Hi there..

Just wanted to know if anyone knows about any serious dangers with scuba diving as I have just started diving again. Its been 7 years since I last dived (before my injury) and it was FANTASTIC to dive again...

If you hear of any, let me know. I was going to get certified for diving here nearby me there is a place that has experiencing training paras. I'm not sure if I will be able to get in this summer or not yet though.

Hey,
Sounds Fantastic. Where did ya dive as a Raspberry? I dived once before my injury on a Youth afloat wkd, but didnt think it was possible again in my chair? I am T5 complete. Could you let me have details of where and with who you dived? Also prices? I would be a real beginner at this, so would need assistance due to spasm etc....
Thanks,

Sam

Hey Gecko, I dive quite regularly and the only thing i've been warned of; Is that if you are diving to 3atm's or lower, be sure to double the amount of time on your accent. Being that we para's and quads have poor circulation in our lower extremities, it takes longer for the excess nitrogen to dissipate. Better safe than sorry! Hope all goes well for you, have fun!

WARNING: Anyone with levels above T8 needs to get further info and take care re disturbance to their vasomotor system which conrols the constriction and release of the blood vessels, hence controlling body temperature. My understanding from years ago was that could be dangerous for those higher level people to dive below 2metres/6 feet.

Good call Normis!...Also something I though of; If you use a baclofen pump, your going to want to consult your doctor as to it's function under increased pressure!

Does anyone know of any scuba websites for SCI?

Nope...At least not that i've ever found. Being that there are so many underlying medical conditions that we have as a result of our injuries, it really is something that should be investigated further!

The only one I am aware of is http://www.hsascuba.com/

I got certified this year - when I was getting trained they used nitrox to help with the circulation issues. I've dove as well one time without as well. I've gotten really cold as well on one dive not sure if it was my injury or not but think about a thicker wetsuit even in places like Florida if you want to stay down longer.

There's a great one called the handicap scuba association. It also has a link where you can find instructors in your area.

http://www.hsascuba.com/

Apparently didnt read the the string and just the original post... this same link was provided 2 posts up.

Ah, I was just talking to someone the other day about scuba diving. He's AB and a trainer at my gym, was talking about scuba diving and got me all excited about it and now I'm interested in figuring out ways for me to do it. He was saying he just did a course or something over the weekend and I'm wondering if the place he went will train SCI people and if I can dive to deeper depths at my injury level. It just sounds like so much fun and I am definitely an ocean loving kind of girl. When I'm in the water, I always free of my chair and my SCI and I love doing anything that gives me that feeling. Diving would, no doubt, be awesome.

Found this website during last night's research on scuba diving and SCI: http://paraplegicscuba.blogspot.com/2007/0...paraplegic.html REALLY interesting stuff, very comprehensive. Also, I was talking to the person I know who I mentioned above about diving today and he was saying that the vasomotor system stuff can be controlled with a slower descent, like instead of descending at 1 second/per whatever, I would go down at 2 seconds/per whatever depth. Sorry if that doesn't make sense, I'm just getting interested in diving and don't know the terminology. Anyway, I wrote down what you guys wrote here about diving and gave it to him so I think he said he's gonna do more research into it, pretty sure he is certified. Either way, where there's a will, there's a way.

Edited to add that he also recommended contacting PADI, this diving organization, and they should be able to answer questions as well for anyone with SCI/diving.

Just wanted to let you guys know that I emailed PADI http://www.padi.com/scuba/default.aspx to inquire about SCI and diving, if I can just take a regular diving course, if I can do wreck dives, etc., and I'm waiting to hear back from them with their advice. I'll let you guys know what they have to say.

I havent taken the course yet myself but I did talk to a local scuba shop who has experience with paras and they tell me that it is the same course for both me and my boyfriend (who is AB). I know its recommended to deal with a licensed instructor who has experience in certifying people of similar disabily level as you.

I've been diving for a few years now (T5 complete). It is awesome! I did my first dive trip through the Dive Pirates from NM. They specialize in adaptive training. Here's a link to their site. You can also click on the adaptive divers tab.

I have a ton of pictures if you would like me to post any I've been to San Carlos twice, Bahamas and the Key's.

