rlpenman1
Registered
When diving Bear Lake (2 dives) should I plan on camping for night or is it ok to go home over the mountain the same day? (I live in Ogden)
Diving Bear Lake should I stay or go home?
- Thread starter rlpenman1
- Start date
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You need to add a little more info. I haven't done Bear Lake so I don't know depth or time. I also don't know the altitude of Bear Lake (another major factor). How high is the pass you go over to get back to Ogden?
One more option, is to stop and have dinner before you climb the pass. That allows more time to off gas.
I have heard that it's cold and the viz isn't great, but pretty much exhausts my knowledge.
Have fun. Dive safe.
Art
OK. I think we can work this problem now.
Rounding up, lake altitude = 6000 feet
Your actual depth = 40 feet, so your theoretical depth = 50 feet (from the Theoretical Depth at Altitude Chart found in the Advanced Open Water manual, or you can buy hard plastic charts at the LDS).
Move that data to the Recreational Dive Planner
Use the 50 foot depth and go down until you hit 26 minutes. That puts you in the Pressure Group G. If your surface interval is an hour, you have dropped to Pressure Group B. Using Table 2 of the RDP, again at theoretical depth of 50 feet, your No Decompression Limit is 67 minutes, well in excess of your planned 25 minute Bottom Time. Your Residual Nitrogen Time is 13 minutes which you add to your Bottom Time for a Total Bottom Time of 38 minutes.
Now to find your Pressure Group for the total of two dives, go back to Table 1 and find 50 feet and Bottom Time of 38 minutes (your Bottom Time plus Residual Nitrogen). If you find the 50 foot Theoretical Depth and 39 minute depth (round up), you are in Pressure Group L. If you take a Surface Interval of 2 hours, you have dropped back into Pressure Group A.
Have I thoroughly confused you yet?
The important fact to take away from this is that a dive of forty foot depth is equivalent to a theoretical dive depth of 50 feet when you are diving at 6000 feet of altitude. Everything works the same way on your Recreation Dive Planner from that point. You can adust your Surface Intervals to work off nitrogen levels.
A couple of additional points to make:
Your wet suit will give you a little more bouyancy than you are used to in salt water at sea level.
The type of depth gauge you use may be affected by altitude. A digital depth gauge will read true. A Bourdon tube gauge will read a shallower depth than you are really at. (Bourdon is probably the most common type gauge). A capillary depth gauge will read deeper than you really are. (Just what you wanted, right? More confusing details.)
When you are surfacing at altitude, go up slower than you would at sea level. That means rise at a rate of 30 feet per minute or slower.
Be sure to take a surface interval before driving home. When I dive the Crater at Heber (about 4-5000 feet in altitude) and spend any significant time on the bottom (about 60-65 feet), we usually stop and have dinner before driving home over Parley's Pass (about 9-10,000 feet). These are Open Water certification dives where students drop stuff (by accident they swear) and I go down to find it. The students stay above 40 feet for passing off their cert requirements. We usually do two dives per session. So I don't think you will have any problem driving home if you stop for dinner first.
If any of the dive parameters change on your Bear Lake dive, you should run the numbers through your RDP just to be on the safe side.
Have fun. Dive safe.
Art
Rounding up, lake altitude = 6000 feet
Your actual depth = 40 feet, so your theoretical depth = 50 feet (from the Theoretical Depth at Altitude Chart found in the Advanced Open Water manual, or you can buy hard plastic charts at the LDS).
Move that data to the Recreational Dive Planner
Use the 50 foot depth and go down until you hit 26 minutes. That puts you in the Pressure Group G. If your surface interval is an hour, you have dropped to Pressure Group B. Using Table 2 of the RDP, again at theoretical depth of 50 feet, your No Decompression Limit is 67 minutes, well in excess of your planned 25 minute Bottom Time. Your Residual Nitrogen Time is 13 minutes which you add to your Bottom Time for a Total Bottom Time of 38 minutes.
Now to find your Pressure Group for the total of two dives, go back to Table 1 and find 50 feet and Bottom Time of 38 minutes (your Bottom Time plus Residual Nitrogen). If you find the 50 foot Theoretical Depth and 39 minute depth (round up), you are in Pressure Group L. If you take a Surface Interval of 2 hours, you have dropped back into Pressure Group A.
Have I thoroughly confused you yet?
The important fact to take away from this is that a dive of forty foot depth is equivalent to a theoretical dive depth of 50 feet when you are diving at 6000 feet of altitude. Everything works the same way on your Recreation Dive Planner from that point. You can adust your Surface Intervals to work off nitrogen levels.
A couple of additional points to make:
Your wet suit will give you a little more bouyancy than you are used to in salt water at sea level.
The type of depth gauge you use may be affected by altitude. A digital depth gauge will read true. A Bourdon tube gauge will read a shallower depth than you are really at. (Bourdon is probably the most common type gauge). A capillary depth gauge will read deeper than you really are. (Just what you wanted, right? More confusing details.)
When you are surfacing at altitude, go up slower than you would at sea level. That means rise at a rate of 30 feet per minute or slower.
Be sure to take a surface interval before driving home. When I dive the Crater at Heber (about 4-5000 feet in altitude) and spend any significant time on the bottom (about 60-65 feet), we usually stop and have dinner before driving home over Parley's Pass (about 9-10,000 feet). These are Open Water certification dives where students drop stuff (by accident they swear) and I go down to find it. The students stay above 40 feet for passing off their cert requirements. We usually do two dives per session. So I don't think you will have any problem driving home if you stop for dinner first.
If any of the dive parameters change on your Bear Lake dive, you should run the numbers through your RDP just to be on the safe side.
Have fun. Dive safe.
Art
rsldonk
Contributor
And while at Bear Lake having dinner, don't forget to grab one of the famous raspberry shakes.
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