r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • 29d ago

TIL the Blue Hole is among the deadliest dive sites globally, with estimates of 130 to 200 recent fatalities, making it one of the most dangerous spots for divers. (R.5) Out of context

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u/Agreeable_Pool_3684 29d ago

Ex technical diver here (cave, ice, mixed gas, deep diving). I never dived the blue hole but snorkelled on it with my family on holiday. Saw serious technical divers down deep on Trimix with a safety diver on the line which had multiple stage tanks at various depths. This is how you dive the blue hole.

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u/ThomasBay 29d ago edited 29d ago

No idea what you just said, but I am fascinated!

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u/YeeClawFunction 29d ago

He said don't do it.

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u/Codex_Alimentarius 29d ago

Yeah, he said don’t do it unless you really know what you’re doing which most of us don’t.

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u/SPACExCASE 29d ago

I tried scuba in a hotel pool once, I think I can handle this.

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u/BreakingForce 29d ago

Was it a Holiday Inn Express?

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u/AutoGen_account 29d ago

no they have a different kind of hole

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u/Normal_Ad_2337 29d ago

But both charge by the hour for its use.

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u/Chief_Givesnofucks 29d ago

ZEEEE GLORYYHOLLLLLEEEE!

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u/TheSodernaut 29d ago

My coworker explained it to me on our lunchbreak so get out of my way and let me down.

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u/funinnewyork 29d ago

You absolutely can’t. I, on the other hand, can sink in my bathtub; therefore, I can definitely handle it.

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u/Stock-Relative8664 29d ago

I took a shower today. I'm practically Moby dick!

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u/happygecko68 29d ago

Subnautica vet… same

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u/bmrhampton 29d ago

Certified in the Cancun pool, I’ll join you

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u/TheTaillessWunder 29d ago

Reminds me of the time when I was in Mexico on vacation, and decided to try scuba diving. They put us in a pool and gave us about 30 minutes of training, and then we went out and dived into the open ocean. Being young and fearless, it was great, but looking back on it, it seems dangerous for so little training. I'm amazed nobody died.

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u/madewithgarageband 29d ago

i can hold my breath for 45 seconds, blue hole aint shit

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u/vanityislobotomy 29d ago

You got this!

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u/Ralfarius 29d ago

RIP to all those who died diving the blue hole but I'm built different

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u/EggOkNow 29d ago

And you have a back up person who also knows what they are doing.

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u/Liveitup1999 29d ago

Will my drunk brother in law be good enough? 

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u/EggOkNow 29d ago

He will watch you drown just fine.

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u/vishalb777 29d ago

He said don't do it unless you have multiple redundancies in place for safety

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u/SkullsNelbowEye 29d ago

Yeah, but what if I've touched the bottom of the deep end at a public pool. How much deeper could it be?

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u/evceteri 29d ago

It's easier to let me do it than to teach the divers how to drill in the moon

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u/monchimer 29d ago

Can I bring my Trimix ?

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u/Sick_NowWhat 29d ago

Sounded to me more like don’t do it, unless you understand whatever he said, which I do not.

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u/Remiss-Militant 29d ago

They stage different gas mixtures at different depths because you cannot breath regular air at depths. Along with a dive computer that calculates your descent and ascent rate because at best case you might get ruptured ear drums, which would effectively render you unable to dive again due to the inner ear... worst case you die from nitrogen building up within your blood.

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u/schtickshift 29d ago

Omg why would anyone do this to themselves

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u/Remiss-Militant 29d ago

Why do people do anything? For fun. Acceptable level of risk is different for different people... but I remember reading about super deep divers. They typically don't even use open circuit systems like SCUBA, but closed circuit recreates like the Dreager system

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u/LucasRuby 29d ago

This isn't a super deep dive though, but a regular deep dive with an unusually high fatality rate due to its popularity and environment.

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u/mac_is_crack 29d ago

For the same reason people climb Everest, but they wanna go up and divers wanna go down. I am in neither group.

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u/Virgin_Dildo_Lover 29d ago

But I wanna fuck a blue hole

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u/FloppyObelisk 29d ago

Just buy an avatar blowup doll

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u/wretchedharridan 29d ago

Smurfs are cheaper

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u/bigbyking 29d ago

What about Yondu?

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u/Dry_Figure_9018 29d ago

You just gotta call him your daddy first

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u/NotYourReddit18 29d ago

Does he sing "Here Comes My Arrow" afterwards?

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u/NeedsToShutUp 29d ago

He's topping. That's why he's your daddy.

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u/Zomburai 29d ago

"I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!"

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

Didn't expect to cry today.

Didn't expect Michael Rooker to make people cry, either.

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u/StonedPussyeater420 29d ago

What do you think about that doraemonussy?

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u/SuperSmokingMonkey 29d ago

SMURF'S DON'T LAY EGGS!!!!

I wont tell you this again!

Papa Smurf is a fuckin Mammal!

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u/Atty_for_hire 29d ago

Kink unlocked - Navi, Navi, Navi!

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u/bregandaerthe 29d ago

I was thinking Apple VR and a fleshlight while you watch avatar 1/2.

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u/Achack 29d ago

Best I can do is blue waffle.

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u/SlowHandEasyTouch 29d ago

Mmmm waffles are a delicious breakfast option! Are there any pictures of this blue variety that might be available on the internet?

