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Were you diving air or nitrox?
I would be interested to know how many folks here who have said they have experinced significant or noticiable narcosis in say the 30m to 40m / 100ft to 130ft range where just diving with no task at hand but to just "have a look around" / regular dive so to speak.
I always found that having a task to perform, specifically still photograpy - while not quite as much with video is it is more often just point, press the 'go' button, and shoot - helped 'focus the mind'. That is, 'manual settings' u/w still photography requires conscious thought to adjust the settings of both camera and flash units at times - somtimes as often as between shots as the situations one was photgraphing changed during the dive / different angles of the same photo - which helped focus the mind and by doing so helped keep narcosis at bay. And repeated exposure to such task focusing demands / mental calculations - as opposed to / not to be confused with task fixation as it were - served me in good stead when I didnt have a camera in hand. I can't speak for others but that was certainly the case for me even consderably deeper.
But again, I am not reccomending deep air diving, just pointing out that one shoe does not fit all with regards narcosis, but does or did fit quite a few prior to trimix and / or CCRs becoming more available / popular.
Anyway, just my two cents worth (recently reduced to one by inflation).
Dunno about the "weird" part but I'm normally unable "to recall much of the dive" later: I don't try memorize every second so I only retain the highlights. And photographs. The rest of it is, we swam around looking at pretty fishes and corals and feeling good, business as usual.
I did almost all of my cave certification training in the 30m/100 foot range, breathing nitrox. I honestly felt I was a bit on the stupider side of normal on every dive.I would be interested to know how many folks here who have said they have experinced significant or noticiable narcosis in say the 30m to 40m / 100ft to 130ft range where just diving with no task at hand but to just "have a look around" / regular dive so to speak.
I always found that having a task to perform, specifically still photograpy - while not quite as much with video is it is more often just point, press the 'go' button, and shoot - helped 'focus the mind'. That is, 'manual settings' u/w still photography requires conscious thought to adjust the settings of both camera and flash units at times - somtimes as often as between shots as the situations one was photgraphing changed during the dive / different angles of the same photo - which helped focus the mind and by doing so helped keep narcosis at bay. And repeated exposure to such task focusing demands / mental calculations - as opposed to / not to be confused with task fixation as it were - served me in good stead when I didnt have a camera in hand. I can't speak for others but that was certainly the case for me even consderably deeper.
But again, I am not reccomending deep air diving, just pointing out that one shoe does not fit all with regards narcosis, but does or did fit quite a few prior to trimix and / or CCRs becoming more available / popular.
Anyway, just my two cents worth (recently reduced to one by inflation).
I have done a lot of air/nitrox dives in the 40-50m/130-165 foot range over the years, including as a TDI and PADI instructor doing the beginning tech classes before the students are allowed to use trimix. I have never seen anyone else show visible signs of narcosis on those dives. Many of my students in those classes were apprehensive about narcosis before those, but afterwards, 100% said they felt fine. I have already reported the few times I was narced enough to notice.So you have never seen someone trying to take off their mask or pull out their regulator after chasing imaginary fish around for five minutes I take it... Weird behavior underwater comes in many forms and usually involves anything but swimming along looking at all the pretty stuff.
So you have never seen someone trying to take off their mask or pull out their regulator after chasing imaginary fish around for five minutes I take it... Weird behavior underwater comes in many forms and usually involves anything but swimming along looking at all the pretty stuff.
As I have said several times, I think the effects are quite variable from person to person and from dive to dive. I have never, ever seen anyone have any of those famous outrageous effects. If I am deeper than 100 feet, I am intellectually aware that I am likely impaired to some degree--I assume I am narced to some extent. I don't feel it, though.