Now Ye're Talking - to a Commercial Diver

Boards.ie: Niamh

Today's AMA is with one of our members who is a Commercial Diver.

He works sub-sea in construction, maintenance, repair, installation and inspection both off-shore and in-shore. It all sounds very dangerous but I'm sure he can give more details about what it all entails. He is also a diving instructor.

Ask away!

Thanks in advance to I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA!

Lisha

Sounds fascinating.

When you are on holidays do you take part in diving in beautiful places or are you strictly a land lover on hols?

Were you ever taken by surprise by something breath taking while working underwater?

vandriver

What's the cash like!And can you get life cover.
How many years would be a divers career.

GLaDOS

Ever get the bends?

whiskeyman

How did your career start?
Did you just love diving and look for employment into it?
Or was it more engineering, and the work required you more and more to get 'in depth' so to speak

Are there days you wish you just had an office job?

endacl

Do the underwater police really drive squid cars?

Saruman

Can you/Do you dive below 40m? What's the deepest you have gone?

Star Lord

What is the single weirdest thing you have ever seen underwater?
What do you love and what do you hate about your job?

Gloomtastic!

Wow, great job!

Do you have plans for your next career?

Ever get caught short while working?

blue5000

What sort of watch do you have:pac:?

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

Hi folks,

I will do my best to answer your questions as quickly as possible over the coming days so do keep them coming.

I'll get started with the questions already up.

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

Lisha wrote: »

Sounds fascinating.

When you are on holidays do you take part in diving in beautiful places or are you strictly a land lover on hols?

Were you ever taken by surprise by something breath taking while working underwater?

Good question, people automatically assume I only go on diving holidays but thats not the way it is at all.

Before I became a commercial diver I was a recreational instructor and prior to that a recreational diver. Once I began teaching recreational students, I no longer needed to get my own personal fix of the underwater world as I was diving great sites on a regular basis with enthusiastic dive buddies. I guess once I got into the commercial side of diving it took all the fun from it, the last thing you want to do on your day off is pull a drysuit on and get into the water after spending 5 or more days diving earlier that week. I remember a friend telling me just before I became commercial that the best way to ruin something you love doing is go to work at it, and I guess they couldn't be more right. It is sad and I miss my old view on diving. That said I do force myself to go on maybe 1 or 2 dive weekends in Ireland a year, to remind myself how great it can be, with old dive buddies.

To answer your question, holidays are generally on land, hiking and general outdoors stuff. I try to keep away from the water, the misus doesn't want to hear a word about diving or boats when we are away so holidays are generally on her terms too.

Have I ever been taken by surprise? Yes a few times, once while working off the north of Scotland on a fish farm, I was diving outside the salmon nets (large commercial nets in the sea where salmon is grown for the commercial market, nets can be fairly deep, sometimes 25-35 metres.), I was removing very heavy weights to be sent to the surface when I just felt a presence with me in the gloomy depths, when I turned around I was met by 4 very large (Bigger than me) seals standing upright midwater just watching me, its a little unsettling when its just you and 4 other large mammals at that depth and your in their territory. I've never seen seals this size in Ireland, these were over 6 foot and as fat as they come (All the salmon they probably eat from the fish farm), they generally aren't violent towards divers but you would be weary near them when they have young with them

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

vandriver wrote: »

What's the cash like!And can you get life cover.
How many years would be a divers career.

The pay inshore is not the best, generally up to €200 a day if your lucky, but divers are generally self employed so have a lot of expenses to cover in that. The big bucks is offshore, i've heard tales off all kinda of money, but generally speaking you live on the ship for 4-6 weeks and can come away with the same amount you would earn in a year inshore. Thats just your divers rates, but theres tonnes more jobs offshore, but they are all gold dust, i know divers who have spent their whole career trying to get offshore and never got the lucky break. A lot of it is got to do with knowing the right people and a bit of luck thrown in too. In an ideal world you would start inshore, rub shoulders with the right people, and get your lucky break into the big bucks, but for the vast majority this never happens. You really got to love your job to make a career diving inshore

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

vandriver wrote: »

What's the cash like!And can you get life cover.
How many years would be a divers career.