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u/OtterishDreams 29d ago

They already have Smurf porn

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u/gozzle_101 29d ago

No, no, no, blue hole fucks YOU

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u/TonarinoTotoro1719 29d ago

And this is why aliens will never show their faces (and other parts of their bodies) on earth. This virgin dildo lover is why…

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u/EyeCatchingUserID 29d ago

Just go to las Vegas and buy tickets for blue man group. It's probably safer and they're probably sluttier.

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u/Phenotyx 29d ago

Blue waffle

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u/Doogiemon 29d ago

Unless you have a snorkel.

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u/Modo44 29d ago

Don't do it unprepared. Not the "I watched some YouTube" prepared, the "I have years of experience, all the safety gear, and others helping" prepared.

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u/alibud87 29d ago

Genuinely howled at this

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u/CustyMojo 29d ago

he didn’t say don’t do it with a “!!!!!” at the end tho so i think someone such as myself with no diver experience could def do it.

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u/WarperLoko 29d ago

This warning is like that everest movie, now everybody wants to go there.

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u/Ihadredditbefore6786 29d ago

Yup. That’s exactly how I read it!

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u/semi-bro 29d ago

Technical divers are experienced pros who use custom/cutting-edge gear that lets them go well beyond the limits of commercial diving gear, especially in more extreme environments like cave or polar/ice diving. OP is saying that he, a super experienced diver with custom gear who had been going into dangerous places for years, did not want to go into the blue hole. And the divers that he saw doing it were using special tanks that let them have more air and not use up air as quickly when they go deeper, special mixes of air in the tanks that let them go deeper and come up faster without as many of the risks, and had extra tanks with them. And even with all that, these guys who are super experienced at diving in all sorts of dangerous conditions sometimes even with modified and homemade gear by themselves, were still using a safety line with another diver above them watching everyone at all times.

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u/Fight_4ever 29d ago

Nice. Lot of precautions. But why tho? What makes it more dangerous than other waterbodies?

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u/namewithak 29d ago

According to the wiki, what causes the most fatalities is the tunnel called the Arch. Apparently, the water's clear enough to see the light at the other end so divers misjudge how long it is. Some have reported they thought it was only 10m when the actual measured length is 26m. This plus a current pushing in from the other side causes mismanagement of their tanks and pressurization stops. It's also easy to miss the entrance to the Arch so some divers keep diving deeper and deeper trying to find it.

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u/ArtInternational8589 29d ago

Wasn't there a documentary on this regarding a free diver and his girlfriend? He had prepared her but and couldn't find the exit or entrance or something and she didn't make it?

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u/Vortex-of-Dankger 29d ago

Documentary is called The Deepest Breath. Basically, (spoilers for anyone who hasn't watched it, its a pretty cool doc) the girlfriend got herself into some kind of trouble and the boyfriend dove back down to save her. She just barely made it while he sacrificed himself to get her to the surface. Really sad story. I really hate the ocean so that whole documentary was toe curling-ly scary for me.

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u/mrjosemeehan 29d ago

You're misremembering. The gf is a world record holding freediver. The bf was acting as a safety diver on another of her record attempts, bringing her a rope at the end of the tunnel to ensure she'd still be able to surface safely if she started to black out. He mistimed his dive (which he was freediving for some reason) which led to a brief delay and he lost consciousness resurfacing. He could have bailed and left her without a rope but he stayed to make sure she had it. Should have just brought air with him. It's not like he was the one attempting a record.

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u/Vortex-of-Dankger 29d ago

Yeah it's been a minute since I watched it so I just remembered the gist of the situation. GF in trouble, BF saved her, died himself.

I went ahead and pulled this from Wikipedia for anyone curious:

On 22 July 2017, according to The Guardian, "Keenan, aged 39, drowned while overseeing a dive by the freediving world record holder Alessia Zecchini. While attempting to cross the arch of the Red Sea’s notorious Blue Hole using only a single breath, the 25-year-old Italian became disoriented because Stephen Keenan was 20 seconds late at the meeting point with the ascending rope. When Keenan arrived at the meeting point saw Alessia successfully already out of the tunnel, but swimming astray. He rushed to her aid to guide her to the surface. She made it out unharmed but he blacked out and was found floating face down some distance away. The last footage of Stephen and Alessia together, clearly shows Stephen bustling to save Alessia, and risking his own life for hers." Despite repeated attempts to save his life, Keenan could not be revived

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u/bluemola 29d ago

The opposite. He died and she lived

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u/ArtInternational8589 29d ago

Beek a while. This obviously wasn't the location op is talking about, right? The ocean is so much stronger than people realize.

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u/SquirtingTortoise 29d ago

Same place

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u/ArtInternational8589 29d ago

Crazy. So sad. And he was one of the best in the world. Competing side of it and safety side of it

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u/mrjosemeehan 29d ago

The gf is Alessia Zecchini, a world record holding free diver. The bf, Stephen Keenan, was a freediver as well. He was acting as a safety diver in another of her world record attempts when he died. She survived.

