Going deeper, safely

[opperud]

Marine life does not always deteriorate as you go deeper. We dives sites in the 50-60m range that has more life than reefs at 20m. Diving the right sites at various depth is the trick. The following pics were taken at 105m (340ft) and show a beautiful reef and a Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) thought to be extinct. Marine habitats change depending various factors, you just need to find the right combo.

View attachment 107636View attachment 107639

Let me tell you, it doesn't look like that in Norway!

Anyway, I guess I could have added "typically" to my sentence I know there are exceptions, but on a general note......
Beautifull pic's btw, and something that fits right into what I ment with "something specific" that I could consider doing a deep dive for.

Best,
Bjørn

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Opperud Deep Diving on a reef or wall is where you see more creatures that do not live shallower, or they do different things at depth. I have been studying just the bottom and there is so much to see it is just amazing. I have a great understanding on how and why and no where also. Although I do not log anything just the memory is good enough for me.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Eternal I agree with dump and Mr Car, only you can make that decision, also Practice coming to the shallows with a lot of gas, so it would be bounce diving in a way. you will learn your gas supply on each dive.

Your on the right track and to bad the best diving is deeper, but go dive in other shallow areas, most divers just dive where it is known, and you will find areas that are good for you to get experience if diving 4 dives a weekend.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

One of the reasons I got into deep diving in the first place is because there's a certain type of gorgonian that only grows deep ... and only in certain places along the BC coast and Vancouver Island. They start at around 150 fsw, and get larger as you go deeper. Here's a picture of a small one with my dive buddy, Sandra, posing for scale ... this is at about 160 fsw ...

... and here's a picture of some larger ones I found at about 175 fsw on an earlier, solo dive ...

Somewhat shallower ... in the 100 to 150 fsw range ... there were cloud sponges ... another species you won't find shallower ...

There are many reasons why someone might want to explore deeper diving ... whether it's unique life forms, wrecks, caves, or simply an itch that you have to scratch by going there. The significant point is that you pursue your goals through progressively more challenging dives, through proper education (classes or otherwise), and through adequate preparation. Don't just set your sights on the goal, jump in the water, and hope for the best. That approach sometimes leads to a conclusion that doesn't produce happy memories ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[knowone]

Horizontal shore diving for two hours rocks

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Horizontal shore diving for two hours rocks

... that it does, Emile ... my last few dives haven't been any deeper than about 7 meters (22 feet) ... and averaged closer to about 5 meters. This time of year, the eel grass beds along our shoreline turn into nurseries. And the best part is that you can get in some looooong dives whilst looking at all the stuff that grows up there ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[opperud]

Maybe I need to expand my horizon when it comes to deeper reefdiving Regardless of personal preferences, the point is like NWGratefuldiver says, that a more sound motive for a dive would be the actual dive rather than the depth.

 

[tengsr]

tengsr that is an Interesting OW class, the Instructor had one student and this is how it went, must of been somewhere in BC. well at least you had the most experience to monitor gauge and surface. Unfortunately there are to many instructors out there that teach this way or many other unsafe ways that is why there are so many accidents.

Tengsr glad you are still diving, the girl quit and lucky enough you lived through your class. why did you not have internet did this happen 20 years ago, or recently. Just trying to justify how long instructors have been teaching this way. I would say recently as I think instructors are just new divers right now, even if a person is old always look to see when there instructor card was issued, not to say they are better at teaching just more experienced.

I think it 2003 I got certified in Victoria, I was still in my early twenties and broke, so no internet. I'm just getting all of my own gear together so I've been getting to dive alot more. I'll probably take my AOW at a shop in Vancouver come spring or summer. The instructor couldn't have been any older than me.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I have to wonder if these thoughful comments reflect the kind of 'adult' discussion that Halemano was trying to stimulate in another thread that was quickly closed (' there is no such way to make this diving safe, and no more point in discussing unsafe practices '). Maybe not, maybe there was some agenda in his OP that I didn't see, etc. But, I have been disappointed in several recent threads where a question about deep, deep / air, or deep / air / 'bounce' diving has generated an immediate, emotional / visceral reaction somewhat akin to 'The question is stupid, and you must be stupid for even asking it.' I appreciate Andy and Bob taking a somewhat different apprao0ch and basically saying, 'For any dive, good decision-making is critical, and here are some of the questions / issues that should be addresed as part of good decision making'. My experience with four children (the youngest of which nominally concluded her 'teenage' years with a birthday two weeks ago) is that the surest way to get a teenager to do something that you don't think they should do is to tell them, 'That is stupid.' or 'You would be stupid to do that'. And, I made that mistake more than a few times. What worked better was to take the approach, 'Interesting question. If I was thinking about doing that, here are the questions I would ask and answer first first', or something to that effect - not foolproof, but a better way to get them to ask more questions (before heading off to do something I considered to be really stupid. ).

Just a small update; the rumors of my 'adult' discussion thread's death were somewhat exaggerated. That thread was eventually moved to the General Tech Forum. It is now suffering a slow death at the hands of the denizens of that forum.

After my calls not to discuss the Coz tragedy in Basic, and then even in New Divers, fell on deaf ears, my agenda has been to treat it very similar to the 'interesting question approach.

What could possibly help is more participants in that now Tech forum thread letting SB know how many of us feel the subject isn't really a tech subject; it's way more of an advanced / recreational subject to me.

 

[Centrals]

But what about lets say doing 50m or 165 feet...........
I don't want to start a discussion about this course or that course, or how to kill yourself. But one about how to stay alive, be safely and intellegently ,slowly learn to go deeper.

This is what I had done:
1. Completed about 200 ow dives in various conditions.
2. Completed IANTD DeepAir/Adv Nitrox course.
3. Completed 20-30 twin tank dive with short deco(one deco mix).
4. Completed IANTD Technical Nitrox course.
5. I was ready for some easy 50m technical dive with 50 and 100 as deco mixes.

There are two schools of thinking on a "safe" 50m dive. One is through training BUT I won't mention the other one.