60 feet how close did you stay to the limit

[AevnsGrandpa]

I stayed above 60' since I got OW cert in July of '03, but this year I wanted to push through that number.

Diving mainly quarries in Illinois there are not a lot of places I can actually get deeper than 60', plus up to this summer I only had a 5mm full wet suit and it was barely warm enough at 45'! I got a 7mm farmer john from a friend and then was ready to go deeper. Went to the bottom of the hole at Haigh Quarry in Kankakee, Illinois and hit a record 72'. WOW!

If I ever can get to the great lakes or an ocean, I plan on going deeper than 60 if needed on a particlar dive.

Been wanting to do the AOW, but between vacation and money have not been able to...so there is the story!

Jeff

 

[RonFrank]

Personally, I would rather keep it to 60' or less, just so I can stay down for an hour on an 80 CuFt tank.

I hear that!!

I enjoyed the Grove (strong currents that day), but so far my most enjoyable dives have been the longer dives on shallower reefs. If I had my own boat (or reserved a six pack with other reasonable breathers) I could spend 90 minutes or more on most of the reef dives in the upper Keys.

Jupiter however was a great diving experience even if the reefs are at 80~90fsw which limits one to 45 minutes on Nitrox.

Howard, you seem to have a great lifestyle doing the Breck thing, and the Lauderdale thing.. I certainly am wishing these days for less of the mountains, and more of the shore!

 

[teknitroxdiver]

IMO, limits such as the 60' rule are silly. There's nothing at 61' that's going to rip your reg out, drain your tank in milliseconds, or grind your bones into powder.

Build experince, and dive what you're comfortable and equipped to dive.

 

[proyce]

Speaking of 80 cu ft tanks, when I go to Cozumel in the spring I plan to dive with Jeremy at Living Underwater. He has steel 120s, which would be great for longer dives, especially at Cozumel where the depth can vary so much and you are doing drift diving. I think if I prove I am comfortable deeper than 60' he will take me there, although I don't think I would feel comfortable inside caves or constricted tunnels. We shall see.

 

[HowardE]

Howard, you seem to have a great lifestyle doing the Breck thing, and the Lauderdale thing.. I certainly am wishing these days for less of the mountains, and more of the shore!

It's not bad... I must admit. Although I wish I was getting some of the POW right now, that's been nailing Breck. But I digress...

To stay on topic more...

Speaking of 80 cu ft tanks, when I go to Cozumel in the spring I plan to dive with Jeremy at Living Underwater. He has steel 120s, which would be great for longer dives, especially at Cozumel where the depth can vary so much and you are doing drift diving. I think if I prove I am comfortable deeper than 60' he will take me there, although I don't think I would feel comfortable inside caves or constricted tunnels. We shall see

Really, you'll see that 90' isn't all that different than 60' and the first time you go to 90' you'll be like, "wow... I can't believe that I thought I'd be uncomfortable at 90' " but don't rush into anything if you don't feel comfortable...

 

[Hipshot]

I think conditions should be taken into consideration more than just what depth are you qualified to go to. I have dove with a LOT of AOW divers who have been to 115-130ft in places like Cozumel and Belize in the warm gin clear water, but I have seen those same divers scared to death at 50ft in 1-5ft viz in cold dark Texas lakes. Oh yeah, most of them can't navigate to save their ***** either. I would also rather dive with someone who was used to diving in low viz dark water than vacation ocean divers, they just seem to be much more aware of what's going on and less likely to get excitable.

 

[LavaSurfer]

Really, you'll see that 90' isn't all that different than 60' and the first time you go to 90' you'll be like, "wow... I can't believe that I thought I'd be uncomfortable at 90'

I guess what could be interpreted as scary it the fact that after about 50 feet, there really is not much change as far as the body goes.

I was told a story about a couple of guys that dove off Jamaica a few years back. The DM told them the dive was to 65 feet. The boat tied off at the wrong mooring line in the wrong location and the "Experienced Divers" started down the mooring line unsuspecting of what lay ahead for them and once on the bottom realized they were at 169 FSW. By the time they realized the error they were almost out of air and made a rapid ascent to the surface.

Neither of the divers will dive again. One is totally paralyzed from the neck down and the other has some serious neurological problems. Both spent some serious time in a chamber.

I know it sounds like some kind of urban legend but they are both locals here in Maryland and friends of a friend.

I guess the lesson learned is WATCH YOUR DEPTH and be aware of the issues with deep diving like as air consumption. At that depth they had very little air time available (5 times their SAC) on a single AL80.

Personally, I can't imagine how the heck that could even happen but then I always watch my depth as I descend. At the surface even in clear water 169 feet is a long ways down. Although, I have been fooled by appearances before thinking that it only looks 30 feet when in fact it was 70 to I guess it could happen.

 

[proyce]

I totally agree about conditions. I think it is easy to dive clear calm waters to 100', but would certainly be uncomfortable at great depth in low viz. Diving the Yukon, the viz was better below 25' because we got below the yellow plankton. At the site viz was about 30', and very little current, which is pretty good for that area. In Hawaii the water was calm and viz was 100'+ - a completely different set of conditions. Next summer I will do some lake diving (ore pits in northern Minnesota with the lds), which will give me experience with low viz conditions. If the current is strong in Cozumel, as it can be sometimes, I will be more conservative about depth. Going past 90' in San Diego really made me aware of how much more air you use at depth. It was a great learning experience.

 

[paulwall]

Hear lots about the 60 feet limit for open water but did we all respect the limit? After your basic scuba course did you respect the 60 feet limit and, if not why did you go deeper and not respect the limit? Bet you 95% did it.

first dive after open water cert (10 months after) 130 ft. Stayed 5 minutes, and back to the boat. Never even saw the ledge that was supposed to be down there...

 

[proyce]

Good point LavaSurfer. In Hawaii the water was so clear you could be at 60' when you thought you only went down 20'.