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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

#51

Post by marcyb5st »

hutzlibu wrote: post #32
christophilus wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my (very experienced) alpine hiking instructors died after a long day summiting Rainer. His team made a rookie mistake, but it’s surprisingly easy to do when you’re exhausted and you feel as if you’re nearly done with the worst of it.

I was told, most of the climbing accidents happens in easy terrain. When also experienced people get careless. My experience matches that.

Not sure if you are still focusing on alpine hiking or climbing.

While climbing most deadly accidents (30+% of them [1]) happen because people rappel through the end of the rope (or ropes if using half/twin ropes). Stopper knots are a 10s precaution that is often overlooked.

However, it is true that on easier climbing routes it is easier to hurt yourself because you might hit a ledge on your way down. If that happens it's most likely the belayer's fault because he/she should keep "a tight leash" on the sections just above said ledges. If you let an unexperienced person belay you I assume you evaluated the risk and are ok with that.

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/skills/8_common_climbing...

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

#52

Post by darkerside »

nix23 wrote: post #38
hutzlibu wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was told, most of the climbing accidents happens in easy terrain. When also experienced people get careless. My experience matches that.

Another point is you get much more injuries when the wall is not steep (you slide along, instead of falling in free-air), another are stones if the wall is not steep they roll along the wall. That's a perfect example off misjudge objective and subjective dangers. An overhanging wall is much less dangerous then anything else, but your brain tells something else.

I'd generally trade more little injuries sliding down a shallow wall for one big injury from a free fall.

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

#53

Post by ArtWomb »

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 at 300 feet whilst diving the continental shelf in the Caribbean. It's stunning. Floating weightlessly over the void that drops suddenly over a mile in depth. Feeling the rush of frigid current rise from the abyss. And seeing mysterious shapes as light filters down into darkness. But I too ran low on air. And had to come up fast.

I haven't been diving in decades. And would require re-certification. But I've always heard legendary tales of the Red Sea and Australia's Coral Reef. Definite bucket list items ;)

https://oceana.org/

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

#54

Post by netflixandkill »

dTal wrote: post #19

Idle speculation, perhaps a diver could answer - could it be that the reef forms a kind of natural solar pond, leading to an unusual osmotic (and therefore density) gradient? Thus resulting in divers suddenly dropping like a stone when they hit a certain depth? The Red Sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world.

More likely that the target depth is down near 50m, which is well into the narcosis range for surface gas mixes. Particularly for inexperienced divers it is very easy to not realize what is happening and become too stupid to save yourself.

Higher salinity may exacerbate that but not by too much.

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

#55

Post by retSava »

izacus wrote: post #21
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…

Yeah, I'm a beginner diver ( 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 sta…

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.

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

#56

Post by 101008 »

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 just got anxiety reading your story. Then diving it's a no for me for the rest of my life :D

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

#57

Post by nkozyra »

dudeinjapan wrote: post #47
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…

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face." - Mike Tyson

Not meant as pedantry, because I think it makes the quote more urgent, but it's "punched in the mouth."

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

#58

Post by hyperbovine »

xwdv wrote: post #17

I remember several years ago I watched the video on YouTube where Yuri sank to the bottom of the Blue Hole and drowned in a drunken narcotic state. Pretty much confirmed I never want to bother with scuba diving. ROVs seem cooler anyway and can go way deeper.

This type of dive is extremely atypical in terms of risk, and also reward. It appeals to a certain kind of person interested in technical diving and/or bragging rights. As far as seeing pretty fish or coral, there is no point in going this deep since it's dark. 99% of divers are staying above 30m, where things are a lot safer and more interesting.

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

#59

Post by danparsonson »

roland35 wrote: post #4

Summary: The Blue hole is a natural sinkhole off the coast of Egypt. It is very accessible, there are many beginners, and there are many unscrupulous dive guides which lead to diver depths. Some basic diving rules which when broken lead to deaths: - Not diving with a partner - Diving below the depth you should be - Diving after partying the night before - Rising back up too quickly

Yeah exactly - any diving is dangerous if a diver behaves in the ways described in this article, it's not the site that's the problem per se. Just the depth that makes it easy for things to get worse when they go wrong I guess.

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

#60

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

We have something like that, off the coast of Long Island. It’s the wreck of the San Diego; a WWI battleship that sank at the close of the war.

It’s upside-down, with a hole in the hull, and rests in about 40 meters of water (120 feet or so).

What makes it dangerous, is that it’s filled with silt, and it only takes an errant kick of the flipper to fill a room with zero-visibility mud.

People panic, and panic at 120 feet means the oxygen goes fast.

They nickname it “The wreck that eats divers.”

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/underwater-archaeology...

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