Here's one picture of me from their site!
http://www.divepirates.org/divers.asp?diverid=5

Yes, please post some, I would love to see! I got really excited looking at the PADI website at all the courses I can take and I would absolutely LOVE to dive in ship wrecks. I have a love for pirates and that stuff is just right up my alley.... I would also love to go to Australia and see the Great Barrier reef and other places around the world that must be magnificently beautiful. I am an ocean loving girl. Dive Pirates seems like an amazing organization, I just checked out their site. Their chapter in Lakawanna, NY isn't that far from me. Same with Lansing, MI.

Anyway, I heard back from PADI and here's what they had to say:

Thanks very much for your message and for visiting the PADI website, I’m delighted to hear of your interest in becoming a PADI Diver and I’ll try to help.



PADI training standards require only that student divers are able to meet all the training requirements in order to be certified. Some of the skills necessary can be adapted to accommodate you, it will be up to the individual instructor to evaluate your abilities and adapt his teaching to your needs. Without seeing you in the water it’s impossible to say whether you could complete the course but typically those with full use of their upper body who are able to swim and comfortable in water over their head, as well as being reasonably fit, can at least participate in training if not become certified. Please have your instructor get in touch with one of our Training Consultants if he or she needs assistance.



But before you begin, you’ll be required to complete a Medical Statement, attached. It will require your doctor’s OK before you can participate in the water so please have a look at it first. You may take it to your physician for signature and note the Guidelines for the Physician that provide important information and references. You or he may also wish to contact Divers Alert Network (DAN) and www.diversalertnetwork.org and/or the Handicapped Scuba Association (HSA) www.hsascuba.com for more information.



I hope this helps a bit, Mimi, and good luck with your course!

Best regards and good diving,

Mary Kaye

So now I'm going to start looking around at the dive shops around Toronto to see if there are any instructors who've had experience with spinal cord injured people.

A really close friend of mine just got back from an amazing scuba diving trip and I am going in September to Bonaire!

He went with a group called DPF (Dive Pirates Foundation)-They must share your love for all thing pirate Mimi I'm more of a ninja girl myself but I have a respect for pirates too!

Here's an article link and at the very bottom there's a link to their main site.

DPF Foundation Article

I am so stoked about being recertified. I got certified a couple of years before my injury and I can't wait to get back to my underwater exploration!

Cool! Here are some of my pictures. I have the bright green hoses and no fins (obviously) haha

This trip was from the Keys in Florida
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v471/jbo...mview=slideshow

I also drove with Life Waters. They are some local friends who i know here in Phoenix, AZ. Some of you may recognize the blond guy in the wheelchair. Its Andy Cohn from the movie Murderball.
http://gallery.me.com/charleywright#100046...k&view=grid

Oh my god, those pictures make me want to dive like ASAP!!! INCREDIBLE! I'm definitely going to try and take a course before the summer is over.

So, I went to Scuba2000 here in the Toronto area and met with one of their dive instructors and I'm gonna do the course They have a pool on site and so next week, he and I are going into the pool for an hour or so for him to put all the gear on me and teach me basic skills and see how my body reacts, etc. If everything goes okay, and I think it will be fine, he's going to give me all the "classroom" materials to take home with me and then I'll do the pool part of the course at some point next week (3 hours in the pool, twice). I'm super excited!!! He's never taught someone with an SCI to dive so I'm kind of his guinea pig but he knows others instructors who have taught paralyzed people to dive and it was fine. Normally they do the course in a group setting but I'm doing it privately (for the same price) because he wants to sort of keep close tabs on me, I guess. I would really really REALLY love to do the Open Water certifcation before the summer is over (4 dives to get certified) and he said I should probably be able to do it. THEN I want to get learn how to dive in wrecks because ghost ships are just some seriously cool shit. I always wanted to be a treasure hunter (for real) when I was a kid. Now's my chance to go dive for dubloons.... Actually I'm just excited to sit on the bottom of the ocean floor breathing and watching sea turtles and angel fish go by my head....

Here's me at it off Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. I was lucky because my friend is an instructor out there. I'd reccomend it to anyone, it's pure
psychedelia down there!

Click to view attachment

Dumb question I have been wondering...

When I swim my legs have tendancy to float. But in the pictures I have seen of paras scuba diving their legs are all straight down. Is it just different when you are completely underwater or what?

