Complete Video - Wreck of the Castor, Goliath Grouper Central

[ricki]

Here's a video of a scooter free diving on the wreck of the Castor. I had heard that Goliath Grouper aka Jewfish for many centuries previously, were present in numbers on this wreck. Made about a dozen drops on the wreck shooting video with two cameras. Distilled all that into this video clip. Headed out with the Undersea Explorer (https://securec7.ezhostingserver.com/diveboyntonbeach-com/indexs.cfm) from the marina behind Two Georges in Boynton Beach for a three tank dive. My main goal was hitting the Castor, a 258 ft. long ship sunk as an artificial reef in 110 ft. south of Boynton Beach Inlet. Visibility was fairly low about 50 ft. making seeing the top of the vessel tricky and setting up free dives more so. Still, there were almost no waves and a light south current making things easier.

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Video shot with GoPro WIDE camera
http://www.fksa.org/albums/album468/GoPro_logo.jpg (http://www.goprocamera.com/)

I understand they make take off from SCUBA divers somewhat. I didn't see any my first several dives around the SCUBA guys. Once the other divers moved forward towards the bow, saw a number collecting around the aft port quarter. I saw about dozen or so a couple of dives after this collected around the stern. I would guess these guys were about 4 to 5 feet long, the wide angle lens makes them seem smaller.

http://www.fksa.org/albums/album468/jewfish_1.jpg
Fuzzy still image captured from video. This is the second grouper mouth wide open charging at me looking more than a little pissed. Was it something I said or do you have a problem with yellow dive scooters?


I didn't know how close I could approach with lower revs and not send them flying off. Looks like around 6 to 10 ft. is the approach limit before they pop their swim bladder and send the guys charging off. So, to get better shots it would be better to stop or veer off about that far away from these big guys. I recall stories growing up about really big jewfish inhaling divers on occasion. Not an ideal outcome for a free diver below 100 ft..

http://www.fksa.org/albums/album468/jewfish_IMG_4027.jpg

[ricki]

Looking into it, it seems a number of divers have gone afoul of jewfish or goliaths. Several have had their heads swallowed, temporarily. One diver may have been swallowed, perhaps permanently, off the Keys. Any good goliath grouper stories out there?

[Danimal8199]

Manny Puig, occasional cast member of MTV's Jackass and Wildboyz show was attacked by a Goliath grouper on one of the episodes. It was a pretty big fish, sucked in his arm all the way to the shoulder. Its in one of the episodes although i couldn't find the clip i found a link to another story that cost a man his life: http://www.cdnn.info/news/eco/e060915.html

[ricki]

7780326

Just put the complete video, w/music and lots of groupers up in exchange for the short clip that was above this post.


Manny Puig, occasional cast member of MTV's Jackass and Wildboyz show was attacked by a Goliath grouper on one of the episodes. It was a pretty big fish, sucked in his arm all the way to the shoulder. Its in one of the episodes although i couldn't find the clip i found a link to another story that cost a man his life: http://www.cdnn.info/news/eco/e060915.html

I'll have to keep a look out for Manny's arm encounter. Bet those gil rakers could make hamburger out of your arm. I remember that story of the poacher that was killed by the fish he killed. It is on here someplace. Some even said a jewfish might have been the basis for the story of Jonah?

[conchxpress]

Rick, any word on the death of the Vandenburg diver? What are your thoughts. I had read that he was an experienced diver, but was using rebreathing gear for the first time. The article also said that his medical history included Obstructive Sleep Apnea and used a CPAP machine at home. Do you think that divers with this history are at risk for diving related mishaps? From my knowledge, patients with OSA have an altered sensitivity to the CO2 and O2 triggers involving respiration. Normally, the principle respiratory drive is to elevated CO2 first and low O2 second, but in these patients, the CO2 drive is blunted because of the body's adaptation to periods of apnea during sleep, caused by obstructive upper airway problems. It's my elementary understanding(please correct me if I'm wrond) that with the rebreather, the diver has to make adjustments to gas mixture himself, depending on depth and activity. Why does a John Q Citizen diver ever need to use a re-breather? This is Navy Seal covert type stuff. And pretty costly - around 5 grand? Thought maybe you could shed some light on this subject.

