren't a regular diet of tiger sharks either, it swam away.

I've met literally dozens of people who talk about their close brush with a barracuda while diving. They are a minimal threat but they look kind of scary so people always always think that they had a close call with one when the barracuda is just doing what they do which is checking out a human who might hand them a fish. It always makes me chuckle because I hear people tell their barracudas stories and they always s…

Just like masses being overscared with sharks because of Jaws, its probably because another but much less popular movie “The Depth [1977]” with Nick Noltie where in a final scene Noltie wins underwater battle because he knows where huge Murena lives and put a villain head in there. Then we see that Murena litterally sicking him into her hole with a force that break his mask and break him in half. Definitely one of the most memorable scenes of the movie and definitely what made me start my doving adventure (now cerified with CMAS and PAID up to deep dive / rescue diver). Definitiely movie worth rewatching.

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

#135

Post by jqcoffey »

meowfly wrote: post #44
agent008t wrote: post #16

Diving 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'm an avid diver and I completely agree. My Open Water took place in a hot spring with extremely low visibility. The goal was the cert it wasn't skill mastery. My next dive was the Great Barrier reef where boats just drop you off and you can get a guide or dive yourself. We irresponsibly dove by ourselves, exhausted all our air, and came up (skipping a safety stop) realizing we were a considerable distance from the…

> As a PADI Open Water Diver, you'll be trained to a maximum depth of 18 metres/60 feet, and are qualified to dive in conditions as good as, or better than, those in which you trained

ref: https://www.padi.com/courses/open-water-diver

PADI does emphasize that with an open water cert you must absolutely always remain above 60ft.

That’s what’s shocking to me the most about the article and some of the conversation here—many folks are talking about diving to crazy depths as if that’s normal.

I don’t know why that is, but I will agree with your general point as a result. Folks need to understand this is a dangerous sport and one that can easily kill you (though not by barracuda).

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

#136

Post by NotPavlovsDog »

I've dived the Blue Hole, recreational depths. I felt an evil presence there and had nightmares about the Hole 2 nights after, with some kind of blue energy trying to consume me.

I am not a superstitious person, and have dived multiple deep technical dives with bad visibility, below 0 Celsius sea water (poor dive computer) on sites with munitions, chemical contamination and war graves with body remains. This is the only time I felt that there was a large predatory presence watching me and all around me. Was offered to do the Arch, have the needed experience and clearances. Did not do, will not do ever.

The memorials and history of the place did not affect me in any way, I've worked rescue, dealt with dead bodies and attended many a funeral. I've participated in autopsies as part of my training. The blue hole was a strange enough experience that it stands out of all of my many dives.

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

#138

Post by meowfly »

jqcoffey wrote: post #135
meowfly wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an avid diver and I completely agree. My Open Water took place in a hot spring with extremely low visibility. The goal was the cert it wasn't skill mastery. My next dive was the Great Barrier reef where boats just drop you off and you can get a guide or dive yourself. We irresponsibly dove by ourselves, exhausted all our air, and came up (skipping a safety stop) realizing we were a considerable distance from the…

> As a PADI Open Water Diver, you'll be trained to a maximum depth of 18 metres/60 feet, and are qualified to dive in conditions as good as, or better than, those in which you trained ref: https://www.padi.com/courses/open-water-diver PADI does emphasize that with an open water cert you must absolutely always remain above 60ft. That’s what’s shocking to me the most about the article and some of the conversation here—…

I'm just learning that I don't actually know PADI Open Water guidelines despite > 100 dives. I guess that syncs with my experience that Open Water cert doesn't necessarily actually train you.

I'm like genuinely confused at this point. I've had so many guides, even in places like Hawaii, not follow their own guidelines. It would be trivial for PADI to see Open Water divers are diving the thresher sharks at Malapascua, for example, and that would necessitate they go past 60ft.

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

#139

Post by [deleted] »

ddls wrote: post #122

I'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 dang…

[deleted]

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

#140

Post by Karawebnetwork »

"A notable death was that of Yuri Lipski, a 22-year-old Russian-Israeli diving instructor on 28 April 2000 at a depth of 115 metres after an uncontrolled descent.

Lipski's body was recovered the following day by Tarek Omar, one of the world's foremost deep-water divers, at the request of Lipski's mother.

Omar says: Two days after we recovered his remains and gave [his mother] his belongings and equipment, she came to me asking that I help her disassemble them so she can pack them. The camera should have been damaged or even broken altogether because I had found it at a depth of 115 metres, and it is only designed to sustain 75 metres; but, to my surprise, the camera was still working. We played it and his mother was there. I regret that his mother will have this forever... If I had known the footage existed I’d have flooded it. I think the thing that really upset and saddened me about it was that his mom has it now – she has the footage of her own son drowning."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Hole_(Red_Sea)

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