Posted on 07/02/2014 9:06:09 AM PDT by Rebelbase
Video at link.
French free diver Guillaume Nery jumped into the largest sinkhole on Earth with no scuba gear, no snorkel, no gear of any sort. Just a pair of massive, rock hard cojones. "Dean's Blue Hole" is a 663-ft deep sinkhole in the Bahamas.
A couple helpful little factoids to aid you in understanding the gravitas of Guillaume's dive. The average human being can hold their breath for 45 seconds - or a minute if they have an exceptionally healthy set of lungs. After that, your body essentially starts to suffocate, as cells in your organs shut down from lack of oxygen. Typically, this is when your body initiates panic mode, and will automatically try and thrust you to the surface. Rapid changes in pressure also affect the brain and bloodflow - too quick a descent can cause blackouts, bloody noses or popped eardrums. Anyone who has dived into a ten foot pool will tell you, you definitely feel a change in pressure at the bottom. At a depth of 663 feet (which is just the depth of the whole, not the full dive) there's a pressure of 287 psi. To give you some frame of reference - normal tire pressure (which holds up your entire car, which may weigh in at over 2 tons) is around 44 - 50 psi. - StarPulse
With only one lung-full of air, Guillaume swims all the way to the bottom of the sinkhole and then back up. Freedivers are able to condition their lungs to enable them to hold more oxygen. The journey to the bottom of the sinkhole took 4 heart pounding minutes.
That is beyond crazy, it’s stupid.
I hit the “get me out of here” state at the bottom of a 12 foot swimming pool.
Did this guy have spotters with a spare O2 tank in case he blacked out?
Don’t know. at 600’+ depth I’m guessing a remote submersible followed him down and filmed him at the bottom.
Yeah, I’m kinda curious how he managed to avoid getting the bends.
When I was a teen we used to swim in what were called locally “blue holes”, essentially abandoned rock quarries that had filled with water. We would jump off ledges 20-30 feet high, some where you had to run off to clear other rocks below. There would be the occasional drownings when someone got trapped below under a ledge (none when I was ever around). We were always warned against going there but we were teens.
I predict that he will not die in bed, of old age!
He is free diving. No compressed air thus the only nitrogen inhaled is that first and only lungful. But there have been cases after repetitive free diving where the nitrogen has not been out gassed.
According to Guillaume Nery himself, this is fake.
Yeah, wow! That was other-worldly. Music was well chosen.
“Hold my beer”, he was heard to say just prior to the dive.
It is very rare for the bends to occur on the in and out dives.
It makes me queasy just watching him.
This has sort of been addressed in that he's not breathing compressed air. There is also a time factor in nitrogen narcosis. He went to 600+ feet, but not for very long.
Balls of steel?
No. More like:
Brains of rock.
Whole?
-PJ
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