Captain's Chronicles July 2024

Widespread Mistakes / Mike Lamb Love

So many ways I could take the opening topic of widespread mistakes! Not gonna go political or philosophical. I could but this is a Captain’s Chronicles about diving from the owner of a dive shop. Let’s keep this baby positive! We’re human, so every diver is going to make mistakes along the way. New divers with little experience or even older experienced divers that have taken some time off from blowing bubbles. Shoot, even a seasoned Instructor in his prime can make mistakes… Ask John about his first check out Dive while he was certifying his youngest son. Let’s discuss the three most prevalent issues I see repeatedly. 

First is not getting all the air out of the BC while attempting to descend. I sound like a broken record, constantly reminding divers of the two keys to get the air out of the jacket. Number one is to have a vertical body orientation and the number two is to extend your deflate button above your head (unless you’re tugging on a dump valve cord). It amazes me how frequently that happens. Just 2 keys? At the surface I guess people are excited and looking down to see where they're going and potentially pulling themselves down that line. That lowers the head and shoulders and traps air. What worsens the situation and potentially make it dangerous is when that diver determines they are underweighted and add more weight. At this point if they do manage to deflate all the air out, they are going to sink hard. It can also happen during the dive as you use air out of the tank it becomes more buoyant. Same if you’re rising slightly to cross a coral head or part of a wreck.  Remember to get vertical to vent the air out!

On the way down, many divers struggle with equalizing. For a new diver and especially a young one, there is certainly a learning curve to figuring that out. Everybody’s different and we need to find out what works for us. The Valsalva maneuver (pinching the nose shut and gently blowing against it) is by far the most common and effective way. Sometimes the passageway to the eardrum gets congested and pinching and blowing stops working. Be careful to not blow too hard because you can bruise your eardrum from the inside. Barotrauma is no fun and I speak from experience! Wiggling the jaw and jutting the mouth out can also do the trick. Some people take the regulator out of their mouth while doing this. In the past when I had equalization issue, I used to go to the surface, take my mask off and regulator out of my mouth and shake my head vigorously. As I grew older that started making me dizzy, so I found a new technique. Essentially, it’s the same as hocking up a luigi.  I get pretty elaborate and animated getting through that squeeze. Most people that I try to show this technique to seem a little too embarrassed to go through that motion. But it works! While doing this, I pause often to test by blowing to see if I hear the airflow to the eardrum. I always hear a little poof type noise when I’ve got the passageway open. From there the key is to literally equalize every few inches on the way down to keep the pressure from building up.  If the ear shuts down, ascend a couple of feet and keep attacking that blockage like you’re stricken with Covid! But don’t blow against the pinched nose with force. 

“LEAVE YOUR MASK ON YOUR FACE AND KEEP YOUR REGULATOR IN YOUR MOUTH!!" John and I say that so frequently we sound like a broken record. We should have a tape recording of that command and just press the play button as needed. I think I’ve lost all the youngsters! Protect your eyes and airway on the surface. It makes sense in a couple of ways. First, you can get your face down into the water, making it easier to take your fins off. Divers often struggle with de-finning. A tip for that is to go hand to opposite fin as you’re taking your fins off. Right hand to left fin and vice-versa. Make sure you have ahold of the ladder or a line to pull yourself up to the ladder. It's impossible to make headway swimming against a strong current in a scuba unit without fins. Another reason is that you’re human, you could possibly slip and fall backwards while climbing up the ladder. Protect your eyes and your airway, and don’t crowd the ladder when it’s your turn! Dont make me psychotic... I'm Psychquatic!

I first met Mike Lamb a week and a half ago on July 14. I had a fabulous invitation from Steve Purcell to jump on his go fast boat and shoot down to the Keys early in the morning of the impromptu lobster mini day. What  a surprise governor D, and again your choices are controversial because I know as many people upset by that one as we’re happy from it. I’m happy! The thought of jumping on a boat full of people that I didn’t know for that long of a run gave me a little hesitation. However, my need to get in the water and my yearning to hunt those little rascals was persuasive. I’m acquainted with Steve enough to know that anybody he puts on his boat is going to be good people. So I met Steve and the other six boat mates at the dock just before sunrise. Everyone was very friendly and as I was getting to meet people, a guy approached me with his hand out and introduced himself as Mike Lamb. My brain did a double take because he was speaking in nothing more than a whisper. We had a fantastic day gathering our limit of 48 and then skirting through all the thunderstorms on our way back to Marco. The crew was awesome! Everybody was very friendly and courteous and helpful towards one another.  

As I was sharing my adventures with Jessi later that evening, I mentioned meeting Mike and wondered why he spoke in whispers. We have another Diver friend named Mike whose speech is hindered because he was rear ended at a stoplight and scuba tanks in the cab ended up crushing part of his upper back important to speech. Several days pass and out of the blue I get a text from a fellow instructor Eric who is a similar age and knows Mike well:

Sorry to bug you all with texts, but just an FYI to all that know a long-time friend of mine, Mike Lamb.  And FYI, this will be a surprise so please don’t mention to him:

Join us in a Fundraiser supporting Michael Lamb Jr.

Mike’s journey : Michael Lamb Jr., 48 is a Marco Island native. Michael’s                doctors had discovered a cancerous tumor in his throat in 2023 . As his cancer      has progressed, he is in need of a life altering surgery with extensive treatment    and recovery. Come out and help us raise money for Mike’s medical expenses      and family during this time of need.

 For Auction donations please Contact Chloe Lamb @ 239-631-9600

50-50 raffle
Silent auction
Auction includes
Charter fishing trip
Round of golf
Boat rental
And many more!

Date Aug 3rd 4-8
Location : La Mesa Taqueria  297 N. Collier Blvd., Marco Island, FL 34145

Cancer SUCKS!!!  Mike’s brother Tommy Lamb stopped into the shop earlier this week and I got more details on the situation. NCH mis-diagnosed the cancer for months. They botched a surgery on his throat box. On top of that, two technicians failed to show up for his appointments, slowing down the process of getting him to where he needs to be for the proper help. He is finally under Moffitt care, but his cancer went from stage three to stage four.  In lieu of a dive club meeting this Friday, we would love to see as many of you that possibly can make it at La Mesa Taqueria on August 3rd from 4:00 to 8 o’clock. Let’s show up strong and give Mike big love and support… Bring a fat checkbook!  I wish we could be kind and supportive to each other all of the time. Alas, we are human. If this isn’t motivation for each of us to get out there and live our lives to the fullest while we can, I don’t know what is. Many of you, like me, are closer to that sunset than our sunrise!

LIVE LOVE DIVE!!!  —Jeff

REMEMBER THE FUNDRAISER IS A SECRET! SHHHHH!!