Tech diving off dive boats

[datho87]

Hi all

I recently completed my ANDP course and am excited about doing frequent modest local tech dives (45m, ~1hr run time).

The main avenue for tech diving in my city is off a charter boat. The boat advertises regular tech dives at varying qualification levels.

I'm just wondering what the convention is regarding decompression... I'm keen to do a deco profile with GF low of 40 and GF high of 70. But I assume other divers have their own preferred profiles (which of course I respect; it's a very individual thing).

What have your experiences have been in these situations? Should the dive operator link us up by email so we can discuss deco prior to the dives? Do you just 'go with the crowd' and do the profiles the other (more experienced) divers are running? Or do you stick to your own profile and turn it into a bit of a solo dive on the way up?

I understand that in a perfect world, we would all have our regular dive buddies that share the same deco preferences. But this really isn't practical where I am, if I want to dive regularly.

 

[Tracy]

Normally I dive with a normal team and we are all on the same page.
Sometimes that doesn't work out and I wind up with new people. Most are willing to match conservatism to the lowest of the group. If they aren't willing to do that, they aren't somebody that would be of use to me on the bottom or doing deco.

 

[Hppyfam]

Here it all depends, if off the public dive boats, one allows a max run time of 1 hour. Other doesn't allow deco. But the community mostly charters 6-person boats anyways when we wanna deco, since going on crowded public boat is a bit of a headache. We all dive 50/70. Its what we ask every tech diver to dive here.

 

[datho87]

Normally I dive with a normal team and we are all on the same page.
Sometimes that doesn't work out and I wind up with new people. Most are willing to match conservatism to the lowest of the group. If they aren't willing to do that, they aren't somebody that would be of use to me on the bottom or doing deco.

Thanks Tracy! Out of interest, what do you mean by 'conservatism'? I.e. deep stop advocates would have a lower GF low, while the 'shallower deep stop' school of thought (advocated by Simon Mitchell) propose higher GF lows of more like 50 (I actually meant to type my preference as 50/70 in my original post).

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

Hi all

I recently completed my ANDP course and am excited about doing frequent modest local tech dives (45m, ~1hr run time).

The main avenue for tech diving in my city is off a charter boat. The boat advertises regular tech dives at varying qualification levels.

I'm just wondering what the convention is regarding decompression... I'm keen to do a deco profile with GF low of 40 and GF high of 70. But I assume other divers have their own preferred profiles (which of course I respect; it's a very individual thing).

What have your experiences have been in these situations? Should the dive operator link us up by email so we can discuss deco prior to the dives? Do you just 'go with the crowd' and do the profiles the other (more experienced) divers are running? Or do you stick to your own profile and turn it into a bit of a solo dive on the way up?

I understand that in a perfect world, we would all have our regular dive buddies that share the same deco preferences. But this really isn't practical where I am, if I want to dive regularly.

Melbourne Oz or Melbourne Florida? If you are in Melbourne Oz then I know someone that has also just completed ANDP and is looking for a buddy to do some of that sort of diving.

 

[datho87]

Melbourne Oz or Melbourne Florida? If you are in Melbourne Oz then I know someone that has also just completed ANDP and is looking for a buddy to do some of that sort of diving.

I'm from Melbourne Aus but moved to Sydney two years ago for work (should update my profile)... So the answer is Sydney. But I'm looking to move back to Melbourne in the next yr or so... imo Melbourne diving edges out Sydney diving

 

[Wibble]

It's down to you and your "team"/buddy to resolve.

Generally there's a maximum time that the boat will allow. Kind of work it back from there given your own particular requirements; depth, what you're diving on, how much deco you can do, gasses, experience, buddy's requirements, etc.

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

I'm from Melbourne Aus but moved to Sydney two years ago for work (should update my profile)... So the answer is Sydney. But I'm looking to move back to Melbourne in the next yr or so... imo Melbourne diving edges out Sydney diving

Can't help you in Sydney unfortunately.

 

[steinbil]

Should the dive operator link us up by email so we can discuss deco prior to the dives? Do you just 'go with the crowd' and do the profiles the other (more experienced) divers are running? Or do you stick to your own profile and turn it into a bit of a solo dive on the way up?

When you’re expanding your comfort zone and level of experience, it sounds like a very bad idea to also increase the risk by turning the most dangerous part of the dive (deco ascent) into a solo dive, or otherwise going beyond the parameters you’re comfortable with in terms of conservativity to “go with the crowd”.

The general advice to always dive to the level of the most conservative/least experienced in a team seems like it would apply perfectly in these scenarios.

 

[Wibble]

My experience in the early days of decompression diving was to talk though your plans before the dive. After a short time you'll know the people you're diving with, so can sort out the planning in advance.

The issue is where you don't know people to dive with and still "need" a dive buddy to dive with (not a bad thing at all).

Wonder if you could email the skipper to see if he will put you in touch with someone who can help? Maybe if it's a dive club that's booked the boat, so you could talk to their "dive leader"? Once you've done a handful of dives with that boat, it'll all be sorted and hopefully you'll have buddies to dive with.