Have you ever done anything on a dive that you KNEW you weren't supposed to?

[ijdod]

I really appreciate people listing the things they've done that they weren't supposed to do. But what I would really like to hear is how you convinced yourself that it was okay . . . if other divers are to learn anything from what we have done, they have to recognize the syndrome of "I know I'm not supposed to, but . . . "

Diving deeper than certified for. My first dives in really clear waters (as opposed to the murky dark waters I was taught in) I did dive below the 20 meter limit, to 25m or so. Rationale was that I was comfortable, had plenty of air, good viz, not too narced as far as I could tell, and was accompanied my more experienced divers. Related to this one is diving in harder conditions than during training; which at a guess a lot of people are guilty of

My cert agencies' official stance for multiple (rec) dives is no more than 2 per day. To my knowledge, they're not alone in that. Yet like almost everybody else I will do more than 2 dives per day on holiday. I do try to keep to an SI of at least 2.5 hours, and we're generally not diving anywhere near the NDL, but still.

Surfacing with less than 15 bar of pressure in my 12L tank (50 bar being the pressure you're supposed to surface with). I knew where I was, it was shallow enough to be able to surface easily, and so on.

Touched a turtle. Wouldn't do so normally (trained in look no touch etc) but when it leisurely swam past me close enough to nearly touch me (and not because the turtle was in any way cornered), I couldn't withstand the tempation to (gently) touch it.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
My cert agencies' official stance for multiple (rec) dives is no more than 2 per day. To my knowledge, they're not alone in that. Yet like almost everybody else I will do more than 2 dives per day on holiday. I do try to keep to an SI of at least 2.5 hours, and we're generally not diving anywhere near the NDL, but still.

. . .

So your cert agency taught you how to use a dive computer and/or tables and then subsequently taught you to ignore it and limit yourself to no more than two dives per day with at least 2.5 hours SI between?

That's an interesting twist on this thread and brings a question to mind. Is one "supposed to" blindly follow whatever dogma one's certifying agency taught them? How is "not supposed to do" defined? It didn't take me long after I was certified and began reading SB to realize that the wisdom of just about everything I was taught as dogma has been questioned, modified or ignored by other divers, agencies, instructors, etc. Maybe the only thing that's universally accepted is "breathe."

 

[ijdod]

So your cert agency taught you how to use a dive computer and/or tables and then subsequently taught you to ignore it and limit yourself to no more than two dives per day with at least 2.5 hours SI between?

No, the OW course taught us to use the (DCIEM) tables. Those are based on two dives per day, and just give you a new max bottom time for a given depth, and a given SI. They do not give you a 'penalty' factor for subsequent dives like the PADI tables do. The rationale behind it that as the amount of repeat dives increase, so does the amount of uncertainty about the actual NDL. Of course it's being worded in the same way as the max depth is worded, ie strongly recommended, and so on.

 

[jaycanwk]

My first dives were before I was certified with a family friend, who was an experienced diver, but not a certified scuba instructor, but was a teacher of other disciplines, and happened to have a second set of gear that fit me. I did about 30 dives with him to depths of 70ft in the cold Grate Lakes before I finally went and took OW and got my card.

Knowing what I know now, would I have done it differently?? Nope.

 

[TSandM]

Surfacing with less than 15 bar of pressure in my 12L tank (50 bar being the pressure you're supposed to surface with). I knew where I was, it was shallow enough to be able to surface easily, and so on.​

I can relate to this one. I had a really special, magnificent dive with a friend at our local mudhole . . . except that on that particular day, the viz was probably 70 or 80 feet (normal being 10 to 20). The vistas underwater were amazing, and we were finding all kinds of fun stuff to look at. Neither of us had any desire at all to see the dive end, and I ran my tank well down into the red before we did -- of course, the last ten minutes were in 6 feet of water, chasing a particularly gorgeous jellyfish that Ross was taking pictures of. We did not run low on gas at any significant depth, and I kept the 500 psi rock bottom reserve until we were up in ten feet of water. Would I do it again? Yup . . .

 

[oldogre]

I regularly (15%) exceed my qualification depth (40m. air), but always watch air & deco. closely. As for air, I am happy to surface with 30bar. providing my buddy has 80bar. The bottom line is, my buddy & I must be able to surface safely with the resources between us.

 

[Lorenzoid]

No, the OW course taught us to use the (DCIEM) tables. Those are based on two dives per day, and just give you a new max bottom time for a given depth, and a given SI. They do not give you a 'penalty' factor for subsequent dives like the PADI tables do. The rationale behind it that as the amount of repeat dives increase, so does the amount of uncertainty about the actual NDL. Of course it's being worded in the same way as the max depth is worded, ie strongly recommended, and so on.

Okay, my ignorance. I hadn't heard of DCIEM or a two dive per day limit before. Interesting way to deal with the problem. I assumed most people use computers today, not tables, and that most agencies recognize that, even though they still seem to teach the tables. So diving to the limit that a computer allows you is apparently something that you are "not supposed to do." Interesting.

 

[mathauck0814]

Okay, my ignorance. I hadn't heard of DCIEM or a two dive per day limit before. Interesting way to deal with the problem. I assumed most people use computers today, not tables, and that most agencies recognize that, even though they still seem to teach the tables. So diving to the limit that a computer allows you is apparently something that you are "not supposed to do." Interesting.

In fairness, diving to the absolute limit of what a table allows you is something that you're "not supposed to do" either.

 

[ijdod]

Okay, my ignorance. I hadn't heard of DCIEM or a two dive per day limit before. Interesting way to deal with the problem. I assumed most people use computers today, not tables, and that most agencies recognize that, even though they still seem to teach the tables. So diving to the limit that a computer allows you is apparently something that you are "not supposed to do." Interesting.

It's knowing the background and limits of what your computer (or tables) is telling you. My agencies approach to this is conservative, but I see no harm in that.

 

[racerx_]

There's probably quite a few things I did that I wasnt supposed to do. Some I regret, some not so much haha.

The ones that come to mind right now are not really following through with buddy checks, specific dive plans with buddy, etc on early dives because my buddy was the DM/instructor. Somehow I've never had an instabuddy. I knew I should have checked everything, etc, but they didn't do the check, didn't ask and I guess I was embarrassed to say anything. Now looking back on it that's so stupid since either of our lives are at stake with equipment malfunctions and I should have pushed for safety no matter what.


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