What was the typical dive like in terms of hours at depth and the decompression obligation?
This thread explains it in detail including various tables:
What is Saturation Diving?
The short answer is a "dive" (seal-to-seal on the deck chamber) is typically around 30 days including decompression for shallower dives, like less than 600'/200M. Deeper dives tend to be longer because of longer decompression times.
Typically each of three dive teams make one bell run per day (until decompression starts). One or two divers lockout depending on the job and jurisdiction. The bellman stays in the bell to monitor systems and tend umbilicals (thus the term "tender"). Bellman are equally qualified divers and teams usually share the task. It also gives them a slight break from the grueling 24/7 work schedule. The Aggressor fleet didn't invent the Eat, Sleep, Dive concept.
Exiting the bottom hatch of the bell is called a "lockout". Lockouts tend to last 5-8 hours. A diver might stick their head back in the bell's trunk for quick breaks to down a sandwich while they are waiting for surface support to do something.
The saturation holding depth is usually at the shallow end of the depth range required by the job. "Excursions" are allowed during bell runs from the sat depth and are almost always deeper. Excursion tables allow much deeper excursions for longer periods of time than shallower, so they are rarely done in my experience.
Divers on most systems tend to work below the bell, which is often lowered a little deeper than the sat depth. There are a lot of reasons including it is easier to tend umbilicals and breathing gas recovery systems tend to have less problems with inevitable water entering the exhaust hose.
