How Scuba Works | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too and it's a good old fashion barn. burner whiz. Banger uh of an episode I ran out of. weird colloquialisms no yeah yeah just. now didn't you hear uh yeah but I just. figured you were still doing them in. your head no I was um frantically.

grasping for another one in my head and. it was just dust in a tumble. weed uh so this is sort of continuing. our. underwater series we'll call it yeah. this is so stuff you should know we've. done like stuff that's like much more um. specific about the general category that. we're talking about and now we're. finally doing the general category yeah. we did we did the diving bell m we did.

the butterfly we did we did cave diving. in fact cave diving was released as a as. a select just this year yes such a good. one and uh do I need to remind you about. the other related. episode I forgot about that oh my go. I'll give you a. hint I. remember I remember the scuba Cat. episode didn't you interview scuba cat. oh yeah I mean for those of you who. don't know the short version is many.

many years ago in the very early days of. the podcast uh occasionally we were um. sort of told to do certain things as. unable. things and two of them really stand out. to me one of them was scuba cat uh I. know what you're going to say for the. other one I know you do which was this. guy who who trained his cat to scuba. dive and it's literally like a a blurb. or maybe a a little fluffy news piece at. the end of a of a news program they're.

like do a stuff you should know episode. on this cat and this guy why though do. you remember is did they just want page. views or something I guess or else that. guy happened to be friends with you know. whoever owned the company at the time. all right so there I think there was an. article on the website we worked for and. they were probably just trying to drive. people to that so we did one on scuba. cat I would really love that just to be. scrubbed but from the archive well way. to go bringing it up then um what was I. going to say chuck oh wasn't this thing. In Like A Little Submarine kind of is in.

that what the scuba diving was I I don't. think so I think he built him a little. little outfit oh okay wow little thing. with like a you know a big bubble uh. mask okay that's worth an. episode we should redo it we should do. Redux uh what's the other one you want. to I know we're going to say it I we. could say at the same time I think it's. going to be three two one evaders yeah.

what can you do with an Altoid tin yeah. for real like I don't know how that one. came up either but we were instructed to. do an episode on. tators and they were interesting but not. episode length interesting not even when. they were six minutes long yeah and a. ovor just for those of you who don't. know they take Altoid tins and they do. things with them like turn them into. radios um maybe they hold coins instead. of Altoids it's just repurposing and.

yeah ex exactly it's repurposing an. Altoid to to Innovation very well oh boy. and and we always talk about jackhammers. in the sun like that's cuz we're. literally too ashamed to even mention. those other two but here they are go. listen to them uh just quickly wanted to. say I got back from Mexico and I did not. scuba dive uh I snorkel oh yeah it's fun. and uh I didn't I mean I love the. experience but I I learned that I and. especially my daughter are free divers. oh yeah she could could do it man we got.

her I mean she loves to swim more than. anything and we got her in all the gear. put her in the water and she was Pitch. to fit quite frankly oh like she. couldn't breathe through the tube she. does it in pools like uh it it just you. know when you're eight things happen and. you can't explain why a kid will dig in. mhm but she wasn't into it we were very. frustrated did not handle it well she uh. asked to get back on the boat she got. back on the boat and cried while we. scuba or sorry snorkel uhhuh we're like.

we're out here we're going to do it you. know you're you'll you'll be okay and. then once we were done she asked the. scuba guys or the snorkel guys can I. just get in with my mask and free dive. and it was in Mexico and they're like. sure right and she did and she turned. into a dolphin and I recounted this on. Instagram I took some great pictures of. her just swimming like no kid has ever. loved swimming before and it was just a. big lesson for for everybody I know what.

happened though I I think um unless I'm. misreading it she she got claustrophobic. from having to breathe through that. tube no she does it all the time in. pools what it was I think was uh wearing. the life vest keeping her up on the. surface oh okay well you left that. little detail out well I mean that's. part of snorkeling is you got a you got. a vest on so that keeps you up top and. she was like no no no I belong down. there home is the sea as bny Prince.

Billy says I got you okay well that. makes a lot more sense I guess I was. just projecting on to her because I used. to get claustrophobic trying to breathe. through a snorkel well a lot of people. on Instagram supported that and said you. know I have a hard time with this. equipment too and I love to swim but it. was really that life Fest I think okay. all right well we finally established. the root cause then yeah but here we go. with scuba oh okay I guess okay um so. what does scuba stand for. Chuck self-contained underwater.

breathing uh situation A atics atics. apparatus that's right scuba it's. actually like a an acronym but it's so. used so widely used now it's a lowercase. word I'm not sure oh really yeah I mean. like it's not Nobody Does it with. capitals and periods or anything like. that it's just lower it's a word it's. it's own word now it's almost lost its. meaning M as far as like the acronym. goes and yet it's gained so much meaning.

over the years because as scuba has been. around for over the decades PE more and. more people have found the joy of going. underwater and I heard you laugh at me. by the way um and breathe if you breathe. fully underw water no snorkel like your. head is nowhere near the surface of the. water and it doesn't need to be like. significantly distant from the water it. can just be like a foot below the water. but you're breathing underwater it's an. amazing feeling for sure. and a lot of people have discovered that.

over the years and said scuba is the. life for me well as of uh December 2019. you had scuba dived once yep have you. done it since no and I'm actually a. little troubled. because I. um I read that you're supposed to go. like three or four Open Water Dives and. I only went on one so I've been under. the impression that I've been CER to. scuba dive all this time and I'm like I.

I is that true I I can't remember where. my card is or anything so I wonder if I. actually wasn't fully s certified H or. satisfied I would find it very. dissatisfying if that were true well do. you want to do it again cuz I didn't get. a good read on you in. 2019 maybe I didn't know you then like I. know you now maybe because I before the. reason I didn't like it is because I got. it made me seasick like the the the air. mix.

did not sit well with me and then. getting on the boat in between Dives. made it even worse mhm so I was like I. don't feel like doing this ever again. but I think enough times past that it's. possible I would try it again well I. want to get certified now for sure uh I. did anyway before and we thought we'd. wet our beaks um with snorkeling the the. big problem I had man was the the. fins I mean there were a lot of currents. and I just I felt like I couldn't go get. anywhere yeah uh and then the end when.

