My Contribution To Megalodon Hunting The Hunter By Mark Renz

[megateeth]

Today on a SCUBA diving forum someone asked me how I find spots to dive for fossils. Back in 2001 when Mark Renz was writing "Megalodon: Hunting the Hunter" he asked me to write two sections on diving for Megalodon teeth for his new book. One of the sections was on finding a dive spot and the other was on diving hazards. I e-mailed Mark tonight and he had a file of the chapter text with my sections and allowed me to post it online. Almost ten years and a couple thousand fossil dives later it is pretty much still accurate for me here in Savannah. In other areas like FL and inland areas of SC it is probably not even close. I thought that some here might like to read it.

http://www.megateeth.com/hunter.php

[Hawkeye]

After reading that I think I would feel much better being the boat operator waiting for you to surface than to be the one on the bottom!

[MarkGelbart]

I would be too afraid to try scuba diving. Scuba diving has more deaths per capita than any other sport. There's just too much that can go wrong.

I'm going to get Renz's book--Fossiling in Florida. I'm sure the material in it will be good fodder for my own blog. Eventually, I may be compelled to purchase Hunting the Hunter as well.

[Oddball]

I thought it was just my luck to have bad conditions on freshwater dives. My ship (I'm retired Navy) had it's own dive club. A group of us have made over a dozen dives in and around the Caloosahatchee River for whatever fossil material we could find. The conditions were so murky that if you didn't know you brought your hands, you'd never know it in the water. We had to glove-grope the bottom for material, place them unseen into our catch bags, and check the material at the surface. Most of the material were leaverites (You know, ...once you do a good check of a piece and realize you should just leave 'er right where you found it.). But, we kept going back because some nice material came up. Like tapir teeth, gator teeth and scutes, horse hoof/legbones, shark teeth/vertebrae, calcified corals with vugs, ray spines/dermal denticles/tooth batteries, etc. It was really hard work for the yield but, we kept at it because it was fun hard work, there was always the dream of making a major find in the blind, and ...the post dive BBQs couldn't be beat.

Edited May 1, 2010 by Oddball

[megateeth]

Mark

I am curious as to where you read that diving has more deaths per capita. I was a SCUBA instructor and while there are many risks I never heard it put that way.

I am not saying that it is completely safe and what you said may be true. Like anything you love to do you have to be as careful as you can. I understand that diving especially what I do is not for everyone which is why when Mark asked me to write about diving I insisted on writing about the hazards. I get divers calling me weekly to take them diving and I always decline because of liability concerns. For me though I would not give it up for any reason other than medical issues.

Also Marks Fossiling in FL is a great book.

I would be too afraid to try scuba diving. Scuba diving has more deaths per capita than any other sport. There's just too much that can go wrong.

I'm going to get Renz's book--Fossiling in Florida. I'm sure the material in it will be good fodder for my own blog. Eventually, I may be compelled to purchase Hunting the Hunter as well.

[megateeth]

That is the number one comment I hear around here. I guess that is why I find so much.

After reading that I think I would feel much better being the boat operator waiting for you to surface than to be the one on the bottom!

[megateeth]

That sounds exactly the conditions I see (or do not see). I would still dive as much as possible if they were not worth a cent. I just would not be allowed to dive 4-5 times a week.

I thought it was just my luck to have bad conditions on freshwater dives. My ship (I'm retired Navy) had it's own dive club. A group of us have made over a dozen dives in and around the Caloosahatchee River for whatever fossil material we could find. The conditions were so murky that if you didn't know you brought your hands, you'd never know it in the water. We had to glove-grope the bottom for material, place them unseen into our catch bags, and check the material at the surface. Most of the material were leaverites (You know, ...once you do a good check of a piece and realize you should just leave 'er right where you found it.). But, we kept going back because some nice material came up. Like tapir teeth, gator teeth and scutes, horse hoof/legbones, shark teeth/vertebrae, calcified corals with vugs, ray spines/dermal denticles/tooth batteries, etc. It was really hard work for the yield but, we kept at it because it was fun hard work, there was always the dream of making a major find in the blind, and ...the post dive BBQs couldn't be beat.

