New goal in life: Swim through the Blue Hole of Dahab... and live
64 replies, posted
I've always had an interest in scuba diving, particularly cave diving, even though I've never done a lick of it in my life. While surfing the internet, I found about the Blue Hole of Dahab.
The Blue Hole of Dahab is a sinkhole off the coast of Dahab Egypt.
[QUOTE]The Blue Hole is a submarine [U]sinkhole [/U](a kind of cave), around 130 m deep. There is a shallow opening around 6 m deep, known as 'the saddle', opening out to the sea, and a 26 m long tunnel, known as the arch, the top of which lies at a depth of 56 m. The hole itself and the surrounding area has an abundance of [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral"]coral[/URL] and [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reef"]reef[/URL] fish.[/QUOTE]Here's a map.
[URL="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Blue_Hole_map.png"][media]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Blue_Hole_map.png[/URL][/media]
Here's a cross section of the area.
[URL]http://bp1.blogger.com/_VY9lef3Ripw/RcNaoMk0vDI/AAAAAAAAAC8/r6u0XB2Mmfc/s1600-h/DahabCrossSect.jpg[/URL]
It's also nicknamed "The Diver's Cemetery." It's infamous for deaths of divers who try to swim through the arch.
[URL="http://youtube.com/watch?v=qhcF-Coc1J0"][media]http://youtube.com/watch?v=qhcF-Coc1J0[/URL][/media]
[B]Why do people die?[/B]
They underestimate exactly where the arch is how deep and long the arch to the red sea is. So they disregard safety procedures and/or not prepare accordingly for the trip and do stupid things like bring only one tank of air. People die either from the effects of nitrogen narcosis or simply run out of air. There has been around 40 deaths documented, but some believe that the government is covering up some of the deaths and there are at least twice that amount.
Here's a video of a diver's final moments in the Blue Hole.
[media][URL]http://youtube.com/watch?v=eejQPUyeNiY[/URL][/media]
[B]What is nitrogen narcosis?[/B]
It's a condition that affects the nervous system when you swim deep enough, usually 100 meters. Effects can range from a mild euphoria, to tunnel vision, to hallucinations, to a complete loss of consciousness.
Yeah, the Blue Hole is not a spot for beginners.
[media][URL]http://youtube.com/watch?v=Wdug6A_D5iI[/URL][/media]
[IMG]http://bp1.blogger.com/_VY9lef3Ripw/RcNaoMk0vDI/AAAAAAAAAC8/r6u0XB2Mmfc/s1600-h/DahabCrossSect.jpg[/IMG]
Whoah.
Bring a floaty.
A really good goal, to say the least.
Keep at it, I bet you'll end up surviving one day.
Build a giant robot spider instead.
Underwater caves are fucking scary. There was one in Croatia connecting a lagoon to the sea and even getting close it was very cold, pitch black and I was afraid to get even close in case there was some current that would suck me in.
And that was probably nothing even close to the depth of this thing.
Wow, you seem like you really have this set out.
I know diddly swat about diving, but depending where you live, you should be able to find lessons on how to dive. I live in a Mediterranean climate and see ads for diving lessons all the time, so it might be hard to find them if you live in a cold climate.
That video of the diver dying was very unsettling.
fuck that shit that's scary as hell
you have huge balls
Those videos are so unnerving..
holy shit thats some scary shit
I definitely want to try that now, thanks.
I thought you were talking about the Blue Holes at Mammoth Cave, before I read the thread (I forgot there were other Blue Holes in the world):
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth_Cave_National_Park[/url]
The water is isolated freshwater but it's naturally a deep blue color because of the limestone sediment (?). I took a vacation here quite a few years ago and it's where I first heard of "blue holes".
[img]http://www.geology.ohio-state.edu/~vonfrese/gs100/lect15/xfig15_13.jpg[/img]
I thought you meant you were going to dive into that, which was quite an interesting concept (the color in the photograph is distorted, it's actually a blue-cyan color).
Whoa, sounds pretty cool. If you do it OP, bring a camera and film the whole thing.
[QUOTE=Frisk;26191385]Whoa, sounds pretty cool. If you do it OP, bring a camera and film the whole thing.[/QUOTE]
Let's just hope it doesn't turn into another video of the diver slowly suffocating
Oh god. I don't get why he didn't just throw the weights off and swim back up. Sure, he might get the bends but it'd be better than dying.
Seems to me something was wrong with him, because if he was struggling midway, he would've just went back up.
[QUOTE=I Broke The Sun!;26191425]Let's just hope it doesn't turn into another video of the diver slowly suffocating[/QUOTE]
Yeah let's. If/when I start scuba diving. I'm going to train and do many, many dives before I even think of attempting this.
We've obviously located the entrance to the resting place of Cthulhu and the diver was being dragged down to the depths by His dark slaves as a warning.
[QUOTE=Mind Man;26191525]Yeah let's. If/when I start scuba diving. I'm going to train and do many, many dives before I even think of attempting this.[/QUOTE]
What state/country you live in?
This one is off the coast of Belize
[img_thumb]http://www.grandbaymen.com/belize_photo_gallery/Belize/Blue_Hole/Belize-Blue-Hole-Lighthouse-Reef.jpg[/img_thumb]
[QUOTE=Ashten;26191641]What state/country you live in?[/QUOTE]
I live in America.
Thats really scary.
60m to go under the arch? Fuck, you'd get narked and run out of air so quicky. You'd just have to go down and under as fast as possible.
What the fuck why would people even attempt that on one tank of AIR.
[QUOTE=Fycix;26191498]Oh god. I don't get why he didn't just throw the weights off and swim back up. Sure, he might get the bends but it'd be better than dying.
Seems to me something was wrong with him, because if he was struggling midway, he would've just went back up.[/QUOTE]
He might have been narked and so confused he couldnt get his regulator back when he lost it or undo his weight belt.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrXQbucZUDA&feature=related[/media]
Do it like this guy
I wouldn't even try that without 2 tanks of Trimix.
[QUOTE=SeamanStains;26192068]What the fuck why would people even attempt that on one tank of AIR.[/QUOTE]
Like I said before, they're so overconfident that they take unnecessary risks, and they underestimate where the arch is and how deep underwater it really is, and thus they don't prepare accordingly.
I never even realized one had to take more than one tank when scuba diving.
I'm not sure how reading about this made you want to do it. Personally I'd stay the fuck away from it after watching that fatal diving video.
The video where those two divers discover a dead guy. Holy shit.
I almost went, but the trip was canceled.
What happened to that video of a pond under the lake? It was some sort of liquid heavier than water, and had a tree and grass growing.
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