Posted on 02/02/2017 3:17:13 PM PST by BBell
A scuba diver missing from the Florida Keys since Tuesday has been identified as a well-known Canadian underwater filmmaker and conservationist.
Rob Stewart, 37, was diving with a small group on the wreck of the Queen of Nassau near Alligator Reef off Lower Matecumbe Key in about 225 feet of water, his sister Alexandra Stewart said by phone from Toronto on Wednesday morning. He was filming an installment of his Sharkwater documentary series, she said.
Stewart and another diver were using closed-circulation rebreathing dive equipment instead of conventional scuba tanks, which are open-air circulation, according to an email from the conservation group Sea Shepherd.
They both resurfaced about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday and the other diver got onto their dive boat boat and passed out. When the dive boat crew went to retrieve Stewart, he was no longer in sight. According to the Sea Shepherd email, the boat crew members think Stewart passed out as well and floated off.
His sister said she is worried that his buoyancy control device, which keeps divers floating at the surface, isn’t fully inflated.
“Time is really important right now,” she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
Anyone have any experience with these closed-circulation rebreathing devices?
I don’t know jack about any of it except that sounds kinda deep to me...
Prayers that they find him.
Burp!
Gee. Who knew breathing in Carbon Dioxide would be bad?
I’m guessing he’s only half the man he used to be, by now.
Looks like the sharks invited him over for dinner.
I was buying gas masks and they had similar systems for firemen working forest fires. They last longer but I suppose it is technical.
The issue I guess is that once
you start running
out, the tank
is
cold and always has a little bit
of oxygen left.
My friend once
ran out and he slowed down his breathing so the tank would defreeze some more
oxygen
Ah, yes, those “Conservationists” who always use Conservation
Easement lands but never monitor them
or carry the owner’s responsbility for
the upkeep the law
obliges and then blames him as an animal murderer
for trying to break even
with a couple
hunts
I was looking up chainmail for knife protection in Europe and fell on chainmail shark suits for divers. It costs 20k to have the suit. Some divers cannot afford it so they only get the half top of it and end up killed
If you want my body...
No, wait. That would be Rod Stewart.
I’m guessing the sharks are conserving part of his carcass for later consumption.
Mike Nelson did fer sure.
One of my favorite shows as a kid.
Sea Hunt
Too bad he wasn’t a lawyer...professional courtesy and all.
They’re more suitable for very long dives. Modern rebreathers, which remove exhaled CO2 and replace it with a suitable amount of oxygen, can allow dives of up to six hours duration. The military uses them for that reason and because they do not produce bubbles that give away the presence of divers. The lack of bubbles also has advantages for nature study and photography. Bubbles and the noise from regular tank dives (sounds in your ears like Darth Vader gargling) can frightening off the subjects they’re studying. Very sophisticated and much more complex equipment so there’s more that can go wrong. And at a depth of 225 feet when something goes wrong you’re likely pretty well f’ed.
These kond of rebreathing devices were developed during WW II by the “frog men” or UDT units; now called Seals. Gave out no bubbles so the divers couldn’t be easily detected. I’m sure they are far better now but then you can always stay under too lons or have a malfunction. 22 feet isn’t deep so nitrogen isn’t likely the problem.
Sea Shepherd? Isn't that the crew of greenie pirates who attacked the Jap whalers?
I'm not in favor of whaling, but I'm even less in favor of violent leftist greens!
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