1st time past 100ft for a big guy, Advice needed!

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Background: I'm going to Roatan in December:D and the first dive each day is to 90-110ft. My dive buddy is a 5'3" 120lbs female AOW (15 dives), I am 6'7" 230 lbs male AOW (25 dives up to 75ft). Her SAC rate is about half of mine (.45 vs .9) and the dive operator does not have any tanks bigger than Al80s. I dive a Deep Sea Supply SS BP/W and have a 19cf bailout slung for the deeper stuff.

My Question: Is this smart for me to go past 100 (probably on EA32) on a single Al80 + 19cf bailout (not part of my gas plan) at my size and experience level, it just doesn't seem like enough gas to me? I have considered getting training on independent twins for safety and to even up dive times, but this seems like a huge hassle and too much to worry about for my first major dive trip...Yet I don't want to skip the morning dives.

Thank you everyone, just trying to dive smart...

I am 6'7" 280lbs and I am the same cert level as you with 60 dives since training in the Bay Islands last year. Currently diving in Belize and did a 90 ft dive today.

I am big and I have done 100 ft dives with the crew and stayed at depth with all the others. I was nagged in training re relaxing and breath control and I don't consider myself an experienced diver at all.

I never do a deep dive early on in the vacation though .... I wait til I am comfortable.
 
You didn't read the part about him bringing a 19 cu-ft pony bottle as a bail out? He never asked if he should dive with just an 80 cu-ft tank...:shakehead::shakehead:

A bailout is contingency/emergency gas and should not be considered part of The dive plan. Dive should be planges with AL80 only bases on scenario presented. The time át. Bottom probably will be short but frankly there are a lot of maybes and ifs here. I have done it many times but really dont want to be even át 60' without redundant gás now that i know better. Call The op and learn about the dive profiles they do só át least there will be some knowns rather than us all speculating about what the might be.
 
Background: I'm going to Roatan in December:D and the first dive each day is to 90-110ft. My dive buddy is a 5'3" 120lbs female AOW (15 dives), I am 6'7" 230 lbs male AOW (25 dives up to 75ft). Her SAC rate is about half of mine (.45 vs .9) and the dive operator does not have any tanks bigger than Al80s. I dive a Deep Sea Supply SS BP/W and have a 19cf bailout slung for the deeper stuff.

My Question: Is this smart for me to go past 100 (probably on EA32) on a single Al80 + 19cf bailout (not part of my gas plan) at my size and experience level, it just doesn't seem like enough gas to me? I have considered getting training on independent twins for safety and to even up dive times, but this seems like a huge hassle and too much to worry about for my first major dive trip...Yet I don't want to skip the morning dives.

Thank you everyone, just trying to dive smart...

Why would anyone dive a plan that "just doesn't seem like enough gas"?
 
Hmm...EAN32 at a conservative dose of 1.4...isn't the MOD right around 100 ft? Why push the envelope?
 
toshman, I went to Roatan last December, to the West End. We dove with Native Sons Divers, and the only deep dives we did were to some real neat, huge wrecks, El Aguila (101') and the Odyssey (113'). It looks like you already have everything locked in, as far as operation, dive site, etc. so no sense in suggesting something that won't happen anyway, but I just want to say that there may be some options you may not have considered.

Everybody uses aluminum 80's for every dive down there, and they thought it was odd when we requested to use large cylinders for the deep dives, but cheerfully let us use them. They only had two cylinders larger than 80; two Catalina aluminum 120s. The point is, there are larger cylinders on the island, everybody knows everybody else down there, and you might be able to get access to larger cylinders if you ask.

I'd like to know where you'll be diving, how you plan to get your pony bottle down there; I understand it's a real pain. As far as independent doubles, go, unless you take them down there yourself, how are you going to get them rigged up? I didn't see any doubles divers the whole time I was there. Once again, though, you can be surprised what is actually available if you only ask. My buddy just told me she saw a tech diving operation on the West End.

Another thing to consider is that they're used to leading dives in groups down there. We had to do a dive or two with the group to show them that we were capable of going off on our own. This idea of breaking off from the group because you don't want to go deep is fine as long as you make it clear with the DM first; they may want to give you your own DM.

