"Guided" 200' dive with a single AL80?

[drbill]

Hey VooDooGasMan, good to hear from you. Hope you two have a great Thanksgiving.

Mike is right... no one was slamming me for my diving. However, if they were to be critical I'd have to be objective and reply that they should be. It is not something I'd project as a model to follow. In fact I am quite happy when instructors on board point out to their classes that solo diving like I do is not something they should try. That is wise advice and instruction. Of course the ones that know me usually add, but Bill has decades of experience and specialized training to dive that way.

 

[116fire]

There are many issues here:
Taking as a payed guide Rec divers on this dive would be negligent.
Taking a group of friends on a dive like this a little irresponsible.
As someone mentioned, people do freedives deeper than this.
Just because you have a cert, doesn't mean you are fit and competent to do a dive.
Just because you don't have a cert, doesn't mean you aren't fit to do a dive.
Just because your diving within you cert doesn't mean you can't die.
Just because your diving beyond your cert doesn't mean you will.
I do stupid stuff all the time, thus far I have survived. I do it less as time goes by, and realize more often that I'm doing it at the time.

 

[captain]

Hey VooDooGasMan, good to hear from you. Hope you two have a great Thanksgiving.

Mike is right... no one was slamming me for my diving. However, if they were to be critical I'd have to be objective and reply that they should be. It is not something I'd project as a model to follow. In fact I am quite happy when instructors on board point out to their classes that solo diving like I do is not something they should try. That is wise advice and instruction. Of course the ones that know me usually add, but Bill has decades of experience and specialized training to dive that way.

Come on Dr. Bill, do you really have specialized training?

 

[amascuba]

Come on Dr. Bill, do you really have specialized training?

specialized training == trial and error with no fatalities. :blinking:

 

[RS]

I learned years ago that one may "plan" a dive to just 40 ft, but nature may modify your plan (in my case descending to twice that depth to film a bat ray) and then equipment failure may require the redundancy that you didn't take with you. Fortunately I was able to make a CESA from 70+ ft with "no" air in my lungs.

Ummm, busted 1st stage?

 

[RS]

Welcome to the Islands mon,

Glad you like the Cane Bay wall here on St Croix's north shore.
The west wall of the Salt River canyon is another great wall dive.

Having lived here for some years now, They're still my favorites. I've no doubt seen more of the deep topography there than anyone, and better yet, I can remember it later.

From personal experience, I can assure you that no matter what it seems like while you're there on air, it'll be a rude awakening when you do the same dive on mix. It's quite a shock when you realize that things you've seen dozens of times don't really look at all like you remember them, that is if you remember them, and if you recognize them.


One of these days, I really need to get to St Thomas and do wrecks, perfect dive for doubles with 30/30.


Darlene

You know, I think they are brains!

 

[captain]

specialized training == trial and error with no fatalities. :blinking:

Experience= taking the test before learning the lesson .

 

[drbill]

Yes, specialized training... and 46 years of experience diving. Doesn't mean something couldn't happen though.

No, not busted first stage (although that did happen with a rental reg on a 100' dive at Chumphon Pinnacle in Thailand in 2001)... it was a clogged debris (or dip) tube that stopped all air flow through the first stage.

 

[ChrisA]

This is not normally how this is done, what if you would have used your 2,000 psi then went to your other tank to find you can not access its gas?

I think there are places and agencies that do it this way. The setup is called "twins" not "doubles". Twins lack a manifold and there is just one reg on each tank. You swap regs every 200 PSI or so. I've run into two people who were trained this way.

You can't use the gas in the tank you have to shut down But you do have a fully redundant system. It is useful because most people can scrounge up a set of twins from normal rec gear.

 

[PacketSniffer]

<snip>
Trimix is expensive. Period.

...not if you have a rebreather.