Hmmm I can get back to you on that one next week once I start the course but when I'm swimming in a pool my legs float up behind me and sometimes they kind of sink down, sometimes they stay up. They just have a life of their own when I swim. I know you need to be able to swim 400m unassisted as part of certification so last night, I was practicing swimming laps in 400m spurts in the deep pool but I had a floatation waist belt on. My legs stayed up and floating behind me as I swam but I need to do it without the waist belt and I have no idea what'll go on with my legs. I've never really swam lap after lap without anything at all keeping me or my legs floating. I'm hoping they still stay afloat behind me as I'm moving. It'll probably be easier to swim the 400m without the belt because I could feel it creating drag and slowing me down. Anyway, with scuba gear on? No idea.

Hey, when you guys scuba, do you use hand fins or anything? I was wondering about what could help me swim under there since we can't use fins---or rather, that fins are useless to us

Edited to add: Nice pic, DJ!!!! "Pure psychedelia down there"--love it! Can't wait!!
Edited AGAIN because I forgot to ask... how did you guys get in the water? The instructor at Scuba2000 and I were wondering about the best method for this (off a boat, I assume) because he said one of the required skills is the "open stride" I believe he called it, when you step off the boat with that big stride. That's obviously not going to work for me. Did you guys just toss yourselves in? Slide off the boat? Get someone to throw you??

I have noticed on my other photos my legs tended to stay in the wheelchair position. When I swim they do alsorts of stuff, spasming and floating, but when I scubad they were fairly well behaved. I used flippers on my hands for a while but found I could propell myself fairly well without them once I obtained neutral bouyancy.

As for getting in, I sat on the edge of the boat with my back to the water, held my mask with one hand and took a leap of faith backwards just like you see frogmen in the movies do it! It's a real rush when you end up in the water with all that weight on your back for the first time!

Well, tomorrow at some point, I'm going to the pool to practice my swim skills and swim the 400m a few times without any floaty devices. Just me and my goggles! I think I'll be fine. When I'm in the water, my legs seem to alternate between floating and sinking down (sort of in the chair position you described), depending on what I'm doing and sometimes it depends on depth. I find that I'm much more bouyant in the ocean than in pools. And I'm VERY bouyant, always have been since I was a kid. I just float around.

That's what I was thinking I'll do with boats/diving--the leap of faith. I seriously can't wait for the course next week. I've never had full scuba gear on before. I did see hot pink air tanks at the dive shop and got excited though... hot pink scuba gear, hell yeah!

I had my first scuba "discovery dive" today and I absolutely loved it. Totally amazing feeling. And it was only in a pool! The feeling must be hugely magnified in giant bodies of water with marine life or wrecks. Incredible.

Instead of retyping everything about my first experience, I figured I'd just give you guys the link to my blog where I wrote in detail about it:
http://mimimachine.blogspot.com/

I'm just about to watch the PADI learn to dive DVD! Yay!

That's way cool!

Yeah, I'm SOOOOOOO excited about it, I just can't wait to do it regularly. I'm doing the first part of the course next week (confined water AKA pool dives) and the learning materials and I was just talking to my instructor on the phone and we're planning to do my first open water dives the first weekend of September. Instead of me doing four dives in a row, we're going to take it slower and do two dives at a time and then the next two maybe the weekend after or something. Yay!

Thought I'd post an update on my diving. I'm doing my first two open water dives this Monday and I'm totally excited!! I'm doing the third and fourth dives on the second weekend in September. After that I'll be fully certified for open water. My dive buddy and I also want to do our Advanced Open Water certification this year which includes deep diving, underwater nav, wreck diving and two other specialities so that we can ice dive this Winter. The dive shop where I am learning (Scuba2000) is AMAZING and have been so helpful. I'll put up pics of my dives on my blog after the dives are done (an underwater photographer has offered to join me on my dives!). I'm thinking of potentially turning my experience learning how to become an advanced diver into a short documentary, if I can get the right people involved in making it. So excited!

Make sure you do a drysuit cert with your advanced if you plan on doing any ice diving. That is unless you really really like to be cold.

Yeah I was having the drysuit discussion with someone the other day. I currently have a 7mm Henderson wetsuit which quite a few people use to ice dive locally. If I was diving in colder regions, I would invest in a drysuit but apparently people have had no issues wearing just 7mm suits here in southern Ontario. Unfortunately, dry suits are expensive and I have not found a place that rents them are they are so customized to the wearer. It's an investment I will make in the future but for now, my instructor suggested just putting some kind of double layer over my 7mm.

