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Underbar
Take a break from your scuba activities | |
On those marvelous vacations in amazingly beautiful places like Riviera Maya, Mexico, or Thailand or the Maldives, don't you sometimes wish you could stay longer underwater? Since the temperature of the water is not really a problem, maybe something could be done for that unpleasant hollowed stomach
feeling.
So don't look any further, we at Underbars'R Us have heard your stomach cries and are here to satisfy your underwater hunger. Just swim to the floating flag or to the underwater lightstrobe, and feel welcome to our cosy underwater bars. Our bars are completely transparent and offer you a substancial assortment of light foods and beverages. You can leave your goggles and fins in the hanger at the entrance and sit in our comfortable submerged stools at the bar or, if you prefer, you can take one of the tables where a waiter will take your order. Both the stools and table chairs can have their heights adjusted so that you will be as much out of the water as you want.
Important notices:
- we only take dry money
- no sharks will be found inside our bars but we refuse any and all responsibilities for any shark attacks that might occur outside the premises.
underwater potato chip
http://www.halfbake...ter_20potato_20chip Idea came after reading [dogzilla]'s idea [PauloSargaco, Oct 05 2004]
home version?
http://www.poolands...uct000061000039.cfm [luecke, Oct 05 2004]
http://www.sailphi.org.ph/tlyc/rays.html
translated from german [luecke, Oct 05 2004]
Diver's bar
http://babelfish.al...showpage%26pid%3d13 translated from german [Worldgineer, Oct 05 2004]
Prior art:
http://www.aerorese..._ixtapa_aquabar.jpg Search for "aquabar" [piluso, Dec 05 2012]
[link]
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Like it, not convinced that any of the current underwater habitats are the most appealing of environment though. Mind you I have been wondering if it'd be possible to make an ambient pressure habitat out of perspex. + |
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I like the smell of neoprene! |
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The temperature of the water may not
be a problem, but your dive-time
might. The longer you spend at depth,
the less you can dive later. Have a look
at some dive tables. |
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I'm with [st3f]; If I want a bar, I'll stay in the surface. I want to enjoy every minute of my underwater exploration... but neoprene smells quite nice, I'll give you that! + |
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[st3f], that is true for scubadiving but not for snorkeling. The service could be offered at small depths, let's say, 10 meters, so that snorkelers could also take advantage from it. It would also be of great benefit for less experienced snorkelers who could use the underwater bar as a base for their subaquatic explorations...I think. Is there any problem in filling your lungs with air at that pressure and then going back to the surface? |
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Yes, even if it were at 5 meters there'd be problems a lung full of air would expand to 1 œ times the volume at the surface |
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Better off with 'exhale now' signs on the exits, less bulky |
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How about the "exhale now" in conjunction with a baloon for a rapid ascent to the surface? The snorkeler would huf and puf till s/he could take no more air out, then s/he would grab the baloon, and up s/he'd go into the overwater world. Should be quite funny, hu? |
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I don't think that the balloon is a good idea, a sign that
says keep your head up, and exhale slowly will be
sufficient. + |
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"Is there any problem in filling your
lungs with air at that pressure and then
going back to the surface?"
Yes. Two problems. |
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1) Expansion of air. Breathe out, ascend
slowly and equalise the pressure in your
inner ear using your eustacian tubes
and you should be fine. Ascend quickly
and you may rupture your ear-drum. |
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2) Disolved nitrogen. When you spend
time at depth you absorb nitrogen into
the bloodstream. The longer you spend
(and the deeper you go), the more
nitrogen you absorb. If you have more
than a certain amount of nitrogen
disolved in the blood it will form
bubbles then you return to the surface.
These bubbles block blood flow and
cause tissue damage and, occasionally,
death. This is decompression
syndrome, otherwise known as 'the
bends'. |
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According to NAUI, the maximum time
for a first 12m (or less) dive is 130
minutes. This time would be
reduced if you had dived in the last 24
hours. |
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My worry about this bar is this: to use it
safely you'd have to be a qualified diver,
and most divers are so protective of
their dive-time that they wouldn't
spend any time in the dive-bar as it
would restrict the time of their future
dives. |
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The other problem [st3f] is that (at least in BSAC) chronic alcoholism disqualifies you from holding a license and diving while under the influence is a no-no for obvious safety reasons and also the exacerbating effect of pressure on the alcohol in the blood stream. Funny though that a lot of divers enjoy one or more 'cold drinks' after a dive!. 'Just One More for the Blue! Hic!' |
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It would be possible to come up with an addition to the dive tables for a 5m stop. |
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Given that we can stay at the surface for an infinite amount of time and that 5m stops are used as a 'safety deco' the dive time for a 5m dive would be several hours I should imagine. |
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Having a underbar could also be a nice way to decompress from a saturation dive (given that there's enough back-up to deal with any potential problems) |
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scubadooper, I think you've cracked it.
Have the bar as a 5m social
decompression stop for deeper divers
and you'll keep the scuba crowd happy.
I don't know if that's shallow enough to
be able to open it for snorklers without
training but it sounds better than 10m. |
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[Tabs] that's what the 'exhale' signs are for. |
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The trouble I can see is if it were a 10m diameter 2.5 meter high dome there'd be one hell of a lot of bouyancy (about 150 tons) It'd be nice to have it made out of perspex (or any clear material) maybe it could be held down by corkscrew ground anchors which would allow you to move it around depending on the local conditions etc. |
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You could make the exhale signs nice and gruesome with pictures of cartoon people's lungs exploding. |
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stick air sources at all the tables so you can save your own air. |
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"I wouln't go to that bar, I've heard it's a dive....." |
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An "elevator" bar could eliminate the bends problem.
Slowly rising to the surface with stops at different
levels, it could be used to extend free diving time, and
for free divers to reach great depths. |
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As I understand it, the issue isn't really with the pressure per se, but with the change in pressure of going up again after equalibriating at depth. |
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Therefore, it would make sense to have a hotel (with underbar and other modern conveniences) at some reasonable depth - which would mean the serious divers could spend more time at their desired greater depth. And it would be a destination for casual divers in itself. |
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