I did it

[dwhthediver]

After only 7 dives I've been down to 128 ft. twice with no trouble at all. For an old guy like me that was pretty cool.

Gilligan,
Without proper training, and redundant air supplies, a dive to that depth just to do it is ill advised. I would counsel you to get further training and learn how to handle possible emergencies at that depth before attempting it again. When people ask me how deep have you gone, I always answer depth isn't the destination, enjoying the dive and seeing what I wanted to see is the destination. I was at 130' yesterday, why? That is where the wreck I was diving was at, but I have had the training, and redundant equipment to safely do that dive. If you want to dive deep, please get the training, and equipment to do it safely. I don't want to read about you in "Accidents and incidents" thread.

 

[ScubaSteve]

"Accidents and incidents"

Although when a new diver reads those threads it can be an eye opener to the fact that errors in judgement in diving can easily prove to be fatal. This is why a conservative approach to diving is not a bad thing. This does not mean a diver cannot go deep, but they get there gradually and only with experience, equipment and training.

I am a firm believer that there are many divers out there that have not become an official DARWIN statistic yet because their luck has not quite run out.

 

[sabbath999]

I've done numerous dives to and beyond 130' on a single. While obviously one should know their gas consumption before attempting it there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing 130fsw on a single tank if properly equipped and trained. While I have done these dives on a single AL80 in the past, there are also many, many other tank choices with larger capacities that one can use.

As a guess you didn't do it twice in your first ever seven dives.

I am betting you have a pretty good SAC. I wouldn't begin to consider going (or even down to) 130 on an AL80 myself, because I know what my SAC is and it isn't good enough to do that for anything more than a bounce dive... and I am not about doing a bounce dive to 130 feet unless it is a rescue situation.

I know some of you folks out there breath about once an hour and can make an AL80 last half a day... me, I can do an hour on one if I stay above 60 feet, but that's it.

 

[Splash-X]

As a guess you didn't do it twice in your first ever seven dives.

I am betting you have a pretty good SAC. I wouldn't begin to consider going (or even down to) 130 on an AL80 myself, because I know what my SAC is and it isn't good enough to do that for anything more than a bounce dive... and I am not about doing a bounce dive to 130 feet unless it is a rescue situation.

I'm with you on that. I'm just guessing here, but taking into consideration the SAC rate of a new diver fresh out of class, OPs dives must have lasted just long enough for the OP to hit 128fsw, grab some sand and head back up.

I mean no disrespect to the OP but this is one of those situations where the OP probably didn't know any better and was lead by someone more experienced.

 

[gypsyjim]

although when a new diver reads those threads it can be an eye opener to the fact that errors in judgement in diving can easily prove to be fatal. This is why a conservative approach to diving is not a bad thing. This does not mean a diver cannot go deep, but they get there gradually and only with experience, equipment and training.

I am a firm believer that there are many divers out there that have not become an official darwin statistic yet because their luck has not quite run out.

yet!!

 

[Gilligan V]

I started doing my ADC right after my OW. I have my Nitrox and nav. The deep dives were on air with a Divemaster. After 80' we stopped every 10-15' for an OK then continued to follow the cable down to 128' then started back up. We did a safety stop at 30' for 2 min. and a second at 12' for 1 min. I started with 3200 psi. and finished at 1000 psi. My goal is to do wreck dives. Yes there is alot to see at 60' and less down south but in Lake Ontario where I live, my interests are in the 80' to 170' range. So now knowing I had no issues at 128' I can continue with my ADC. I would like to thank you for all your concerns. It gives me a good feeling to know the diving commuinity is so careing.

 

[gypsyjim]

Thanks for adding info to your original post Gilligan. It helps add some clarity to the story.
A lot of caring divers here, who love to welcome new divers and hate to see anyone become a statistic. If we error, we'd rather it be on the cautious side.

 

[Randy43068]

Damn, he's Canadian! That explains it..

Welcome to Scubaboard!

 

[sabbath999]

I started doing my ADC right after my OW. I have my Nitrox and nav. The deep dives were on air with a Divemaster. After 80' we stopped every 10-15' for an OK then continued to follow the cable down to 128' then started back up. We did a safety stop at 30' for 2 min. and a second at 12' for 1 min. I started with 3200 psi. and finished at 1000 psi. My goal is to do wreck dives. Yes there is alot to see at 60' and less down south but in Lake Ontario where I live, my interests are in the 80' to 170' range. So now knowing I had no issues at 128' I can continue with my ADC. I would like to thank you for all your concerns. It gives me a good feeling to know the diving commuinity is so careing.

It is good to know you were with a DM at the time you did the dives. I won't speak for others here, but I know I and others are very safety concious when it comes to diving... and we have heard many, many stories of divers who were taken to depths that they were not ready for by reckless DM's or buddies.

My particular concern with going so deep so early is, as always, "what if something goes wrong?" Were you in a larger group of people or just the two of you? Were there other divers nearby? If your DM had a problem and needed help, with all due respect, you are a fairly new diver and rescue situations can be... ummmm.... complicated.

We did our AOW right after we did our OW, and one of my first ten dives was deep (112 feet)... there were three of us in my immediate dive group; my wife, myself and an instructor. Additionally, another instructor hovered directly above us at 60ft, watching us ready in case of trouble to descend (120 ft. vis at least). At the time, I thought that was overkill to say the least... now, I realize that it was smart.

 

[austriandiveress]

Its is indeed great that so many people care, Gilligan. Its also great that you are so excited about this great sport. But please dont confuse the pieces of paper that you have, or the practical knowledge that you have gained with dive practice and experience. You say you now know that you "had no issues" at depth: you very well may at some point, and if and when something goes wrong, you'll want sufficient experience to deal with what comes your way. So please, take it easy... I and many others here learned the hard way what can happen when you overestimate your abilities.