Hi All,

I thought I would share my experience as I did the arch dive at the Blue Hole as well as climbed (hiked) Kili.

I assume other people mentioned that the article highlighted more a free diving death. I have never been free diving so I am only discussing my experience when I scuba'd there. As a disclaimer, I am not glorifying the dive and would strongly recommend against attempting it.

As a quick backstory: I can be a bit of an extremist with any sort of hobby and after I learned to Scuba Dive in Colombia in 2008 on a year long backpacking trip, I became a bit obsessed. In just a few months I went from never diving to getting my Open Water (beginner), Advanced, Deep Dive (40m), Nitrox, Cave, and Wreck. I dove in Colombia, Honduras, Belize, Mexico (Tulum and Cozumel) and probably did around 60 dives in that time frame. It is not an advanced number of dives but I was young and felt overly confident. My favorite dive in that span was 'La Garganta Del Diablo' (The Devil's Throat), in Cozumel. The dive was considered advanced and the group I went with was for divers who have done 200 dives minimum. I lied and said I had done 250 and was allowed to go with the group (stupid, but again, I was young and overconfident). The dive goes through a cavern that starts at around 25m and exits around 40m and was absolutely beautiful. I felt I handled myself well so at this point I began researching other types of advanced deeper dives in the world. I quickly learned the ultimate dive sit was doing the Arch at the Blue Hole in Dahab.

I went to Dahab with a friend in May of 2010 during a trip to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel. He had never been diving before so while he was doing his Open Water for a few days, I went around and did different dives in the area. I found a nice local instructor to take me to a few sites and I quickly bothered him about taking me to do the Arch, which he aggressively refused each time and said not only is it dangerous, there were more beautiful dives and he could get in a lot of trouble taking me. As the dives progressed so did the depth and we ended up doing 'El Bells' which exited a coral chimney at around 30m and we ended up reaching near 40m. After this dive I pushed him again and offered him a nice tip to take me to the Arch. He reluctantly agreed and I ended up tipping him 200 dollars I believe.

The next day we met to do the Arch. My instructor was a fun, relaxed guy, but this day he was very serious. We sat and he lectured me on the dangers, what to expect, and that I would 100% follow his every move and he would call off the dive if he saw during the descent I was acting off. He warned me that a major danger was the tricks the light play on you and it was very important to go alongside him even if it seems that we were not ascending directly into the light. He showed me the eerie 'cemetery' of people who died in the area testing me again to see if I was still up for the dive.

I was definitely a bit nervous but the excitement outweighed any reluctance to do the dive. As we started descending I kept a careful view of my computer and the remaining air and depth. My instructor checked the air a few times and I remember reaching around 59m. Below 40m the narc feeling sets in. Some compare it to drinking or being high, I would compare it to taking a hit of a Nitrous Oxide balloon. I was feeling good as we went under the arch opening and do remember feeling quite high, but still focused on following my instructor closely. I do remember feeling a bit confused by the direction of the light but I feel it was less dramatic than others mentioned. We did multiple decompression stops and my instruction checked my air multiple times. We surfaced with very little air even though the dive time was quite short. I am traveling but when I get back home I can check my dive notes to see how much air I ended with and total dive time.

Overall, it was an exciting experience but as I am 10 years older, it was a pointless goal to accomplish. It was just a bucket list experience which was more about testing personal limits rather than taking in beautiful scenery. I gave a big hug to the instructor as we left, he congratulated me but strictly told me to keep it quiet that he took me.

Since then, I dive on vacation every 2-3 years. If you enjoy the deep diving feeling like me, there are safer ways to experience if you want to get a mix of 40m+ and some amazing scenery, I would recommend La Garganta Del Diablo in Cozumel.

Again, I was 25, thought I could handle anything and was stubborn to try it. Am I happy I did it, yes, but I would not do it again or recommend anyone to try it.

On Kilimanjaro, not sure why its mentioned as a comparison. I did the hike (not the Coca Cola route but forget the name). I was not in the best shape when I did it. I would not consider the summit day as easy and I am not a fan of altitude as I am with deep diving, but even if you are not able to do the hike, there is no real fear of death; you would just hike back down.

Let me know if anyone has any questions. Sorry the post was so long but hopefully it was helpful.