Oh lack of rental would be a big problem, yes they are expensive. I live in Calgary and everyone rents them so that is what I dive in I like to be warm and dry. I also found it easier to swim around in as they are not as restrictive.

Good luck with the diving, and make sure you do a dive vacation some where warm and tropical its a whole new experience.

Where do you guys dive in the Calgary area? Lakes nearby? I'm doing my first open water dive this monday at site where there is actually a sunken ship that went down in 1857 and we're going to go out and see it. I can't wait! I'm a history buff. I'm also hoping to drive down to the Florida Keys maybe after Christmas and spend some time diving down there. There are so many tropical places I'm wanting to dive--Mexico, various Caribbean islands, the Galapagos, Fiji. I'm surprised at how many good deals there are out there for dive vacations, I guess because the economy sucks right now. I don't mind getting wet while diving in cool water (a lot of people probably don't realize how WET you get in a wetsuit ) but I certainly don't want to freeze so if we dive further up north in the future, a dry suit will be something that I will have no choice but to buy.

Do you wear ankle weights when you dive? In my confined dives, I've tried wearing and not wearing ankle weights and find that they really hinder me when I'm swimming but make being at the surface less awkward (they have a tendency to float up without weights and make me go off kilter at the surface with my BCD inflated). My confined dives have been in a salt water pool, wearing a 5mm wetsuit, and I only need 6lbs of weight but fresh open water is an entirely different scenario, plus I'll be wearing a 7mm which adds buoyancy. My legs have a total mind of their own underwater and sometimes float and sometimes sink.

I dive in local lakes, most open water testing is done in some man made lakes about 20 feet in depth.
The more interesting diving is up in the mountain lakes but its cooler and have to adjust for altitude.
Here is a link to a local dive shop that has some dive info about the area Alberta Dive Sites

My favorite diving was in Australia spent 7 days on a live aboard boat, another cool and easy place to dive is Cozumel as its mostly drift diving so less swimming, they drop you at one point on the wall you drop 70 feet or so then drift along he wall when get picked up at the other end.

I wear ankle weights when I use a dry suit, when diving in warm water I have not been wearing a wet suit at all so no need for weights. I also do triathlons and wear a wet suit for them due to the buoyancy that I get in the legs.

You will need less weight in fresh water but you will have time to figure that out.

Enjoy the diving it can become additive.

This may be of interest to you water babies. Scuba Trust - Tenerife
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8118995.stm

Did my first two open water dives! Full story and lots of details, and some photos, are on my blog http://mimimachine.blogspot.com We had a videographer present with us who will hopefully soon post some clips of the dive on his Vimeo channel!

Both of these are great sites! When I read your stories and I see your pictures, I feel like you take me to another world. it is wonderful.

Thank you! David White (our videographer) has some stunning images captured in his underwater films. I'm very happy he has offered to become involved in my documentary project.

My dive buddy and I are planning to do our Advanced Open Water certification in October which includes a deep dive to 100ft. Have any of you guys experienced doing a deep dive? My deepest on Monday was approx. 25 feet and I felt just fine with the pressure (though 25 ft isn't that deep, lol).

On a side note, I bought a Catalina tank on Monday at a dive shop that I don't normally go to by the beach we went to, about an hour away from my home. The tanks were on sale for a really good deal, and I need a tank so I thought 'why not?'. Well,aAt 6 am Tuesday morning, I was woken up by an incredible loud gushing sound. The tank had been filled by the dive shop to 3000 psi and I had it in my hallway. It was GUSHING AIR. A scuba tank gushing air is very very loud and it was scary as hell because I didn't know what was going on or what to do about it. It leaked for a few HOURS. I called the dive shop, of course, and they tried to tell me the valve must have gotten loose in transport but I knew that wasn't really possible because my dive buddy packed all our tanks and gear into my truck and he secured everything perfectly. I took it to Scuba2000 (my usual dive shop where I've been doing my certification) and they told me that it had a burst disc and a messed up o ring and the reason that happened was because it was overfilled. There's no way it could have been that damaged during car transport. The tank was completely defective and I'm taking it back to the other dive shop to get a refund tomorrow. Scary stuff. Thankfully it happened here on land and there wasn't some of kind of underwater emergency.

