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.-- PauloSargaco, Jul 28 2004 underwater potato chip http://www.halfbake...ter_20potato_20chipIdea 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%3d13translated from german [Worldgineer, Oct 05 2004] Prior art: http://www.aerorese..._ixtapa_aquabar.jpgSearch for "aquabar" [piluso, Dec 05 2012] 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. +-- scubadooper, Jul 28 2004 I like the smell of neoprene!-- PauloSargaco, Jul 28 2004 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.-- st3f, Jul 28 2004 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! +-- Pericles, Jul 28 2004 [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?-- PauloSargaco, Jul 28 2004 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-- scubadooper, Jul 28 2004 Add an airlock?-- Worldgineer, Jul 28 2004 Better off with 'exhale now' signs on the exits, less bulky-- scubadooper, Jul 28 2004 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?-- PauloSargaco, Jul 28 2004 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. +-- swimr, Jul 28 2004 "Is there any problem in filling your lungs with air at that pressure and then going back to the surface?" Yes. Two problems.
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.
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'.
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.
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.-- st3f, Jul 29 2004 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!'-- gnomethang, Jul 29 2004 It would be possible to come up with an addition to the dive tables for a 5m stop.
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.
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)-- scubadooper, Jul 29 2004 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.-- st3f, Jul 29 2004 [Tabs] that's what the 'exhale' signs are for.
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.-- scubadooper, Jul 29 2004 You could make the exhale signs nice and gruesome with pictures of cartoon people's lungs exploding.-- scubadooper, Jul 29 2004 stick air sources at all the tables so you can save your own air.-- sninctown, Nov 30 2005 "I wouln't go to that bar, I've heard it's a dive....."-- Minimal, Nov 30 2005 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.-- pashute, Dec 05 2012 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.
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.-- Loris, Dec 05 2012 random, halfbakery