How to Know When To Start Heading Up

[fnfalman]

Why would anyone wanted to go deep and penetrate a wreck on a single 80CUFT tank in the first place? If somebody's that dumb, then all the gas management in the world isn't going to help.

 

[idocsteve]

Why would anyone wanted to go deep and penetrate a wreck on a single 80CUFT tank in the first place? If somebody's that dumb, then all the gas management in the world isn't going to help.

I dived the Grove several years ago, with an instabuddy..Ocean Divers of Key Largo was the Op. This guy was fine...used less gas than I did.

We "penetrated" a relatively small room with a "skylight" at the far end...perhaps 50 feet in...the skylight was too small to get through and when we turned around we had completely silted out the compartment. Anyone who has dived the Grove is probably familiar with this room, it's somewhere around midships and very close to the mooring line.

We worked our way back directly towards the doorway, and when I found it I put one hand on the frame and reached out with the other to make sure he found me and the way out.

After we got through and out into the wide open he shook my hand rather vigorously and on the surface thanked me for a rather interesting and hairy dive.

Looking back, it wasn't one of the smartest things I have ever done...and both of us had AL80s.

 

[D_B]

I was wondering what wreck penitration had to do with Basic Scuba Discussions ... but then I read idocsteve's post above .. got out by the skin of your teeth so to speak

.. even true swimthroughs are so tempting but each one is different and each one demands more careful thought than most new divers ever give it

 

[fnfalman]

I dived the Grove several years ago, with an instabuddy..Ocean Divers of Key Largo was the Op. This guy was fine...used less gas than I did.

We "penetrated" a relatively small room with a "skylight" at the far end...perhaps 50 feet in...the skylight was too small to get through and when we turned around we had completely silted out the compartment. Anyone who has dived the Grove is probably familiar with this room, it's somewhere around midships and very close to the mooring line.

We worked our way back directly towards the doorway, and when I found it I put one hand on the frame and reached out with the other to make sure he found me and the way out.

After we got through and out into the wide open he shook my hand rather vigorously and on the surface thanked me for a rather interesting and hairy dive.

Looking back, it wasn't one of the smartest things I have ever done...and both of us had AL80s.

You know what? I spoke too damn soon. My first real dive outside of OW class, I went down to 110-ft with a 72-cuft tank because I trusted my hundreds-of-dives buddy. That was pure stupidity on my part.

I think that it's tough to pack everything into an OW class, but the instructors should at least talk about gas management and how the students can learn more about it on their own after the class.