Safety Stop

[PaulChristenson]

I'd be interested to see how many people pulled out their reference materials (PADI tables for me) to check this or just fired from the hip.

I try to do a slow ascent and safety stop on every dive, good habits and all. Besides, it's all noisey on the surface, I'll take another 3 min underwater anytime I can.

Let's see you were message nine and the questioner was messages one, five and seven...so that leaves......



Paul in VT

 

[BigBill]

One plus One is....3!!

Thanks everyone for the information. It pretty much answered my question.

Bill

 

[tedwhiteva]

I was diving last year in Beaver Lake and proceeded to do a safety stop after reaching at most 35 feet. My buddy and I had been moving along for 15-20 minutes at this same depth and he proceeded to surface, while I stayed put at 15 feet and did a 3 minute stop. I wasn't too concerned with losing my buddy, being this was his normal operation to move around not being aware of his buddy, and I could safely ascend, but afterward I asked him why he hadn't stopped. He explained to me that since we had been cruising along at that depth for sometime, there wasn't a need for a safety stop.

Lately I have been reading the AOW manual and the recommendation is to always have some type of safety stop; is this true even if you have been at the same depth for some time? Also during that same weekend I was diving with a divemaster who was more adamant on safety stops - we ventured to 60 feet and did 2 stops on our ascent.

By the way, this is the same guy (buddy) who went to 80+ feet and then ascended without a safety stop, so I am guessing the manual and the responses I get will be quite contrary to what his explanation was. He did mention afterward that he did get some tingling in his arms. Hmm...imagine that!

Bill

Simple answer - you need a new buddy

 

[partridge]

Without looking at the rest of the post this statement stands out.

"He explained to me that since we had been cruising along at that depth for sometime, there wasn't a need for a safety stop"

If I understand this to mean that you have been cruising around at 15 feet for some time already then you already did a safety stop.

I get some divers down my way who feel that a safety stop must be done in a stationary position. There is a lot to see at 15 feet here so cruising around at 15 feet for 10 minutes is the norm and counts as our safety stop. These divers want to stay at 15 feet for another 3 minutes after that.

Looking at the rest of the post, I agree with the rest... your buddy does not act like a buddy.

 

[tjmills]

That's cool. We were pretty much "playing around" in relatively shallow water. With his type of diving, I question most of what he says and listen more to experienced divers and instructors. This is the same diver who managed to have his back turned to me and some 5 feet away when my tank valve got stuck on a cord during a night dive. Not that bad, but still a concern!

It is funny rockjock that you define a "safety stop" as being one that is to protect ourselves from our stupidity.

Bill

I am not sure of the conditions of your dive and that certainly plays a large part of the program here but being 5 feet or even 10 feet away from your buddy is not unusual. You don't dive watching your buddy for the entire dive unless conditions are so bad that you have to and then why are you diving anyway?? You do keep an eye on each other but there is some reasonable time that you will always not have the full attention of your buddy. It is important for you to be self sufficient to a large degree regardless.

If you guys looked around at 15-25 feet for 10 mins or so, I would agree that this is sufficient for any saftey stop you probably did on this dive. Now with that being said, safety stops are encouraged but not required. It is good practice to do them each time so you remember to do them all the time. Some of the best things I have seen are in the 20 foot zone so flying around on a shallow part of the reef is a great way to end your dive.

 

[String]

The 6m/20ft stop here is usually dull. Usually you cant see the bottom, cant see the surface and all you have to look at is the line of the reel and buddy.

 

[creamofwheat]

The 6m/20ft stop here is usually dull. Usually you cant see the bottom, cant see the surface and all you have to look at is the line of the reel and buddy.

That's when you start playing rock paper scissors

 

[Prudent_Rabbit]

Im quite lucky that diving here in Thailand a safety stop can be interesting, Ive seen loads of things including a sea horse that came for a closer look, a sea snake and barra's / nedle fish while on a safety stop, and if there is nothing to look at, it gives me a good chance to practise basic skills, eg mask removal and the like. As the man said in one of the above posts, another 3 mins under the weater is better than being above it

 

[jeckyll]

Staying away from the 'required', I find that I feel much more energetic after a nice slow ascent. I try to take it very easy and stop the 3 minutes at 15 -20 feet and go nice and slow from 10 feet to the surface. Then again, we do mostly shoredives and can ascend along the bottom to 5 feet ... then basically stand up and walk out of the water

 

[The Chairman]

Why blow off the precautionary stops? No, there are no dive police waiting to jump you when you blow one off but you do your body a disservice when you do.

I used to be guilty of doing safety pauses, but no longer. 3-5 minutes without fail are my modus for diving. If I descended below 40 fsw then I also do at least a minute at half of my max depth before continuing to my safety stop.

If it weren't for safety stops, I would have missed out on that whale shark off of Boyton. I would have missed the herd of dolphin off of WPB. I would never have found that fossil gator tooth or my 6th Meg tooth. Then there are the countless fish I have played with, an octopus, reef squid. It's like getting a second dive in for FREE.