Ruby was free diving I did the same. thing I took off all my stuff except for. my mask and I went down there and I was. like all right well this is I feel like. I can swim again yeah it's all it takes. a lot of getting used to because it is. it's meant to help you and it does if. you are familiar with it and comfortable. with it but if not it's all encumbrance. it makes everything difficult and like. yes you just want to take it all off and. just free dive like you're saying yeah. Emily was cruising around but you know. we saw a little a little my first like.

uh Coral that I've ever seen like live. coral uhhuh and it was beautiful and you. know the little stripey bright fish and. I I was I was in there with those guys. for the first time and it was it was uh. remarkable and amazing was it a Dory or. a Nemo that you saw oh I don't know it. had the I think yellow stripes I don't. think it was technically a clown fish. although maybe they're all types of. clown fish I'm not sure what's a clown. fish I think like a Dory or a Nemo.

I saw this one big thing that was like. the size of a dinner plate another big. flat guy oh wow uh he was cool and then. Emily saw sea turtle which I did not see. oh neat uh and then we also saw their. efforts to you know with artificial. Reeves with like these PVC sort of uh. pyramids that they were building down. there God bless those people right yeah. this Coral wasn't in great shape it was. in Parts but other parts were not great. and that was sad yeah you can thank the. fossil fuel industry for that that's. right so Chuck um one thing that I had.

no idea about with um researching this. scuba episode is that it actually the. scuba phenomenon I guess you could call. it dates back to the mid 19th century MH. and it's not like somebody had an idea. and then a 100 years later somebody. actually created it someone in the 1860s. actually created the first scuba um. equipment that's right uh are you going. to say his name you're going to make me. to it I'll say the first name benois.

okay and it's a ruk roll or rock and. roll is that what that means I don't. think so but it looks and and when you. pronounce it it sounds a lot like rock. and roll yeah rook and or roll ruk roll. yeah rock and roll yeah so he's he's. obviously French and he was not trying. to figure out a way to recreationally. dive in the ocean he was trying to. figure out a way way to help others.

rescue workers rescue people in. collapsed Minds uh because these things. would get filled up with nasty gases and. he was like well I think I can invent. this system that allows these Rescuers. to go down there and breathe safely so. they can save these people uh and he. called that first one uh a regulator for. Equalization of Compressed Gas the nose. a regulator sure sure so I guess it was. a little verbose yeah or a demand. regulator yeah and the the reason it was.

a demand regulator and this is the this. is the big deal like you could feed. somebody air continuously but you're. going to use up a lot of air you might. overinflate their lungs accidentally. which is it's a it can be a problem with. um novices and scuba um but a demand. regulator means that you're only sucking. in that compressed air when you're. breathing in when you exhale that air is. no longer coming into your into your. mouth into your gouet. yeah it's on Dem man like uh the best.

movies and this guy um along with a guy. named August denus den den Rose da. ruse it was in there that last one I. think nailed it but I so Ben W and AUST. let's call them that they got together. and figure out how to turn this not just. into a a mine safety um equipment piece. of equipment but actually to use it to. breathe under water so they put the.

whole like compressed air thing in like. a backpack I get the impression it was. um like a fabric bag holding the. compressed air they put that demand. regulator on and they were working. underwater untethered from any boat. using the first genuine scuba in the. 1860s yeah it was it was like the first. legit diving suit essentially uh they. had lead sold shoes and they had weights. hanging under your arms uh at first. there was still no mask they used a nose. clip but then a year later in.

1866 uh they brought about the first. mask which was a copper helmet with a. single window that they called the groin. uh because it it was uh French for pig. snout and it kind of looks like a pig. snout oh okay uh and they won for this. for their efforts they won the the gold. medal at the 1867 World's Fair nice. called The Arrow four yeah they call it. the arrow for right so um the but again. the thing about this is like you're like. yeah I've seen those before like was a. haunted one on Scooby-Doo there's a air.

hose coming out of the helmet no that's. the distinction there's no air hose they. were untethered to anything they could. roam as free as they wanted on the sea. Flor that's right so um fast forward a. few years jez about. 70 yeah about 70 years there was another. person who had a very similar idea uh. what was his name Christian. Lamberton uh yeah well there was a guy. in the 20s uh he. La okay who uh and Dave helped us out.

with this Dave dug this guy up and it. was sort of one of the first sort of. modern takes on a scuba system um but. the air still wasn't on demand at that. point they adjusted the air flow like as. they went along and then um Christian. lamron came along in. 1954 and did a couple of things well. actually he came along in 1939 right. with the lambertson amphibious. respirator unit or the Laro. uh didn't rename it scuba until.

1954 okay but he was a uh this was a. rebreather it wasn't it still wasn't the. same thing he had a CO2 filter and he. was trying to pitch it to the military. he's like he was an american guy he's. like look this thing's got no bubbles so. uh he pitched it to the Navy like you. know you can sneak up on people in other. words sure and he pitched it to the Navy. they rejected it and then the OSS uh. which the US had at the time the office. of strategic Services would eventually. become uh not become the CIA but sort of.

become the CIA yeah morph yeah and they. the OSS loved it and like their. underwater unit like started using this. Lamberts and scuba unit even though it. still wasn't a it was a rebreather and. we'll we'll talk about all that stuff. soon yeah which is more advanced than. scuba so this guy basically just created. the more advanced version of scuba out. of the gate you know yeah interesting. yeah it is very interesting and his his. um invention so successful that it was.

