Quote Originally Posted by jerrwhy01 View Post
I was just going to post something similar. Another one that I go by is "if you think you should call the dive then you already should have."

Finally, I'm very reluctant to touch dive gear that I find on the bottom. Some years ago I was diving in Tobermory, Canada on the wreck of the Arabia. Descending down the line we were blessed with surprisingly good visibility for Lake Huron. Anyway I began to notice a lot of gear that was strewn along the bottom, fins, a mask, BC with tank and regs attached. I thought someone might have lost it overboard in rough seas so I told myself that I'd collect it on the way back. As luck would have it another diver beat me to it.

What we found out when we surfaced was that a diver had drowned at the sight the previous day and that gear was his. Apparently during his struggle to surface he began to doff his gear. It didn't help and he drowned.

Why my reluctance? The diver who retrieved the gear started have a lot of problems with his gear the rest of that trip. Maybe it was coincidence but personally I think it was bad juju.

That must have been before the zebra mussels. Toby always has great viz. The arabia is also a site i've recovered some gear in one dive (dove it too many times, so i decided to explore. Recovered a mask, snorkel, an overweighted weight belt, and a AL60 w/ regulator attached...still pressurized from being under ~2 years. That was a fun dive (unlike the previous one where i lost sight of the wreck)