c/commercial-divers

Had a dive buddy insist on a different weight belt setup, glad I listened

Last week in Port Townsend, my partner for the day told me to drop my 18 pound belt and use a harness with integrated weights instead. I fought him on it, saying my belt was fine after 6 years of using it. He pointed out how much easier it is to ditch in an emergency, which I never really thought through. We did two deep wreck dives around 110 feet and honestly, the trim difference was night and day. The harness sat higher and didn't slide down when my dry suit compressed. Has anyone else made the switch from traditional belts to integrated weight systems and found it worth the gear cost?

Dry suit zipper lube, silicone vs. beeswax, huge difference underwater

I did a 3 week job in the Gulf near Galveston and my zipper kept sticking halfway through each dive. Switched from the silicone spray I always used to a beeswax bar a salvage buddy recommended, rubbed it on every morning before gearing up. The zipper moved smooth even in 58 degree water and I stopped losing air around my neck. Has anyone else tried wax based lubes on their suits, or is there a better trick I'm missing?

Overheard a salvage guy say 'check the lift bag valve first' and it hit different

Was waiting on a tank fill at the shop in Norfolk and this old salt was telling a new diver how 80% of his 'stuck loads' were just a half-closed dump valve, not a bag problem. Ive been guilty of reconfiguring the whole rig before looking at the simplest part, so now I check the valve before anything else. Has anyone else got a dumb simple fix that saved you a whole day underwater?

The rope trick I learned on the Gulf rigs still saves me

Back in 2011 working near Grand Isle, an old tender showed me to wet the rope before pulling it through a tight fairlead, cuts the friction way down. Tried it last month on a wreck off Galveston and it made the job a breeze. Has anyone else got a rig trick that stuck with em for decades?

Random comment about air tables saved my dive planning

Honestly, I was on a job site in Port Fourchon last month and overheard an old saturation diver talking about how he uses his surface interval to plan the next dive's gas mix before he even gets out of the water. I always did that once I got back to the van, but doing it while still decompressing on the ladder makes way more sense. It shaved like 20 minutes off my turnaround time and I think my air consumption was better too because I wasn't rushing. I've been doing it now for about 3 weeks and my bottom time has been way smoother. Has anyone else picked up little tricks from listening to the older guys on deck? I feel like I missed out for 5 years.

40m dive in Puget Sound taught me to trust my ears over the gauges

Ran a hull inspection near Tacoma last weekend, my pressure gauge read 80 bar but my reg started breathing heavy at 38m, so I bailed early. Surprised how much earlier the physical signs showed up, has anyone else had a gauge hiccup that made them call a dive short?

That supervisor's comment about my fin technique stuck with me for 8 years

Back in 2017 up in Aberdeen, a dive supervisor told me I was swimming like I was fighting the tide instead of working with it, so I slowed way down and let the current do half the pulling. Has anyone else gotten a critique that seemed small but ended up changing how you move underwater for good?

Blew a lift bag valve at 110 feet off Pensacola last Tuesday

I was doing a typical pipeline inspection job and hooked up my lift bag to bring up some small debris. The valve just snapped clean off when I tried to adjust the air flow. Water shot back up the hose so fast I thought I'd lost my regulator for a second. Had to abort the whole job and spend 45 minutes doing a controlled ascent with my backup bag. The valve was a brass one that I'd only had for about 8 months and it just gave out without any warning. Cost me a $350 repair fee and lost a half day of pay. Has anyone else had a cheap valve fail on them like that or am I just unlucky?

My drysuit inflator valve got jammed after a shallow dive

Went from 0 issues to a stuck open valve in about 3 weeks, started after I rinsed it with tap water instead of fresh. Anyone else had their inlet pin corrode up that fast?

Went to a dive site off Port Hardy last month and noticed something weird about the viz

We were doing a pipeline inspection near the north end of Vancouver Island and the visibility dropped from 30 feet to almost zero in under 10 minutes. Has anyone else run into sudden silt-outs like that up there, or was it just a one-off thing with the currents?

Got my first deep inspection gig and almost choked on my own nerves

I had my first real non-destructive testing job on a bridge pier in Seattle two days ago. Water was murky, viz was maybe 2 feet, and I kept second-guessing every anomaly I saw on the UW camera. Turned out my supervisor was watching the feed topside and said I actually flagged a crack that the engineering report missed. I guess trusting your training pays off even when you feel like a total newb. Has anyone else had a first dive where they thought they bombed but it went okay?

Took me 5 hours to find a leak in a valve 30 feet down near Port Houston

The O-ring looked fine but it was just slightly pinched on the install, and I went through three dry checks before I spotted it. Has anyone else had a tiny inspection issue blow up your whole dive day like that?