used from the 50s to the 80s by the US. military bad un. unchanged kind of like you know you see. like those mid to late 80s movies and. the cars are still look like they're. from the 70s because nobody updated. their stuff until that Ford tourist came. out in 1988 in. Robocop it's like that what a great. movie you know in the ' 80s they were. like this is this is an old timey. rebreather we need to update this yeah. exactly exctly so um there was a a.

that's almost like a separate track like. Christian lambertson was um very much. dedicated to inventing this stuff for. the military he invented a more advanced. version of scuba called a rebreather. which we'll talk about like you said the. much more familiar version of the scuba. story uh kind of went in parallel and. started a few oh about the same time as. Christian lambertson and uh it was a. pair of French guys who up to Christian. lamberson they were running scuba World.

mhm and it was jacqu kusto and Emil. gagnan and those two together are the. ones who gave the world. scuba that's right uh I I saw gagnan. then also saw he was French and it was. gel yeah I know I was just I didn't I. didn't want to attempt it I'm so tired. of. failing oh no uh so they got together. like he said and they kind of took uh. roqu roll MH yeah yeah they took his old. uh on demand regulator and said all.

right I think we can update this thing. um gon uh and World War II had invented. a regulator that uh used cooking gas to. feed into the carburetor of a car. because the Germans uh said we're taking. all your gas Paris and so he sort of. retrofitted a uh a way to make a car. work and uh cuso was like this is. brilliant we can use this for scuba and. he's like you want to Huff cooking gas.

underwater he's like no no no we're. going to we're not going to use the. cooking gas gagnan yeah and also scuba. hasn't been so named yet it was still. probably about 10 years before that so. they called it the uh to je thrs to. light the aqual. along I had an idea um and I don't know. maybe I can convince you right here and. we'll go back and edit this part out of. anytime we said Aqua long just playing. that one little.

riff yeah exactly I think that we could. get away with it after hearing the. intellectual property episode I think we. could get away with just that little bit. well at the very least you could play my. uh mouth version because that's free and. clear all right we'll look into it in. the edit uh it's funny our old pal uh. friend of the show paf Tomkins every. time the word Aqua along comes up he. gets upset well not upset but makes a. point of why did Jethro toll put that. one line in there it's not as running. down his notes that line really bugs him.

does it yeah it's pretty funny though. not heard that one yeah anytime I think. of Paul F Tomkins I think of K Cake. Boss it's good stuff yeah so uh they. didn't call it uh scuba yet custo didn't. they called it the aqual. long like you. said right um and but it was the same. thing it was what you if you go and take. up the sport of scuba now it's.

essentially the the the the what you're. doing like what kusto was using and the. reason it caught on is because he made a. movie called The Silent world that was. released in what 56. 1956 and it won an Oscar it was an. amazing documentary and I was watching. it I'm like wow there's some amazing. wreck diving scenes in there but it's. also hilarious one guy like pulls the. door off of the hinges of a shipwreck to. get into the Shipwreck they're just. totally like vandalizing this ship yeah.

but I was also at the same time thinking. like all bet audiences have never seen. something like this that's it that was. the ticket with silent world is that was. there had not been a lot of underwater. photography and it blew Minds in 1956 uh. not only did It win the Oscar it was the. first uh Golden Palm winner at can for a. documentary yeah uh and stayed that way. until Michael Moore won for Fahrenheit. 9911 oh wow and it grossed in today. dollars uh 33 million bucks oh not bad.

it's a documentary that's a theatrical. dock that's really really good money for. sure uh and also just to finish up on. Gan sure uh he was not happy with that. first version so in 58 he finally. released uh what was called the aquam. master regulator and sold a million of. those up until like 1972 that was like. the go-to regulator MH gotcha so yeah. these guys essentially created the. recreational version of scuba introduced.

it to the world through the silent world. and um sat back and took Kudos from that. point on and if you watch the silent. World it Bears a strong resemblance to. um The Life Aquatic with Steve zizu no. mistake uh and one other thing about. jacqu custo I didn't realize he worked. for the French Resistance as a matter of. fact during World War II well Dave we're. going to have to do one on him because. Dave sent us this material was like. please please please let me do it on. Chuck so we went now speaking of Dave.

also Chuck um you know he has his uh. podcast Bible time machine yeah it's. about uh bible stuff but you don't have. to like you know it's from like a. historical perspective it's highly. accessible yeah that's what I was trying. to say I know um but he had a. blockbuster guest on the other day uh. actually I think it came out a couple. weeks ago he had John C and he. interviewed him about the Life of Brian.

John C how did that happen I could I. couldn't get a John C on movie Crush I I. don't know how it they must have they're. um ministers or friends or something. yeah that was great so uh big congrats. to Dave on the John CLE up exactly and. if you like John C and you like Dave go. listen to him talking to one another. yeah shall we take a break I I think. it's high time we finally made it. through the first section all right. we'll be right back.

[Music]. [Applause]. [Music]. all right so we're back and we're going. to talk a little bit about the different. types of scuba diving that you can do.

okay uh there's the aformentioned open. water diving that you talked about that. is you know it's the most common one. it's what you think about when you think. about going on vacation somebody taking. you out in a boat throwing that gear on. you and saying have a lot of fun. everybody but it can also it doesn't. have to take place on vacation or even. in a tropical local or even in like a. sea or an ocean it can take place in a. lake sure it can take place in a quarry. as long as I think that I'm not kidding. as long as there's no what they call.

ceiling over you there's nothing between. you and the surface of the water that's. considered open water diving and that's. the Far and Away the most common. recreational diving that's right and you. can go down uh if you're certified and. we'll get to the certification you can. go down uh to 100 ft with your Advanced. Open Water. certification uh yeah with your with the. main one the first one that you get just. the regular open water diving. certification at 60 ft oh okay I wasn't.

