Scuba Diving…

jcham

Elite Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2007
Messages
1,621
Hello,

I recently have decided to hit the lakes and ponds but doing so underwater. I bought the Excalibur to eventually dive with but only until now does it seem it might actually happen. I have all the gear I will need come Monday and am signing up for the general scuba classes but hunting underwater is like starting out with just metal detecting there are so many questions I need help answering.

The Excalibur has headphones how does that change the sound underwater and should I cover them up with head gear. Should I carry some sort of defensive equipment for snakes and such? I’m just a little confused about the whole process can anyone help with what I will need. I don’t know anyone that hunts for treasure underwater out here in CT and should I have a dive buddy.

These questions are a bit premature considering the classes won’t certify me for another 6 weeks but I’m excited about the prospect of what really might be under the surface. I’m not sure about hitting the ocean but lakes and ponds will be my primary target. Also does anyone know how long I will be able to stay underwater at a time? One hour, two, etc

Anyway maybe you’re getting what I’m diving at LOL... Any help would be great…

Thanks,

Jamie
 
Hello,

I recently have decided to hit the lakes and ponds but doing so underwater. I bought the Excalibur to eventually dive with but only until now does it seem it might actually happen. I have all the gear I will need come Monday and am signing up for the general scuba classes but hunting underwater is like starting out with just metal detecting there are so many questions I need help answering.

The Excalibur has headphones how does that change the sound underwater and should I cover them up with head gear. Should I carry some sort of defensive equipment for snakes and such? I’m just a little confused about the whole process can anyone help with what I will need. I don’t know anyone that hunts for treasure underwater out here in CT and should I have a dive buddy.

These questions are a bit premature considering the classes won’t certify me for another 6 weeks but I’m excited about the prospect of what really might be under the surface. I’m not sure about hitting the ocean but lakes and ponds will be my primary target. Also does anyone know how long I will be able to stay underwater at a time? One hour, two, etc

Anyway maybe you’re getting what I’m diving at LOL... Any help would be great…

Thanks,

Jamie
Depends on how long you can hold your breath...............Seriously I would think an hour would be no problem with one tank, but never having dove before, cant be sure. I am sure the new member from the detroit area will fill you in a-plenty..............
 
I don’t know anyone that hunts for treasure underwater out here in CT and should I have a dive buddy.

These questions are a bit premature considering the classes won’t certify me for another 6 weeks but I’m excited about the prospect of what really might be under the surface. I’m not sure about hitting the ocean but lakes and ponds will be my primary target. Also does anyone know how long I will be able to stay underwater at a time? One hour, two, etc

Anyway maybe you’re getting what I’m diving at LOL... Any help would be great…

Thanks,

Jamie

You should always have a dive buddy with you. Rule #1 of safe diving.

How long underwater with one tank will depend on how deep is your dive and the time you spend at depth. Part of your certification training will get into the need for decompression and how to use the decompression tables for a safe ascent. You can burn a fair amount of the tank's air during decompression.
 
I think some of that will be addressed during the classes required to become certified, I think it is probally a wise idea to have another person there while you dive, and again I think they will address that in the class as well, I know certian folks do dive alone, Also I know of hardened scuba divers that say Never dive without a buddy......I wish you the best, But Please be careful , It is a whole different world underwater, and for safety reasons it is Always recomended to cary a dive kinfe , not really because of snakes , but if you get caught up in some lines or netting or rope , that Knife could very well save your life, and again I feel that will be addressed in your class, ........You may find out more from the instructor and I would take the time to pull him aside after a class and ask him, he may very well have some experience in the treasure hunting arena........
 
Thank you for your ideas and coments, ya the dive knife is a must and as all of you said most of this stuff will be talked about in class, Thanks and keep anything I might use comming. Your coments are fantastic..

Jamie
 
Ok, here is my two cents. I dive all the time and I normaly dive ALONE. BUT, I have been diving for 28 years and I am completely comfortable with it.

At the deepest I dive for treasure is around 20 feet. 80% of the time I dive in water I can stand up in. I love to lay on the bottom and listen for beeps.

If I were you I would first wear just a mask and snorkel and play in 2' of water. Get comfortable in listening to your signals and fanning your hand to dig the hole.

I carry NO tools except for 2 dive knifes. I use one when the object is burried in clay and needs to be cut out.

Nothing bothers you underwater except BRAT kids. They will throw rocks that annoy you but float harmlessly down around you while your out detecting.

When you get certified, Play in water 3 - 6 foot until your completely comfortable. If you do feel you need a partner You have to think about staying within sight of each other and talkback from the detectors. A mess!! Once you stir up the bottom of some inland lakes you have to detect by feel, and your partner will be out of site.

So get your mask and snorkel and wetsuit and play in shallow water right now to get used to it. DON"T wear fins. Not needed and only stir up the silt. Although I have a friend that has to wear them, I just stay away from him!! Go out alone for a few times in SHALLOW water that you can stand up in. Wear a BC, know how to use it.

You are told NEVER to do this but I am telling you that you have to. Learn to skip breathe. You HAVE to hold your breath while detecting. I get over 3 hours out of an alunimum 80. You hold your breath so you can hear the beeps. You will be in NO DANGER in that shallow of water.


If you wear a hood cut SMALL nickel holes in it for your ears so you can hear the tones better.

Move SLOW and overlap your swings and you will have a wonderful time getting away from the world!! Any more questions I missed ask away!!
 
Are the bottom of most lakes easy to recover targets from?
Are they sand, clay, mud, or do they all vary depending upon
your location?
 
ScubaDetector thats some awesome information. I don't scuba dive but it was still very interesting reading it.

I like the snorkel and mask idea for very shallow water and may have to give that a try at the beach sometime.

I imagine you would have to wear a weight belt?
 
Bottom of most lakes VARY. Sand in the shallow where the kids play, a little muck going deeper where it isn't stirred up More muck and silt on dropoffs and at the total bottom 1 to 2 foot of muck. I do GREAT in the muck. I dive with 0 visibility in some cases just to get the rings!! I know from experience when I get a beep almost exactly where the target is because how far the coil is away from me.

In shallow water you do NOT need a weight belt. Keep the bottom within arms length while your learning. I have found MANY gold rings that shallow. I have found MANY more deeper but that will come in time!! Just lay flat, extend your detector and have fun. Fan your hand, Watch how the water clowds up, learn how to retrieve the target, and move on.

While your on scuba, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT move out of cloudy water to see what you have. A TOTAL waste of air. Save your ooos and aaah's until your out of air and back at your car. I put all my finds in my BC. I NEVER know exactly what I have until I am out of the water and saftely back at my car.

I tried to show people what I found when I have come out. I lost a supurb swiss army knife that way, they stole it and I didn't realize it. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let anybody know that you found gold, unless they ask and tell you exactly what they lost and you have it. I will put my gold rings in my booty if I feel I am in a place that is crowded and want to see my finds. I just say a bunch of new coins.


After you try this for awhile and are ready to hunt the muck, I have some super good tricks that I use that get me the most finds. I will share them as soon as your ready to go on!!

Good luck and most importantly HAVE FUN!!!!
 
Bottom of most lakes VARY. Sand in the shallow where the kids play, a little muck going deeper where it isn't stirred up More muck and silt on dropoffs and at the total bottom 1 to 2 foot of muck. I do GREAT in the muck. I dive with 0 visibility in some cases just to get the rings!! I know from experience when I get a beep almost exactly where the target is because how far the coil is away from me.

In shallow water you do NOT need a weight belt. Keep the bottom within arms length while your learning. I have found MANY gold rings that shallow. I have found MANY more deeper but that will come in time!! Just lay flat, extend your detector and have fun. Fan your hand, Watch how the water clowds up, learn how to retrieve the target, and move on.

While your on scuba, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT move out of cloudy water to see what you have. A TOTAL waste of air. Save your ooos and aaah's until your out of air and back at your car. I put all my finds in my BC. I NEVER know exactly what I have until I am out of the water and saftely back at my car.

I tried to show people what I found when I have come out. I lost a supurb swiss army knife that way, they stole it and I didn't realize it. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let anybody know that you found gold, unless they ask and tell you exactly what they lost and you have it. I will put my gold rings in my booty if I feel I am in a place that is crowded and want to see my finds. I just say a bunch of new coins.


After you try this for awhile and are ready to hunt the muck, I have some super good tricks that I use that get me the most finds. I will share them as soon as your ready to go on!!

Good luck and most importantly HAVE FUN!!!!

Thank you for all the info, I'm getting the gear tomarrow and will start the classes as soon as I can no more waders for me LOL.... As time moves along I'm sure I'll have more questions.. Thankyou fvery much you deserve a gold ring or two for the info....
 
Much of what you ask will be addressed in your SCUBA classes. You will learn to be comfortable with your dive gear in a pool with some basic exercises. It is a different story when graduating to a quarry or lake, and again a bigger jump to diving in the ocean. I am a former NAUI instructor, and have seen many dive students flounder in the lakes / quarries when certification dives were taken. It was lack of concentration, overwhelming environment, and forgetting the basics. Get comfortable in the water with your gear, and some experience before doing the detecting. By all means have a dive buddy, you never know when Murphy's Law will strike. I can recall an incident at 160 ft. that if not for experience would have cost me my life due to back up equipment failure with a regulator that was just serviced two days prior.

Monofiliment fish line can be be your worst enemy. It can be almost invisible. I carry two knives in case I can't reach one of them, and have had to cut my way free on more than one occasion.

Even though you may be detecting in relatively shallow areas. Overconfidence can be dangerous.
 
I do agree that overconfidance can be dangerous. But as I told him go in water a few feet deep at first to get comfortable. He can stand up if he panics of has any problems. I also carry two dive knifes at all times. Inland lakes have a lot of fishing line in them but it is very weak. 10lb test at the most. You can break that. When I dive the St. Clair River they use 25 - 50 lb test and I have had to cut that more than once. You cannot break that stuff if you wanted to!!


