Feedback on Mares Puck "Deco" Dive - Did It Malfunction or Did I

[Rob9876]

Read the manual, and see how that looks different. It is quite likely that you were expecting to see a SS countdown, but instead it showed you a deco obligation, which you didn't recognise and didn't know how to interpret?

Yes, check out section 3.2.4.1 on Page 10 of the Puck Pro manual, which states missing a Deco stop puts the computer in violation/bottom timer mode.

 

[Dave Pozzy]

Continuing on from @Rob9876's post, what I suspect happened is that your dive computer kicked into deco mode, so it would have been telling you to do a deco stop, rather than a safety stop. Read the manual, and see how that looks different. It is quite likely that you were expecting to see a SS countdown, but instead it showed you a deco obligation, which you didn't recognise and didn't know how to interpret?

Looking at your profile, I had assumed that you skipped your safety stop for some other reason (couldn't hold it, low on air, etc etc), but upon re-reading your post, it seems that you skipped it because your computer didn't tell you you needed to do one. For future reference, *always* do a safety stop.

I’d never had a deco obligation before, so I’ll have to say I didn’t interpret it. I would have to say I was looking for the SS countdown that didn’t show on puck.

 

[Dave Pozzy]

Have you got deep stops turned on in your computer settings? I think you may have had a deco obligation that you didn’t clear on your second dive, and that you went into deco on your first dive but cleared it properly.

If you look on the log on your computer it will say deco on the dive if you went into deco. (That’s what it does on my mares smart)

It is an old Mares Puck. I can’t even change the date to 2023. I don’t see where there’s an option to turn on or off the deep stop mode.

 

[Dave Pozzy]

My son and I both have Mares Puck Pro+ computers, and we dive them in the P0 (least conservative) setting that the OP's log entry attachments show. On this setting, the computer has not seemed to be too conservative -- we're often still some of the last divers to come up. And we have done a number of deep dives on air in Cozumel.

To the OP: Just from glancing, I'd guess that your Surface Interval (SI) after that first deep dive was probably not long enough to totally clear your nitrogen loading from that dive. Do you recall what the bar graph at the bottom of the Puck said about that before dive 2?

Then your description of dive 2 doesn't mention whether you noticed your NDL minutes reading going low -- were you watching that on dive 2? Again, just from glancing, it does seem reasonable that you exceeded your NDL about 34 minutes into dive 2 given your first dive, the SI length, and the somewhat deep nature of your 2nd dive.

One more question for the OP: you said on dive 2 the Puck did not signal a safety stop -- do you mean it did not start the 3 minute countdown that is normally automatic once above ~20 feet? I don't do deco dives, but I'm guessing the Omitted Deco Stop on the dive 2 log may be the cause of that. I don't always hear the alarms on my Puck, so I'm guessing that may be the case here for you -- that you didn't hear the Deco alarm, and perhaps weren't watching your computer very closely, so missed the Deco stop.

This is an old Mares Puck. There is no bar graph showing. I did not notice the NDL minutes counting down. I’ve never had an NDL dive / issue before so wasn’t really paying attention to it. The puck is set to alarm. I didn’t hear it when it started to deco. But it started alarming just before I climbed up the ladder onto the boat. The puck did not signal a safety stop. Meaning it did not start the 3 minutes countdown once I was above 20 feet.

 

[Rob9876]

I’ve never had an NDL dive / issue before so wasn’t really paying attention to it. The puck is set to alarm. I didn’t hear it when it started to deco. But it started alarming just before I climbed up the ladder onto the boat.

O.k., I'm guessing you just didn't hear the deco alarm then, and didn't see it since you weren't watching NDL. That would be consistent with it not starting a safety stop countdown. I have no idea if your stomach issues are related, but it does seem likely that you did actually have a deco obligation that you missed. For what it's worth, I never rely on my Puck's audio alarm since I often don't hear it.

 

[johndiver999]

This is an old Mares Puck. There is no bar graph showing. I did not notice the NDL minutes counting down. I’ve never had an NDL dive / issue before so wasn’t really paying attention to it. The puck is set to alarm. I didn’t hear it when it started to deco. But it started alarming just before I climbed up the ladder onto the boat. The puck did not signal a safety stop. Meaning it did not start the 3 minutes countdown once I was above 20 feet.

That (NDL count down) is the most important thing you need to be watching, other than gas supply.

Regarding the count down to surface, maybe saying it again will help; the count down function is activated on non-deco dives and gives you the safety stop time. If you go into deco, there are no safety stops, only actual deco stops. Of course you can extend the shallow deco stop longer than required and this is sorta like a safety stop.

 

[Endler's]

Did you drink the water? You may have a bacterial infection. Make certain to let physician know where you traveled.

 

[Jcp2]

For us strictly recreational divers that do watch our computers and dive conservatively, we probably wouldn’t be comfortable or computer in deco mode, even if we read the manual.

 

[Dave Pozzy]

Did you drink the water? You may have a bacterial infection. Make certain to let physician know where you traveled.

I didn't drink the water. But that doesn't mean it wasn't introduced somewhere along the line. I've been traveling to Caribbean for over 25 years and this is the first incident with stomach pain like this. Was trying to eliminate a diving problem Vs a food / water / bacteria problem.

 

[glennster]

just a thought on the abdominal pain. check the second stage of your regulator, examine the mouth piece carefully for any cracks or tears. also check the exhaust valve and diaphragm. it is possible there is a small tear and it is admitting seawater vapor on inhalation. i had that happen some years ago. the abdominal pain is exquisite !