sure if that was official you got to go. back for the extra 40 ft you want an. extra 40 it's going to cost you so um. there's also night diving is another one. fun same thing but um at night and. there's apparently a whole different. world out there in the ocean at night. which is pretty cool yeah I love. swimming at night in the ocean but I. can't do it I just I I'm just I'm scared. of Dark Water I get it dude e even an. ocean swimming person like myself was.

out in this water last week at night and. fine having fun but at a certain point I. was like. huh and then like I'll just casually. swim back in yeah so I would have. started out with that huh right it took. me a little while yeah but it does sound. pretty cool like if you're not afraid of. Dark Water then of course just that. would be a great time to scuba dive it. it's a little more dangerous though than. regular open water diving because you. get lost very easily so most of the time.

you're Tethered to the boat so you can. find your way back that's right what. about drift diving that sounds like you. did the reverse of this. snorkeling yeah drift diving is uh you. know oceans have those strong currents. um or certainly if you're in a river and. I think the point of drift diving is to. is to get dropped into one of these. currents and off off you go like those. sea turtles in Finding. Nemo yeah were they sea turtles yeah. they were riding like the underwater. current it was like a highway that you.

could get on and just zip off I I. haven't seen that in a while I haven't. either but apparently it made a really. strong impression on me it sounds like. it so it's cool because you don't have. to expend as much energy which is like. well who cares actually scuba diving. requires a lot of energy it's really. hard work um so so to save yourself any. effort or energy is pretty great and. then also because you're working hard. you're breathing harder so you're. actually using more oxygen without a.

current than you are with a current. which means you can conceivably stay. down longer because you have more air. yeah that sounds great sure it does. that's why people love it uh you got. technical diving which is a umbrella. term for uh most kinds of advanced. diving uh that we're going to continue. to talk about here uh and maybe we. should just talk about those because. most of these next few fall under. technical diving uh the first of which. is wreck diving you can go out and and. swim around a legit sunken Battleship or.

ship uh either one that was naturally. sunk or well nothing naturally sinks I. guess like that or so not supposed to at. least uh but you know like one that was. sunk in battle or one you know now they. go out there and don't use PVC like I. saw I saw these little PVC pyramids they. will sink a full ship and say all right. do your work Coral yeah exactly and some. they do it to form reefs but at the same. time also it's just something.

interesting for divers to come look at. too yeah but I don't think you're I. think you got to be pretty Advanced. actually if you want to swim through. like the the kitchen or something like. that generally you're just sort of. swimming around it right you can do just. regular basic Open Water certification. diving around it like you said on top of. it when you want to go in it you better. add several years to your diving. experience um it's it's extraordinarily. dangerous because you there's all in a. shipwreck there's all sorts of things to.

get caught on get stuck on you can get. lost if the ship's big enough and dark. enough no thank you exactly um and like. all of the other technical diving uh it. has a ceiling there's something between. you in the surface that would impede you. from going up to the surface if you. needed to that's what really makes it so. dangerous yeah I mean that sounds. interesting and fun but I'm I'm I'm. going to stick to no ceiling I like. watching videos of it it makes my toes. curl uhhuh but it because you know it.

used to be above the surface but um I I. I wouldn't I don't think I would want to. wreck dive either but I like watching. wreck diving videos yeah uh you got your. deep diving MH which requires Deep dive. certification and I believe you can go. down to uh 131 ft and Beyond if you're. you know if you really get those. certifications in order and you've got. the the the wherewith all yeah I think. when you go and get your first deep.

diver certification the the most they. want you to go down is 130 ft 40 MERS. right but then I think with experience. and like you hook up with other deep. divers then you start going further and. further down but that's once they make. fun of you at dinner ex exactly but they. they um the I mean just the the. extra thought and preparation and all. the extra things that can go wrong with. a deep dive it's it's amazing even if. there's nothing over you um between you.

and the surface just being down that. that deep is it can be very dangerous in. 40 m you're like I mean that doesn't. seem like that deep there's like the. Titanic's at like 12,000 ft or something. crazy like that that's that's. significant because your body is not. designed to be down 40 m uh that many. atmospheres below sea level no and we'll. get to uh decompression sickness and all. coming up well let's talk about it here. how about that oh that sounds like a. great idea actually that sounds exactly.

as how we discussed it. sure so you've probably heard of the. bins yeah uh that's sort of the common. name for decompression sickness and that. is a uh it can be pretty rough. apparently uh it can be very painful it. can be fatal and it's caused by nitrogen. bubbles nitrogen nitrogen bubbles in. your blood in your bloodstream that's. the problem with the bends yeah because. the air we breathe has like 78.

72% nitrogen 78% nitrogen 21% oxygen the. rest is Trace stuff right um and that. nitrogen typically at sea level uh or. even you know higher than sea level but. um whatever I think I just made this. more complicated than I needed to but. the nitrogen typically goes through our. body and we expire it breathe it out it. does nothing it doesn't react with. anything it's too hard to chemically. deconstruct uh and use for something. else it requires too much energy so we. just pass it through but when we're down.

breathing the nitrogen that stays in our. body at any given time and we're below a. surface below sea level um it it turns. into a gas and permeates our bloodstream. but as we go up if that gas isn't. absorbed um slowly into our tissues it. will form bubbles just like when you. open a a pop a soda a Coke whatever you. want to call it mhm it wa if inside. there's no bubbles but when you open it.

up and introduce air and change the air. pressure the atmospheric pressure inside. the can all that gas turns into bubbles. carbonation of CO2 carbonation and that. would be the same thing that happen in. your tissues and joints and that is not. something that you want to happen no if. you want a topo Chico or a soda or a. nice frothy beer you want that thing. carbonated you don't want your insides. of your body carbonated no you you. definitely don't because it's agonizing.

apparently Sailors named it the bendz. because You' be doubled over in agony. that does not sound great and then on. top of it just being extraordinarily. painful it can it can kill you in some. some. circumstances um so there's they'. figured out that you actually um you can. stay down at a certain depth for a. certain amount of time and then if you. do you're going to have to do what are. known as decompression stops on the way. back up that's right on your way you got. to know how DPR you got to stop when. you're supposed to you got to hang out.