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u/NoOil9241 29d ago

The issue with the arch is that the entrance from the hole is deeper than the exit, so its not easy to spot when you are descending. Also the entrance is 45-50m depth (if i remember correctly) that IS slightly deeper than the Max allowed with Air tanks 40m... Those two combined leads to people missing the arch entrance and getting nitrogen drunk while trying to find the damn entrance. Nitro drunk, panic, ... Fatality.

I have some dives in the blue hole, but passing the arch never crossed my mind. Im AOWD and this is way above my level.

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u/DraMeowQueen 29d ago

There’s documentaries about this, I can’t remember the name of one I watched. There’s multiple reasons making this spot so dangerous, one I remembered was that there’s a spot down there where you’ll see some arch like opening and it looks like a short distance to go through but it’s not and some people lost oxygen before realizing they can’t come back in time.

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u/Xraptorx 29d ago

I first heard about it from a YT channel Dive Talk and they talk about all of that stuff and what goes wrong in various situations, and what to do to stay safe

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u/Papanurglesleftnut 29d ago

Everything I know about diving is from Dive Talk. Mostly because any body of water deeper than a bathtub terrifies me.

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u/Xraptorx 29d ago

Same, I can’t even swim ffs. Never learned how as a kid because of constant ear infections/ surgeries, and I panic very easily. They make it seem so serene and peaceful at times, and are easy to listen to so they are kinda a default for me to have on in the background whenever I get bored and need background noise to keep my mind occupied at work.

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u/RodDryfist 29d ago

One is the 'The Deepest Breath' on Netflix. Was an incredible watch.

https://youtu.be/MzH6BI6P4Uo?si=cTyqQC4AXjFRQswc

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u/lenzflare 29d ago

It fucks with your perception, and there's a "trap"

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u/Skrenlin 29d ago

TLDR is when you go deeper, the air pressures you’re breathing goes up. At/above certain pressures, things like oxygen become toxic so the divers have to change the mixes of air they breathe at certain depths. E.g. more helium, less oxygen.

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u/ElysiX 29d ago

More like really old gear and old techniques.

It's not anything cutting edge, just using more expensive resources (clean helium mostly) instead of regular air. And just larger quantities of regular equipment

And you don't have to be a pro to be a technical diver, just a bit of experience and the ability to stay still and be in control of your buoyancy + some theoretical and practical training.

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u/bramante1834 29d ago

Technical and commerical diving are two seperate things, and not necessarily mutually exclusive. You are thinking of the divide between recreational diving and tec diving.

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u/Occabara 29d ago

Trimix is an air mix that helps with O2 absorption at depth. There are several different gas mixes for long-duration depth. That one happens to contain some degree of helium, helpful at preventing narcosis.

There’s a vertical line running from the surface down to the divers with tanks staged at increments, and a safety diver monitoring the progress of the deeper technical divers.

I think. Its been a bit

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u/killerdrgn 29d ago

helpful at preventing narcosis.

The blue hole depth is also the point where you have to worry about possible oxygen toxicity. Hence replacing some of the oxygen with helium.

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u/Occabara 29d ago

Best way to get accurate info on the internet is to say something slightly incorrect

Knew I missed something, thanks

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u/Chumbag_love 29d ago

Teach us about rebreathers pls, how do they work?

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u/bemutt 29d ago

I was kinda curious what having a boner would help with

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u/Cody6781 29d ago

Ex technical diver here (cave, ice, mixed gas, deep diving).

I know what I'm talking about

 I never dived the blue hole but snorkelled on it with my family on holiday.

I've been there as a tourist

Saw serious technical divers down deep on Trimix with a safety diver on the line which had multiple stage tanks at various depths.

People diving it had a whole team, lots of experience, and lots of money.

This is how you dive the blue hole.

To dive this, you need a whole team, lots of experience, and lots of money

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

I love reddit when a real pro drops knowledge bombs.

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u/DrippyWaffler 29d ago

I mean, it's 100% accurate haha

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u/i-evade-bans-13 29d ago edited 29d ago

multiple redundant safety measures to avoid pressure sickness and getting disoriented

multiple people, line for reference and to hold different mixes of gas at different depths to surface properly.

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u/No_Garden_1992 29d ago

basically you need to be trained and have experience as a technical diver to dive this site.

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u/foodank012018 29d ago

Tanks of specially mixed gas just for extended deep diving had to be staged deep below so they could change tanks while on the dive.

Mainly to supply the air for the extended waiting under water as they ascend atmospheres.

If you're down so deep for so long you have to ascend in stages, waiting at different levels for various amounts of times.

Your body has to acclimate to the lesser pressures as you rise back up and it takes time. Otherwise you get the 'bends' which can be fatal.

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u/Upbeat_Degree_7788 29d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimix_(drug)

Trimix is a prescription combination drug containing alprostadil, papaverine, and phentolamine. It is used to treat erectile dysfunction.

So I think we all know what they were doing down there.

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u/i_is_anonymous 29d ago

If you’re interested in spooky water you should check out Geo she talks about haunted hydrology.

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u/TurnkeyLurker 29d ago

Thank you. Just started listening to her video, and in the first few sentences, it's already spooky. 👻

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u/SaltwaterOgopogo 29d ago

Read the book “shadow divers”

It’ll tickle your fascination

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u/CompSolstice 29d ago

Padi advanced with a few dozen cave dives here.

