View Full Version : deep speciality course
Just done my deep speciality over the last couple of days diving in the forth with Divebunker,after the bad press they've had lately i thought i'd share my experience with you.Arrived at divebunker on sunday at 1pm,had a blether with Mark about what we were going to be doing (2 wrecks :D),headed out on his rhib full speed ahead for the royal archer with 12 divers aboard,me and Mark rolled over the side and down the shot down to 30M where the vis was a good 6M,what a fantastic wreck with a cracking swimthrough the walkways at the stern,also spotted a large truck amongst the wreck tyres/axle/chassis.I was on nitrox 28% as i thought we'd be a bit deeper but mark was on 32% :cool: so all too soon it was time to ascend after comparing depth guages etc.
After the surface interval we pelted along to the salvestria,another good wreck but a lot more broken up with a max depth of 25.7M Mark found a fishing rod and reel,back to the divebunker and ran through the knowledge reviews and drove home shattered :) .
Back on Monday for the next two dives,got there early so had a few coffee's and a blether,we had the rhib to ourselves today me Mark and his son driving (is that the right word here),that thing can shift when empty we got to the blae rock in jig time,after the buddy check and Mark explaining that when we hit 40M i had to do what was on his slate :o we rolled off.Dropped down 10M onto the top off the rock and finned along for a few mins then over the cliff face,superb now i know how a base jumper feels as he launches himself (freefalling into the darkness),looked at all the beasties on the way down but soon we were at 40M.
Mark opens his slate with the first question,spell the former blind home seceratry's name? i could picture him but couldn't remember his name so wrote F£&K KNOWS! :D,could hear Mark laughing through his reg.second question write your name backwards which i did no problem,third question 56 multiplied by 3 done that easy,then divided by 9 which i did,then the killer multiplied by 17 to which i wrote F£&K YOU! we both laughed.
The ascent up the cliff was amazing saw my first wolf and he was a big boy and a nice nudibranch (is that what you call it).On our suface interval we tried out the rod Mark found the previous day and caught mackeral for dinner :).
The last dive Mark asked me where i fancied going i fancied doing HMS saucy again,so got a guided tour of saucy which was brilliant,can't believe how many lobsters there were on it.
Had a great course with divebunker and it was all 121 tuition,i'll definatly be back.
Thanks for reading my epic blog :)
Loudy
Sounds like you had a blast Loudy!
Think I'll throw deep into the mix when I get round to doing AOW (prob Puffin in November: like Oban, trained with Puffin before, like their training approach).
Prob also throw night and wreck into the syllabus too, well night's easy in November, kind of hard to avoid!
Who knows, I might even manage a deep wreck at night!
Al.
nice write up louden...
congratulations on passing the course.
did you do much by the way of gas management on the course?
Cheers Stewart,rule of thirds with the gas.
Well done dude.
did you feel narc'd at all?
alexmaclennan
04-07-07, 05:22
Glad you enjoyed it. Good blog.
alex
Good Blog Loudy, been contemplating this course myself for a couple of years. Dont know if we are going to do it up in Oban in August or not? Still undecided
I couldn't answer those questions on the surface let alone at 40m. Must be narked all the time:)
Well done dude.
did you feel narc'd at all?
Not that i was aware of but i did feel fab going down the cliff face,narked or having a good time?,who know's :)
Cheers Stewart,rule of thirds with the gas.
did you work out SAC rates verses air & plan the dive with multi level tables?
the padi wheel perhaps?
PADI being a non deco organisation. How long can you actually spend at 40 metres before hitting deco? Ive just put it through v-planner and you dont actually get much time at 40metres.
So whats the point in doing a course that takes you to that depth but not actually being able to spend any time there. From my point of view it would be better to take a advanced nitrox and deco course from one of the technical agencies.
Whilst im thinking about it, if you are at 40 mtrs on a single with a pony and for example 10 mins into your dive you have a problem and need to switch to your pony, have you enough gas to get you up without taking a bend?
i think the RDP says 8 minutes at 40m, anything over and your into deco.
As for any problems, thats where your buddy comes into play. At 40m, I would expect my buddy to be within touching distance.
i think the RDP says 8 minutes at 40m, anything over and your into deco.
As for any problems, thats where your buddy comes into play. At 40m, I would expect my buddy to be within touching distance.
Not long then, personally i'd still go the adv nitrox and deco route if i was thinking of diving that depth regularly. Twins and a stage as that way you can donate one reg then ascend to safer depth to switch onto your stage and complete the ascent, without relying on your buddies air supply.
40 on a single even with a buddy that close still wouldnt be good in my mind at least not in UK waters maybe in lovely warm blue water.
PADI being a non deco organisation. How long can you actually spend at 40 metres before hitting deco? Ive just put it through v-planner and you dont actually get much time at 40metres.
So whats the point in doing a course that takes you to that depth but not actually being able to spend any time there. From my point of view it would be better to take a advanced nitrox and deco course from one of the technical agencies.
Whilst im thinking about it, if you are at 40 mtrs on a single with a pony and for example 10 mins into your dive you have a problem and need to switch to your pony, have you enough gas to get you up without taking a bend?
how long did V-planner predict?
from the bully tables, 9 minutes at 39m gives you a 1 minute penalty.
so around 8 minutes max (or less) at 40m before hitting decompression.
for 10 minutes at 40m, GAP gives 5 minutes of stops (which is heavy).
so whats the point? well you don't always have to dive to 40m, this will allow him to dive to 35 meters as well, which is obviously deeper than 30 meters & from a dive insurance point of view, your covered.
you would only know if you have enough air to bail out from any dive if you actually calculate your SAC rate.