for a little body give your body a. chance to equalize the pressure and then. you go up a little bit more and then do. it again and obviously this is all uh. completely regulated by your dive. instructor uh they're telling you what. to do unless you know you're out there. on your own and you're like super. experienced you know how to do all this. stuff uh but they're telling you how. much time you need to spend at what. depth to ascend safely uh just to get. give you Dave dug up this kind of fun. fact about the uh I think the deepest.

scuba dive on record uh was over 1,000. feet by an Egyptian diver named Ahmed. gber and uh 14 minutes down I imagine. you just uh you've seen the videos of. those deep divers where they just put on. the gear and they have some sort of a. weight and they just get dragged to like. the bottom of the ocean very quickly it. took 14 minutes to get down that deep. but it took 14 hours to safely. decompress on the way back up yeah just. slowly I mean that's that's crazy it's a.

long time um so yeah a lot of the the. deeper Dives are you spend way more time. doing decompression stops than you do. actually doing your Dive Right yeah so. you have to like calculate this stuff. there's tables there's um dive computers. that we'll talk about but you have to. before you go into the water you need to. know exactly how long you're going to be. down there exactly what depth you're. going to be at and then you have to know. based on those two factors how how many.

decompression stops you have to make in. at what um uh depth back up on the way. back up that you need to stop at yeah. two words you're never going to hear. scuba diving are wing it that's right. you don't want to wing it no you. definitely don't uh you got altitude. diving so if all this talk of um going. down down down and different pressures. and things uh make sense then it would. make sense that if you're diving in Lake. super super high uh above sea level that.

that would change things too uh and it. does uh if you're more than 1,000 ft uh. above sea level it's going to be a. different experience so uh you know. they're going to know what they're doing. there too as far as you know how you're. going to decompress going down when. you're actually high up right which it's. strange you're like okay you're actually. high up but because you're underwater. and all that extra water pressure it it. has apparently you're more exposed to. decompression sickness at high altitude. Dives than you are below sea level wow.

um you remember very famously in in The. Firm two things the firm introduced the. world to Red strip beer and the. awareness that you you can't scuba dive. and fly in the same 24-hour. period and uh my cousin and my uncle who. uh lived in Memphis at the time and were. very briefly in that movie oh really. were they the person on the beach no my. cousin was a little girl at the time my. cousin Autumn and she was like a full. screen shot of her and another kid like. at the big company party early on and.

then my uncle Steve who you've met uh. that lives out near San Francisco he he. had like a he was trying to be an actor. at the time he had a speaking line uh I. think he if I'm not mistaken he came. into an office and said something about. you know these pretzels are making me. thirsty I think that was. it anyway uh I I didn't know red stripe. was that in The Firm yeah definitely no. one knew what red stripe was until then. and all of a sudden it was like the the. hippest beer on the planet cuz the 80s. were so shallow okay so that's altitude.

diving and our little side trip on the. firm uh there's also Cavern diving and. Cave Diving which are usually put hand. in hand yeah we covered those they. definitely do connect but really Cavern. diving is just not really going all the. way into a cave MH once you are out of. the light you are now cave diving if. you're in the light you're Cavern diving. and so that means things like stotes and. springs qualify as Cavern diving there's.

easy access to the surface whereas with. cave diving if you've gone and listened. to that episode it there is no access to. the surface and you are completely out. of your mind to even try it once that's. right uh it's our episode from December. 2019 cave diving colon totally nuts yep. appropriately named uh you got ice. diving you can actually go dive in the. cold cold water under thick Ice uh and. go see those animals like penguins and. seals and things yep and apparently.

there's um a place called Ru Quarry in. Estonia that um has good ice diving but. in the summer the big draw is there's a. sunken underwater prison there in the. Quarry cool yeah like you can swim. around there's bars on the on the. windows and stuff like that it's pretty. neat o sounds spooky it does so what. about the gear chuck if you say okay I. like this I want to go ice diving I want. to go Cave Diving do it all what do I. need to get Josh and Chuck well I say we.

tell everybody what to get what do you. say well you got to get an oxygen tank. no no no you're not supposed to say. oxygen tank because it's not oxygen it's. a SCUBA tank or it's a cylinder and like. we said it's filled not with just oxygen. it's air that you breathe you got to. breathe like you normally breathe right. so uh it's going to be 21% oxygen 78%. nitrogen and those Trace gases they want. to uh give you a an experience like. you're used to as far as breathing goes.

uh unless you do something called. enriched air diving that's got 32%. oxygen and less nitrogen uh which they. call nitrox 32 and this let you stay. down there a little bit longer and you. don't apparently at all have to make. those decompression stops uh I no I'm. sure that there's a depth and a time at. depth that you would have to make. decompression stops but they're um. they're it's much deeper and much more.

time before you would have to that's my. impression okay all right there's also a. BCD and a BCD in addition to your your. tank your cylinder is probably the most. second most important piece of equipment. for scuba diving and the reason why is. because this is a little inflatable or. very importantly deflatable vest that. you wear that if you use it properly. allows you to hover completely. Motionless In in like during your dive.

mhm and if you're really good at it you. can use it to like back out of a place. upward or downward um there's just a lot. of really neat things you can do using. this buoyancy control device and if you. can't do it then you might start going. up to the surface you might be stuck on. the bottom it takes a lot of practice. but when you get it right you can really. gracefully and really smoothly move. through the. ocean yeah I mean that's the videos you. see no one does videos of you and and.

snorkel fins going I can't swim in these. things or my daughter crying on a boat. or somebody floating up bobbing up and. down with their BCD being a Pia yeah. exactly you know. Pia oh I see I gotta it all just looks. like all you do is just jump in that. water and you're just immediately. perfectly floating and meeting Nemo yeah. and I think that's a really great um. Point Chuck because it it it takes a lot. of practice at this nobody goes into. scuba diving and it's just a natural at.