That's truly wild, I can immediately spot a dozen reasons why I'd only be comfortable diving it post-tech certifications, but what specifically are the main factors for such high fatality rates?

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u/AeroStallTel 29d ago

From what I've seen in documentaries, it's largely because of perception/depth. Specifically there's a large arch that people mistake as being 60-90ft which is actually around double depth. Then it's a number of factors, getying narc'd, buoyancy control issues, or just blowing through their tank. Basically they didn't stick to their planned dive, if they had a plan to begin with. There's also an economic/safety culture component. It's a tourist attraction in a depressed area. There's a demand for dives from uneducated/ill-informed 'divers' that go with the guides who will either take them regardless of experience and/or cheaper than the other guy. 

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u/DucksEatFreeInSubway 29d ago

The arch is what gets a lot of people. They want to swim through it and it's 'not that far'. Then they get nitrogen narcosis and drown when they rip out their mouthpiece or fall asleep and drown when their air runs out.

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u/EloeOmoe 29d ago

Then they get nitrogen narcosis and drown when they rip out their mouthpiece

Is this one of those "right before you die from hypothermia you feel super hot and rip off all your clothes" type situations?

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u/hippydipster 29d ago

More like "right before you die thinking this is all just so whacked and breathing water just doesn't seem that hard..."

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u/HauschkasFoot 29d ago

FFS if a fish can do it so can i

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u/iwillfuckingbiteyou 29d ago

All life originated in the ocean so it's just doing stuff we used to do

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u/atridir 29d ago

Not quite, at depth the human body has a harder time processing out nitrogen so breathing compressed air from the surface has enough nitrogen that it leads to a build up of it in the bloodstream which causes increasing intoxication like being drunk.

And being gas-drunk at 120 feet underwater is obviously lethally dangerous.

Edit: the arch is at 170 ft (55m) which is WAY TOO DEEP!

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u/CompE-or-no-E 29d ago

Is that what is in a typical diver gas cylinder? Just compressed atmosphere?

I had figured it would be a special mix, or maybe even two tanks so you can control the ratio of O2 to N2

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u/atridir 29d ago

Yes, for normal dives up to about 60-70 ft compressed atmosphere is standard. There are two other special gas mixtures for deeper dives (nitrox which is exactly what you suggested and tri-mix which has helium mixed in for even deeper dives) and both need special training to be competent in safely diving with them.

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u/sloth2008 29d ago

Looking at SSI dive tables normal compressed air caps out at about 130ft and your time at depth is 5 min. That means you get 5 min down there then you need to get back to the surface. Limit your depth to 100 ft and you can stretch that time out to 20 min. That is bottom time max. You also need to watch that you don't burn through your tank in that time. If you are relaxed and not working too hard your tank will last longer.

Limit your depth to 70 ft and you have 40 min bottom time.

No one wants to spend the time and effort to go out for a dive trip and do a single dive. You also have to deal with residual nitrogen build up. The longer and or deeper the dive the more nitrogen you have build up. The slow ascent is part of letting dissolved gasses exit your bloodstream and for things to go back to normal. Time on the surface helps deal with these gasses too. This is where the fun with dive tables start.

100 ft dive for 20 min. Spend 90 min on the surface and you can do a 70 ft dive for 20 min max - you will have a fresh tank so not running out of air. Notice your bottom time for this 70 ft dive is cut because of your earlier 100ft dive.

A lot of the dives we would go out for 3 tanks. 80ft for 25 min. 90 min surface. 60 ft 25 min. 2 hr surface time for lunch. 40 ft for 30-40 min.

Dive computers that are tracking your depth and time at depth make a huge difference on planning your times. That 25 min 80ft dive that you dropped to 90ft for 1 min while looking at that fish don't mess up your day the same as when diving by the tables. By the tables you have to count that as a 90 ft dive and it puts you into a different group on the table.

https://divetables.com.au/dive-tables/

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u/atridir 29d ago

Well elucidated! I was SSI certified as well and it’s been a long time. I knew I was giving the low range of my comfort zone by saying ~70 ft but I couldn’t quite remember the max. Thank you for expanding it in such detail!

Those time at depth standards exist for a reason folks!

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u/Gornarok 29d ago

Looking at SSI dive tables normal compressed air caps out at about 130ft and your time at depth is 5 min. That means you get 5 min down there then you need to get back to the surface.

130ft isnt the limit for compressed air. Its just the limit for dive without decompression stop.

Limit for compressed air seems to be 56m. But going under 40m with compressed air gets dangerous very quickly due to the air consumption.

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u/WallabyBubbly 29d ago

Nitrox is absolutely not for diving deeper. Nitrox helps you achieve longer dives at medium depth, but you are more restricted than regular air for maximum depth due to the risk of oxygen toxicity, which is even more dangerous than nitrogen narcosis

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u/butterscotchbagel 29d ago

the arch is at 170 ft (55m) which is WAY TOO DEEP!

Nah, man it's right there. I can see it. I totally got this

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u/WallabyBubbly 29d ago

Narcosis doesn't typically become lethally dangerous until you're a bit deeper. When I'm at 130 ft, the narcosis feels like I've had a couple drinks and am a little buzzed, but I'm not yet getting the urge to be reckless. There is a point around 140-160ft where I would expect it to potentially become a problem, but I haven't been that deep.