Sorry missed 2 questions in the last post.

Life cover is a nightmare, it can be got, but cost big bucks.

How many years really depends on the individual, the vast majority are self employed so work as subcontractors for diving companies, this raises the issue that if you can't dive you can't work and more often than not you get injured and can't dive. We do a very comprehensive dive medical each year, and the day you don't pass it is the day you give it all up, but most times people see it coming. So health generally stops most, average age to start is late 20's early 30's, not many still diving over 45, but there is exceptions. Most want to get out of it by that age and get into supervising etc.

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Ever get the bends?

The bends, also known as decompression sickness / illness is every divers worst nightmare. I have been lucky to not have ever ended up in the pot (hyperbaric chamber), however I have felt some effects of the bends on a few occasion, but thankfully all subsided with some O2 and a chat with the doctor. Whats most worrying for divers about the bends is that there is no way of being 100% careful, people can go by all the rules and still end up bent after a routine dive.

Saying all that the biggest killer for divers is not the bends, its DP (Differential Pressure), Crane Drivers and the drive home from work . . . . . . They might not be official stats, but the 3 things I worry about the most

mahoganygas

Those poor lads working on the Shannon who drowned. I heard there were divers standing by but couldn't get to them in time. Such an awful tragedy.

Have you ever had any similar scares?

miamee

You mentioned that you have worked on a salmon farm but what other kinds of things do you work on? Are they all short-term contracts?

Do you orhave you ever been involved in any kind of rescue either for people or shipwrecks or anything like that?

fred funk }{

How has technology changed your profession over the past decade or so?

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

whiskeyman wrote: »

How did your career start?
Did you just love diving and look for employment into it?
Or was it more engineering, and the work required you more and more to get 'in depth' so to speak

Are there days you wish you just had an office job?

I started in recreational diving and had a career change to commercial from working in retail managment, so a big change. This wouldn't be the usual pathway, generally it would be from construction, welding etc. however I had a long background on the water with boats etc. and I just found my feat, made thins more difficult to begin with for sure.

Days I wish I had an office job, big time, but theres also a whole load of days I am thankful I don't have an office job. There's pros and cons to both jobs in fairness. A lot of people say your very lucky to work outdoors, which is true but only some of the time, we end up getting smashed by the weather more times thank you can imagine and those days a dry and warn office can be appealing

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

Mr.S wrote: »

What happens if you need to sneeze?

We use full helmets that encapsulates our whole head, there is a rubber piece inside the helmet that surrounds our nose and mouth, so when you sneeze the air is exhaled out into the water but any saliva etc. gets caught and you get to enjoy the rest of your dive breathing through it all, not that pleasant.

An itch now is a whole different problem !!!

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

endacl wrote: »

Do the underwater police really drive squid cars?

They most certainly do, the traffic corps are the worst !!!

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

Saruman wrote: »

Can you/Do you dive below 40m? What's the deepest you have gone?

As a commercial air diver I can dive to 50m, saturation divers can go much deeper. We would generally only work at depths of up to 40m due to time restraints. I've been to 50m, its all the same to me once you leave 30m to be honest, just more water !! Its cold, dark and lonely at 50m, not much enjoyment about it.

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

Star Lord wrote: »

What is the single weirdest thing you have ever seen underwater?
What do you love and what do you hate about your job?

I find our canal systems and rivers running through cities to throw up the most interesting finds. Just under the ha'penny bridge is full of millions of keys and broken locks, from all the love birds. I often wonder about the story of how things end up on the bottom of our canals and rivers and how they got there, a lot of things I am sure are in some way related to crime and have just been dumped there. Can't think of anything weird, I'll have a think about that one.

Things i love would be the camaraderie and people I get to meet, the places I get to see and the constant unknown of what will come up next and thinking on your feet to fix the many problems that come up. Thinks i dislike would be the huge amount of travelling, the lack of work and constant uncertainty and lack of job security and the weather

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Wow, great job!

Do you have plans for your next career?

Ever get caught short while working?