it because we're not Naturals at scuba. diving it's something you have to learn. you have to practice that but once you. do it's very rewarding yeah I look. forward to it uh you got your regulator. which we talked about uh that different. people help perfect over the years and. that is going to regulate that flow of. the pressurized air into your mouth uh. you know they differ a little bit but. generally you have the first stage part. that's the one actually attaches to the. scuba tank and is going to do that that.

first sort of pressure reduction uh to. make sure you're not getting blasted out. uh then you've got your demand valve or. the second stage that uh goes into the. mouthpiece that you're using to breathe. and you're going to have a second. mouthpiece this is almost like a backup. parachute right uh yes it's that's a. really great way to put it um if you are. out on a dive with the Buddy which you. always want to be out on a dive with the. Buddy and your buddy's air runs out you. have a second mouthpiece that accesses. your air that you both can use as you.

start going back up you can save your. buddy's life with the the um additional. hose pretty good or I'd imagine if. something went wrong with your own right. well I guess but that would mean that. your actual like your mouthpiece or. something broke and you could use the. other one sure if that happened if. something went wrong with your air no. it'd be just as useless as your other. one you know what happened when I was. snorkeling. what I uh snork for a few minutes and I. went to put that thing back in my mouth. and it wasn't there it fell off I was.

like Hey dude I I'm not feeling one I. can't is there a do I have a mouthpiece. and a snorkel and he went no and then he. went I see it it's on the bottom let me. go get it Jesus I guess it just became. unclipped or something yeah I forgot. they are I think they do come in pieces. then well no this this was the tube the. whole thing oh I see so you just had it. attached to your mask skin it just fell. away I see fell away speaking of masks.

Chuck by the way um you can have a. single lens mask or a dual lens mask did. you know. that yeah I've also got for uh and I was. going to take it down there one of those. full face snorkel uh. deals uh which I have used in swimming. pools and they're quite fun but I did. not take it uh but I do like the idea of. sort of the old school single lens I do. too but the great thing about a dual. lens is if you wear glasses and uh you. have two different prescriptions for. your eyes you can get prescription.

lenses for your mask mhm which I had one. of those it's it's really neat it's. helpful although you can also just wear. contacts like a normal person do you. still have those I don't know where it. is I don't I don't have it handy so I'm. not sure where it well your prescription. might have changed anyway you should. just get a new one it's true I just wear. contacts now I could use any mask oh. that's true uh what else. well we got those fins uh you don't call. them flippers because they're going to.

make fun of you so you got those fins. and they are pretty standard uh they're. um the ones that I saw mostly were split. fins and uh they are just there's no. getting around it those things are. awkward to swim in if you're not used to. them I felt just like I was stepping on. it's kind of like wearing snow skis uh. it just felt very awkward well also in. addition to being awkward you can really. accidentally tear up coral or do all. sorts of stuff if you're not you know. Adept at using your fins or you're not. aware of where your body is so it is it.

is it's not just you that had trouble. with fins yeah my toe uh on my left foot. kept cramping up too man SS like a. terrible. experience it was it was great once I. took those things off so um one of the. so scuba diving is a very expensive. hobby um it's a expensive upfront it's. expensive during it's expensive after. it's just an expensive Hobby and one of. the things that uh has the most expense. as a one-time um well expense is your.

dive computer yeah uh it's essentially a. giant watch that gives you all the data. you need for your dive um and I saw I. did not know this but Apple has one. coming out called the oceanic plus which. looks pretty awesome it's probably going. to be a million dollars but there's much. more like affordable um dive computers. slates available um and they're all. going to basically tell you the same. stuff. right I hope so uh I mean they're going.

to tell you you know how deep you are uh. how deep it gets below you uh how much. air you've got in that tank how cold or. hot the water is uh your compress your. decompression status it says the. water yeah like all the it just says. chil uh you know all the stuff that you. need to know about your Ascension uh. when you're going back up to the top is. going to be there and you know as far as. whether or not to invest as a purchase. with all this stuff it's up to you like. I would I would say go out and give it a.

shot and if you really really love it. and it's the kind of thing you're like. well hey I know every year we go to this. island uh and you know it might be worth. it to go ahead and invest in buying your. own stuff probably not the the tanks and. all that but the mask and the the. snorkel and the fins and uh maybe a dive. watch and stuff like that yeah and the. dive watch also I mean like if you're. going on a um a dive that's you know l. by somebody that Dive Master is probably. going to have the dive computer and you. don't really need your own because the.

Dive Master is going to tell you where. to go and when but I mean they're. they're pretty slick apparently they'll. tell you to slow down if you're. ascending too fast where to stop when to. stop it's just they it's pretty neat uh. I can't imagine what they did before. dive computers it just must have been. exponentially more dangerous than it is. today with dive computers I would. imagine uh and as far as investment goes. the same goes for your wet suit suit uh. even if it's you know if you're going. down and even if the water it's a hot.

day and the water feels warm it it can. you know the water's going to get colder. and you may want that wet suit and you. wet suits are awkward and weird too so. they if you find it if you find a good. wet suit that fits and you're never. going to be doing it a lot maybe buy. your wet suit yes and I mean or if you. don't like putting your stuff and things. that other people's stuff has been in. you exactly because those are very tight. fitting for a reason you let a little. water in there and then your body warms. the water and your the warm water keeps. your body warm in return they work.

really well there's also the dry suit uh. for water below 50° and you might say. well then when do you need a wet suit. apparently water as warm as 80°. Fahrenheit can um give you hypothermia. if you're in there long enough wow yeah. so even if the water feels warm when you. get in you still probably want a wet. suit while you're scuba. diving uh we mentioned the rebreather. earlier uh that was sort of invented. early on by lambertson but then.

perfected later but uh this is what you. do if if you don't well for a few. reasons but one reason if you don't want. those bubbles coming out right you can. get a rebreather that is exactly what it. sounds like it's going to capture that. air that you're exhaling scrub that CO2. off of it and then add back in the. oxygen to make it uh breathable air. again and you know the military uses. these if you're a underwater. photographer you might want to use these. and it allows you to dive longer and you.

know if you want to stay down there for. a while rebreather might be for you yeah. apparently the record of um staying down. using a rebreather is 145 hours by a guy. named Saddam. Alini yeah pretty pretty. impressive so um I say we take our. second break and uh come back and talk a. little bit more about. Scuba. [Music].

