How many tech dives per day ...

[Jim Lapenta]

I won't do more than 2 deep dives (plus 100 ft) in a day regardless of whether they require mandatory deco. I'm nearing 60 and I know what my body seems to like and not like. Using VPM-B with plus 3 or 4 conservatism depending on temp, workload, planned depth, etc.
If they are Great Lakes dives in 38-40 degree water then I'll do two days, take a one day break, then 2 days.
Warm water I'd be ok with the same schedule but maybe one shallow dive on day 3.
My Gf and I used to try and plan to do a liveaboard together. She always did the Ex-Ven Turks boat and did dive every day. 4 dives a day. I told her if we did happen to make it go, I would probably be doing a max of 3 dives a day unless there was something really cool requiring a 4th dive, and I'd probably take one day in the middle and only do one dive or not dive at all.

 

[Andrew Dawson]

We did 2/day to 160-190+fsw and 1/day [3 total a day] that was shallower than 150fsw. This was for 6 days straight on the Odyssey, Truk Lagoon, Dec 2008.

100% O2 on whips at about 12fsw on a T bar off the back of the boat. OC. No He. AL80s with 21% back gas, deck bottles 30cf Al's with 50% and 100% O2. Basic setups.

It was pretty aggressive...we did calculate OTUs but did not get that close.

My friend, Al, who was also an instructor got mildly bent on day one(Mon), did not dive Tues, Wed, or Thurs...was my buddy on dive 2 on Fri (I hit 202fsw and he hit 201fsw)...I was fine, Al got bent and did many chamber rides each day for the next 6 days. DAN docs believe he was bent a bit on day 1 as he felt "ill" then...end analysis was that a month before this trip, he had a high altitude lung infection nd cough [he was climbing Cho-oyo] that did not fully heal...which led to inefficient gas exchange.

Everyone else on this trip was fine...IMHO, YMMV when pushing the limits compared to others...so...be conservative. Otherwise, it was a spectacular trip

 

[kensuf]

It depends.

I base my limit on exposure. 2x 180' dives may be acceptable for short bounce dives, but if the run-time on dive #1 was four hours, I'm not doing a second.

What I do may be fine for me, but not for you.

 

[broncobowsher]

We just did a week. 2+ hour run times. 2X a day. 7 days of diving warm water. Typically deco>bottom time. Mostly 150-200'

Out of 9 of us, 1 was bent after 2 days. We all stayed together and ran the slowest profile. It was an underserved hit.

 

[tbone1004]

it depends. I don't really think of it as multiple dives, vs. total hours. Multiple 2-3 hr dives is no issue for me, but if I'm doing 3+hr dives I usually limit it to one. Too exhausting otherwise, very little to do with DCS risk for me personally

 

[abnfrog]

take into consideration 1 BIG thing ......where's the nearest chamber , when I did bikini in 06 the nearest chamber was 10hrs away and there was only 1 working plane in the marshal island ....that equals 1 very painful death scared the crap out of me so I didn't dive mid week for a day to get completely off the tables

 

[macado]

I hate to be a broken record but it really depends..

One long 3-4+ hour dive at 100-120ft (30-36m) range. I'm happy with a one and done here. I'm tired and hungry at this stage with no real desire to get back into the water. I will however do two ~2-2.5 hour dives at these depths, say Ginnie Springs or Florida Keys with a long surface internal and lunch / food before the second dive.

Typically in New England a lot of dive charters are a one and done type deal for anything under 150ft (45m). There are obviously exceptions to these rules (special trips/circumstances) but it's pretty much understood here if you're booking a technical dive on a New England charter boat you get one long runtime.

I'm perfectly happy doing two 200ft (~60m) dives at day in the Great Lakes in 39f (4c) water. My runtimes are usually around 90-120 minutes for these dives with a 90+ minute surface interval. I've done this for the last 4 years in row doing 5 to 6 days straight diving with no breaks in between for multiple trips. I won't object to an off-gassing day (blow out) if we get one somewhere in between. For these trips plenty of rest, hydration (water), no heavy alcohol or exercise/exertion after the dives is key for me.

When depths start creeping up towards 240-250ft (~76m) I'll stick to one dive a day... For no other reason simply because I feel like it.

I run a heated vest on deco, and dive somewhere between 50/80 - 50/85 for Gradient Factors depending on how long I extend my 10ft stop.

That doesn't mean these profiles/dives won't bend you like a pretzel so your mileage may vary. I suggest slowly adjusting your depths/runtimes and gradient factors and not making any drastic changes.

EDIT: Forgot to answer your last bit. To this date I have not experienced any DCS symptoms yet. I have been super tired but that might be more of a symptom of long days and cold water.

 

[PfcAJ]

How many technical dives per day are you ok with doing over say one week trip?

Has anyone ever experienced mild type 1 symptoms after repeated decompression dives? What were your profiles and GFs

The most Ive done back to back is a 220' dive on day 1, 250' and 150' on day 2, 150' on day 3, and 150' on day 4 for a total of 9hrs in the water.

No issues during that stretch, but the 250' dive followed by a 150' dive isn't something I'd like to make a habit of.

GF 60/85.

 

[100days-a-year]

Up to 180'
RT of <25 min
GF of Orca EDGE
5 to 7 a day up to 7 days in a row and up to 25 days in a month.
P02 max of 1.2 - 1.4

Mix dives up to 250ish
2 a day on OC
VPM-A 0-1 conservatism
Followed by Rec diving for a couple days with wife

 

[nadwidny]

2. Anymore cuts into drinking time.