Diving 101 for boaters  - Dive Works, 281 291 8631

Critters. Not a week goes by where someone doesn’t ask about the critters down there. Well sure we’ve got critters. 14ft Alligator gars, alligators, snakes, and the occasional skate; I have bumped into things that felt like submarines but never once in a couple thousand dives have I been attacked. There is no record an alligator gar attacking a human being, basically if your larger than a duck then Gars will have little use for you. They are very skittish in nature and prefer nocturnal feeding. Alligators are a rarity, they get washed out of up stream bayous after long rains. The marina environment is not conducive to supporting large predators, especially one that needs to leave the water to sun which is not possible in most marinas. The lake is noisy, busy, and a lousy hunting ground, so most alligators try to get out of our marinas as quickly as possible. I am in the water five days a week and I see on average two alligators a year, and usually after the rainiest part of late spring. Snakes are Mainly a concern around the banks and I have never seen one though its worth mentioning. The same applies to skates since they get brought up in shrimp nets it stands to reason that they are from time to time in the marinas. I have heard other divers claiming to run in to them on recovery dives but I’m not convinced they didn’t fumble a flounder.

Tide and current. No body has every gotten swept out to see from marina diving but try being in the water in Seabrook when the tide is changing or forbid - when they open those flood gates. In both cases I have seen it reach a three knot current. That is fast enough to wear you out quickly and make even the simplest of tasks extremely difficult. All currents strong enough to be noticed should be avoided especially since all you have to do is wait a while.

Sheen. If you see one be responsible and report it and then avoid it. Petroleum can cause serious health problems if ingested or if it gets into your eyes and ears; it can cause rashes, allergic reactions, and the fumes if they are from gas can be disorienting at the least. Also it dissolves neoprene and permeates loose materials and eat them. If you love the water, and why else would you be here - Take steps to protect it, and challenge the jerks that treat your passion with out a care. Spraying soap onto a sheen sinks the oil so it can not evaporate, there by making it last decades up on decades longer.

Traffic. It goes with out saying that you don’t want to jump in at Three Amigos on a Saturday to check your prop but I see it all the time. I was diving a boat in Watergate when I was whipped around by the wash from a fifty foot power boat trying to blow out his slip. Its impossible to know when people around you will be coming and going or when they have taken it upon themselves to deepen their slip but in most cases boat owners know the boats around them and it’s a good idea to mention that you’ll be in the water at least to your immediate neighbors.

Entering the water.

Equipment. Air, Knife, & Mask. If you don’t have an air supply, you have no business going underwater. The same applies to having a knife. People snorkel dive to check a number of things: zinc, prop fouling, hard growth, etc. Their are two primary risks could kill you if you are without air and a knife - Getting snagged by a fish hook or tangled in a line. I do not see fish line all that often but occasionally, and that is all it takes  the one you don't notice in time. Do not tie things to your self with lanyards, They tangle, they snare and They are bad advice.

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