Deep course

[Sas]

Hi,

I will be taking the SSI Deep to 39m course in the next few weeks. I have booked it in kind of a rush though as it is a private course my buddy organised for us that we had to do soon due to instructor availability. Anyway, it means I have not had time to talk to my instructor in detail about what is involved in the course skills wise so was hoping someone could fill me in on the requirements for this course as I would like to practice some of the skills over this weekend.

So far I know there will be 1 shore dive to practice launching SMBs, 2 boat dives between 18m and 30m and 2 more boat dives between 30, and 39m with redundant air supply.

What skills will I have to do at depth? I am guessing mask clears/regulator removal/launch SMB, etc but anything else?

I know Nav is recommended but I will be doing that course two weeks later unfortunately. Is that is going to disadvantage me in a big way? If so I will practice navigation on my dives this weekend.

Anyway, haven't had much luck on google with this and the search results here are too many and too general So any comments/advice will be appreciated!

 

[1_T_Submariner]

We had to do some simple tasks that you also did on the surface to show the differnece the nitrogen at depth affects you(hope I said that right). Like Tic tac toe on a slate.

 

[spectrum]

Some elevated instruction and execution of gas /dive planning should take place.

 

[Sas]

Ok thanks.

I am still wondering though, how important navigation is? I know it will be important in the long run, and that is why I am doing a course on it two weeks later. But if it is important to have before my deep course I will ask around for some help with it.

 

[Cyclops_Diver]

Hmmm. I took SSI's deep class last year. Only skills I had to do at depth were simple math on my slate, shot a lift bag and a SMB a few times...and fish tackling.

We didn't do any navigation book wise. Just a couple tips.

 

[aMc10]

I did the PADI deep course a few months ago - I don't know how much is applicable for SSI, but here's what we did:
1st dive - Portsea Hole, down to 33m. We checked out some coloured keys the instructor had (to see how the depth affected the colour) and did a Narc test (had to answer a question in a limited amount of time). Came up to around 15m and recorded our SAC rate.

2nd dive - J4 sub (26m, I think) Did a navigation exercise on this dive. It was nothing to strenuous, we just had to swim out on a heading and back in again - although the visibility wasn't too good, so we couldn't cheat This was a cool dive - we got to see a little bit of the inside of the wreck.

3rd dive - Portsea Hole again. Calculated our SAC rate at depth to compare it to the first dive.

4th dive - the Coogee (32m). We had to plan this dive as a team with minimal help from the instructor. Planning included working out how long we'd take to descend, how long we could spend on the wreck, taking into account our SAC rates and NDLs, what time / turn pressure to turn the dive at, how many safety stops we'd do, at what depth, for how long etc.

One diver from each buddy pair launched an SMB on each dive. We also did some air share drills.

Hope that helps! I've seen some disparaging comments about the deep dive courses, but I got quite a lot out of it - particularly when it came to gas and dive planning.

 

[Sas]

Ok fair enough. My partner kindly went to the dive shop today and picked me up the theory book early and a lot of it seems to be about gas management, dive plans and hazards so that's inline with the people here's experience.

I'll be practising my SMB launching again this weekend. I have trouble undoing the inflator hose from my BC at the moment so need to work on that too. Perhaps because it is a new BC, not really used to it yet. I tried manual inflating but I can never get it full from one breath and it just floats up before I can fill it properly! My buddy is pretty good at now though so will get him to give me a hand.

I did see my instructor's slate when he was taking a deep course and it had some maths on it so will see how I go at depth with them! Can't really practice that until the day though.

aMc10, hoping to go on the J4 sub too! It was mentioned as a possible dive site for the course That is the main reason I want to do the deep course so I can try all the wreck sites. I am diving the Eliza Ramsden on 24th so my first wreck dive! Also, it is nice to hear about someone's perspective who dives the same sites as me

Though interested to hear what kind of criticisms people have of the deep to 39m course. I know people bag out a lot of the specialties like boat, drift, night, etc but have always thought deep courses were pretty legit.

 

[spectrum]

I am still wondering though, how important navigation is?

It probably depends how the dives are done and how much the instructor puts you in the drivers seat. If they a dope on the rope dives where you follow the anchor or mooring line down and back then there's not a lot of navigation involved, especially of you have nice visibility. If it's from a shore site then somebody better have their compass screwed on right.

Are you going straight from OW to a stand alone deep specialty without some sort of navigation expertise? It can be self taught, mentored or from a course and then practiced, otherwise you have a very real gap to close as a diver, let alone a deep diver.

You can learn almost all you need to know about your compass by fumbling around in your back yard and reading up a little about natural navigation, currents and such. However you will only become a navigator by going under and making dives where you trust yourself and the instrument.

I'm surprised navigation capability is not a prerequisite.

Pete

 

[Gil57usa]

Ok thanks.

I am still wondering though, how important navigation is? I know it will be important in the long run, and that is why I am doing a course on it two weeks later. But if it is important to have before my deep course I will ask around for some help with it.

Navigation is always important. You should practice it regularly, and right now isn't too early to start.

 

[Iain Thysse]

Navigation is part of the navigation course although is does get touched on in others I don't believe it should be an integral part of a course teaching you about skills you need for deep diving. You should be doing a few exercises to show you the effects of narcosis. Mask clearing reg retrieval are not part of the course. As for SMB deployment...you can also use your regulator and manual inflation to inflate instead of disconnecting your power inflator hose. All you need to do is keep the reg in your mouth and while blowing out with your head to the side press the purge button. This should give you a considerably more air to fill your SMB. I don't like to teach disconnecting of the power inflator because if there is a problem you will have to manually inflate your BC.

Of course the deep course is legit.