Unpopular opinion: I always thought saturation diving was the most dangerous gig, but a report from the IMCA on surface-supplied air diving in zero-vis harbor work changed my mind.

Honestly, reading the 2023 IMCA safety flash about a diver getting his umbilical snagged and nearly dragged under a moving barge in Rotterdam harbor, with visibility under six inches, made me realize the surface-supplied guys doing that grunt work face a different, more immediate kind of risk every single shift.

3 comments

3 Comments

sarahh481d ago

A good dive knife on the belt saved my skin once. You ever get tangled in old fishing line?

emerychen1d ago

Yeah, a good knife is key. My own gear once tried to drown me when my drysuit hose caught on a ladder. It's a good way to feel very stupid very fast.

the_julia20h ago

Cut that line FAST. Watched a buddy get pinned by monofilament in a surge, just a ghost net wrapped on a wreck. That silent panic is way worse than any gear snag. My knife lives on my forearm now, not my leg.