AOW Deep Dive

[aquacat8]

I am not afraid of heights, in fact I find them exhilarating, but I am afraid of DCS. That makes me afraid of depths. I still remember my disappointment and surprise when I learned in my OW class about the limits on diving.

 

[CT-Rich]

There is something to be said for the trepidation felt swimming over an abyss a quarter of a mile deep. Most of my diving is in green water with a hard bottom at 40-90’. When I went to Grand Cayman, there was a freak out factor because I could see the bottom 60-100’ away. And swimming over the edge of the wall and looking into the blue, knowing the hard bottom was a quarter of a mile below was scary/thrilling. That’s part of why you by the ticket. Next time, you’ll know what to expect and embrace the thrill.

 

[aquacat8]

Visibility has a lot to do with what is scary for some. Not being able to see the bottom, or what’s coming at you, is very different than crystal blue with a visible bottom, even if far away. Colors influence us psychologically too… That is part of why we are so drawn to blue water and photos of turquoise Caribbean beaches rather than brown water and gray skies. Dark narc is a term I have not heard before but it seems self-explanatory!

Where the original poster was in CA, the visibility could’ve been quite poor. Yet compared to where I live, California visibility is excellent a lot of the time. My ocean swims here are in water so brown I often cannot see my fingertips. We have lots of bull sharks, and even alligators sometimes get into the saltwater creeks: but the things that frighten me are monofilament, ghost nets and debris. There are locals that solo dive by feel for shark’s teeth, but I find myself unwilling to dive down into the pitch blackness. On the surface I fear drunken boaters and most of all! A dive flag might actually attract these sorts of idiots.

If the caves were naturally lit by bio luminescence I’d be all over that! Notice the most alluring photos of cave diving show shafts of the sun coming through the cavern opening, or a cave all lit up by video lights. I love it shallow sunny pretty and colorful, but my buddy who dreams of cave diving loves finding her way in the dark. It’s really individual.

 

[BRT]

I've been to 130' on the Deep course, but never saw a hole into nothingness (nothing remotely like that in the many places I've dived). That would probably scare the crap out of me too.

I've been on a wall at 150 with nothing but black below. There were big grouper and turtles way down there and then it just faded to black. I'd love to start every day like that but I'd have to get doubles and study decompression because it is over too quick. Beautiful!