[Applause]. [Music]. okay Chuck so um if you are going to go. scuba diving and you don't have a. certific you go get in the water the. scuba police will probably arrest you no. matter where you are in the world true.

or. false that's false and it it kind of. surprised me that uh there are no laws. per se uh or not even per se there are. no laws that you have to have a license. it's just sort of one of those things. where a it's really really really really. smart to do that so you know what you're. doing safely and B I I would dare say. almost any dive uh outfit in in the. world will require that you have that. maybe there's some super janky ones and.

I don't know if I'd get on one of those. boats if they're like like nah you don't. need a card who cares you don't want I. wouldn't I wouldn't go with that so. they're going to ask you for your card. because there are risks even to Phil up. your tank if you show up they'll ask to. see your your certification your your. card oh so you don't just run off and. and you know do your own solo dive I. guess I I guess I think it's just like. they just want to make sure that nobody. who isn't trained is scuba diving and. that's a good way to do it yeah so um if.

you want to get certified there's a few. ways to do it one of the most popular. ways to do it is um is called discover. scuba um and it's a very shortened. abbreviated version of the cert. certification process where you go to. like a resort and you take like a less. than an hour of classroom time you go. into the pool you do a test dive and. then you go you know down to the beach. and and get in the water and scuba. around it's probably where other people. are snorkeling it's very low risk and.

you're not fully certified after that. but it's enough for you to go enjoy. scuba on vacation without having to go. get certified first yeah uh you're not. going to be super deep uh you're. probably not going to be out with like a. good coral reef or anything either you. never know I guess you never it depends. on where it is but you know this we were. on a boat for you know 12 13 minutes. like kind of hauling out into the ocean. to get to this one neat or are they. right off the beach sometimes sometimes.

yeah okay they can be what do I know I. mean that's Surfers will get tangled up. in Coral sometimes it's it can be a real. Hazard well those are deep water Surfers. so so that's the that's the most basic. way to get certified and again you're. not actually certified the basic. certification the Open Water. certification usually takes a few days. um to complete at least just even the. first part there's classroom time they. call it theoretical um where you're. learning they the the the thing the guy.

who I took uh lessons from said that you. Le you spend the first hour learning how. to scuba dive and the rest of the time. learning how to stay alive while you. scuba dive because it's actually not. that hard to scuba dive a lot of it. requires practice like inflating your. BCD and a achieving neutral buoyancy but. it's it's it's really just just it's not. hard to understand it's hard to remember. what to do when you're panicking. underwater so that you don't do the.

wrong thing and that's really the bulk. of the classroom time yeah uh it's going. to cost you it depends but you know it's. generally around 500. bucks uh you um again you know you can. do it whenever you want if you want to. go down on your vacation and spend time. doing this you can do that but you're on. vacation like it's probably smart to go. ahead and get it done before you get. down there there so you can just hit the. water and in every state in the country.

like the least waterlike state in the. country has scuba classes you can take. yeah because again you can be certified. in like a quarry and basically any state. has at least a flooded Quarry if not a. lake you could be certified in for Open. Water um you only have to be 10 years. old uh there's no maximum age but this. is really important if you have a. pre-existing condition you want to talk. to your doctor about whether or not you. should sco dive because again you are. exerting yourself way more than you. think you're going to and if you say.

have a heart condition or something like. that it can actually trigger a heart. attack in you and even without the. exertion just the difference in um. atmospheric pressure on your insides can. accidentally trigger a heart attack in. you too so it's um it's definitely not. something that you want to just take. lightly if you have a pre-existing. condition no I can't imagine anything. more terrifying than Cardiac Arrest. under the ocean it'd be that's pretty. bad for for sure yeah or I guess in the. ocean you're not under the ocean under. the. sea uh so you have to know how to swim.

though uh I mean I think that's a given. but we should say it uh you're going to. be certified for life which is kind of. cool uh you're going to get your little. card for you to. misplace and uh generally these days you. can you can have that stuff online on. apps and things like that through uh p p. AI Professional Association diving. instructors that's kind of the Big Daddy.

uh the big patty rather uh but there's. also uh Nai Nai the National Association. of underwater instructores and also SSI. scuba schools International and they can. all certify you uh but like I said Patty. sort of the biggest one and you're going. to spend a lot of time early on with. this course uh learning the stuff like. you talked about like most of this is. done you can can do online uh at your. house and over the course of you know 5. to 10 hours learn all the stuff learn.

the hand signals learn the terminology. learn the equipment and kind of all the. basics that don't involve actually. getting in the water yes but if you have. the time and the wherewithal to go take. classroom instruction for the first part. like in the classroom you should take. that uh opportunity because you that's. you will be hanging around the local. scuba Community that's you'll be. immersed in it rather than showing up. the first time for your what's called. your confined water dive which is. essentially where you put all the stuff.

you learned in the classroom to use in a. swimming pool in the back of the the. scuba. shop so you'll know them and they can. say go Josh you got this bro exactly if. if they don't know you they'll be like. you probably have this we can't really. say either way yeah I have no emotional. attachment to you though so either fail. or pass I don't care so the I told you. early on that having like just even a. little bit of water over your head while. you're breathing underwater is amazing. and that that's your first experience in. that confined um water dive in the.

