Diver missing on Spiegel Grove - Key Largo Florida

[RJP]

They were not diving air and they were both fairly experienced, so I doubt they were narced at that depth.

Were they diving TMx? 21% vs EANx is immaterial from a narcosis standpoint. (As is "experience" really.)

 

[Superlyte27]

Were they diving TMx? 21% vs EANx is immaterial from a narcosis standpoint. (As is "experience" really.)

Depends on your school of thought. There are two camps, those who believe O2 is Narcotic, and those who don't believe. But that's another thread.

 

[DoNotDstrb]

Were they diving TMx? 21% vs EANx is immaterial from a narcosis standpoint. (As is "experience" really.)

Not necessarily immaterial...... reducing nitrogen in the mix from 78% to 67% as in EAN32 would have a measurable effect on the onset depth for narcosis for any given diver. The effect of experience is more anecdotal, I admit. Many divers (myself included) have observed that the more they dive to a particular depth (within reason) the less they get narced. As for myself, the first few times I dove much past 100 FSW on air (many moons ago, before Nitrox was common), I was higher than a kite.... After a few dozen dives, it went away. I could do it now and do calculus while down there...... Kinda like a drinking tolerance, I guess.

I am of the school that O2 is not narcotic. Sadly, I have not seen any pink elephants swimming with purple hammerheads while off-gassing on 100% O2.

 

[nimoh]

Not necessarily immaterial...... reducing nitrogen in the mix from 78% to 67% as in EAN32 would have a measurable effect on the onset depth for narcosis for any given diver. The effect of experience is more anecdotal, I admit. Many divers (myself included) have observed that the more they dive to a particular depth (within reason) the less they get narced. As for myself, the first few times I dove much past 100 FSW on air (many moons ago, before Nitrox was common), I was higher than a kite.... After a few dozen dives, it went away. I could do it now and do calculus while down there...... Kinda like a drinking tolerance, I guess.

I am of the school that O2 is not narcotic. Sadly, I have not seen any pink elephants swimming with purple hammerheads while off-gassing on 100% O2.

measurable how?

I have also not seen pink elephants at 40' while breathing air. Does that mean nitrogen is not narcotic?

 

[tracydr]

I have not heard an exact location of where the body was found, but from the general descriptions in the papers and my familiarity with that wreck, I would say the depth was somewhere between around 110-120 FSW... They were not diving air and they were both fairly experienced, so I doubt they were narced at that depth."


I understood they were on nitrox. There is no difference between nitrox and air as far as narcosis. Anybody who believes there is is believing in an urban myth.
Any depth deeper than 85 feet is quite likely to cause significant narcosis. You might not " feel" narcosis but you are narc'd. Yes, more experience does help you to learn compensation but each dive and diver is different. Add stress, fear, buddy loss and you will add the increased CO2, which is a narcotic of it's own. I'd say its highly likely that narcosis played a factor, or at least that this diver was indeed under the influence.
Sort of like alcoholics no longer " feel" drunk,when in fact they are still wasted. They are able to compensate, in a way, but they still get in more accidents than they should, slur speech and fall down. But, they don't "feel wasted" because they are so used to being drunk.
But, we're going to get off topic if we start arguing nitrox vs air and narcosis. Somebody should split this off into a new topic if interested in this.

 

[Doppler]

If you do begin a debate about Narcosis, can I suggest thread and specifically this post as a starting point... be interested in your thoughts

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/468350-narcosis.html#post6926829

 

[PfcAJ]

[abstract] DOES OXYGEN CONTRIBUTE TO THE NARCOTIC ACTION OF HYPERBARIC AIR?
Roles of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide in compressed-air narcosis
Dissociation of the behavioral and subjective components of nitrogen narcosis and diver adaptation
Effects of inert gas narcosis on rehearsal strategy in a learning task

Etc etc

 

[Dr. Lecter]

We just had the 'is Nitrox less narcotic than air' debate after the Carlos thread. At least one study shows O2 to be several times more ​narcotic than N2.

 

[JamesK]

They could've easily been narced at that depth even if they had experience. On a recent dive with a friend I want to 122 feet I was nard out of my mind. I knew I was narced I just did not realize how bad. I was on nitrox and my buddy was on trimix. He remembers me giggling for most of the dive and I do not remember any of that.

So them being on aluminum 80 of nitrox was stupid plain and simple. Their pony bottle was in fact a deco bottle as well. This was a planned penetration and possible deco dive way above their level.

What can be learned from this accident? Stay within your level of training. Simple.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[DoNotDstrb]

[abstract] DOES OXYGEN CONTRIBUTE TO THE NARCOTIC ACTION OF HYPERBARIC AIR?
Roles of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide in compressed-air narcosis
Dissociation of the behavioral and subjective components of nitrogen narcosis and diver adaptation
Effects of inert gas narcosis on rehearsal strategy in a learning task

Etc etc

OK.... I stand corrected regarding O2 and narcosis...... I'm a diver, not a scientist..... LOL....


P.S. Never gave any of this much thought..... My deepest air dive it 160 FSW and I felt absolutely nothing..... I know what narcosis should feel like from doing N20 shots back in the day :balloons: and I've never felt anything like that underwater. I also don't notice any memory loss or any of the other classic symptoms.

I would not mind being a part of a study to see if my functionality is really impaired. It sure doesn't feel like it.