Deac in the Wake
Contributor
I was recently diving a "new" spot off Islamorada in the Keys. There's a ledge off shore with a high population of lionfish and our group went out there to do some "clean-up work." You have to anchor a little ways off the ledge and you're in the 80-90 ft range once you swim down and out to the corral heads they like to stalk. I am pretty good about watching my consumption and NDL times but I was full-on in the throes of lionfish fever. I've never pushed my NDL below 5 minutes and always have an exit plan on completing deep diver back up through a shallower profile, through my stops etc. But this time, I was caught up in bagging bad guys and went quite some time without looking at my NDL. Fortunately, one of my dive buddies came up and frantically pointed to my computer. He was on basically the same profile and caught the fact that we were down to 1 minute to deco and all that implies. We started a quick but within-the-limits ascent up the slope but my computer stayed on 1 minute for what seemed like 20 minutes. Gradually it grew: 7, 9, 11, 16 minutes until clear.
Morale of the story: Don't let what hunters call "buck fever" distract you from your no deco limits. Or other silly, unimportant things like air and depth. Owed him a couple of beers for that one.
Morale of the story: Don't let what hunters call "buck fever" distract you from your no deco limits. Or other silly, unimportant things like air and depth. Owed him a couple of beers for that one.