What the heck were you down to 160' for?? I have been to 190' ONCE. not much time to do anything at those depths!! Anyway being an instructor you have been with a lot of new students and I have not.

Get comfortable and move at a snails pace. I still don't think you need a buddy at 2 - 6' deep water and you will find a lot of items at those depths.
 
A friend and I are to go to a remote lake this weekend to do some water detecting. No diving, just using land machines as deep as we can. I am excited about this opportunity to go where possibly no one else has roamed.

I have not been able to find much info. anywhere on the techniques used for this, so we'll take what we have and give it a go. Hopefully it pays off. I hope to really give lakes and swimming holes the old college try this year.
 
No diving, just using land machines as deep as we can.

Wow, I'd really advise against that, unless you don't mind losing your machine in your pursuits. One dunk could spell the end to your machine.

If you do try it, make sure not to raise your coil out of the water and into the air. Water can run down the shaft and into the box on many machines.

Good luck, either way.
 
SD,
I was diving off the Jersey coast on a deep wreck with my club. After everyone was up, the captain asked me to free the snagged anchor. I went down, and had to switch to my pony bottle just after I freed it. Apparently a needle valve was reinstalled into my backup regulator backwards when it was serviced two days prior. It worked topside before the dive. At depth it started free flowing after one or two breaths, and was useless. I had to make a controlled ascent alone and without usable air from 160 ft., and was "flat lunged" at about 60 - 70 feet. I remained calm, but needless to say, I was done diving for the day. Wound up with a bloody nose & a monster headache.
 
Wow. Glad you made it back up ok!! Nice to have an instructors point of view on things.

About using land machines in the water. I hope you have a long handled scoop.

I fried TWO land machines before I got my Fisher CZ-20's. One White's Spectrum and one DFX. I had the DFX repaired but I still have the FRIED Spectrum. As stated above. Do NOT raise the coil higher than the box. Water WILL run up the shaft and into your precious electronics housing. Be EXTREMELY carefull.

Good luck with your adventure!!
 
My little bit:
How long your tank of air will last for depends on how relaxed you are with your breathing. In time, you will relax with each dive. Comes with experience. As for diving alone, not a good idea especially if you're a newbie to scuba. Always dive with a buddy for added security, in case something goes wrong with your equipment, you run out of air at depth, or something panicks you and you want to make a beeline for the surface. Your buddy can help ease your mind in a tricky situation. And most things that go wrong underwater can be fixed underwater. The question is, how deep do you plan to scuba detect? Most finds are in fairly shallow water under piers, jetties, off shore wherever the swimmers go. You might find you won't have to go deep at all. When I'm hunting, I'm usually between the 3-10metre mark. Scubadetector gave very good, sound advice. And a lot of the answers to your questions will be covered in your course.
Golden:D
 
Jcham now you have done it.
After reading all the posts and hearing what everyone has to say about underwater detecting sparked my interest.
So, I went today and talked to the local scuba school about getting certified. I am busy for about the next month so by then maybe the interest will have died down.
I have enjoyed the discussion and information offered by all.
Thanks.
 
Ok, here is my two cents. I dive all the time and I normaly dive ALONE. BUT, I have been diving for 28 years and I am completely comfortable with it.

At the deepest I dive for treasure is around 20 feet. 80% of the time I dive in water I can stand up in. I love to lay on the bottom and listen for beeps.

If I were you I would first wear just a mask and snorkel and play in 2' of water. Get comfortable in listening to your signals and fanning your hand to dig the hole.

I carry NO tools except for 2 dive knifes. I use one when the object is burried in clay and needs to be cut out.

Nothing bothers you underwater except BRAT kids. They will throw rocks that annoy you but float harmlessly down around you while your out detecting.

When you get certified, Play in water 3 - 6 foot until your completely comfortable. If you do feel you need a partner You have to think about staying within sight of each other and talkback from the detectors. A mess!! Once you stir up the bottom of some inland lakes you have to detect by feel, and your partner will be out of site.

So get your mask and snorkel and wetsuit and play in shallow water right now to get used to it. DON"T wear fins. Not needed and only stir up the silt. Although I have a friend that has to wear them, I just stay away from him!! Go out alone for a few times in SHALLOW water that you can stand up in. Wear a BC, know how to use it.

You are told NEVER to do this but I am telling you that you have to. Learn to skip breathe. You HAVE to hold your breath while detecting. I get over 3 hours out of an alunimum 80. You hold your breath so you can hear the beeps. You will be in NO DANGER in that shallow of water.


If you wear a hood cut SMALL nickel holes in it for your ears so you can hear the tones better.

Move SLOW and overlap your swings and you will have a wonderful time getting away from the world!! Any more questions I missed ask away!!
great infor,I'm always wanting to go out too,but it seems I can't hold my breath that long,maybe I should invest to take scuba classes,the most I go out is up to my neck then I'm bouncing all over,& really I can't seem to scoop anything that deep,,,HH Thank You for the infer,,,I really really enjoyed reading it:friends:
 
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