Just have to say it again:

JEALOUS! I am glad you're able to experience all this though

But that is scary about the tank. So lucky it happened before you had to use it!

Nah! That would have just added to your excitement! You being into every sort of scary stuff you can find.


Loads of lovely clean free air up here. What the hell do you want to go and suck on some stale old stuff out of a tube 100 feet under water for? Death wish - just like I said.

Thanks! You could definitely learn to scuba as well. Do you swim?



Oh, G, you do realize it is now my mission to come to England get you to scuba dive with me, right?

I'm heading back up to Barrie today to return that defective tank. What a pain in the ass, having to trek back up there. I'm getting a refund on that thing. I don't want them to fix it, I just want to get rid of it. Even if they fixed it, I wouldn't trust that tank.

I have been down to over 100feet, you will notice the pressure but its not that bad I find the first 25-30 feet the toughest with equalization and such. You will notice it gets dark and cold.

I also find that air goes fast for me faster then anyone around.

Good luck with the tank, now you know why there are on sale

Sorry mate. Whatever the reward on offer, it wouldn't be enough to tempt me. Just chicken, me.

I intend that my pension will set the world record for the length of time they'll have to pay it. I'm doing nothing to save the b%*tards' money for them.

I'm definitely prepared for the dark and cold factor but it's the pressure that I was wondering about and any adverse effects specific to those of us with spinal cord injury and lung injures (both my lungs were punctured in my accident but are now healed--it's been over 11 years). I found that during my open water dives, I felt the biggest equalizing issues at 10-15ft. After equalizing, I would be able to head down to 25-30 feet (the bottom where we were) and was fine. We hit a few thermoclines that I found I was cold in until we passed through them depsite me wearing a 7mm 1-piece wet suit, hood, booties and half-fingered webbed gloves. We use more air because we exert ourselves more, btw. It's much harder for us to swim underwater with our gear than it is for an able-bodied diver who is finning. I actually was surprised that I had really good air consumption on my second dive. We were down at 25 feet, 70 degree water, for about half an hour. I went down with 3000 psi in my tank and came up with 1800 psi. Not too bad!

Speaking of tanks, I returned my defective tank today. They don't do store refunds there which really sucked. They also didn't have any more 63 size tanks in stock so I couldn't get a new tank. I didn't want to have to dive up there AGAIN and waste all that time and gas to pick up a new tank when they came in stock. I instead had to accumulate $225 worth of dive gear that I need but was not a priority to buy. I would rather have had my own tank than all the stuff I bought (Akona dive bag and beach bag, a Henderson titanium hood) but today at my regular dive shop, Scuba2000, I bought my own reg! Exciting!! I went with the Sherwood Blizzard which is best in cold water. Thankfully they're letting me pay for it in installments. Oh, and I am doing my Advanced Open Water cert October 24-25



Just wait. Wait and see. I'll get you to scuba dive someday

Oh yea. I have an indoor pool that goes down to six feet, and whenever I go on vacations I always swim in the pools.

Wow you are accumulating a lot of gear fast that is so awesome, and a blizzard reg great choice.

My biggest pet peeves about diving are that we use more air and its tough to keep up to others using just the arms. Thats one reason I like drift diving as it requires less swimming.

I would like one day move into a DPV but they are quite expensive and supper heavy to carry around.

If you are fine around 30feet you will be fine too 100feet you will get a little more pressure and feel the temperature difference, you will notice your breathing rate will change so just watch for that, I find that focusing on keeping my berating rate slow and steady helps.

Oh about the tank usually that the last thing you need I feel as its not that much to rent, you dint have to maintain it and if you travel its not worth taking with you.

I find that interesting, I figured you would use less air than everyone else coz you were not using half your muscles, I have found since sci i can swim further underwater than I could pre sci which I put down to none of my leg muscles requiring oxygen to fuel them.

Sorry for the mini hijack, I know nothing about scuba diving!

I am not an expert but I feel that part of the issue with air and scuba is that when you are swimming you have no equipment on with scuba you have your wetsuit, BCD, regulators and a tank that all add drag though the water.

Swimming with your arms is not as efficient as using your legs and flippers so you end up using more air to go the same distance.

Metabolically we should use less air with less muscle mass, but we loose this advantage due to inefficiency of using our arms and not being as streamlined.