I have found, in Belize, and also in Roatan, that the dive operations seem to have a slightly more casual attitude about running low on air and sharing with the DM to finish the dive. We've seen this happen more than once, and nobody seems to think much of it. I went to 130' on an AL80 at the Blue Hole in Belize, but knowing what I know now about gas planning, I would not do that again. Anything deeper than 80' and I do a detailed dive plan with rock bottom gas figured out.

It's great that you're getting all this worked out before you get there. Have a great trip!
 
Background: I'm going to Roatan in December:D and the first dive each day is to 90-110ft. My dive buddy is a 5'3" 120lbs female AOW (15 dives), I am 6'7" 230 lbs male AOW (25 dives up to 75ft). Her SAC rate is about half of mine (.45 vs .9) and the dive operator does not have any tanks bigger than Al80s. I dive a Deep Sea Supply SS BP/W and have a 19cf bailout slung for the deeper stuff.

My Question: Is this smart for me to go past 100 (probably on EA32) on a single Al80 + 19cf bailout (not part of my gas plan) at my size and experience level, it just doesn't seem like enough gas to me? I have considered getting training on independent twins for safety and to even up dive times, but this seems like a huge hassle and too much to worry about for my first major dive trip...Yet I don't want to skip the morning dives.

Thank you everyone, just trying to dive smart...

Hi Toshman!

I am Sambolino44's main buddy and I went with him to Roatan last year where I did my first warm water dives. You are concerned about going to 100 ft and beyond with an AL 80. Personally I think you don't have enough gas if something does go wrong and you need to do air share at that depth. I would stick with a max depth of 80 ft. I don't think this necessarily means that you have to skip your morning dives. Talk to your DM, as we did with Native Sons' one. He/she may be able to help you out and have another DM or a DM student who can dive with you and your buddy at a shallower depth than the rest of the group.

I wanted to do a couple of deep wreck dives and I specifically requested bigger tanks for doing them. Fortunately Native Sons had two AL 120 (air) that Sambolino and I could use (the other divers did not seem to be concerned at all about the gas issue!:shakehead:).

During a particular dive we decided to follow the dive master and the rest of the group but after swimming through a hole in the reef I could not equalize my ears. The rest of the divers swam down towards the bottom (about 50ft) while my buddy and I hovered at 30ft. Instead to abort the dive we kept diving at that depth (my ears were OK) and then once my ears could clear we went down to 50 ft and met with the rest of the group. What I am trying to say here is leave your options open without compromising safety.
 
You dive on BP&W already? Why not re-configure so that you can start diving with twin indie cylinders?

I do this when I am travelling light and using regular dive shop AL80s....as I have a Custom Diver 'W' shaped SS backplate that securely takes two AL80s directly via twin cam bands. You'll need to balance the tanks during the dive, but that's not rocket science.

Whilst your BP may not allow direct twinning with cam bands, there are a range of lightweight nylon twinning bands on the market. You don't have to use steel bands (although they are the best long-term option), when not travelling).

Here is an option/example from AP Valves. It fits like a normal camband... but allows two cylinders.
1.jpg

Here is another example called 'Quick Connect
41yRyAlYGFL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
 
If you are not comfortable now, at home, in your chair thinking about these dives, you will not feel better on the swim deck of the boat about to giant stride in.

Just skip dives that do not feel right and you worry about gas. You will live longer.
 
If the top of the wall is less than 100ft, just stay a bit shallower than the rest of the group. I doubt any in the group spend long below 100ft. I predict you do just fine. I personally like the remaining air time display of an air integrated computer. "Flame suit on" but many of the comments seem to come from the idea that diving is so dangerous we might as well not even get in (ie. "100ft dives shouldn't be made on AL80s"). I'm not advocating being reckless, but what amounts to a bounce to 100ft on an an AL80 in clear water seems like a fairly basic part of scuba diving - and the typical profile in many warm water locations.
 
If you don't want doubles then rent a 100 cube or 120 cube tank.

Another alternative is to get a larger pony and use it for your ascent. This allows you you to draw your primary tank down to a lower psi than you ordinarily would if you were using it for your ascent.

If you breath a 120 cube down to 500-600psi (switch to the pony and make your ascent) you will have much more bottom time than breathing an 80 down to 1200psi and then starting your ascent.

This method allows more bottom time and maintains a redundant system.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom