@CuzzA
Thank you for your very prompt reply-- I apologize for not responding immediately.
Today is what as known in the US as Veteran's day . Every Year for as long as I can remember I always attend Veterans Day ceremonies held on our local pier to honor my friends and others who paid the ultimate price for our freedom- It is a special day for me. My dear wife says I am rather morose until 11 minutes after 11 O'clock
You are so correct that ascending at the speed the of slowest bubbles with a optional safety stop. Ascending at or some where near the speed of bubbles has been the standard in of recreational diving long before PADI was created and your fuzzy faced instructor began diving
The "safety stop" is relative new- I have not researched it - but around 25-30 years ago it was discovered by some European researchers - Swedish as I recall--and the JYC team et al discovered that a short out gassing safety stop would prevent Aseptic Bone Necrosis - the death of log bones in the absences of bacteria.
Now it is standard practice
In SoCal there is a place called Farnsworth Banks, located in the open ocean off Catalina Island. It was considered to dangerous to dive for both commercial and sport diving-depth, currents and hungry sharks , Some how my tribe didn't get the message and I was the one of the first to dive it and certainly led the first dive trip to the banks. The following is a series of post about that first dive in December 1960-58 years ago - Made with crude commercial of home made equipment with out any instrumentation in homemade wet suits--And no or very crude depth gauges
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http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/socal/438366-farnsworth-4th-november-2012-nearly-perfect-2.html ~~~
I suspect one day the will the depth gauge will be the first to disappear but a lot of other items will tumble off in the near or distant future when diving becomes more mainstream.
Thanks again for your response _ always enjoy reading your post
Sam Miller, 111
@drbill