I would like to get involved with the emergency services, fire or ems hopefully.

Many times and it ain't always an option to just get out and go the toilet. I will admit I've had to disinfect and thoroughly wash the inside of my drysuit on more than one occasion, but it was worth it for the relief (At the time of course). Hazard of the job I guess !!!

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

blue5000 wrote: »

What sort of watch do you have:pac:?

I don't waste my money on expensive dive watches, my life support is controlled by my supervisor on the surface so don't need one. I do like knowing the time when I'm down there (Generally just to know when Beer O'Clock is !!), so I use the most cheapest and vintage Casio watch from Argos, I think it costs €12, if I loose or break it I buy a new one (Spilt milk and all that jazz). They say they are water "resistant" but Iv'e had them to 50m, and they proved to be very resistant to that kind of pressure.

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

mahoganygas wrote: »

Those poor lads working on the Shannon who drowned. I heard there were divers standing by but couldn't get to them in time. Such an awful tragedy.

Have you ever had any similar scares?

I understand Limerick Marine SAR have emergency divers they can deploy on the river there as part of their search and rescue work, such a great resource to the communities on the river, (I am not aware of specific details of that tragedy and who was involved etc, it was a very sad indeed)

I am involved with a search and recovery unit which is all voluntary, just like many other recreational divers across the country. Unfortunately usually when it comes to divers it is a recovery operation as the person is assumed to be deceased.

Rescue dives are common in the commercial world to rescue our diving colleagues, whenever a diver is in the water, a second diver is fully dressed in on the surface ready to respond to an emergency. I have been "jumped" (As we call it, when you enter the water in a rescue attempt) on a few occasions, thankfully all ended well on all occasions, but it most certainly does get the blood pumping that bit quicker. 99% of the time the standby diver has the handiest day out of everyone on site, but i the supervisor tells you to jump, you jump.

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

miamee wrote: »

You mentioned that you have worked on a salmon farm but what other kinds of things do you work on? Are they all short-term contracts?

Do you orhave you ever been involved in any kind of rescue either for people or shipwrecks or anything like that?

Yes tonnes of civil engineering projects, i've worked on the weird and the wonderful, transatlantic cable lays, pier construction/repair, shipwreck recovery, search and recovery, wave and tidal energy machine installation and repair, canal gates and dam installation and repair, amongst many others. If it needs to be done underwater, then you need divers, so the next project could be anything.

Generally they are all short projects, from a few days to a couple of weeks at most, with loads of stoppages due to weather and mess ups etc., the long term ones are few and far between inshore.

I think I covered search and rescue / recovery in the last post, definitely the more difficult jobs, but sometimes the most rewarding.

OiL RiG

Have you ever experienced nitrogen narcosis during a commercial dive, and if so, how did you deal with it?

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

fred funk }{ wrote: »

How has technology changed your profession over the past decade or so?

Good question. Its changed the profession in many ways, some good, some not so good.

Safety has been vastly improved by technology, our communication systems are much better with clear voice to surface comms and live video feeds on most sites, that all said if anything breaks on site its the tech stuff

ROV's (Remotely Operated Vehicles) are now widespread and a lot of divers feel they are taking over our work, I don't really agree somewhat, they don't and probably will not ever have the capabilities a diver does. Interestingly they are being used to rescue divers where they locate a diver and grab them and transport them back to safety

Other than the above technology has still been unable to substitute the hard working diver, if anything it advances and supports our trade. I have found that a lot of my work has come from advancements in technology, mainly in the renewable energies industry which are all very interesting machines to work with.

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

OiL RiG wrote: »

Have you ever experienced nitrogen narcosis during a commercial dive, and if so, how did you deal with it?

I don't think I have personally during commercial dives, i have during recreational dives back when I started diving. An interesting feeling of being drunk at depth. I've heard crazy stories of people taking their gear off as a result, but for me it was just an immense feeling of relaxation.

endacl

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-20066683H

On the topic of odd things you might have seen, what do you make of things like the Wastwater gnome garden? Bit of fun, or downright silly? Would yoube bothered diving to see deliberately set up 'attractions' yourself? Ever left something funny behind for the next guy to find?

