What is the fundamental reason that prevents scuba diving from becoming popular?

[El Diablo]

Which is why divers should also know how to use a DSMB to inflate if you have a BCD failure. I've used mine for other divers who had a bladder failure or a complete failure of a purge valve detaching. That way even at 40m depth you don't need to panic. If OOA at 40m ( never been close that lol ) exhale into BCD and rebreathe from BCD to get to surface or to your buddy nearby.

Depends on situation and the type of failure.

If the BCD starts losing air rapidly because of a valve failure, divers will panic.
If the inflator just stops working because the button got jammed or something or the leak is minimal, of course they can manually (orally) inflate the BCD. Deploying an SMB as a floating device could also work.

However, you lost me there with the re-breathing thing... are you suggesting that in case of an out-of-air situation, a panicked diver should time perfectly the positive effects of buoyancy to partially re-breathe air from his BCD without inhaling a quantity large enough to become negatively buoyant, again while gasping for air and trying to reach the surface???

I'll stick to the buddy system, thanks. In EVERY single class I participated, I made sure that the divers were literally at arms reach from each other. The importance of been close to your dive buddy is easily assimilated and simulated by conducting the following out-of-air exercise:

Ask one of the divers to fin quickly for a couple of minutes and then ask him to hold his breath (maintaining his current depth) and try to reach for his buddy. They ALL realize how things can become really ugly, real fast.

 

[Wibble]

Mustn't forget to mention that it depends very much where you're diving. A drysuit provides buoyancy, so does a rebreather lung. Being overweighted is the cardinal sin.

Sending up an SMB would be a good idea. At the very worst, you could winch yourself up. Also you could put up your spare SMB on the same line as you're now relying on it for buoyancy. You do have a spare?

When on the surface you can sit on the SMB like one of those pool floats.

 

[Celt]

Really good point Mac.

Doing advanced scuba -- technical diving -- takes a lot of practice and attention to detail.

Diving takes a lot of time too; for a single 1h30 to 2h dive for me takes a whole day: couple of hours driving, hour hanging around, few hours steaming there and back, plus the dive. For my current 135 hours on my rebreather in 120 dives, there's probably 90 DAYS of other time not included (many of the earlier dives would have been two dive days in a quarry).

Thus, in addition to the monetary commitment of £10k/€11k/$12k for the box -- plus the other $10k in kit -- there's all the driving time, boat fees, gas fees, kit maintenance fees (cells, cylinder testing, etc.), hotel fees if staying away...

A considerable time and financial commitment.

Yep there's an age thing going on. Late teens early 20s, fly to tourist destinations and hire some gear. Then give it up. Mid 30s early 40s some divers go back and get serious about it as a lifelong sport.

 

[Wibble]

Yep there's an age thing going on. Late teens early 20s, fly to tourist destinations and hire some gear. Then give it up. Mid 30s early 40s some divers go back and get serious about it as a lifelong sport.

Then when retiring one looks longingly at remote destinations for those last remaining years before decrepitude knackers your dreams...

Most of my diving over the past three years has been for building up for my Malin Head visit later this year. All those wrecks in deep waters that, apparently, are clean and clear.

 

[Belzelbub]

Again, I disagree with you. This is NOT a matter of interpretation, it is quite clear on their website, also I haven't got any information from PADI (as a DM) that update us on any changes.

I agree that it's quite clear. We just disagree on what it means.

I went back to re-read what was posted. The PADI Blog post that went poof indicated the 130' as a maximum limit. No dispute here. In your post, the 60' "Maximum Depth Allowed" is under the With Your Instructor heading. To me, that is quite clearly indicating that this is referring to the standards for the training dives.

If you find something that says OW divers are certified only to a depth of 60' I'd like to read it. Recommended, yes. But a recommendation is different from a certification.

 

[Belzelbub]

First time I dived down to 30 and 40 m, I did not realize until my instructor told me. But I noticed that my SPG was telling me to be careful.

This is rather alarming if you did not realize your depth. That's pretty important.

There are a couple main issues with solving problems on deeper dives. First, the diver's ability to solve problems may be reduced due to Nitrogen Narcosis. Second, the diver has a lot less time (gas supply on NDL) to solve that problem at depth.

 

[Dody]

Well yeah, they should have learned that in OW.



If you didn't realize you were at 30 and 40 meters, below 40 is the same.

I was following the instructor and when I reached the target depth, I was surprised that it happened so soon and without my body signaling anything. Now, below 40m, not only is my consumption dangerously high for a single and I enter dec territory.

 

[Dody]

This is rather alarming if you did not realize your depth. That's pretty important.

There are a couple main issues with solving problems on deeper dives. First, the diver's ability to solve problems may be reduced due to Nitrogen Narcosis. Second, the diver has a lot less time (gas supply on NDL) to solve that problem at depth.

I might not have been clear enough. Those depths were the target bit I was surprised to reach it so fast. When the instructor signaled that we reached the target depth, I thought that I still had a couple of meters before getting the confirmation on the SPG (for the 30m dive). For the 40 m dive, I had a DC. Don’t forget, it was my first time at those depths and I realized that you can go deep way faster than you think without noticing if you don’t look at your instruments frequently enough.

 

[Dody]

On the other hand, I have a rule of thumb. I only dive at 40 m (for max 3 minutes) at the beginning of a dive when I have at least 170 bars in my 12 liters. For 30 meters, it is 140 bars and 5 minutes. My rules. Not a universal one.

 

[Celt]

Then when retiring one looks longingly at remote destinations for those last remaining years before decrepitude knackers your dreams...

Most of my diving over the past three years has been for building up for my Malin Head visit later this year. All those wrecks in deep waters that, apparently, are clean and clear.

Fabulous diving, hope you get to see HMS Audacious under ideal conditions, freaky clear like there's no water, but there are no bad conditions.