Interview of a Diver-Part 3

   The first two interviews I did with Bruce, our commercial diver gave everyone some basic ideas about what his job was, how he did it and what kind of places he went to.

   This interview is going to be a little bit different, in that I intend to ask him some questions about different experiences he had, and the kinds of things he had to do not just to make money, but to survive his job. 

   You will see what I mean as we get underway with the interview.  This hub may not be for the squimish or the faint of heart.  I am not positive, but I believe there are a few things that may be brought up that could and will scare most people, and make some of you wonder if what he did and what he made was worth the experieces of doing it.

   So here again I bring to your presence, Bruce, our commercial diver.

"You have described to us your basic job, and the places you dove, if I were to ask you if there was one thing that happened to you that scared you more than anything else, what would it be?

• Having to bailing out from 77 ft. which means that I had to detach my weight belt and shoot up to the surface like a rocket. I had to do this because as I was breathing through my hose, suddenly my next breathe after exhaling, was not there. This is a terrifying feeling when you are that deep, and if you panic you very well could die.

"What caused you to be unable to breathe, and describe please what went through your mind and the details of this experience.?"

• "What went through my mind was when I realized at about 90 ft that I was not getting anywhere and my bag floated past me which meant for as hard as I was trying to swim up, and I had not had a breathe of air in about 10 or 12 seconds. I turned around and looked to see what was stopping my progress and I saw that my hose had somehow gotten caught possibly on the boat and was now underneath a bed of seaweed and kelp and was pinched off not letting any air get to me. I knew I had to do something or else I was going to start drinking sea water, so as a last thing I could do I popped my weight belt off, which is against everything I was taught, for as you go up the oxygen in your lungs expands, and if you do not continually force yourself to exhale, your lungs will be forced out of your mouth, your eyes will pop out of the sockets, and you become embolized .

"So I would take it that you have to have the best self control in this situation possible, and then after you released your belt, what happened"

• "I had to keep my airway open, and I held my arms and legs out so that my assent would be slowed as much as possible, and when I finally hit the surface, I came out of the water to about my knees, shooting straight up, and I sucked in the most welcome breathe of air I ever breathed, and with the next breathe I let out a 30 second stream of cuss words I ever said altogether at one time at the world, when I noticed that the other diver was not in the water but on the boat, so then the expletive's were directed at him for not checking on my hose when he should have. I have dived with him for about a year and whenever the other person was on deck it was expected that hoses be watched for safety reasons."

   "Obviously you are here, so you didn't die, but what did happen?

• "Luckily I was fine, my boss would not take me in and though he wanted me to continue to dive, I refused.  He dove the rest of the day and the next and we then returned.  Nothing happened to me , and I felt fine, so I did not go to the doctor."
  

     Bruce has many interesting stories and has promised us that he will give us more stories and will give us a part 4 very soon.