To Blue Hole or not Blue Hole...

[peterbj7]

No to both questions separately, and no to the combined question. Why do you ask?

Actually I have to correct that answer. It's still no to the second question, but as I have run some private charters for tech divers the answer to the first has to be yes - occasionally. It was on one of those private trips that we discovered a body on the bottom, which we have yet to recover. That trip, incidentally, was operated by AquaDives, partly because the divers requested that operator, and partly because they were the only operator who were prepared to comply with our quite demanding needs.

 

[Gaz]

So just let me be clear

1.) Have you ever taken paying divers to the Blue Hole and dove deeper than 200ft on a single tank of AIR

Not technical, a recreational dive to below 200ft on Air ??


Gaz

 

[peterbj7]

Your question is vague, but taking it at face value the answer is still No. I certainly have neither taken nor induced paying divers to go below 200ft/60mtr on a single tank of air. And I don't think I myself have ever in the BH been below those depths on a single tank of air - why would I, when I had a CCR with trimix always available to me?

Have I ever deep dived on air? - yes, but not in Belize and not just with a single tank.

 

[Gaz]

Ok Peter

 

[peterbj7]

I think I vaguely recall the occasion, when we took ourselves off during a standard BH dive. It was a brief bounce to the safe oxygen limit, and we then rejoined the main group before they started their ascent. Even though we only had one tank each we both had lots of air in those tanks, and when we rejoined the main group there were several DMs with ample air. Perhaps a bit silly, but the guest was enthusiastic at the idea, was a good diver, and it wasn't dangerous.

I have dived deeper on air. I think my personal limit, before I was a trimix diver, was around 75mtr (250ft) in the Red Sea, beyond what is regarded as the safe limit for recreational divers for oxygen exposure but well within the limit for peacetime navy divers. The attitude to very deep air diving has changed over the years. Hal Watts used to teach it in Florida and issue certifications in it. A friend in England, a very experienced BSAC instructor, dived several times to the bottom of Dorothea Quarry in North Wales on air (not a single tank). That's 109 mtr, about 360ft, and the water is barely above freezing. He wasn't alone - lots of people have done it. Nowadays we see things differently, but human physiology hasn't changed and it clearly is possible to do such dives safely. That friend wouldn't dream of doing such a dive nowadays on air - he'd use trimix. But at the time, trimix wasn't available and few people knew anything about it.

 

[Gaz]

No it nothing I was just asking, I have done a 200 +ft dive on air albeit when i was young and stupid in the Canary islands, nowdays I prefer 30ft dives in 83 degree water

Gaz

 

[BDSC]

I dove the Blue Hole last August. Here is my video of the dive in case anyone who hasn't dove it is curious. I went to about 140 ft I think it was to shoot the scenes.

Blue Hole In Belize on Vimeo

It really was a pretty easy dive I thought.

 

[Gaz]

Nice Job I like the music sounded like a real hollywood Movie

 

[BDSC]

Thanks!

 

[peterbj7]

I was trying to put a name to the music. For some reason I keep thinking of Stravinsky - Firebird. There are some quite tranquil passages in that.

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