Fist dive after ow certification at 90' ?

[Icarusflies]

Hello all;

I just got certified a couple of weeks ago. I have logged 8 dives total. I feel comfortable when I dive and I love it. This Sunday I have enrolled in a dive rated at intermediary so 90', a wreck in Miami....What do you think? is too much, should I get somethis easier? Personally I don't see the difference between a 30' and a 60' (my deepest dive to date)

Steve

 

[Notso_Ken]

Hello all;

I just got certified a couple of weeks ago. I have logged 8 dives total. I feel comfortable when I dive and I love it. This Sunday I have enrolled in a dive rated at intermediary so 90', a wreck in Miami....What do you think? is too much, should I get somethis easier? Personally I don't see the difference between a 30' and a 60' (my deepest dive to date)

Steve

I have dove with several people on their first dive after OW cert.

None werre ready for 90'.

My advice, stick with the 60' limit for now, dive with some people with more experience and take your time.

Ken

 

[victor]

Steve, You are not ready yet. :shakehead

The Dive shop should not take you on this dive, you are not qualified for 90' so they should reject you when you show them your card and log book.

If they do then they should buddy you with an instructor or equivalent, and you should pay the full rate for a discovery dive.

You will be narced, you may not notice it but you will be and thats one thing that is dangerous, thats why you need the instructor.

If they take you and don't insist on a competent buddy you will becomes someones instant buddy.
At best you will, probably, ruin there dive.
At worst, well it does not bear thinking about, just another diving statistic.

Get some more experience, do some more training, take it easy and enjoy diving within your limits.

 

[Icarusflies]

Another thing that I have not said is that I dive with my 63 years old father, also newly ow certified. He is in a good shape but still. What is the biggest difference that I can encounter in a 90' dive vs a 60' dive in warm waters?

Thanks

 

[Icarusflies]

Ok, got it...I am convinced...more experience and then 90'...I ll stick with a 60' dive this time.

 

[TSandM]

Icarusflies, you're right -- the water is just as wet at 90 feet as it is at 60. It may be darker, and you may be narced (which can be a VERY unpleasant experience, as I can attest) -- but the big problem is that you are far further away from the surface. Do you know how much gas you need to have in your tank to get you and a stressed buddy safely to the surface if your buddy goes OOA for any reason? Can you maintain buoyancy control while ascending, air-sharing, from 90 feet? If you or your buddy lost a mask and couldn't retrieve it, could you manage an organized ascent from 90 feet? If you lose the anchor or shot, can you do a careful ascent with stops without a visual reference?

There are a lot of things to think about as you go deeper.

 

[BiggDawg]

... but still. What is the biggest difference that I can encounter in a 90' dive vs a 60' dive in warm waters?

Thanks

I guess you could say the same about 60' dive vs. 200' dive, no?

Others have already posted about narcosis ("narc'ed"), which may or may not be a big problem for you at 90' (though it will be a bigger deal a little deeper!); and the need to plan for OOA situations, or buddy breathing ascents without lines.

Just a couple of others, for example:
When you trained for OW, you did (or should have done) a controlled emergency ascent from between 20' and 30'. Okay. It's doable from 60', too, but I wouldn't recommend it. However, from 90', you may never be able to tell some one what happened; it's a wholly different thing.
I have seen plenty of divers more experienced than you suddenly freak out and panic :11: . In that situation, the typical response is to toss the regulator, rip off the mask, and scream for the surface. Potentially deadly at 90', what happens if you freak out?

Speaking of freaking out, at 90' you are much more likely to encounter large pelagics than at 30' or 60'. Will you remain calm if you are suddenly faced with a sea creature a large as yourself? (Or, might this start an emergency panic ascent from which you will never recover?)

On one of my earliest deep dives, when I still was using rental equipment, I encountered an interesting result with the cheap but sturdy regulator the LDS used for rentals. Seems that it worked just fine above 90', but below 95' it got really hard to breath. Pushing equipment to the edge is never a good idea when you are also pushing your training and testing your skills at the same time.

How about exposure protection? Water temperatures can be much different that much farther down. Do you know how to prepare for passing through another thermocline or two, when it was 80 degrees at the surface?

These are just a few examples of what some of the "difference(s) that (a diver) can encounter in a 90' dive vs a 60' dive in warm waters?." This is why the typical limit is 60' for the newly trained recreational diver, because there are differences in diving below that. The very fact that a diver would ask the question, suggests that he needs the training. If you don't know the differences, or alternatively cannot be sure there are none, you are not ready.

BD

 

[runamonk]

I would say this is probably too much, unless you're going to be buddied up with a DM or your instructor. This really depends on what you're diving and how comfortable you are in the water.

Would I have done 90' at that experience level? Certainly not, but that's just me. I would talk with your instructor and see if he/she feels you're ready for a dive like that.

Quite a few things can go wrong at 90' that could cause a panic situation. That's one of the reasons for taking the advanced course.

 

[Web Monkey]

Another thing that I have not said is that I dive with my 63 years old father, also newly ow certified. He is in a good shape but still. What is the biggest difference that I can encounter in a 90' dive vs a 60' dive in warm waters?

Thanks

• More narced (feels sort of like you've been drinking)
• Air goes faster, so if you're not careful (see above) you can easily run out.
• 30 more feet to the surface, making a sucessful, safe emergency ascent less likely.
• Shorter No-Decompression Limit (it's entirely possible to run out of time before running out of air).

None of these are earth-shaking, it's just that they conspire against you. You'll be less able to handle problems at the very same time you'll actually need to be better.

Terry

 

[annlaur]

I am still a newsby but I'll tell you about my own experience and mistake I've learned from.

I has been OW certified and had 13 dives on my log book when I went to dive the Red Sea.
Up untill that trip I was really confident in the water and felt I was doing a good job (with hindsight I can tell you I really wasn't). No anxiety, fear or whatever. Just loved it.

Well first dive in the Red Sea was a disaster (was exhausted from the trip, not prepared, stressed due to little time to set up equipment that was in poor shape).
For many reasons that are not relevant here, I got exhausted and panicked. We were "only" 50 feet below the surface, and the DM managed to calm me down and we finished the dive, but that was a really unpleasant experience. Traumatic you would say.

Now I always feel some anxiety when I dive and had to do the basic training all over again (the mask removal never used to be a problem : well it took me 4 sessions with an instructor to be able to do it without bolting to the surface !!!!)
So basically it's worse than starting all over, because I first have to overcome the anxiety left from that bad experience.

It's slowy getting better and I don't mind the extra training as I have so many things to learn, but obviously I wish I had thought better than doing what basically was a Trust dive.

So here's my advice, for what it's worth :
take it slowly, do easy shallow dives, practice your skills, go with an instructor if you want to try something a little bit more challenging, take more classes, re-read your training material on a regular basis, and never, ever, dive beyond your and your buddy's limits (which can be lower than what you're certified for).

There are plenty of things to see and enjoy at 40 ft, and you have plenty of time to learn and gradually go deeper.

Enjoy

Anne-Laure