My first deep dive

[Bazzathemammoth]

@Wibble that sounds like a great experience, ill talk to the dive club and see if we can organise it.

@100days-a-year I totally agree with what you are saying. I'm more of a breath hold spear-fisherman than scuba diver and started using freediving fins for scuba about 8 years ago. This dive wouldn't have been possible for me with standard scuba fins. We had heaps of life around us so i dont think we spooked anything too much.

I have tried twice now to buy a bp/w locally. The first shop said "what a great idea i will find one for you" and then never managed to get one priced let alone landed. The second shop i went to didn't acknowledge they existed and tried to sell me a rear inflation bcd. I ended up buying a bottom of the line standard bcd out of frustration, and instantly regretted it.

Ive just spent a bunch on more freediving gear, but hopefully ill be able to get a bp/w next year. Dive gear express seems like good value for money gear? There are a few bp/w divers in the club, but they all use halcyon which seems really expensive.

I also really want to do fundies but haven't had the coin for it yet.

 

[Brett Hatch]

Dive gear express seems like good value for money gear?

This is accurate

halcyon which seems really expensive.

Also accurate

 

[KentB]

I also get narced bad. I don’t like it AT ALL.
As you found out there’s a huge difference between 30-40 M for narcosis.


I rarely dive air or nitrox anymore but I was only comfortable on air down to about 35M.
Any deeper and I want helium.

 

[yle]

Cheers for the info everyone. I think @tbone1004 is on the money, i was finning a fair bit to keep up with my buddy.

And as he said, it's different for everyone and on every dive. All you can do is be aware of it, as you are now, and make notes of your own personal experiences so that you develop an idea of the range (depth, temp, workload, etc) of your diving for which narcosis becomes an issue for you.

(Since you asked... I've found that dives to 30m/100ft occasionally have a mild effect, but my perception of my dives to 36m/120ft or deeper, and everything I see on those dives, is always the most awesome stuff ever.)

 

[Wibble]

On a dive in a deep quarry on a weak nitrox mix (air top of 32%). Jumped in with a friend and we descended to "the blue boat" at 50m/165'. He got to it and I was stuck at about 45m/148', pretty much paralysed with debilitating narcosis. I was checking my gas, clipping it off, then checking it again (because I'd seen it, but couldn't remember the number), then obsessing with my depth, gas, depth.... Utterly transfixed by it.

We both ascended to a shelf at 28m/90' where the narcosis quickly abated and normal brain function resumed (whatever that means ;-)

Since then I've never had narcosis that badly even though I've done many dives on non-helium mixes below 40m/130'. I pretty much would always plan to use some helium in the mix below 40m.

Nowadays with the rebreather, helium's massively cheaper (as you need so little with a rebreather) and I can easily use it in all dives below 25m/80'. It's great to be able to use a rich helium mix for deeper dives 60m/200', out of the question for open circuit.

To this day I am glad I had that narcosis 'incident'. Good experience to consider in my diving.

 

[Centrals]

Speaking for myself:
Narcosis can strike from around 25m. There are many factors that can trigger it. Fast descent is certainly to be avoided especially on my first dive of the trip. The on set of narcosis is usually quite gradual so it is very important to aware/recognize the symptom early. It will only get worst if dive deeper. Personal physical state is another factor, lack of sleep, tireless or generally no feeling well should give diving a miss.
You can manage narcosis but probably never get over it.
I have done a lot of deep air dives over 50m and not suffered at all. But sometimes a 25m dive got me thinking.

Know yourself and prepare for it.

 

[Antonios (Holy Diver)]

A bit late response from an newbie here (just 17 dives, AOW certified). I got narced twice at 30m/100 ft. (Temperature 25-26 C, early September dives in South Greece). Not an unpleasant sensation. I felt a bit dizzy, like after having a glass or two of strong sweet wine. The dizziness was stronger on my first, night dive, lighter on the second daytime wreck dive. I kept reminding myself that probably my cognitive functions were impaired, and got a bit anxious, checking my SPG and NDL every second. Maybe it was just a symptom of a fresh diver's task loading, but althought I fumbled with my camera the whole time, I could not shoot a photo - kept selecting video mode until we ascended to swallower depths.

 

[Celt]

Keep warm, stay focused and move slowly especially in poor vis avoids narcosis for me at least, but you just don’t know.

 

[Joris Vd]

For me I've never felt narced except in really insanely cold winter dives (44 degrees or less).
I usually stick to the 40m limit so I guess there's not really alot of opportunity to get narced out of my mind.
But when it's cold, or even worse I dive when tired, then it hits me like a bomb sometimes, even at 33-35

 

[Gone for diving]

It is amazing how abit rushed on the surface can give you narcosis,
110ft is normally no big deal for me,
I remember one time, helping some other divers out of my buddy's boat,
Then suit up quick, and followed, when I got to 100 ft I was so narced.. but controlled my breathing, and it got alot better, the co2 is amazing how much worse it makes it, I always try to spend a bit of time in the water relaxing, before I go down, it sure helps