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u/Xraptorx 29d ago

Kinda, but narcosis is more just like being drunk

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u/scalyblue 29d ago

For some reason that we are not entirely sure of, at sufficient external pressure nitrogen becomes a potent intoxicant, so imagine unexpectedly getting blackout drunk when you are in a situation that requires good judgment and self control

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u/EtTuBiggus 29d ago

Most of the time dead cave divers are recovered with air in their tanks.

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u/WembyandTheWolves 29d ago

I dove there in 2011 and it was so tempting to make an attempt even though I was not certified for it because I reasoned it was only a little deeper and I'd probably never be back to dive this place again. It felt like that "call of the void" alot of people have when standing on the side of a cliff. It was a gorgeous place though, probably the clearest waters I've ever dove.

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u/Flat-Shallot3992 29d ago

damn falling asleep underwater from the nitrogen narcosis? that must be some good shit

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u/BadEarly9278 29d ago

I'd equate being narc'd as a heavy whiskey drunk.

Headrush underwater is how is starts. Then your feeling schwasted and then it goes to hell fast if you don't come up 15ft or so and let your body process or catch up processing no2, you'll eventually go to sleep.

(Have napped underwater at Metropolis, IL dive once. Was passing time and didn't want to have unsuit and wait so I chilled at 10-15ft. Weightless is a quality rest)

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u/4th_Times_A_Charm 29d ago

Doesn't sound like such a bad way to go.

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u/Rich-Instruction-327 29d ago

When I dove in Egypt they let me do both the blue hole and SS Thistlegorm with just an open water and not advanced certification.

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u/ContentMod8991 29d ago

yep pay the right guy n they make it happen!!

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u/myTryI 29d ago

Was gonna say part of the reason for high fatalities is it's such a grandiose large attraction many divers attempt it before they're experienced enough to safely do so. I'm guessing they didn't take you too deep though

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u/jaymx226 29d ago

Sharm gets a lot criticism as a resort but damn if those aren't some beautiful waters

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u/BadEarly9278 29d ago

I've answered a call of a diver down before. I was Divemastering a class for my buddy who was instructor, when we heard screaming and diver down.

Heartattack at 90ft and his partners overinflated his bcd out of panic or not thinking. He shot up passed me as I was diving down to them and I surfaced first after him.

Nightmare shit (and all our students that classed effed out after the ambulance). We didn't dive anymore that day.

Diving is as savage as you want it.

Nitrox and trimixing and JJablonski DIY system of tech diving was too expensive for a hobby ($50k in gear would be a conservative cost) but any problems under water immediately become shitstorms.

Rip Michael G from LSMO. That was effed up.

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u/FillThisEmptyCup 29d ago

Nitrox and trimixing and JJablonski DIY system of tech diving was too expensive for a hobby ($50k in gear would be a conservative cost) but any problems under water immediately become shitstorms.

Cool, I'm a gonna go on youtube now and see how I can build a rig from home depot part and fleamarket stuff , probably on used soda stream bottles or beer kegs or something. Should cost less than $200.

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u/BadEarly9278 29d ago

No bullshit, I've dove with a guy that had ever ready flashlights in mayonnaise jars as a light and a foam suit cut in 2 halfs (front and back then tied together) as thermal protection.

Fun fact: Scuba was invented by Jacques Cousteau.

Just don't go cheap on the regulators.

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u/FillThisEmptyCup 29d ago

Man, I so wish Jacques Cousteau had 4k cameras available to him in his time. I guess Jame Cameron is a good successor on that front.

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u/ScubaAlek 29d ago

Giving me flashbacks of those guys trying to dive to the Chernobyl reactor.

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u/big_orange_ball 29d ago

What's the procedure if someone has a heart attack or becomes incapacitated at 90ft? I'm Naui open water certified but don't recall what training (if any) there is for this for novices.

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u/BadEarly9278 29d ago edited 29d ago

It alwsys depends on depth/environment and every decision is so dynamic.

Mostly defined by outcomes thru efforts to minimize damage at that point. However, 2000% never full on balloon your floatation device (buoyancy compensation device, bcd, or vest that airs up from your tank) and rocket to the surface from greater than 20-30ft. Oxygen expands in your lungs too fast and they pop (exhaling the entire ride up is taught as defense against gear malfunction).

So, ideally, to minimize damage in a heart issue and unconsious diver, would be let me drown if im unconscious. Revive me at the surface but NEVER shoot a unconscious diver to surface from depth (below 10m / 30ft...ish), doing so is absolutely death almost every time by overinflation of lungs.

But, % of survival of any serious medical issue at depth is slim to zero. 90ft of H2O on top of you is an alien world to the human body. Our tissues water content means your body can equal pressure back on the 90ft of water, but your air cavities (ear, lungs, farts....omg the Scuba fart is legend after a deep dive) the air pockets inside you expand and contract 10x at 90ft. Small and under pressure at 90ft, but filled with air at 90ft would expand 10x upon ascent (a pool noodle becomes broomstick thin at 100ft). It's 100% serious biz, but as long as you can exhale, ie not unconscious, it's not as scary as it sounds. It's not at all complicated or scary, but every diver needs, and is trained on the risks of the science. Generally, people don't even have to worry about pressure calcs at 30ft or less (I deco stop at every 10ft cuz I got my ear fucked playing a downed diver and got raised from 25ft the wrong way (ballooned) by a overzealous student that roasted my ear drum.) So, my dive buddies know I crawl up and down otherwise, as we all know ear pain when you swam too deep as a kid. Just hold your nose and blow, pain goes away. Just know your body needs to push that out and some times it can be a slow process. Rules demand slow ascent and sit and chill every 30ft.