Switched to a Kirby Morgan bandmask after 5 years of hard hats and I'm kicking myself for waiting

I did my first 1000 hours in a hard hat down in the Gulf around Houma. Switched to a bandmask about 3 months ago for a harbor job in Portland. The communication clarity is night and day, I can actually hear my tender without yelling. My neck feels way less beat up at the end of a 10 hour day. Anyone else make the switch and notice a big difference in fatigue?

Chose a Kirby Morgan band mask over a full face hard hat after 6 years of diving. No regrets so far.

Tried a Kirby Morgan 37 for the first time last week and hated it

I've been diving with a Kirby Morgan 57 for about 5 years now and figured I'd give the 37 a shot since it's lighter. Did a full 6 hour shift in 45 degree water off the coast of Galveston and my head was freezing the whole time. Less insulation makes a bigger difference than I thought. Anybody else find the 37 runs cold or did I just have a bad fit?

That fancy underwater comms unit I swore was overpriced actually saved my butt

I spent like $800 on a new wireless communication system for diving off the coast of San Diego about 6 months ago and I thought I got ripped off at first. My old setup was just hand signals and pulling lines, and I figured that was good enough for inspection work in low vis. First real job with the new gear, my partner got tangled in some abandoned fishing net about 40 feet down and couldn't get a signal on the rope. I heard him yelling through the headset clear as day, guided him to cut himself free, and we were back up in under 4 minutes. Now I tell everyone on my crew to stop being stubborn about the old ways, because that one moment paid for the whole unit. Has anyone else had a piece of tech they fought against but now won't dive without?

Went from fighting my dive mask to not even thinking about it after 6 years

I used to just grab whatever mask was cheapest at the shop and deal with the leaks for the whole job. Took me six years of fogging up and clearing water every 10 minutes on pipeline inspections to finally bite the bullet on a custom fit job. A guy in Port Arthur last spring told me to try a silicone skirt with a proper nose pocket and I haven't had a single leak since. Cost me $120 but that's nothing compared to the time I wasted constantly fixing my mask underwater. Now I just spit in it once and I'm good for a full shift. Any other divers here go cheap on masks for too long before switching over?

Showerthought: Is a surface-supplied rig always better than going scuba on a job?

I was talking to a guy named Dave last week on a site near the Houston ship channel, and he made a point that's been rattling around my head. He said a lot of guys in their 20s think scuba gear is faster and easier, but he's seen three accidents this year alone where surface-supply would've saved the day because of the comms line. Now I'm second-guessing my own setup for shallow-water work, especially since Dave’s been diving since 1998. So what's your take - do you stick with scuba for quick jobs under 30 feet, or is it always worth the extra gear?

The $5 trick that saved me from a stuck valve 80 feet down

I was wrestling with a stubborn ball valve on a sewer outfall job in Baltimore, couldn't get any leverage. Then the deckhand tossed me a cheap ratchet strap from the hardware store, looped it around the handle and the pipe, and I cranked it open in 30 seconds. Anyone else got a random tool that bailed them out underwater?

Pulled my umbilical free from a grating on a North Sea job last Tuesday

Was doing a ROV inspection on a jacket structure and my hose got snagged on a sharp edge. 50 meters down with current pushing me sideways, had to cut the bag and swim free before it ripped the whole thing. Anyone else dealt with getting tangled on underwater structures?

Spent 8 years hooking my bailout reg upside down until my supervisor pointed it out on a job near the Santa Barbara rig last month

My buddy saw me dress in and said 'dude your backup is gonna snag on every grating you swim under' and now I have to retrain my muscle memory for 30 foot dives, has anyone else had a dumb gear habit that took way too long to break?

Warning: That cheap dive computer from Amazon almost got me in trouble off the Texas coast last week

I was super skeptical of my buddy's fancy Shearwater, but after my $150 no-name screen went blank at 90 feet and I had to buddy-breathe back up, I finally caved and bought one. Has anyone else had a budget computer fail on them mid-dive?

Switched from a Kirby Morgan to an AGA mask for a job in the Gulf last month

I always swore by my KM but the AGA was lighter and let me move my head way easier during a 6 hour pipeline repair. The face seal was better too. Anyone else make a swap and find one clearly beats the other?

Had a chat with an old saturation diver at the dock last week

He told me he quit after 15 years because his doctor said his bone density looked more like a 70 year old's and that made me think twice about pushing through those deep bounce dives without proper table time, has anyone else gotten weird health feedback from their doc they didn't expect?

Lost my mask at 60 feet near the Port of Seattle last month

I was doing a hull inspection on a cargo ship when my neck strap snapped. The mask floated up about 10 feet before I grabbed it, but that 2 second panic taught me something. Now I clip a spare mask to my harness with a carabiner before every dive. Cost me $40 for the backup but beats aborting a job. Anyone else had gear fail at the wrong moment?