The Blue Hole in the Red Sea is the deadliest dive site in the world • Hacker News Board

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

#61

Post by 2muchcoffeeman » Tue, Apr 27, 2021, 12:20 PM UTC

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…

It's obviously our fault for not being safe but we definitely didn't have the necessary fear in us for our skill level.

I think fear is what has kept me safe this long. I've got at least 100 dives under my belt but I was quite careful to slowly ramp up the difficulty, and even now, I'm very cautious of really strong currents.

I must have done over 20 easy shore dives just getting navigation experience (and I'm still not super confident with it) before jumping on a boat to go deeper. And even then there were a couple of potentially close calls. I must have had over 40 dives before I even went on a dive holiday, and many of the scenic places are not super difficult to dive.

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

#62

Post by danparsonson » Tue, Apr 27, 2021, 12:21 PM UTC

hyperbovine wrote: post #58

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.

Indeed; nitrogen narcosis is almost non-existent within the 18m standard open water limit, and even down to 30m is unusual. Just find a reputable dive company taking you around a reef and it's really very safe.

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

#63

Post by permo-w » Tue, Apr 27, 2021, 12:22 PM UTC

retSava wrote: post #55

izacus wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 co…

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

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

#64

Post by ghaff » Tue, Apr 27, 2021, 12:23 PM UTC

izacus wrote: post #48

agent008t wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trails in the Alps in Germany or Austria can be tricky precisely because they are fairly well marked and signposted. A red route can be a 'walk in the park', nicely trodden path with a steep gradient in places, or include bits that are quite exposed with a danger of falling. As a complete amateur, it is easy to end up on a riskier route than you expected, as it would not even look remotely risky until you are half-wa…

Yep, this literally just happened to me here in Switzerland. An "easy" route at around 2300m which was great - a nice wide, cleaned road around snowy areas. And then suddenly a steep descent with 30+ cm of frozen iced snow. Without proper equipment, that would be extremely dangerous and even with equipment is was far outside the comfort zone.

Ice can be particularly tricky. One of the nice things about modern traction gear is that it's easy and light to toss in a pack "just in case." That said, with harder ice and steeper terrain, it's not a replacement for more specialized gear.

I tried to do one hike this winter that wasn't even particularly hard but it was really icy and cold and the steep parts were steep enough. I ended up turning around given that I wasn't wearing my full crampons.

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

#65

Post by rdl » Tue, Apr 27, 2021, 12:23 PM UTC

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've done a few hundred dives (so, intermediate? with some additional certifications for deep/nitrox/rescue/divemaster) and the biggest problems I've had were 1) dropping a steel cylinder on my toe on a boat 2) getting sunburned on my scalp before I started wearing a hood even in warm water, due to an extended surface interval 3) dodgy food on a liveaboard.

I don't think most recreational divers push things close to the line at all.

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

#66

Post by t0mas88 » Tue, Apr 27, 2021, 12:25 PM UTC

chha wrote: post #5

epaga wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though I'm sure it's a fascinating interview, I thought the article was really well-written and helpful. I really enjoyed the pace of it all.

You might also like this story about a dive in Boesmansgat: Raising the Dead[0] [0] - https://www.outsideonline.com/1922711/raising-dead

Thanks for sharing, it's a long read but very well written and worth the time.

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

#67

Post by agent008t » Tue, Apr 27, 2021, 12:29 PM UTC

101008 wrote: post #56

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

Sorry if it put you off! For balance, diving can also be a very magical and surprisingly calm/zen-like experience. The best diving experiences I have had were in fairly shallow warm water (10-12m?) with great visibility. It is amazing seeing see-turtles, schools of fish, corals. It is like visiting a completely different world!

Basically, as long as you dive in much better conditions than what you trained/qualified for, you will have a great time. Well worth doing.

I just wish more dive shops were on the more conservative side. And that they had better boats with less fumes and less waiting around!

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

#68

Post by climb_stealth » Tue, Apr 27, 2021, 12:31 PM UTC

jiggawatts wrote: post #46

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 had a similar experience at a tourist destination island in Australia. We went on a dive with just a couple of meters of visibility, with a big group holding on to a anchor chain. I couldn't see the dive instructor and I couldn't equalise my ears. Everyone kept going and I basically just stopped at about 10 meters down. It just wasn't worth it, especially given the ear pain I had for weeks afterwards. As a counterp…

Would you care to share where the good and bad experiences in AU were?

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

#69

Post by matsemann » Tue, Apr 27, 2021, 12:31 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #26

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…

The two biggest things with alpine hiking are probably weather and not turning around when you should. (I could probably add just being grossly ill-prepared like lacking map and compass and perhaps depending too much on electronic gizmos.) Over the holidays I was reading a book about a winter fatality on Mount Washington a few years back. The person was actually very well-prepared and fit. And even had some big mount…

> And even had some big mountain experience

One problem is that that experience lull you into a false sense of security. I'm not talking arrogance or so. Merely that you can do something everyday that's unsafe and get away with it, training you on bad data to think it's safe.

Like avalanches. Certain conditions are met. You go out. Everything is fine. Same the other times. You learn that it's safe. Suddenly an avalanche happen with those exact conditions. It was just arbitrary it didn't happen the other times.

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

#70

Post by maratc » Tue, Apr 27, 2021, 12:33 PM UTC

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 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.