Deco dives/day or Deco+NDL/day... what are your guidelines?

[Nasser]

I've been ok doing two 45m dives with about 15-20 min. of deco and a healthy surface interval of 3+ hours per day.

If I go into a moderate range of say 55-60m with about 30 min. deco, then I will just allow myself a much shallower NDL dive later in the day but no further deco dives. If it's anything beyond that depth with longer deco (45min + ) then it will ususally be just that one dive for the day.

It will also very much depend on the diving conditions and how much work was involved, particularly in the bottom phase. Tracking of nitrogen and CNS is done on the Petrel and taken into account with deco software as well.

 

[bamafan]

I don't dive that deep as most of my diving is in caves now, but my dives have been getting bigger. My current limit is 2 per day, each about 30m max depth with 45-60 minutes of deco. I've done two big dives (big for me) followed up with a small dive with my wife in the cavern zone, and I was just very careful to ascend extra slowly. Beyond that, more dives is just completely exhausting. I am starting down the path of doing more OW deco and have been considering some mix-training, so it'll be interesting to see what others say.

I have to ask what gradient factors you are running. I am assuming you are referring to diving in Jackson Blue and to get that much deco there with any normal gradient factor setting you would be approaching a 3.5 hour bottom time. Also your CNS would be off the chart after doing that much time there assuming you are using 32% and 100% O2 for deco. Swapping to 30% for your main gas will really help out your CNS there. It isn't a concern to some but it is something I try to keep under control if at all possible. I know the WKPP guys don't worry to much about it and just do air breaks every 15 minutes or so but I feel that the chances of surviving an oxtox event is a lot less likely than surviving a dcs hit.

 

[PfcAJ]

We do worry about oxy tox. It's a big consideration.

I don't want the impression out there that the Wkpp is cavalier about oxygen.

 

[victorzamora]

I have to ask what gradient factors you are running. I am assuming you are referring to diving in Jackson Blue and to get that much deco there with any normal gradient factor setting you would be approaching a 3.5 hour bottom time. Also your CNS would be off the chart after doing that much time there assuming you are using 32% and 100% O2 for deco. Swapping to 30% for your main gas will really help out your CNS there. It isn't a concern to some but it is something I try to keep under control if at all possible. I know the WKPP guys don't worry to much about it and just do air breaks every 15 minutes or so but I feel that the chances of surviving an oxtox event is a lot less likely than surviving a dcs hit.

I'm running 30/70 GFs. It's the second dive of the day that brings the deco up....and I get to 10ft quickly to drop that PO2 when I know another dive is coming up. I do watch my CNS and OTUs.

 

[bamafan]

I'm running 30/70 GFs. It's the second dive of the day that brings the deco up....and I get to 10ft quickly to drop that PO2 when I know another dive is coming up. I do watch my CNS and OTUs.

So what kind of CNS are you getting? Where are you going that you have over 3 hours of bottom time in JB?

 

[victorzamora]

I just take 7 stages to the bottom of the chimney and sit. It's great.

 

[tomfcrist]

We do worry about oxy tox. It's a big consideration.

I don't want the impression out there that the Wkpp is cavalier about oxygen.

Y'all still use bells?

 

[PfcAJ]

Y'all still use bells?

Most caves where there's active exploration going on have at least one trough (often at 20ft), enough to get our heads out of the water. Wakulla is on the only one with one big enough to get out of the water completely and those are at 30ft.

 

[karstdvr]

I have seen the worse cases of DCS from those people who got to do 2 dives a day, they will do a deep profile with deco, and then do a shallow "off gas" dive.