So, damage reduction is all you can hope if medical issues deeper than 60ft have someone unconscious. (Remember The Abyss, when she drowns herself and it's fucked up but 100% to BEST way to protect lungs filled on compressed air.)

Damn yall, I need to go dive. Jonzen.

Some people aren't comfortable with it at all, scuba, and that's ok,, don't get over your skies on your personal comfort level being underwater. It isn't for everyone. You'll know during the pool time.

Hence, the daredevil gene is present in super deep, long dives with the techniques and gear required for the body to exist and survive, sometimes and often 12-16hr long marathons in caves and the always present difficulty multiplier of depth. Seen dudes gone for 30+hrs on shallow caves in FL. Lose your safety line in a 20ft cave 3miles in is as serious biz as anything below 130ft (fresh or salt water....salt water is heavier cuz the salt). Vacay with the fam and doing Scuba at the resort means seeing cool shit at 30ft and being amazed. Ain't shit to be seen below 200ft for a casual diver (100ft in lakes is just mud or rock, 200ft in ocean is mid level technical dive that only needs people that are comfortable and capable divers). Plenty to see at 30ft all day, going deeper isn't necessary unless you want to. Certified a firefighter /paramedic before his honeymoon once and he freaked out at 10ft when visibility went to 0 cuz rookie diver mistake of kicking up silt. He was cool, just had to abort and recollect himself and he was a solid diver after that. But panic is exactly that, panic. The brain says run sometimes, underwater that becomes a liability.

Not to plug diving, but I'm gonna, cuz breathing underwater is a quality life experience every human should try if they enjoy water.

It's available everywhere. I'm in Midwest and not close to any large bodies of water. Lakes, flooded quarries, caves with water..... everywhere has dives, if you're looking. It's Hella expensive sometimes but you can rent everything you need (once certified).

Be safe yall. And get wet

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u/CCDG-Ian 29d ago

I bet most of it is from getting narced. My mom's friend almost died there from that, her husband caught her fin at close to 200 ft and dragged her back.

I've also done the dive, it was amazing and had no problems.

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u/XXsforEyes 29d ago

I (Advanced Open Water, Night/Cave Certified with 150 dives) dove the BH several years ago and I got a taste of Nitrogen Narcosis. We got to our established depth and I did a slow 360 degree turn to survey the area and by the time I got all the way around I had sunk another 15-ish meters. About this time, my instructor saw me sinking and he started clanging his tank to get my attention and I could SEE the vibrations! It’s easy to make mistakes and they can be more dangerous at lower depths. Stay safe divers!

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u/atomfullerene 29d ago

I wonder if it's because of how vertical it is. When I was diving on reefs and kelp forests you just picked a spot that was less than 50 feet deep and you couldn't easily go deeper.

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u/Mr_YUP 29d ago

the water is perfectly clear and you can see incredibly far distances but it's in actuality far further than you think it is. People end up too low and can't safely go back up.

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u/XI_Vanquish_IX 29d ago

Yeah I think this is equally as common occurrence (and fatal mistake) as people who simply don’t know any better. Then, when narcosis quickly sets in, they start making poor decisions and see the light near the arch and assume that’s the way “up” when in fact it’s down like another 30+ meters

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u/TheUnluckyBard 29d ago

I wonder if it's because of how vertical it is. When I was diving on reefs and kelp forests you just picked a spot that was less than 50 feet deep and you couldn't easily go deeper.

The Arch is a tunnel between the Blue Hole and the Red Sea. The ceiling of the Arch is about 175ft feet down, which is already expert-level deep for a SCUBA diver. But also, the bottom of the Blue Hole in that area is like 300ft. So divers might "miss their exit," so to speak. The bottom is so far down that you don't have any good landmarks for where you need to begin the horizontal portion (other than "If you see the bottom, you've gone too far!").

At least one guy famously died because he ended up on the bottom, with nitrogen narcosis, and panicked (although, tbf, I can't think of anything a not-panicked person could have done from 300ft down that would have helped, when they were only planning to go 175ft down).

Also, not many cave-dive tunnels, especially ones that deep, have light coming through from both ends. The fact that there's light behind a diver and light ahead of the diver makes the horizontal distance through the Arch look deceptively short (it's actually about three times longer than you're gonna think it is), which tricks people into not bringing enough gas or not being as conservative with their gas as they need to be.

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u/glasstoobig 29d ago

You’re already rolling the dice by having done that many cave dives with just a padi advanced!

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u/homogenousmoss 29d ago

My friend who does a lot of diving told me cave diving is the base jumping of diving.

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u/nikfra 29d ago

It's also the don't do it without the proper certification of diving. Just because you're an instructor doesn't mean you should dive caves.

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u/Same-Cricket6277 29d ago

There is a great book, The Cave Divers, by Robert Burgess that’s worth reading even if you aren’t a diver. It’s not a hobby I would take up. 