[ricki]

Hello Frank,

I am sorry to hear about the loss of this diver. I have done some quick searching and facts are few at this point aside from some of what you have summarized and that appear below.

It seems he wasn't totally new to the unit but was not reportedly extensively experienced with it either with 50 dives on the system. I am not that familiar with technical diving at depth and OSA. I did my trimix diving back in the day and got out of it due to chronic low grade DCS hits from all that damn weight in 1992! Your perspective would be a lot more valid than mine I suspect. Anyway, some references regarding OSA and diving, particularly deeper technical diving at:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-287350.html
http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/report/2005DCIReport.pdf

As far as rebreathers being out there, not really anymore. I would have killed for one as a teen, when they were still $50,000 and limited to the military and specialty commercial diving outfits. Even designed one in college. After getting out of trimix, I feel no compulsion to get into rebreathers today. Although, they usually lack the issue that caused my problems in trimix, the weight of five tanks. They are expanding in use substantially though. Time before last on the Speigel Grove off Key Largo must have seen eight or more guys on the wreck in an hour using rebreathers. It is a growing segment in recreational diving worldwide.

Not sure about normal recreational diving but OSA may well preclude free diving. Normal functioning of CO2 physiology is critical in what we do.

Known facts: I will be adding them to this post as they come to light for easy reference.


Middle aged male diving the Vandenberg using a Sentinel Rebreather with 50+ logged hours of experience on unit
Victims was Richard McCoy Jr., 51, from Cypress, TX
Victim was a recreational trimix diluent student, part of a 3 man team
Dives were conducted from the M/V Spree
Visibility was reported at 40' with a mild current.
Buddies were a technical diver instructor candidate (IC) diving an Evolution and his instructor trainer (IT) diving a Sentinel
Dive was non-penetration with a max depth of 97' and a runtime of 34 minutes
Victim experienced (unknown at this time) problems at depth and made a rapid ascent.
Buddies omitted 6 minutes of deco to surface and assist victim.
Victim arrived on surface unconscious and CPR was performed for 40 minutes.
Victim was reported DOA at medical facilities on Stock Island.
Buddies were reported to be showing mild symptoms of DCS.
The IC was evaluated at the Lower Keys Med Center and released.
The IT went to the chamber at Mercy.
Monroe County SO has the CCR, bailout and computers.




http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/311888-2009-11-13-death-vandenberg.html

Rick, any word on the death of the Vandenburg diver? What are your thoughts. I had read that he was an experienced diver, but was using rebreathing gear for the first time. The article also said that his medical history included Obstructive Sleep Apnea and used a CPAP machine at home. Do you think that divers with this history are at risk for diving related mishaps? From my knowledge, patients with OSA have an altered sensitivity to the CO2 and O2 triggers involving respiration. Normally, the principle respiratory drive is to elevated CO2 first and low O2 second, but in these patients, the CO2 drive is blunted because of the body's adaptation to periods of apnea during sleep, caused by obstructive upper airway problems. It's my elementary understanding(please correct me if I'm wrond) that with the rebreather, the diver has to make adjustments to gas mixture himself, depending on depth and activity. Why does a John Q Citizen diver ever need to use a re-breather? This is Navy Seal covert type stuff. And pretty costly - around 5 grand? Thought maybe you could shed some light on this subject.

[ricki]

Others have been in with a group of goliaths before. What did you see, how did they behave?

Thanks!

[ricki]

Just came across a Cousteau video shot in recent years with a bunch of goliath groupers on a Florida Keys wreck. These guys were lucky SCUBA divers didn't scare off the fish as in the case of the wreck I dove. There camera had a lot sharper focus than a GoPro WIDE camera although it likely cost a good deal more with housing!

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