For saturation diver Sam Archer, exploring the world’s oceans is a childhood dream come true. He reveals the perks and perils of working in the deep end. We’re the guys who live in a chamber for a month at a time and go to work in a diving bell. Saturation divers work deep underwater undertaking… Continue Reading »
Santa Barbara City College’s Marine Diving Technology Department has announced that retired faculty member Mike Von Alvensleben has been inducted into the Commercial Diving Hall of Fame at the recent Association of Diving Contractors annual convention in New Orleans, La. A former commercial diver and member of the U.S. Navy UDT/SEAL Team 12, Von Alvensleben began… Continue Reading »
MARK Veal is literally seconds away from exploding into tiny pieces every time he goes to work. As a saturation diver, he spends month-long shifts cramped into high-pressure hyperbaric chambers with eight to 12 other men. He hasn’t been blown apart yet, obviously, but the threat is ever present. “Yeah, there’s a risk,” Mark, 41,… Continue Reading »
Flying in a chopper to remote parts of the British Isles, boarding a dive boat and going 20m from the sea bed for 28 days is second nature to Sam Archer. He tells Esquire about the danger, dolphins and near misses. Saturation diver Sam Archer spends one month out of every three 20m above the… Continue Reading »
After Matt Molina had finished his four years in the Air Force, he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do next. He went back to school for a bit. Then got a steady job as a heating, ventilation and air conditioning specialist. “It was a good job, but I was super bored,” the former… Continue Reading »
I had always wanted to be an astronaut. Who didn’t right? That was the ultimate adventure, not to mention the fact that one got to wear a cool space suit and work with some very outlandish equipment. When I found out I was blind as a bat however, that little fantasy of mine came to… Continue Reading »
A commercial diver has been jailed for two years after removing three cannon from a 17th Century shipwreck and fraudulently selling them for £46,000. Vincent Woolsgrove, 48, from Ramsgate in Kent, admitted fraud in July after originally claiming the weapons were found in international waters. He later admitted he had recovered them from the wreck… Continue Reading »
This article will hopefully be of interest to divers considering a career in commercial diving or wishing to complete a commercial course for other reasons. Hopefully it will give you a bit of an insight into what to expect. Especially if you plan to do the course in New Zealand (only one training agency there… Continue Reading »
Here is my experience of commercial dive schools. Having decided to embark on a career as a commercial diver my next move was to choose a school to become a commercial diver. You can also read how I came to the point of becoming a commercial diver. Pre-course Apprehension In my country in Scotland, there… Continue Reading »
Malaysian Fedrick Ukab Labong was attracted to the career of commercial diving as, with two-thirds of the world being covered by water, it is an endless sector to explore. Fedrick lives in Selangor, Malaysia, and before becoming a commercial diver he worked in land construction and as a SCUBA diving instructor, so had a good… Continue Reading »