swimming pool it's amazing it's also. kind of boring because they're like what. does this hand signal mean or uh show me. how you can um inflate or deflate your. BCD that kind of stuff you're just. showing that you know what to do uh as a. novice and then after that after you. pass that part you you go do your Open. Water Dives which is the real. deal yeah and uh like you said at the. very beginning uh you need to get four. to six of those under your belt. depending on the certification program.

uh you've only done the one but they. don't all have to be in the ocean you. don't have to wait till you go to the. Bahamas or whatever uh you can do that. at a nearby lake or that uh what do you. keep talking about the reservoir Cory. the cories you can do it there if you. know if they have it set up there and uh. basically you're just going to practice. with someone there learning learning how. to get that uh ear pressure equalized. and like you said the buoyancy and just.

kind of getting it all down pat because. what you're really looking to do when. you finally go out to that coral reef is. is not be hassled and feel very. comfortable and at ease and know what. you're doing yeah and a lot of people do. the classroom and the confined water. dive at home and then go do their Open. Water Dives on vacation um so you can. start at the coref if you want but what. you're saying makes a lot of sense as. well too for sure um there's a big. question about all this and uh from what. I read the um certifying um companies or.

or agencies or whatever they're called. the bodies um they don't like to talk. about the inherent risks of scuba like. they acknowledge it is a a risky. activity it's riskier than staying at. home knitting but um it's probably even. riskier than than is generally thought. of it's it's it's a dangerous thing to. do and you should know that going into. it for. sure yeah I mean not to scare anyone off.

oh I'm trying to scare people off danger. is relative term it's a relative term. but uh about a hundred people in North. America die annually scuba diving uh. compared to uh 46 people uh last skis. sees in in the US uh but there are a lot. more skiers and scuba divers so that's. about 100 uh I'm sorry another 100 uh. internationally scuba diving so that's a.

fatality every 200,000 Dives uh compared. to a fatality per 1 million skiers but a. scarier way to look at it is that's that. fatality rate is 3.4 to 4.2 per 100,000. divers because many divers go on more. than one dive a. year yeah so. um I mean that that's that's a a low. number to me still but every like I said. everyone has their own risk tolerance it. is apparently if you go scuba diving and.

you aren't alone you're with somebody. who knows what they're doing and that. person that's taking you the Dive Master. is not um a risk taker you're probably. going to be totally fine it's it's the. the foolishness is what skews those. numbers because something like 40% of. scuba fatalities um came after a diver. got separated from their buddy and an. additional 14% came from people who were. on solo Dives like they didn't they.

purposely didn't go with anybody they. just went and scuba dive by themselves. that is a very dumb Reckless thing to do. um going diving 54% yeah 54% was these. people didn't have a buddy with them so. if you have a buddy with you scuba. diving which they say you always should. have like that just completely changes. your risk exposure just based on those. statistics and they don't even have to. be your buddy no they're just called. that you can really dislike each other. as long as they don't want to actively.

harm you you're probably going to be. safe with them I mean I would want. someone to like me at least they we have. to be best friends but at least pretend. right yeah like I want them I want to. know that they care about me well all. right that's a lot to ask. okay you got anything else I do have one. more thing before we go I know we've. gone really really long but one of the. things that is a common um cause of. death or at least injury is something. you wouldn't think of if you're.

panicking and you like say your air Runs. Out you you're triggered you start. swimming upward first of all you can get. the bends but you're probably holding. your breath because you're underwater. that's what your body and your brain. tells you to do that's a terrible thing. to do because as you get closer to the. surface your lungs are filled with air. and that air is now expanding beyond the. capacity of your lungs so you can pop. your lungs LS you can also create um. bubbles that go into your arteries uh. and create embolisms uh and it's it's a.

just a bad Jam so there's actually. something called the cisa um which is a. controlled emergency swimming Ascent. where you basically swim upward slowly. as your panick mind can do while you're. exhaling the whole way so that when you. reach the surface you don't have a lung. full of. air pretty neat pretty neat baby's got. the. bins that's a great album name. well think radio head yeah baby's got. the B it was the it was the EP that.

followed Okay computer no the bins was. their full length LP I know this is the. EP that they were testing all the. material out on oh okay I got you okay. so I just couldn't figure out if you. knew it was an actual song I did but I'd. forgotten when I was making the joke so. for all intents and purposes I didn't no. all right uh you got anything else just. one more radio head test. let's hear it no I got nothing else okay. uh that means then it's time for. listener.

mail uh just a couple of Kombucha. Corrections for us bo uh this is someone. uh named Frederick Overby Peterson. Overby Overby mhm okay how do you know. that because there's a um really great. reporter uh named Peter Overby and I. think there's also I think his brother. Dennis Overby Maybe they spell it that. way bye okay well and also probably so. people won't say overbite right I'm sure.

kids say it anyway but you know I'm sure. they do uh so Frederick uh Bru kombucha. for friends and family wanted to share a. few things uh that we got wrong but uh. very sweetly Frederick just says are. worth adding uh you don't need a scobby. to start guys store-bought kombucha is. actually enough if you brew your sweet. tea and let it cool down uh and then add. a little bit of store-bought kombucha. drink to the tea the kombucha you add. will start eating the sugar and form a.

scobby seemingly from nowhere uh so nice. because it makes it super easy to get. started uh and you don't have to seek. out that scobby uh from your. neighborhood social media base that's. pretty cool uh and not all kombucha is. related unfortunately I like this part. as uh as beautiful as it might have been. guys they are not a scoby form when. making some kinds of vinegar when making. homemade apple cider vinegar for example. a scobby can form on the top now I never. managed to make my own scobby from. scratch but I've seen it several places.

uh and many guides on how to do it but. it's not as easy as making. kombucha and that is Frederick overb. Peterson thanks a lot Frederick first of. all great name very stately secondly. thank you for all the information that. was great info too uh if you want to be. like Frederick overb Peterson then you. can get in touch with this like they did. by email send us an email to stuff. podcast iheartradio.com.

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