Sinking Down to the Lusitania

I was listening to a scuba related interview from the excellent (though irregularly broadcasted) pod-cast Bottom-Time Radio yesterday. Bottom-time Radio follows the scuba adventures of two divers from Michigan, whose names, curiously I cannot locate on the podcast’s webpage. One is an instructor and the other a divemaster and they interview various scuba luminaries and goof around on air, exchanging light-hearted banter about diving and imparting their collective wisdom about technique and equipment.. Both are experienced wreck divers and as you all know, the wreck diving in the Great Lakes is quite spectacular. Anyway, in their most recent show they interviewed Hal Watts a/k/a Mr. Scuba. Hal has been diving since 1964, is a well-regarded instructor and holds various depth records for diving on air. Watts also bears the distinction of having been the person who invented the Octopus as well as the slogan “plan your dive and dive your plan”. He most recently, at age 70, dove the Lusitania which rests at 300 feet at the bottom of the Celtic sea, (12 miles of the coast of County Cork), on air, with his student, the 76 year old Greg Bemis. Bemis apparently bought the wreck from the Irish Government 35 years ago but only got around to diving it last March. Hal put a lot of hours in training Bemis to make the historical dive and from what he said it wasn’t that easy. Bemis dove on tri-mix while Watts went down on air. Watts teaches deep diving with a sort of progressive penetration philosophy; start at 100 feet, then to 130, then 170 and so on. Your comfort level determines how deep you go. From Hal’s web-site:

"Hal's experience with scuba had begun in 1955 while he was attending college, earning a Master's Degree in law. During the 1960's Hal became devoted to extended range diving and developing proven, effective diving techniques for dives to depths greater than the normal recreational range of 40 meters (132 feet). In 1967, using methods he developed, Hal set the World's Depth record by diving to 119 meters (390 feet) on air and was recognized in the Guinness Book of records. It should be noted, that as time went on, it was accepted that extremely deep air dives were indeed hazardous and the current records represent remarkable achievements. Unfortunately, the record is also at the very extreme edge of human physiological tolerance and so Guinness no longer publishes deep air records or attempts."

390 feet on tri-mix would be impressive to me, never mind on air.