Bret Gilliam Oxygen is the most basic life support system our bodies employ, and yet also has the capacity to cause great harm. Keller (1946) has called oxygen “The Princess of Gases. She is beautiful but has to be handled with special care”. We cannot live without it, but in prolonged breathing exposures or in deep depths …
I don’t want to participate in any sport in which my species is not at the top of the food chain. — Ken Fonte Stress in diving is probably the central problem in the accidents and resulting injuries and fatalities that occur to divers . . . — Art Bachrach and Glen Egstrom STRESS Many …
Learning life’s lessons the hard way looms large in my legend. (Along with an avowed affinity for alliteration…) But one thing’s for sure, I rarely make the same mistake twice. Well, there was that night in St. Barts back in 1978 when Jimmy Buffett told me that three Quaaludes and a couple of Heinekens would …
Presentation of DCI Problems If a diver surfaces and reports any signs or symptoms of decompression illness (DCI), they should immediately be evaluated against the list of DCI symptoms and equipped for re-entry into the water as quickly as possible. Be certain that the victim is functionally responsive, mentally aware, and capable of answering questions …
If, in a future moment of weakness, I were to ever suggest that I had seen it all in diving, please slap me and bring me back to earth. I should know by now that divers are capable of the most extraordinary behavior that can defy logic, nature, and occasionally the laws of physics. Some …