I will go out on a limb here Daniel and say that deco limits are really not nearly as much concern as you think they are. As a new diver - who is unfamiliar with your own consumption, diving an AL80, even in fairly warm water you just can't get into deco <that> much. Deco is such a wide grey swath it would be hard to accumulate so much deco (ie. 15-20 mins or more) that it would be a big concern if you blew it off.
Running out of gas, because you are unfamiliar with how much you use is really the critical issue. And because your usage is probably highly variable at this time, that makes it doubly hard to know where you are and how much gas you need to make a safe ascent.
You'll easily survive a 5 or 10min deco oops (if you could even accumulate this much). You are alot less likely to survive running out of gas, which all too frequently leads to panic, so-so sharing, breath holding, embolism, and death.
Lamont has a good page discussing alot of these gas volume issues
Rock Bottom and Gas Management for Recreational Divers
Running out of gas, because you are unfamiliar with how much you use is really the critical issue. And because your usage is probably highly variable at this time, that makes it doubly hard to know where you are and how much gas you need to make a safe ascent.
You'll easily survive a 5 or 10min deco oops (if you could even accumulate this much). You are alot less likely to survive running out of gas, which all too frequently leads to panic, so-so sharing, breath holding, embolism, and death.
Lamont has a good page discussing alot of these gas volume issues
Rock Bottom and Gas Management for Recreational Divers