Hit my 500th bell dive last week and it felt weirdly huge

I've been in the Gulf since 2004 and never really paid attention to dive counts. But when I came up from that last gig repairing a cathodic protection system on a rig off Galveston, my logbook showed exactly 500 bell dives. It just hit me how many bottom times and close calls and bad coffee breaks that number represents. When you started out, did you ever think you'd rack up a certain number? I sure didn't.

2 comments

2 Comments

joseph_coleman12d ago

Man, 500 bell dives is no joke. That's a whole lot of bottom time and a lot of stuck valves and long, cold rides to the surface. But here's what I'm wondering - when you hit that number, did it make you start thinking about the ones that almost weren't just dives? I mean the real close calls, not just the bad coffee.

the_wesley12d ago

Yeah, the close calls really start weighing on you after that many dives.