10 minutes at 40 meters would put you in to decompression & if you were doing that with a 3 liter pony as a bail out, then you should really get some decompression diving training & a bigger pony;)
the quality & value of TDI deco, ADV. Nx is in no way even a comparison to the PADI deep training.
non deco diving may suit some people so there is a market for it, but once you progress/develop you may or may not venture in to deco diving.
trouble being, if you do, then its money wasted on a lesser course.
I think that the advanced nitrox and deco courses that are provided by the more technically orientated organisations are excellent, they are however expensive. As for the PADI deep rating, its not the eight minutes at forty that is important, it is the fact that you are covered for that crucial metre beyond thirty that is so easy to creep into, invalidating some insurance cover. Therefore, depending upon the quality of training, the PADI deep spec would offer practical benefits if you were ever confronted with a nit picking insurance company and may function as a bridge towards more challenging arenas of diving.
At 40m, I would expect my buddy to be within touching distance.
at 40m, i would expect my buddy to be as self sufficient as myself or they wouldn't be my buddy.
read my signature below... :eek:
If i've got this right, ive had to enter depth 40mtrs on air, then adjust the dive times to find out max time spent at 40 mtrs before deco is hit. As im not deco diving yet this may not be correct.
Dec to 40m (2) Air 15m/min descent.
Level 40m 8:20 (11) Air 1.04 ppO2, 40m ead
Asc to 30m (12) Air -9m/min ascent.
Asc to 9m (14) Air -9m/min ascent.
Stop at 9m 0:33 (15) Air 0.40 ppO2, 9m ead
Stop at 6m 1:00 (16) Air 0.34 ppO2, 6m ead
Stop at 3m 3:00 (19) Air 0.27 ppO2, 3m ead
Surface (19) Air -9m/min ascent.
Off gassing starts at 22.4m
OTU's this dive: 12
CNS Total: 4.3%
1333.8 ltr Air
1333.8 ltr TOTAL
at 40m, i would expect my buddy to be as self sufficient as myself or they wouldn't be my buddy.
read my signature below... :eek:
Thats only gonna happen with the right training, experiance and a twin set.
I appreciate the insurance side of it and dipping below the 30 mtr mark, however as you are certified to 40 mtrs how much of the course content explains what happens if you spend to long at 40 or there abouts?
Im not critiscing PADI im just curious.
Running a 28% mix
Dec to 40m (2) Nitrox 28 15m/min descent.
Level 40m 9:20 (12) Nitrox 28 1.39 ppO2, 36m ead
Asc to 30m (13) Nitrox 28 -9m/min ascent.
Asc to 3m (16) Nitrox 28 -9m/min ascent.
Stop at 3m 0:53 (17) Nitrox 28 0.36 ppO2, 2m ead
Surface (17) Nitrox 28 -9m/min ascent.
Off gassing starts at 20.2m
OTU's this dive: 21
CNS Total: 8.2%
1360.3 ltr Nitrox 28
1360.3 ltr TOTAL
Only gives you a minute extra at 40
Thats only gonna happen with the right training, experiance and a twin set.
not necessarily a twin set, i would happily dive with someone qualified to 40m on a non deco dive with a pony as a bail out.
the v-planner stats look right, very similar to GAP.
did you work out SAC rates verses air & plan the dive with multi level tables?
the padi wheel perhaps?
We didn't but that's a different speciality (multi-level diver) i did a multi-level dive on my advanced course and used the wheel (dial a bend) then.
The main reason for the course is what gerry said,if you stray over 30 your are covered by insurance,incidently i was on nitrox 28%.
Gareth, PADI view the thirty metre mark as the normal limit for recreational scuba. The deep course clearly states this fact, but is realistic in that it acknowledges that some deeper activities can be undertaken on a no stop profile if an adequate awareness of the risks is instilled in the diver.
The PADI deep course materials are very well put together, except in my view- the gas management area. However, this aside, the instructional material fully emphasises the limitations that are placed upon you due to the reduction in no-stop times and the increase in environmental hazards associated with depth. If the PADI knowledge reviews are done before any of the dives begin, then there is a lot of valuable information in there.
Moreover, I don't think it is a waste of money, because deep no stop diving can be carried out with my existing kit configuration. Having toyed with the idea of a fifteen litre cylinder with an H valve and a pony my next step would be a twin set and wing before thinking about deco procedure, but thats a wee bit down the line as yet. My own view point is that incremental and gradual progression with regard to diving skills is the road for me and I am quite happy to use the PADI deep spec as a bridge that keeps me on the staight and narrow.
Gerry.
Well done loudy, sounds like you had fun and at the end of the day that's why we dive.
Well done Loudy on passing. We're just back from Malta and most of the wrecks out there are in the 30-40m range, so your qualification would be worthwhile. Most of these wrecks have been deliberately sunk as artificial reefs and I have no idea why they sunk them so deep.
I think it's a useful thing to be qualified to dive to 40m and would be quite happy diving to that depth in Scotland on a single cylinder and pony. It would be interesting to do a trial run however and see how much of the pony was used up getting from 40m to 3m.