Jules Undersea Lodge saturation dive

[JohnsIsland]

Maybe they stay in business due to people that want to do it one time in there life. Who knows... I would have to agree the viz isn't that great, the price is rather high considering what is offered in the way of amenities (meals in particular.) I think it would be nice at the price to give you a aquanuat or some other card.

Who knows, maybe If I am in the keys some day, and I have a few extra bucks, I might do it. Then again, those bucks would buy a few dives, a night or more in a nice hotel, another tank, or some other goody.

For me it's just something different that would be fun to do one time, maybe.

To each his own.

Jeff

 

[DocVikingo]

How do they stay in business, I wonder...

Hi Jagfish,

Well, it is undeniably novel. Plus, it has a suggestion of the romantic.

Regards,

Doc

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

It's a great experience, another "once in a lifetime", "cross it off the bucket list" sort of event.

The chamber is open to the bottom and the depth there is 19 ft; the lagoon bottom is 26 ft under the habitat. It is pressurized to that depth to keep the water from flooding it, and there is no access at all to the surface. Obviously opening any door above would let the pressurized air out and the habitat would flood.

Your actual distance below the surface when you are standing inside is about 15 feet, but since the chamber is pressurized to keep the water out, you are exposed to about 19 ft of pressure the entire time you are there.

It's a little pricey but worth the experience. Part of the cost is that fact that a staff member has to be on site and monitoring the conditions to ensure that the chamber doesn't have a failure while someone is inside; that would not be a good thing!

If you get a chance, do it!

 

[Chugwhump]

A cheaper way is to get a big ole' steel tank and just lay down on the bottom under a boat and go to sleep in shallow water.
I did that once in Key Largo for 45 minutes or so.
It is still the best nap I ever had.

As far as safety goes, I guess you wake up when you run out of air.

Chug

 

[gcbryan]

...
I had read some other threads, and it seemed as if somewhere between 15 and 30 FSW would create a deco obligation. I will read the thread you linked to, DCBC.

...

Not sure what an air lock has to do with whether a deco obligation would exist, but I think I will skip that thought.

Thanks again for the answers,

Jeff

As I recall there is no deco issue, regardless of time spent, down to the 2 atmospheres of nitrogen range so (.79*33FSW=26FSW).

Regarding an air lock...as far as I can tell there has to be an airlock whether it's pressurized to 19 fsw or 0 fsw. If it was pressurized to 0 fsw then there would be no deco obligation regardless of how deep you were as long as you didn't go outside. As it is it's built in such a way that you can't get too deep.

 

[kanonfodr]

As I recall there is no deco issue, regardless of time spent, down to the 2 atmospheres of nitrogen range so (.79*33FSW=26FSW).

Regarding an air lock...as far as I can tell there has to be an airlock whether it's pressurized to 19 fsw or 0 fsw. If it was pressurized to 0 fsw then there would be no deco obligation regardless of how deep you were as long as you didn't go outside. As it is it's built in such a way that you can't get too deep.

Re: airlock. Not really, if the chamber is pressurized to the same pressure as the water that is trying to make it's way in. Take a glass jar, turn it over, then push it down into a bathtub full of water. Since the water pressure pretty much equals the air pressure inside the jar, no water gets in. They use the concept in a lot of applications, wikipedia 'moon pool' .

Peace,
Greg

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Like the saying goes, "Every place has great diving - just different."

We had an awesome time during our stay and we are planning to do it again. If you'd like to read our trip report it is here:

Sleeping with the Fishes

When discussing the Jules' Undersea Lodge with others, it seems that the more experienced divers really get a kick out of their stay while less experienced divers are more likely to be disappointed. I think this is because experienced divers have a greater appreciation for the technology that allows us to live underwater, tend to do it for the adventure and because it's something unusual, and have the right state of mind to enjoy themselves while diving in a lagoon. Less experienced divers tend to want the clear water and more prolific marine life found on reefs, have greater expectations for what living underwater is like, and are less likely to go with the flow with a more positive attitude.

For some, the stay is pricey, but how often do you get to stay underwater in a habitat in which the famous, the Who's Who of diving, and many scientists and astronauts have experienced? You may find the names of others you know in the logbook. You get to become part of the on-going history of the habitat and be one of the few people in human history to wake up on the sea floor.

The pressure inside is 20.5 feet at the hatch to the moon pool. If you use your own tanks, you will not be allowed to use nitrox simply because the lawyers and the insurers are only happy with air diving excursions from the habitat. There are a number of safety back-ups for communications, power failure, and pressure loss.

 

[Couv]

There is no reason to use Nitrox at that depth.

I personally think it would be a Hoot to do an over night stay in such a place.

c

 

[muddiver]

I was thinking about Jules Undersea lodge and wondering about the lack of deco after spending 21 or more hours at 21 FSW. They offer unlimited diving during a stay, and the web site seems to suggest the area around the lodge is 30 FSW.

After an overnight stay, their site says no flying or diving for 24 hours. What are the chances of DCS after a 21-hour stay, given no deco—immediate surfacing? What if someone were to stay for two or more days? I don’t see any mention of ascending to the surface and descending during a dive. Wouldn’t that increase the risk of DCS?

I read a previous thread where, IIRC, an extended dive to 15 FSW wasn’t likely to be a problem, but 30 FSW might be a problem for some people after a day. Since Jules is less than the 30 FSW, if someone spent less than a day at the lodge, it’s probably going to be OK. I wonder how often Jules has someone spending more than one day, and if they have any protocols for multi-day times.

Does the idea of spending a night at the lodge, or performing a saturation dive interest anyone? I would enjoy spending a night or two at Jules with a group of friends.


Jeff

Other folks have stated that the ambient pressure inside the hbitat is at 19fsw +/- 1 or 2 feet. The U.S. Navy No-Decompression Table, 2008, gives an unlimited bottom time for dives to 20fsw. Typically your maximum depth diring a dive might be off by 6" to 1' in depth and I believe this has been factored into that table. You surface as an "L" diver (USN, NOAA and SSI tables only) for repetative diving purposes.

If you leave the habitat to do an excursion dive deeper than 20fsw you will just be decompressing when you return to the habitat, which is at the typical reccomended safety stop depth anyway. This assumes you don't dive to 30fsw beyond the NDL for the maximum depth you obtain and then surface or ascend shallower than teh habitat. USN table NDL for 30fsw is over 6 hours (371 minutes). Show me how you can do that on scuba and then I would get concerned about DCS.

I would do an overnight at this place, but it will have to wait until I get back from the Great Barrior Reef.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

There is no reason to use Nitrox at that depth.

I personally think it would be a Hoot to do an over night stay in such a place.

c

While there is no reason to dive nitrox at those depths, divers who have their own tanks often will have nitrox in them. In our case, we topped our doubles off with air after a nitrox dive. That was enough nitrox to be problematic as far as the rules go. Had we known we needed air only, we would have drained them in advance and not lost time in the habitat because we wanted to use our own gear.

It is a hoot! You should do it. We are planning to go back.