Things you are (almost but not really) ashamed of doing while diving

[Hoag]

@Dody, you state that you "try to reach 40 at every single dive". You say it is personal preference, and while that may be true, have you ever considered how that preference might impact negatively on others' trip.

If, for instance, you are on a LOB out at a remote site such as the Socorro Islands more than 18 hours from the nearest chamber and you decide to exercise your personal preference to go to 40m and somehow, tragically get bent, everybody's trip comes to a screeching halt as we have to take you back to do a chamber run.

 

[boulderjohn]

My comments were about taking students below 30 meters for the first time.

...

But it’s surprising to me to hear of the AOW deep dive being conducted without additional precautions.

He is talking about the deep dive specialty, which allows a deeper dive than the AOW deep dive.

I am PADI, not SSI, so I don't know their rules, but PADI does not require those precautions on the AOW deep dive.

 

[drrich2]

Even though I made myself the promise to never go below 40 meters, I try to reach 40 at every single dive even when there is nothing special to see. Even for a bump dive. Just to see 40 on my DC.

This what I do. I include a 2 minutes bump at 40 meters. But this urge to systematically reach 40 m is ludicrous, isn’t it? That’s why I am ashamed.

I'm not judging it as ludicrous or shameful. I think it bears some consideration, since it affects your diving, dive planning and potentially others (e.g.: guides, buddies) diving with you. A couple of possibilities:

1.) Some people find narcosis pleasant at times. Whether you're getting some subtle reinforcement this way without realizing it I don't know. Speculative and I'm skeptical but be aware.

2.) You gain satisfaction in pushing (or reaching) limits a little bit. This isn't unusual in other walks of life, and I don't care to speculatively analyze 'why' now...but perhaps you should. Is a preference for 'achieving' a deep max. depth so different from using minimal weight, getting your SAC as low as you can go, getting the longest bottom time you can, etc...?

If by chance you happen to be one of those people who likes to 'push it' a little in some way, be consciously aware so you can monitor that and consider the risks it may add to a given dive. In diving, you're taught to know your gear. You are your 'gear,' too, so try to know yourself.

 

[Dody]

@Dody, you state that you "try to reach 40 at every single dive". You say it is personal preference, and while that may be true, have you ever considered how that preference might impact negatively on others' trip.

If, for instance, you are on a LOB out at a remote site such as the Socorro Islands more than 18 hours from the nearest chamber and you decide to exercise your personal preference to go to 40m and somehow, tragically get bent, everybody's trip comes to a screeching halt as we have to take you back to do a chamber run.

It is planned and we are trained for that depth. We always discuss it before the dive. This is 3,4 minutes that we add to the dive plan at the beginning. Less than 300 l of gas. 25 bars tops used. Little nitrogen accumulated at this point. 4/5 minutes Doppler (conservative).
We take the risk of being bent at each and every dive not specifically those at 40 meters. We just try to control it to the best of our abilities and training.
By the way, there is no chamber in Cape Verde. The nearest is in Senegal at 500 km by plane if one can be chartered. Some would refuse to dive here or stick to 5 meters. Hundreds of people still dive anyway. Does it make us insane? Free flow, LP hose or 1st stage o-ring rupture, BCD failure, lost fin, lost weight belt, … we try to be prepared. We even have measurements for how long it would take for a tank with a failure to be empty. I hope I will never have to use that one .

 

[Dody]

2.) Is a preference for 'achieving' a deep max. depth so different from using minimal weight, getting your SAC as low as you can go, getting the longest bottom time you can, etc...?

I do those too. I have tried to progressively reduce the weight but when I reached 4 kg with my 5.5 mm wetsuit, it started to be risky at the end of dives so I stick to 6. I try to consistently be at 8/ 9 l/ min SAC but it depends on my condition. I don’t do long botton times. Done 80 minutes once (single tank) but usually it is between 40 and 60 minutes.
I know my « gear ». I called the second boat dive today because I was feeling weird. Nothing serious but I don’t dive if I am not in shape.

 

[Hoag]

It is planned and we are trained for that depth. We always discuss it before the dive.

Is that kind of like you were trained in how to determine how much weight you need and yet you still went into an overhead environment knowing that you didn't have enough weight and nearly wound up having a VERY bad day?
I f*** up and I am ashamed

As a casual observer/reader of these threads, it seems to me that you are going to do whatever you want to do regardless of others advice or opinions

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I once wore my mask on my forehead Mike Nelson style. I felt so naughty. It made me kind of tingly.

 

[SlugLife]

I just noticed this thread was in "Basic Scuba." I'm not sure this thread is appropriate for this section.

Many of the "rules" taught in one's initial open-water class are intended to keep open-water divers safe. New divers are less practiced, trained, and familiar with their equipment. Further, they are less knowledgeable about how to plan more advanced dives or handle certain scenarios. Technically, there's almost nothing stopping a new diver from side-mount, cave-diving, experimental equipment configuration, 40m+ dives etc ... I mean other than not having the training and experience to do that safely & reliably handle emergencies.

If you have the training and experience, there's nothing to be ashamed of. If you don't, then you should understand the unnecessary risks you're putting yourself and others in. Much of scuba-training focuses not on the skill, but rather what to do when things go wrong. Remember how open-water teaches air-share? That skill isn't needed to dive. That skill is needed for OOA emergencies.

When something goes wrong (at depth, in a cave, solo-diving, etc) someone with proper training, equipment, and experience should be more than prepared to handle it. If a solo-diver experiences a freak-accident regulator blowout, they shrug and switch to their alternate-bottle and surface with a safety-stop.

This is a great topic, but I'm going to suggest the mods move this thread out of basic scuba, because the thread started with the idea of pushing depth-limits, and not something like peeing in your wetsuit, or diving commando.

 

[Dody]

Is that kind of like you were trained in how to determine how much weight you need and yet you still went into an overhead environment knowing that you didn't have enough weight and nearly wound up having a VERY bad day?
I f*** up and I am ashamed

As a casual observer/reader of these threads, it seems to me that you are going to do whatever you want to do regardless of others advice or opinions

Opinions are often different so I have to cherry pick

 

[uncfnp]

Opinions are often different so I have to cherry pick

Finally some gleam of enlightenment. Yes you certainly do (cherry pick).