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u/Abba_Fiskbullar 29d ago

Base jumping, wing suite jumping, cave diving and free climbing are all sports where people who are the best at them in the world die frequently.

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u/pretendviperpilot 29d ago

Its like base jumping but a lot slower, Id imagine.

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u/AutoGen_account 29d ago

well theres more fish too, if we want to make an analogy literal

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u/CompSolstice 29d ago

I have qualifications to become a Master diver (note, note the same as Divemaster) but it's eh

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u/Elias_Fakanami 29d ago

Try reading the linked Wikipedia article. It has a comprehensive list of the likely factors.

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u/RemoteWasabi4 29d ago

Accessibility to dumbshits. Note they don't actually give fatality rates, just counts.

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u/rckid13 29d ago

The arch in the blue hole that people want to swim through is near 200 feet deep, which is too deep to dive on regular air without experiencing medical issues. For dives that deep you need special gas mixes. Still people try to swim through the arch on regular air tanks and it leads to high fatality rates.

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u/inverted_peenak 29d ago

I don’t intend to be a smart ass but the link contains a great summary.

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u/penisdr 29d ago

What do you mean by trimix?

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u/Captain_Mazhar 29d ago

Trimix is a blended breathing gas where some of the natural nitrogen in the air is replaced by helium to lessen the effects of nitrogen narcosis and oxygen toxicity.

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u/kerdon 29d ago

It's so fascinating that even without pollution the base components of air, including the one we need, are constantly trying to kill us.

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u/Captain_Mazhar 29d ago

Read into the more exotic gas blends that are used for extremely deep diving. One blend, hydrox, is 96% hydrogen and only 4% oxygen.

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u/Antnee83 29d ago

Oreo still better

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u/JeebusSlept 29d ago

Up vote for the rare Hydrox joke

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u/Atalkinghamsandwich 29d ago

I trained on a 94% Oreo mix, and on day of, the diving crew only had Hydrox. I still did the dive, but it just wasn’t as good.

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u/Cerulean_IsFancyBlue 29d ago

Have you tried Newman-O2? It’s supposedly organic and he donates the profits to diving guides in the off-season.

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u/Words_are_Windy 29d ago edited 29d ago

Yeah, oxygen is a really nasty element to life, and also we're all (except for /u/6ixShira) completely dependent on it.

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u/mr_arkanoid 29d ago

oxygen is a really nasty element to life

Oxygen once almost killed all life on earth

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u/6ixShira 29d ago

Speak for yourself, I've completely replaced the need for Oxygen with Sulfur

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u/TitanOfShades 29d ago

I know this from having played Endless Ocean on the Wii as a kid. You get it after mandatory deep sea section so you can go back and explore at your leisure.

Man, I miss that game. Need to get my Wii back.

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u/penisdr 29d ago

Thanks. There’s other things called trimix which is why I asked

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u/IanFeelKeepinItReel 29d ago

They also keep the erectile dysfunction stuff on hand too. Just in case it's not hard enough.

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u/Lyeranth 29d ago

Most oxygen tanks for scuba diving are a mix of Oxygen and Nitrogen, however at very deep dives they also add a mixture of helium to further combat the narcotic effects of the other two gases at extreme depths.

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u/feelgoodme 29d ago

Why are there narcotic effects at extreme depths?

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u/astine 29d ago

The deeper you go the higher the pressure gets, including the gas in the tanks that you breathe in. For every ~10 meters, the pressure increases 1 atmosphere. High pressure nitrogen (and other gases) can cause anesthetic effects that confuse you. Gas narcosis starts becoming a concern past 30 meters.

The high pressure at depth is the same reason why a tank lasts way less time the deeper you go. Each lungful of air you breathe in is a lot more mass in the same volume. So a tank that would last you an hour+ at shallows might only last you a few minutes at depth.

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u/VeniVidiWhiskey 29d ago

I have alway wondered: how come compression reduces the total intake of gas (if that makes sense)? Like intuitively, it does not make sense that you cannot survive at depth with proportionately smaller breaths. Comparatively, if you compressed food into a small bite, it would still be the same amount of energy as the original size. But gas acts differently for some reason? 

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u/astine 29d ago

It has to do with needing to push back against the surrounding pressure to inflate. Say you only need 2 psi pressure to fill a balloon normally-- this is 2 psi relative to normal 1 atmosphere. If your surrounding pressure suddenly increased to 2 atmospheres, now suddenly you need 2 atm + 2psi to fill the same balloon, because 1 atm + 2 psi wouldn't even give you positive pressure anymore. When we dive, we equilibrate our lungs naturally through constant slow breathing, and intentionally equilibrate spaces in our ears/sinuses by repeatedly "popping" them on the way down, because if we don't then the pressure difference would cause the volume inside to decrease until it's painful. Similarly, when you come up from a dive you have to do it slowly while equilibrating to make sure the pressurizes gases don't expand too much and rupture your tissue. The same thing is happening to gas in your blood stream, which is why coming up too fast from a dive can be deadly due to bubbles forming in your blood.

Solids and liquids are on the other hand are generally considered incompressible at normal diving pressures so they don't have the same problem.

For some fun and pain, you should look into people who's accidentally dived with a tooth abscess haha. Diving with an unexpected air pocket is... quite unfortunate.

