Okay, here is the second situation that I referred to in my other post (Night Dives Dos and Donts).
After leaving Dumaguete, our diving crew headed out to Cebu for some no dive fun and then shot down to Moalboal to experience the famous Pescador Island wall dives. On the first trip out to the island, our group joined a German couple who apparently had logged many dives in the Philippines, particularly at Pescador Island, their favorite spot.
During the first dive briefing on the boat, the DM told us we would enter in 5-6 meters of water, swim to the wall ledge and then head down to a max depth of 30 meters. He told us to be careful of our buoyancy going over the wall because the drop off went to nearly 50-60 meters average, with 70 meters depth at some points along the wall.
Anyway, this is what we all did except for the German couple. I remember hitting 28 meters and getting myself neutrally buoyant. Soon thereafter the two of them dropped right passed me and went down to what had to be 50-55 meters.
Please note that they were on one tank of air just like us, so I assume they had between 200-220 bar going in. After a few minutes I didnt see them at all (the visibility was somewhat dodgy). When we reached the 3 minute stop at 5 meters some 50 minutes later I looked for them but saw nothing. Shortly after we surfaced, they joined us and all was well.
Later on we did more dives with them, and I can safely say these are two divers with quite a bit of experience. They didnt go as deep as the first dive later in the day, and they hung out with us at 15 meters for the third and last dive of the day.
This process continued for two days of diving at the island.
Later they joined us in conversation one night when we were finishing dinner. I asked about their depth limits and they told me that they often go down to 55-65 meters at Pescador on the first dive of the day to see sharks swimming in colder water. They hang out there between 5-7 minutes and then do 3-4 safety stops before surfacing depending on how deep they have gone.
Im the first guy to admit that I dont know enough about diving to say whether or not this practice is safe, though my gut says it is not. They had computers and I can confirm that they did safety stops at various points between 20 and 5 meters on subsequent dives. My instinct tells me this is pushing it in a big way nonetheless. My dive chart does as well. It maxes out at 42 meters at 7 minutes no deco time. My Suunto Gecko computer will only allow me to plan for a 45 meter dive at 5 minutes no deco time.
Of course this could all be my lack of experience and the safety stops for 42 meters could be the same as they are for 65 meters and deeper, though I have a hard time wrapping my brain around that notion.
Am I being too conservative in thinking these kinds of depths under these conditions ought to be accompanied with more air and more contingencies?
Arent these depths more in line with tech diving limits and better training, replete with extra tanks of some sort?
Id love to read what others with more experience have to say. If I am off the mark with these thoughts, Id love to learn how.
Cheers!
After leaving Dumaguete, our diving crew headed out to Cebu for some no dive fun and then shot down to Moalboal to experience the famous Pescador Island wall dives. On the first trip out to the island, our group joined a German couple who apparently had logged many dives in the Philippines, particularly at Pescador Island, their favorite spot.
During the first dive briefing on the boat, the DM told us we would enter in 5-6 meters of water, swim to the wall ledge and then head down to a max depth of 30 meters. He told us to be careful of our buoyancy going over the wall because the drop off went to nearly 50-60 meters average, with 70 meters depth at some points along the wall.
Anyway, this is what we all did except for the German couple. I remember hitting 28 meters and getting myself neutrally buoyant. Soon thereafter the two of them dropped right passed me and went down to what had to be 50-55 meters.
Please note that they were on one tank of air just like us, so I assume they had between 200-220 bar going in. After a few minutes I didnt see them at all (the visibility was somewhat dodgy). When we reached the 3 minute stop at 5 meters some 50 minutes later I looked for them but saw nothing. Shortly after we surfaced, they joined us and all was well.
Later on we did more dives with them, and I can safely say these are two divers with quite a bit of experience. They didnt go as deep as the first dive later in the day, and they hung out with us at 15 meters for the third and last dive of the day.
This process continued for two days of diving at the island.
Later they joined us in conversation one night when we were finishing dinner. I asked about their depth limits and they told me that they often go down to 55-65 meters at Pescador on the first dive of the day to see sharks swimming in colder water. They hang out there between 5-7 minutes and then do 3-4 safety stops before surfacing depending on how deep they have gone.
Im the first guy to admit that I dont know enough about diving to say whether or not this practice is safe, though my gut says it is not. They had computers and I can confirm that they did safety stops at various points between 20 and 5 meters on subsequent dives. My instinct tells me this is pushing it in a big way nonetheless. My dive chart does as well. It maxes out at 42 meters at 7 minutes no deco time. My Suunto Gecko computer will only allow me to plan for a 45 meter dive at 5 minutes no deco time.
Of course this could all be my lack of experience and the safety stops for 42 meters could be the same as they are for 65 meters and deeper, though I have a hard time wrapping my brain around that notion.
Am I being too conservative in thinking these kinds of depths under these conditions ought to be accompanied with more air and more contingencies?
Arent these depths more in line with tech diving limits and better training, replete with extra tanks of some sort?
Id love to read what others with more experience have to say. If I am off the mark with these thoughts, Id love to learn how.
Cheers!
