How deep do you usually dive?

[CA Diver]

I do my local diving in Southern California. A typical beach dive here is 25 to 50 feet because that is where most of the sea life is at. I have been on dives to around 100' but there is not much down there in our cold water.

When I dove in teh Western Pacific (Guam and Palau) many of the dives were in excess of 100' My max depth is 130 at Blue Hole Guam. There was considerably more sea life at those depths in Guam and Palau than here in Southern California. There is also considerably more visibility in tropical waters.

My dives that were deeper than 80' were not simply to get to that depth but were walls, wrecks or Blue Hole (Guam) where the window in the wall begins at 115. Even though I was deeper than 100' most of the dive was back at 60' or shallower. We were not specifically utilizing the 1 minute stop at half your maximum depth (this was prior to the release of this standard to the recreational diving community) we were following this profile.

The depth of your dives will depend on your experience and the circumstances. There needs to be a reason to go to 100' not just to dive there. There are plenty of great dives where you get no deeper than 30 or 40 feet.

 

[Stingray81888]

I usually stay between teh depths of 40-70 feet. My dad isnt interested in deep diving so i stay at that depth. We always see plenty of stuff though.

 

[mempilot]

Most of my dives are shallower because that's where the life is, and I can stay longer.

There is a lot of life below the recreational limits. We frequently see palagics, some quite large, down deep. There's life, just different kinds. As for staying longer, try decompression diving with appropriate training of course.

 

[SDAnderson]

Hi,

I was just thinking about it and it doesn't seem as though people dive that deep. I always thought that you would dive deaper than 80 feet... Please correct me if I'm wrong but do most only dive this far?

80 feet is a lot of water, when you lie on your back and look up. Think of an 8 story building and imaging floating that high in the air...

Recreational divers start with a 60 foot depth limit and can progress to deeper limits with additional training and experience. Most folks probably spend most of their time between 40 and 100 feet - there is a lot to see and do there and those depths don't require a lot of extra equipment and training.

There are divers that go deeper than this, far deeper, but there are big penalties that need to be considered. The deeper you dive, the more dangerous it is (far more dangerous) and the more it costs, in terms of time, training, equipment, planning and supplies. It's not for everyone and that shouldn't be part of the attraction.

Diving is like most things in life, it's sometimes hard to find the nerve to take that first step. Just remember that small steps are safe steps and that there is only one place in diving where a giant stride is a good idea - off the back end of the boat when it's time to get wet. Go for it.

 

[Padipro]

I like diving the deeper wrecks, 70 to 130' foot range, maybe deeper if I can swing the proper training this summer. I find it more challenging and more interesting then the shallower reefs. There is still a lot of marine life at those depths on a wreck and exploreing the inside of the wreck wild. I've been diving for a while and just as it is with most things, IMO the easy stuff can get a little boring after a while.

 

[El Orans]

So far (45 dives), I haven't been deeper than 90 feet. I don't feel that I'm missing something though.

It's not the depth that interests me but the view.

 

[pasley]

I mostly dive in the uner 60 foot range, but have gone to 110 feet of sea water.

How deep you go depends mostly on what you want to do.

IMHO most of the life is in the upper layers so 60 feet (acually the first 30).

Wreck divers do tend to dive a bit deeper and there are those who dive deep just because its there. So do what floats your boat, but be trained for what you do. Over 130 feet and you really are into technical diving and you can quickly get into specialized gases and decompression obligations.

 

[kokoyo11]

At what deepth are the morjoity of the wrecks?

 

[bwerb]

Most wrecks in the ocean lie somewhere between sea level and 10,924 meters (Marianas Trench). Wrecks in lakes can be significantly higher than sealevel.



Sorry...I couldn't resist...

kokoyo11, the cool thing about wrecks is they can be at any depth. Also, because many ships are quite high...the bottom of a wreck can be much deeper than the top superstructure. We did a dive yesterday where the top was 48 feet and the bottom "to the sand" was 90 or so feet.

 

[DeputyDan]

There is a saying in diving and its true.

Plan your dive and dive your plan.

One of the things this implys is that you know your depth and the purpose of the dive before you get wet. Depth may or may not be a factor in a dive.