DCI and the perils of diving in a mixed EAN/Air Group

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AlanS

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Messages
2
Reaction score
15
Location
Scotland UK
# of dives
1000 - 2499
Time to hold my hand up and admit I screwed up and ended up with mild case of Decompression Illness (DCI) on a recent dive liveaboard in the Maldives. There were however a couple of lessons to learn that may be of benefit to others.
I was with an experienced group of divers all who had 500+ dives and all but me (including the dive guide) were diving with EAN/Nitrox,The last bit is important as it makes you the limiting time factor on each dive with instructions such as 'keep an eye on your computer and let us know when you get to within a few minutes of no-deco'.
The incident happened during the third dive of the day after two earlier dives to 30m. With still 10mins showing my dive computer I spotted that my back up computer (that I take along more in case of a failure that to use during the dive) was flashing a warning and had switched into deco mode. I signalled to the guide/leader that time was up and did the usual safety stop. Ten minutes after surfacing I developed the telltale itchy skin rash which lasted for the rest of the day. .
Causes - As no one else was diving on air I was diving virtually to the no-deco limit on every dive .
I didn't do the deco stop as advised by the back-up computer so as not to appear like I couldn't read a computer even though I took the deco alarm on board (!).
I found that the the P-value on my main computer was set to P0 while the back-up was set to the more conservative P2.
Takeaways - Be very careful about repetitive diving in a mixed air group where you are the only air breather and there is no other check on the performance of your dive computer. Request that the dive guide/leader uses the same gas mix as the most restrictive person in the group (might get some blowback on that). If you have to be the 'tail end charlie' set the P value on your computer to the most conservative value and don't repetitively dive close to limits . If you have more than one computer decide on actions in the event of alarms etc before you get in the water. Get EAN/Nitrox qualified so you always have the option.

Safe Diving. Alan
 
Skin bends can indicate a PFO so might be worth checking out.

Thanks for your honesty Alan.
 
Screenshot_20190908-015041_Google.jpg
How did the balance of your trip go?

Did you just have itch or also this mottled marbled bruise looking thing, called cutis marmorata?
 
I didn't do the deco stop as advised by the back-up computer so as not to appear like I couldn't read a computer even though I took the deco alarm on board (!).


There it is, death by embarrassment
 
Maybe its a stupid question but I’m going to ask it anyway.
Why didn’t you use nitrox?

Said he wasn't certified in ENX
 
I have to say that spending the money to go a liveaboard half way around the world and then not taking a Nitrox class there if you don't already have it is just silly. Depending on the trip, it's easy to do 4-5 dives daily for multiple days in a row. I agree with the check for a patent PFO in this case too.
 
I have to say that spending the money to go a liveaboard half way around the world and then not taking a Nitrox class there if you don't already have it is just silly. Depending on the trip, it's easy to do 4-5 dives daily for multiple days in a row. I agree with the check for a patent PFO in this case too.
....and often one of the guides is also an instructor and happy to do a nitrox course onboard. Seen it a few times.
 

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