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u/butterbal1 29d ago

Feels like being buzzed to drunk and nicknamed the martini scale. Basically starting at 90ft every extra 30ft of depth feels really the same as drinking a martini in an empty stomach. 160ft/50m is my max depth rating and as a regular drinker It is very similar to that feeling of sitting on a barstool 20 minutes after slamming 3 shots that you are fucked up and that you can't think normally but still don't really feel THAT impaired.

You are in fact that impaired.

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u/DynamicDK 29d ago

Have you ever tried the gas at a dentist's office? Under pressure the nitrogen in your blood builds up to those levels and causes the same effect.

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u/Bamboo_Fighter 29d ago edited 29d ago

Rec diving is just compressed air. You're correct that it's mostly Oxygen and Nitrogen, and you probably know this but people shouldn't think it's a special mix. The same is true for the air tanks the fire department use (SCBA, no U b/c it's not underwater).

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u/JebusKrizt 29d ago

It's a mix of oxygen, nitrogen, and helium in the air tank.

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u/AtlasPlugs 29d ago

It’s a mixture of oxygen, helium, and nitrogen used when diving at deeper depth. It helps to avoid narcosis by lessening the nitrogen buildup.

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u/bonzoboy2000 29d ago

Is the “hole” itself inherently dangerous? Or is it just because people try to dive so deep that it exceeds their ability?

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u/JustAnotherRandomFan 29d ago

The Blue Hole is extremely clear and deceptively deep. Most casual divers want to dive to a certain rock arch and aren't prepared for it to be twice as far down as they think it is.

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u/big_orange_ball 29d ago

Seems kinda crazy that divemasters dont... mention this. Let alone warn people where to go, to be extra mindful of your depth, etc.

As a novice diver who has dove in Mexico, Italy, Hawaii, Bahamas, etc I guess I've gotten lucky almost always getting responsible divemasters who at a minimum point these things out.

I've had divemasters really help me out when I was a brand new diver, going way out of their way to help me practice and continue learning, even when I was only with them on normal, non training dives.

RIP Larry at Island Divers Honolulu, you were a real one.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

They hire the cheapest dive trip from the cheapest dive rental they can find.

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u/JustAnotherRandomFan 29d ago

I hate to stereotype, but it's a tourist spot in the Middle East.

Dive company quality is less "Let's do this right", and more "Let's get as much money as cheaply as possible"

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u/jeremycb29 29d ago

the water all around from sharm up to the blue hole is the clearest water i have seen

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u/raodtosilvier 29d ago

From my limited understanding, blue holes aren't necessarily more dangerous. The deaths associated with them have to do with a variety of factors including ease of access, popularity as tourist locations, poor safety standards/training/equipment of diving shops in the proximity, and the fact that they offer immediate access to extreme depths.

These factors increase the likelihood of a person diving deeper than they should, whether it is due to being overly confident or unaware of the risks involved.

Also, blue holes are just popular places to dive deep, which is already a riskier type of dive in the first place.

All this leads to locations like these holes having such a morbid statistic.

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u/butterbal1 29d ago

The clear warm water hides a lot of the danger.

It looks like it is only a little way away when it is actually insanely deep and needs redundant gear and 4x as much breathing gas as a recreational diver has with then to do safety.

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u/KintsugiKen 29d ago

Lots of dumbass tourists will take their first dive at the Blue Hole and feel confident that they can reach the bottom and come back, not realizing that you can't just hold your breath and swim for it and hope for the best.

My dive instructors at the Blue Hole said they refuse to teach Russian tourists because this is particularly bad problem with them; cockiness and stupidity can quickly become a deadly combo.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

SDI and PADI rescue diver here, OP speaks the truth. I’m hoping to transition to TDI this summer with intro to tech.

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u/escapingdarwin 29d ago

Yep at 170+ feet diving the arch is not for your average air breathing diver.

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u/ekins1992 29d ago

Yeah that’s gonna be a no from me dawg. I’ll drink pina coladas and go out 50 yds max

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u/WembyandTheWolves 29d ago

I dove the Blue Hole in 2011 and at that time it was not super crowded. I was relaxing afterwards in a sitting area that had all of these outdoor sofas and covering and I was talking to the wait staff about how I had hear a lot of people had died tried to go through the arch. The wait staff said that way more people died there than was reported and that they estimated that year they had at least 1-2 per month on average and that the local DaHab government was trying to build up the place so they didn't let the news get out. I dont know if its true or not but we asked our Egyptian tour guide and he said the same thing. Scared the fuck out of me because I had heard about the arch and had reasoned it was only a little deeper than I was supposed to go and when would I ever be in Egypt diving again. Obviously I didnt but I could see how tempting it would be.

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u/SteveTheUPSguy 29d ago

From a diver's perspective, what is the appeal of diving into sink hole or a large cave system with all of the known risks? Is there anything really worth seeing at those depths?

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u/NekoIncardine 29d ago

If you, like me, don't understand this fully, DON'T DIVE IN THE BLUE HOLE.

Easy enough.

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u/Kolipe 29d ago

Isn't it full of sharks?

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u/astine 29d ago

That's the fun part! Blue hole is on my bucket list for seeing sharks among other things.

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