![]() I love the beach and the ocean, but there is something incredibly creepy about deep ocean water. On the vastness of “short” distances in ocean waters. It also explains why the Blue Hole in the Dahab region of Egypt, which is easy to access (it’s right off the beach), having calm waters and usually good weather, is deceptive in its “easiness” but is actually one of the most dangerous diving spots on earth. This excellent documentary explains the science of why narcosis happens and speculates about what actually happened to Yuri Lipski before he died and what he must have experienced in those final moments. It seriously impairs a diver’s judgment and can itself be fatal. Narcosis causes a diver to enter an altered state similar to drunkenness but which may also include hallucinations like a psychedelic drug. He was suffering from a serious medical condition known to divers called narcosis, caused by the intake of too much oxygen. It seemed like he may have been suffering a seizure as he hit bottom but was still aware of his surroundings because he checked his diver’s computer and finally ripped off his oxygen mask. He seemed to be aware of his fate though one cannot be sure. You can hear Yuri wheezing and struggling to get enough air into his lungs as he hurtles toward his death. If he had tried to go through the “arch,” he also would have ran out of oxygen long before he could make it back to the surface and drowned. ![]() There was no way he would have been able to return to the surface once he got much below the “safe zone.” Not only because there was too much water pressure for him to be able to achieve enough buoyancy to return to the surface at that depth, but also because he would have died anyway from a condition called the “bends” (decompression sickness) even if he had been able to rise before his limited oxygen ran out. He was carrying too much camera equipment and only one standard oxygen tank, a grave mistake. Whatever really happened, he soon lost control and began hurtling toward the ocean floor once the water pressure became too great for him to be able to achieve buoyancy and rise to the surface. Or at least that’s the theory, since Yuri never lived to tell his story. Yuri apparently dove alone to depths exceeding the recommended 40 meters, in order to pass under the much desired “arch” which is a deceptively deep underwater cavelike structure (and to a diver appears much closer than it actually is), to get the best views. Only the most experienced divers who are equipped with special tanks containing an oxygen/helium/nitrogen mix (oxygen alone becomes toxic at great depths) should ever attempt to dive to depths greater than 130 feet (40 meters). One of the basic rules for scuba divers is to never dive without a buddy, and to make sure you have the proper equipment appropriate for the depth you plan to dive. Because the entire dive, including his death, was recorded on camera, he became the most well known casualty of what has become dubbed by many “The Divers’ Graveyard.” On April 28, 2000, Yuri Lipski, a 22 year old Russian diving instructor, decided to dive in the (in)famous (but very popular) Blue Hole off the coast of Egypt, in the Red Sea. TRIGGER WARNING: If you are bothered by footage of actual deaths in progress, I don’t recommend watching this video. The footage of this 22 year old diving instructor (who should have known better than to scuba dive in one of the most dangerous diving locations on the planet without the proper equipment or with a diving partner) falling to his death on the ocean floor is incredibly scary and heartbreaking. I watched the entire thing, and was simultaneously fascinated and horrified. I was browsing nature videos on Youtube the other night, and I stumbled on the below video.
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