A chat with an old hand on the dock about silt and patience

I was grumbling about a zero-vis job in Mobile Bay last month, just wanting to get it done. This retired diver, Frank, leaned over and said, 'Kid, the silt isn't your enemy, it's your clock. You can't rush a clock.' For some reason that stuck with me more than any gear talk. I've been moving slower on the murky jobs since, and my air lasts longer. Anyone else have a simple piece of advice that just clicked for them later?

2 comments

2 Comments

anthonymurray9d ago

Man, that Frank guy is spot on. I had a foreman tell me once that fighting the water just uses up your air, and you're not gonna win. He said to move like you're underwater, not like you're late for dinner. Took me a couple panicked silt-outs to really get it, but when you stop thrashing, everything gets calmer. Your brain works better, your hands work better. It feels wrong to go slow when you can't see, but it's the only thing that works.

jesse_fisher9d ago

Ever have that moment where you're fighting the current to get a bolt started and you just stop, take a breath, and let your hand find it by feel? That's the shift for me. Forcing it just stirs up a cloud and wastes time. Now when it's black down there, I almost pretend I'm moving in slow motion. My air use dropped like crazy once I stopped trying to win a race against nothing.