Search Diving: The Dark Side of SCUBA

Framed by shadows from leafless trees lining the banks of the narrow canal, the already dim November sunlight disappears as murky, brown water swallows the drysuit, the BC, the air tank. The mask slowly settles lower, silt forming a grimy division on the lens, a surreal line of separation between the world of sight and sound and the world of darkness and silence. The water churns with bubbles, further shrouding this bleak place just inches below the surface, yet seemingly a million miles away from reality. It's a whole new environment, one of solitary silence, except for the occasional grinding of a propeller blade or the shouts of other team members. The boots stick in the deep mud, making each step a struggle. No need for fins, no gliding effortlessly through a crystal clear lagoon like SCUBA is portrayed in the movies.

This is no exotic dive resort, it's Sauvie Island, Oregon. And it's no vacation, it's the investigation into the disappearance of Kyron Horman. Among the many tragic, horrible subplots the Kyron Horman case has produced, it has also brought to light some positive ones. Case in point: the grim, thankless and yet important job of the volunteer search diver.

"I'm pretty adventurous," search diver Jayson Cottle told a local newscrew about the efforts on Sauvie Island. "I like going and doing unusual things that most people are not interested in."

That's an understatement. Search diving is a tough, grisly task that's not for the faint of heart. Most operations are recoveries, almost never for a live person, and it's compared to being a medical examiner, except dead and decomposing bodies are much different underwater. Sometimes the body will just turn or move around and appear to take a look right at you. Sometimes marine life moves around under the skin making it appear like the facial muscles are flexing and smiling or blinking the eyes. Often, due to the low-visibility conditions, divers report smelling, even tasting the bodies well before they actually see them.

Because of such horrifying situations, even the toughest of the tough wear down and give up on search diving, usually after only a couple of years.

The job can be one without much reward, and with a lot of personal expense. Most search divers are volunteers, driving themselves in their own personal vehicles to the search site, providing their own dive gear (up to $6,000 worth) and not getting paid a dime. Even the paid search divers are usually Firefighters or Police Officers are only compensated a tiny amount, in some cases literally $15 extra every two weeks.

But these folks aren't in it for the money. It's their higher sense of duty and altruism that calls them to this task. They feel like it's a job that nobody else wants to do, yet we all know somebody has to.

Somebody has to get into that muddy, cold water, fighting the currents and peering through two-foot visibility. It's probably the most important job in some crime investigations. Sometimes its the search diver who is called upon to find key evidence that could help to solve a case. Other times they are instrumental in recovering the body of a drowning victim, helping the family to at least have some sense of closure.

Whatever the motivation, there is something instinctual inside the people who become search divers that drives them to help others. Good thing, too, for in that dark world of solitary silence, instinct is sometimes the only thing they can rely upon.

Dive Watches Are Great For Diving And Every Day Use

When it comes to the individual components of your scuba diving gear, most people would probably not rank a waterproof watch very high on the priority list. Most people would probably rank their buoyancy control device, regulator, and air tank at the top of the list. The humble dive watch usually falls to the bottom. After all, it's just a time piece, right? Not necessarily. Although scuba watches don't usually get the credit they deserve, they really should be near the top of your list. This is because they provide you with information that is critical to a safe dive. Namely, the amount of time, or duration of your dive. Even if you have been diving in water that isn't too deep, you will still need to know how long you've been under so that you don't stay too long and run the risk of getting sick from nitrogen narcosis or even hypothermia.

Finding a great scuba watch is very easy to do since there are a lot of great companies that make many different styles and features of these diving components. They are available for both men and women and you can even get them in either analog or digital formats. The majority of watch companies that make tradition watches also make dive watches too. You're probably already very familiar with the brands... TAG Heuer, Luminox, Swiss Army, Pulsar, Seiko, Citizen, and many others. How much you spend on a waterproof watch depends on what features and styles you are interested in. For example, you can find and inexpensive aquatic watch for just $30 or a more stylish watch for $300. It just depends on what you are looking for.

There are a lot of people who wear their scuba watches as their everyday watch. That's totally understandable since many of these watches are indistinguishable from their "civilian" counterparts. Many scuba diving watches go just as well with a tuxedo as they would with a wetsuit. You find dive watches that are just as fancy as you want. Many of them, for example, come with gorgeous stainless steel or crocodile bands. They can be either sophisticated and stylish or simple and functional. You can wear your waterproof watch to a fancy evening dinner or even wear it while playing basketball.

Professional dive watches are very different from regular dive watches. You could say they are in their own class. Professional scuba watches typically do much more than basic dive watches do. These watches are feature rich and frequently have dive computers and other features built in. Professional dive watches are usually not cheap. They normally cost hundreds of dollars for a good one.