My instructor taught be an importat lesson about "SURFACE decompression stops". You see, we have a great dive site here Just north of HorseSHoe Bay( Vancouver, British Columbia ). But you end up parking/gearing up in the parking lot then walking down 4-5 flight of stairs followed by a steep path which leads to a nice little flat dirt area just at the VERY rocky entrance to the water. That being said- going down isn't so bad, it the trek up the hill/stairs that gets ya.
This dive site offers for all pragmatic reasons, unlimited dive depth. Most people who dive there DONT dive 50ft or less.It's more of a 60ft-130ft+ kinda site. So anyways, when we exit the water, we stop right at the flat area by water's entrance for 3-4 min. Then we hike up the hill(50 meters) slowly to the first flight of stairsand sit for a few minutes to catch our breath and then each successive landing up to the parking lot as well. The whole idea behind all of this is you dont want your heart racing after a long or deep dive. Now, to me this makes perfect sense because I was taught this as I was learning how to dive. This became the norm for me, but man, you should see the number of people that will dive 60+ feet then walk right up to the parking lot without stopping once. Way too easy to get your heart rate up over 150 bpm or higher on that little hike. They always say, " Me? No, no, I am fine no problem, I am in good shape." or "Why bother?or "Who has the time to take all those breaks?" I also know guys who drive drunk but always manage ( so far ) to make it home safe but, someday the dice may not roll in your favor. I am all about doing it safely, why rush it? Just cuz you are out of the water doesn't mean the dive is over. Surface deco stops are just as important as the ones on the wet side.
Cheers,
