23 replies to this topic

[cdtgray]

Well you don't stand alone, cdtgray...

I know there are a lot of people that have done, are doing, and will do deep air dives. It seems however that there is always someone on these diving message boards who will step up and proclaim that even thinking about doing those dives marks someone as a horribly reckless diver.

[Diverbrian]

As I said, I am not a huge fan of deep air, but I wouldn't call it a reckless practice or flame it. Like many diving practices, it is simply under the "not for me" category. That turns into another issue all its own. When I dove the Florida, we had one air diver who simply limited his dive to 160 ft. (his choice) rather than use mix like the rest of us down to 180+.

[mirrocraft]

if youare going to be doing this kinda diving you wouldnt be carring everybottle the entire dive i dont know many people carrying a 100% mix to 200+ft most people i know stage there bottles at the max depth it can be used this way you dont have to worry about all them tanks suring the entire dive

[JimG]

most people i know stage there bottles at the max depth it can be used this way you dont have to worry about all them tanks suring the entire dive

That works in a cave, but not in the open ocean. What would you do if you got blown off the site? On an ocean dive, you carry the deco gas with you throughout the dive. Fortunately, the bottom times on these types of dives are usually short (at least when compared to cave diving), so you do not typically need a ton of gas. Most people get by pretty well with a 20 or 30 cf tank for their deco mixes.

[ScubaDadMiami]

I also agree. I carry all my gas (bail out included) during ocean dives. I only drop tanks during cave dives. In the ocean, you cannot be assured of returning on the same path from which you came due to changing conditions.

[Geek]

I am surprised to see this thread resurrected after all this time, but it is a good topic.

What I suggest is reading "The Last Dive". While the incident described in that book did not involve multiple gas mixes, it did pretty well establish carrying all of your gas with you as standard procedure for Open Ocean dives, at least in this area which is NJ.

[Dive_Girl]

if youare going to be doing this kinda diving you wouldnt be carring everybottle the entire dive i dont know many people carrying a 100% mix to 200+ft most people i know stage there bottles at the max depth it can be used this way you dont have to worry about all them tanks suring the entire dive

Divers in the PNW carry all the deco bottles they will need on a dive. An extra deco bottle may be dropped from a boat as a backup in case of failure (and assuming you're not also blown off the site), but not as the one you are to rely on for your deco obligation. I was trained to make sure that I could complete the extended deco obligation that would result of a deco bottle failure on my backgas.

My tech instructor goes one step further when planning most open ocean wreck dives deeper than 200' and that is to have a safety diver that comes along and meets the team as a designated depth carrying additional deco bottles, also in case of failures.

[mirrocraft]

yes i agreewith all about carring there deco bottle on ocean dive since i have not done any ocean dives im land locked and well dont have the money for charters i stick with the caves and quarys

[Diverbrian]

All of this was very well said. I don't dive caves because I don't live close enough to them. I dive wrecks.

On wrecks, I was trained to remove deco bottles only if needed to squeeze into/out of a tight area or to help clear myself of an entanglement. Otherwise, I carry all of the deco gas that I will require because I am not guaranteed that I can get back to it. Many times, I use two deco gases for one basic reason. Either one would get me back to the surface on its own if I had failure that rendered a bottle useless. By using two different gases, I can pick one up deeper and start my deco sooner if all goes well. If one fails, I have enough gas to easily do my deco, but it will be longer (and I dive cold water so deco time can be quite chilling).