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

endacl wrote: »

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-20066683H

On the topic of odd things you might have seen, what do you make of things like the Wastwater gnome garden? Bit of fun, or downright silly? Would yoube bothered diving to see deliberately set up 'attractions' yourself? Ever left something funny behind for the next guy to find?

Ah I don't really see the point, there is enough to see out there than to see something put there purposley. These kind of locations have been chosen due to how handy they are for divers to access etc. There are a lot of divers who love diving in man made sites like quarries and lakes and rarely dive to see something real, thats where the true beauty, the unknown and the undiscovered attractions lie. These sites are great for training or introducing new divers, as they have easy egress/ingress, safe against currents etc but other than that, one dive an you have seen it all

Sir Osis of Liver.

Did you get your inspiration from Jacques Cousteau?

And how did you rate "The Man from Atlantis" as a series?

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

Sir Osis of Liver. wrote: »

Did you get your inspiration from Jacques Cousteau?

And how did you rate "The Man from Atlantis" as a series?

Jacques Cousteau, some of the stuff he done was pretty epic, but thank god I don't have to dive using some of his equipment.

Never seen the series, would you recomend? There is quite a few commercial diving related films, "Black Sea", "Pioneer" amongst others but they are woefully inacurate equipment wise, but give a decent insight for people not in the industry with added theatrics. A really good episode was made for BBC Real Men series on Saturation Divers, well worth a watch:

http://youtu.be/B3BWSMrgi3I

Dr.Sanchez

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA wrote: »

Jacques Cousteau, some of the stuff he done was pretty epic, but thank god I don't have to dive using some of his equipment.

Never seen the series, would you recomend? There is quite a few commercial diving related films, "Black Sea", "Pioneer" amongst others but they are woefully inacurate equipment wise, but give a decent insight for people not in the industry with added theatrics. A really good episode was made for BBC Real Men series on Saturation Divers, well worth a watch:

http://youtu.be/B3BWSMrgi3I

I've taught a few courses to the crew of that ship in the video - "Seawell" quite an old ship but still going. It was interesting to get the full tour of the chambers and bell by the dive supervisor, they also have two ROV's onboard.

One of the sat divers was an Irish fella, can't remember where he was from tho - Offaly I think it was. There was another Irish fella from Cobh working onboard but dunno what his job title was. Just as we finished the course the divers were going into saturation so got to see the whole process from start to finish.

I'm commercial scuba myself but have no interest in taking it further. It was just a requirement as part of my current job.

ItsAnEasyGame

Whats your typical day to day times? Like is it 9-5 with a couple of breaks?

Do you ever have any problems equalising?

What are your 3 favourite dive spots world wide?

blue5000

Roughly how much would you have to spend maintaining your gear in a year, or how long would it be before you have to replace the most of it?

moleyv

Describe a working week.

There probably isn't a 'typical' week so maybe use a recent one as an example.

Starokan

Whats the visibility like underwater around Ireland - are powerful torches etc essential for your work?

How does the bad weather at sea affect diving, I don't mean weather bad enough to stop the dive taking place but rather how does a stormy day affect conditions below water - Is there a marked difference

Cheers for doing this, very interesting read

fred funk }{

What gave you the biggest WTF moment?

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

Dr.Sanchez wrote: »

I've taught a few courses to the crew of that ship in the video - "Seawell" quite an old ship but still going. It was interesting to get the full tour of the chambers and bell by the dive supervisor, they also have two ROV's onboard.

One of the sat divers was an Irish fella, can't remember where he was from tho - Offaly I think it was. There was another Irish fella from Cobh working onboard but dunno what his job title was. Just as we finished the course the divers were going into saturation so got to see the whole process from start to finish.

I'm commercial scuba myself but have no interest in taking it further. It was just a requirement as part of my current job.

Ah very good, it is some ship but in fairness it is probably the exception to the rule, a lot more of them are pretty old and do show their age,.

What is it that you do?

