c/commercial-divers

My dive supervisor called me out on my lift bag technique and I'm glad he did

I've been doing offshore work for about 4 years now, mostly in the Gulf. Last month, my supervisor watched me hook up a lift bag on a 200-pound valve and just shook his head. He said 'you're creating a pendulum every time you attach off-center like that.' I never really thought about it, but he was right, I was making it way harder on myself and risking the load swinging into the structure. Now I take the extra 30 seconds to center the attachment point, and my lifts come up smooth every time. Has anyone else had a simple piece of feedback like that totally change how you do a basic job?

Best day underwater in 8 years: found a lost anchor chain worth $3,500

Last Tuesday off Port Fourchon, my crew and I got called to inspect a mooring line on a supply boat. Water was flat calm, viz was 40 feet easy. I dropped down and there it was, a monster anchor chain wrapped around a riser. Turns out it had been lost by a construction barge 6 months ago. Company paid me a bonus on the spot for spotting it. Has anyone else ever stumbled into a bonus like that?

Showerthought: finding a pinhole leak in a drysuit took me 6 hours last weekend

Had a slow leak in my Viking suit that was driving me nuts. Spent all Saturday morning filling and dunking sections. Used a spray bottle with soapy water finally found it near the wrist seal. Tiny little pinprick. Patch took 10 minutes. Anyone else spend way longer than expected chasing down leaks?

Dove a harbor in Norfolk last week. Noticed something weird about the current patterns.

Roped up at the old pier near the container terminal. Water was moving different than my tide charts said. Anyone else notice the currents shifting faster near big ship traffic?

Spent 5 hours fighting a stuck thruster bolt that should have taken 15 minutes

I was doing a routine inspection on a sewer outfall pipe off Port Angeles and one of my thruster guard bolts was seized solid. Took me 3 cans of PB Blaster, a cheater bar, and finally an impact gun on full blast to get it loose. Has anyone else had a simple job turn into a whole day thing?

TIL that most commercial diving accidents happen in less than 30 feet of water

I was reading through some old safety reports from the Diving Safety Board last night. Turns out around 60% of fatalities in our field happen in water shallower than 30 feet. All those deep water hazard courses I took and the real danger was right there near the surface. Found it in their 2022 annual report. Anyone else's training focus mostly on deep stuff?

My $80 drysuit neck seal tool was a total waste of money

I spent like thirty minutes trying to fix a leaky neck seal on my drysuit last month down in Norfolk. Saw this specialty tool online for $80 and figured it'd make the job easier. Turned out it was just a plastic ring with some notches that I could've made from a scrap bucket lid. The seal still leaked after I used it and ended up paying a shop $40 to do it right. Shoulda just taken the drysuit to a pro from the start instead of thinking I could DIY it for cheap. Any of you guys had luck with those seal replacement kits or is it always a headache?

Came across a stat that 60% of commercial diving fatalities happen in inland/inshore jobs, not offshore

I was reading through some old OSHA dive reports last night and that number really threw me. I always assumed the deep offshore stuff was where the real danger was. But apparently shallow water, low viz, and tight spaces are way more common in the fatality stats. Has anyone else seen similar numbers or have a different take on where the real risk is?

Cold water hit 45 feet off Louisiana and my regulator froze solid

Was doing a pipeline inspection in the Gulf last February and the water temp dropped way faster than forecast. Had to buddy breathe with the tender for 12 minutes while my backup iced up too. Anyone else deal with gear freezing in unexpected conditions?

Heard a dive supervisor say saturation diving is going away in the Gulf

Was getting coffee near Port Fourchon last week and overheard two supervisors talking. One claimed with ROVs getting better, saturation jobs below 300 feet are drying up fast in the Gulf. But I still see plenty of postings for mixed gas work out of Morgan City. Is it just the deep stuff fading, or are we really losing whole sectors of the trade? What are you all seeing?

Advice from an old dive tender I still think about

Back in 1998 on a platform job in the Gulf, a 60 year old tender named Earl told me to always double check my own knife lanyard knots because "the guy who checks it might be the one who tied it wrong." Six months later on a job off Louisiana I felt my knife start to slip during a 90 foot descent and sure enough the knot was loose, just like he warned. Anyone else ever get a piece of advice from an old timer that saved your skin down the line?

Shoutout to the dive tender who saved me from a serious mistake off the coast of San Diego last spring

We were working on a pier repair near Mission Bay, about 25 feet down in murky water. My air hose got snagged on a piece of rebar, and I was so focused on the job I didn't notice the kink forming. My tender on the surface spotted my pressure gauge drop and signaled me to stop before I ran out of air. Has anyone else had a close call that a sharp tender caught before it got bad?