[AeroMike]

Nice contribution to the book. I know here in Charleston, we need to obtain a Hobby Divers License to collect anything below the water line where the water line is influenced by the tide. I'd rather pay the $14 now then a $200+ fine later and lose my finds.

I like diving in the rivers and yes, it is something else. One other local hazzard is snakes, some of them can be very aggresive.

[MarkGelbart]

Mark

I am curious as to where you read that diving has more deaths per capita. I was a SCUBA instructor and while there are many risks I never heard it put that way.

I am not saying that it is completely safe and what you said may be true. Like anything you love to do you have to be as careful as you can. I understand that diving especially what I do is not for everyone which is why when Mark asked me to write about diving I insisted on writing about the hazards. I get divers calling me weekly to take them diving and I always decline because of liability concerns. For me though I would not give it up for any reason other than medical issues.

Also Marks Fossiling in FL is a great book.

I don't remember the original source--it's been many years since I read that. But a google search on SCUBA deaths finds that the American Academy of Family Physicians estimates an average annual death rate of 90 worldwide between 1980-2001. I can't think of any other sport that even comes close to that number.

[Auspex]

...the American Academy of Family Physicians estimates an average annual death rate of 90 worldwide between 1980-2001. I can't think of any other sport that even comes close to that number.

So, in 20 years, world-wide, 90 people died while scuba diving? I call that an extraordinary safety record!

Statistically, that is "compensatory mortality", not additive.

[megateeth]

I don't remember the original source--it's been many years since I read that. But a google search on SCUBA deaths finds that the American Academy of Family Physicians estimates an average annual death rate of 90 worldwide between 1980-2001. I can't think of any other sport that even comes close to that number.

I always think there are a lot of skiing deaths. I lived in Northwestern PA and I always heard about a couple per year up there. I know there are more skiers than divers so I do not know the rate. Hunting also (Bambi hunting not fossil hunting).

[MarkGelbart]

So, in 20 years, world-wide, 90 people died while scuba diving? I call that an extraordinary safety record!

Statistically, that is "compensatory mortality", not additive.

No, that's an average of 90 deaths per year.

"Annual."

[Auspex]

No, that's an average of 90 deaths per year.

"Annual."

Oooo, my carelessness!

[Frank Menser]

I like diving in the rivers and yes, it is something else. One other local hazzard is snakes, some of them can be very aggresive.

Snakes should not be a hazard for a diver, as the likelyhood of running into them in deeper water or below the surface is slight.

(ed to add; Moccasins are not a watersnake-though they will swim when necessary. Because they are sofat, they are boyant and swim with much of their body floating the surface.So the odds strongly favor an encounter with a harmless species below the surface.)

It's a pity so many people mistake curiosity or defensiveness on behalf of the snake as aggressiveness. Generally it is the situation that either people surprise and/or try to kill the snake, or the snake mistakes your boat for a log and is just trying to get out of the water.

In my forty odd years of working with snakes in their habitat and also in zoo's I have yet to have met an eastern Moccasin that actually attacked people, but dozens of harmless watersnakes that struck when cornered.

Harmless banded watersnake. Often mistaken for Moccasins and ironically more aggressively defensive than their venemous cousin.

Edited May 3, 2010 by Frank Menser

[megateeth]

When diving you often surface in the river away from the boat. That is where you are more likely to encounter gators and snakes. I never ran into either like that and since you know a lot more about snakes than I do I defer to your expertise. It just seemed like something to think about.

Snakes should not be a hazard for a diver, as the likelyhood of running into them in deeper water or below the surface is slight.

(ed to add; Moccasins are not a watersnake-though they will swim when necessary. Because they are sofat, they are boyant and swim with much of their body floating the surface.So the odds strongly favor an encounter with a harmless species below the surface.)

It's a pity so many people mistake curiosity or defensiveness on behalf of the snake as aggressiveness. Generally it is the situation that either people surprise and/or try to kill the snake, or the snake mistakes your boat for a log and is just trying to get out of the water.

In my forty odd years of working with snakes in their habitat and also in zoo's I have yet to have met an eastern Moccasin that actually attacked people, but dozens of harmless watersnakes that struck when cornered.

Harmless banded watersnake. Often mistaken for Moccasins and ironically more aggressively defensive than their venemous cousin.