There is more irish people working in diving than people would think, but manu are spread acrosa the world. A job is always a million times better when you have a fellow irish man to bounce off

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

ItsAnEasyGame wrote: »

Whats your typical day to day times? Like is it 9-5 with a couple of breaks?

Do you ever have any problems equalising?

What are your 3 favourite dive spots world wide?

Typical days are usually 12 hours,, generally starting at 8am, but dependa on the constraints, some times you are chasing weather or tides so starting in the middle of the night is perfectly acceptable to get the job done. Your day is dictated by the job and what it needs to get it done, so there isn't really a typical day, and everything is subject to change at any minute and most o the time does too.

Yes equalizing can be a problem sometimes, because you are always subject to the weather you need to keep warm and make sure you don't get sick. When your self employed and get sick you don't get sick pay, so if you can't dive you don't earn money so even a simple cold that wouldn't generally stop you from working can mess up things big time for you in this game. Saying all that, without and sickness worries, because I am always in the water it means that equalizing is just a wiggle of the chin at the most .

3 favourite recreational dive spots would be

1. Scapa Flow, Orkney, Ireland
2. Scuba Dive West in Galway
3. Malin Beg, Donegal (I think)

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

blue5000 wrote: »

Roughly how much would you have to spend maintaining your gear in a year, or how long would it be before you have to replace the most of it?

My main piece of equipment is my drysuit, all other equipment is provided by the contractor (Well should be!!), so I put a set amount away each month and but a new drysuit every year. It may get a couple of hundred dives a year and will have more life in it with some repairs etc, but doing commercial work puts some serious wear and tear on a drysuit but you also need to be able to rely on it when you need it everyday. Wet dives just arn't acceptable in my book, especially not when it can be for hours every day of the week . So i spend around €1000 on a new drysut every year and keep old drysuts for spares or sell them and recoup a few pound . Other than that there is peripherals like knives, gloves, hat liners etc, they are just bought whenever they are needed but I always keep spares of everything, that day when its absolutley freezing ang you glove tears or your suit leaks, is the day you will be thankful you have a spare, it might only happen once a yea but will be worth very penny..

Gloves last maybe a month, if your lucky and arn't pouring concrete or anything, knives and that get lost maybe every few months, but I am generally good at keeping them.

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

moleyv wrote: »

Describe a working week.

There probably isn't a 'typical' week so maybe use a recent one as an example.

Your completely right, a typical week can be anything but typical.

Generally I will have heard word through the grapevine of work coming up the following week and I will get a phone call maybe on a Sunday night to say be on the opposite side of the country at 8am, I'll hit the road maybe at 4AM, work my day, then things may become a bit more clear for the week, we will try gauge how long the job will take, lets say 3 days, wednesday will come an we will get word of anymore work and if so will hit the road to the next job. And this is just over and over, swapping between companies to get work can mean a lot of overnight travelling and long long hours, but that pay-check is what its all about !!!

Meanaspie

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA wrote: »

My main piece of equipment is my drysuit, all other equipment is provided by the contractor (Well should be!!), so I put a set amount away each month and but a new drysuit every year. It may get a couple of hundred dives a year and will have more life in it with some repairs etc, but doing commercial work puts some serious wear and tear on a drysuit but you also need to be able to rely on it when you need it everyday. Wet dives just arn't acceptable in my book, especially not when it can be for hours every day of the week . So i spend around €1000 on a new drysut every year and keep old drysuts for spares or sell them and recoup a few pound . Other than that there is peripherals like knives, gloves, hat liners etc, they are just bought whenever they are needed but I always keep spares of everything, that day when its absolutley freezing ang you glove tears or your suit leaks, is the day you will be thankful you have a spare, it might only happen once a yea but will be worth very penny..

Gloves last maybe a month, if your lucky and arn't pouring concrete or anything, knives and that get lost maybe every few months, but I am generally good at keeping them.

Do you always stick with the same brand of dry suit if so what one? Have you switched brands over the years and who do you find best?

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

Starokan wrote: »

Whats the visibility like underwater around Ireland - are powerful torches etc essential for your work?