That safety stat about deco stops almost made me quit diving

I was reading through a DAN report from 2022 and saw that 1 in 4 diving fatalities had something to do with missed or shortened deco stops. That shocked me because I always thought the gear failures were the main killer, not people rushing the surface. Found the full PDF on their site under the annual incident report. Has anyone here actually changed their whole ascent routine after seeing numbers like that?

My dive computer flooded on a 40 foot wreck dive near Galveston last Saturday

I was doing a routine inspection job on a small wreck about 3 miles off the coast near Galveston. Everything was going fine until about 15 minutes into the dive when my Suunto D6i started acting up. The screen flickered then went completely blank and I could feel water inside the housing. That thing has been through hell with me over the last 4 years and never had an issue before. I had to abort the dive and do a slow ascent using my backup pressure gauge and a buddy's timer. Turns out the O-ring seal was cracked and I had just ignored it because I figured it'd be fine. Now I'm out a computer that'll probably cost $200 to fix or more depending on what got fried. Has anyone else had a computer flood on them during a dive and did you send it back to the manufacturer or try a local repair shop?

My thruster bracket bolt took 4 hours to remove...

Went to swap out a faulty thruster on a job down in Port Fourchon last month. Figured it'd be a quick 30 minute swap but the bolt on the bracket was totally seized from salt creep. Ended up having to use a porta-power and a torch to get it loose, which is not fun when you're already wet and cold. Anyone ever had a simple repair turn into a half day ordeal like that?

TIL a lot of divers ignore their drysuit zipper maintenance until it seizes up

I saw a guy lose a full day of work last month because his zipper corroded after he never rinsed it, and he didn't even know you were supposed to wax it every 10 dives has anyone else run into this on a job site?

Wet suit vs dry suit for cold water harbor work - what's your take?

I'm working a pier job in Seattle right now and the water is sitting around 48 degrees. My usual crew is split right down the middle. Half say go with a 7mm wet suit and stack on some hot water between dives. The other half say dry suit is the only safe play for multiple hours in the water. I went with a dry suit my first day and it was fine but the dexterity loss in my hands was rough for the bolt removal work. A buddy who used a wet suit had to call it after 90 minutes because he was shivering too bad. What do you guys pick when the water hits the low 50s and you've got a full shift?

Had to pick between the old Kirby Morgan helmet and a new lightweight shell for a job in Galveston

I took the lightweight option on a 6-week bridge inspection gig. Felt like a genius for the first 2 dives, then the comms started cutting out on dive 3. The old KM 37 is heavy as hell but that thing never fails, you know? Ended up swapping back after a week and just dealing with the neck strain. Has anyone else had trouble with those newer composite shells in real current?

I thought those new wireless comms for divers were just a gimmick until a job in Seattle harbor changed my mind

Had a close call with a silt cloud at the Port of Tacoma last Tuesday

I was working on a basic hull cleaning job, visibility was already low, and I stirred up a huge silt cloud that completely blinded me for a solid two minutes. My umbilical got snagged on a piling because I couldn't see to manage my slack. Now I always carry a small, high-visibility marker buoy on my belt to drop if I ever lose sight again, so I have a fixed point to work back to. Has anyone else set up a specific 'blind procedure' for zero-vis situations like that?

Spent 6 hours on a simple hydraulic fitting because the manual had the wrong thread pitch listed (it said NPT, was actually BSP).

Tried a new drysuit underlayer against my old wool setup

Last month on a bridge job in Portland, I wore that fancy synthetic thermal base layer everyone talks about. My old go-to is just thick wool. The new stuff got soaked with sweat in the first hour and I was freezing by lunch. The wool, even when damp, kept me warm the whole six hour dive. It's not even close. Anyone still using wool or am I just old school?

A trick for clearing silt in a zero-vis harbor job in Seattle

We had to inspect a piling in Elliott Bay with zero visibility from stirred up mud. Instead of the usual fanning, I tried a small bilge pump on a low setting to push water down and create a clean column. It worked for about 15 minutes before the current messed it up, but it was enough to get the shot. Has anyone else tried something like this, or is it just asking for trouble with more silt?

Just read a report on commercial diving injury rates that made me pause

I was looking through some old safety reports from a job in the Gulf a few months back, and one stat jumped out. It said the rate of serious incidents for inland diving, like in rivers and tanks, was actually higher than for offshore work in some years. I always thought open water was the bigger risk, you know? Found it in a five year review from a big insurance group. Has anyone else seen numbers like that, or is my old report just an odd one out?

Found out the first commercial diving school opened way earlier than I thought

I was reading an old industry magazine online and saw that the first proper commercial diving school in the U.S. started in 1968, over 50 years ago. I always figured formal training was a much newer thing than that. Has anyone else come across other surprising bits of diving history?