How does the bad weather at sea affect diving, I don't mean weather bad enough to stop the dive taking place but rather how does a stormy day affect conditions below water - Is there a marked difference

Cheers for doing this, very interesting read

Contrary to popiular belief, visability can be really good in Ireland. The east coast is hit or miss, bad weather brings vis to zero but settled weather can bring up your vis, typically around 1-2m,. The west coast on the other hand is typically 5-10m vis, with tonnes of life and things to see, people think it is all bad but thatt ain't the case at all. Working in rivers, canals abd lakes etc. is generally pitch black, so you got to use your imagination, its simply down to the sheer amount of rain causing run off into our rivers and then our peat rich land and rivers running over these surfaces creates our black rivers. Its not dirt/sewrage that causes our Liffey water to be so dark its where the water begins and the land it travels over (Generally speaking on that one, the Liffey soes have its secrets but thats a story for another day).

Torches are generally good for when working and to light up somethjng specific, for recreational its good to bring up the colours in the water. The main problem with torches is not that its dark down there because the light can't get through but because there is so much suspended particles in the water blocking out all the light. The use of torchs then just causes backscatter and are sometimes just more a hinderence than a help.

Bad weather affexcting underwater can be noticable but mainly just in the splashzone, between the surface and 5 meters where the surges can cause difficties for ingress and egress. Underwater (Sub 5m) you can feel surges of water, thiis can be like working in a washing machine sometimes, but just makes the job more interesting.

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

fred funk }{ wrote: »

What gave you the biggest WTF moment?

Probably when I lost all lights, communication and air on a deep dive in Scotland. Plunged into darkness with no air gets your heart pumping, I was in an overhead environment too so couldn't swim up, had to rely on my training, keep my cool and transfer onto my reserve air. Got to surface nice and safely and all went well, you have all your back ups , reseves and safety procedures in place for that one time you might need it but funnily you never want to have to use it for real. That day was an exception to the rule and was a result of several human errors, needless to say a few strong words were had back on deck.

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

Meanaspie wrote: »

Do you always stick with the same brand of dry suit if so what one? Have you switched brands over the years and who do you find best?

I have tried all the drysuits and there are some great brands out there. The best off the rack brand for me is the Otter drysuits, I don't rate Northern Diver, Scubapro or O'Three while others swear by them, they are probably grand for receeational diving but commercially your looking for reliabilty, comfort and the perfect fit, leaks are not an option and they need to stand the test of time and takw a fair beating. Generally you will see a lot of commercial divers wearing O'Three or Northern Diver but thats just because they get them free at college.

Saying all that I feel a drysuit is a personal thing and off the rack drysuits just arn't good enough when you wear it every day of your working life, I find the Otter suits fit my bulld well and can take a beatiing. The best of the best though is made in a small ex-lifeboat station on the orkney Islands north of Scotland, they take up to a year to come and geneally come in at the same price as the off the rack drysuits, they are made by Scapa Scuba and genuinly are the best. Any major repairs on my suits are shipped up there, all suits are now bought from there, simply because their repairs last, all are handmade and using the best materials. If you can afford one and will get use from it, get a tailor made one from this place, won't regret it. If your looking for an off the rack, Otter are the best. All of the above is obviously my own opinion and everyone is different, so take advice on these things as you please

Reiver

What advice would you give to someone interested in the profession?

Have you ever done wreck diving?

I'm A Commercial Diver, AMA

Reiver wrote: »

What advice would you give to someone interested in the profession?

Have you ever done wreck diving?

To someone interested in taking the plunge I would say, look at it as a parttime career in Ireland which will hopefilly develop into something more full time, don't think your going to earn the big bucks and you won't be dissapointed. If your looking to do sone interesting stuff and travel the country then yes jump on it but be under no illusion it costs a fair wedge to get into the game.

Wreck diving is what I do when I go diving recreationally, some seriously epic wreck dives around Ireland you just got to hunt them down

Boards.ie: Niamh

Good morning everyone, I'm going to close this one up now. Thanks for all the questions and answers, this was very interesting. I didn't even know that diving could be a full-time job so there you go

Keep an eye out for our next AMA later today.