Safety Stop required ?

[Barry_Calgary]

Hi All newbie diver here thanks in advance for your responses. I recently took my open water certification required 4 dives in Ixtapa Mexico. All went without a hitch and the dive conditions were great, although I don't have anything to compare my experience to yet. Question is when I took my PADI classroom training it was communicated that we should always do a safety stop at 15 feet for 1 minute upon ascent. the dive master in Mexico didn't do this and neither did any of the other 4 divers in our group. Little confused, should I be doing a safety stop ? or did I misunderstand the requirements ?
Last 2 dives were at a depth of 60 feet.
Thanks for your assistance. Any feedback much appreciated.

[gurnie]

You should be doing a stop at 15 feet for 3 minutes. They are not mandatory, but a standard safety procedure in recreational diving.

[Quero]

Hi Barry,

Safety stops are not required stops--they are meant to give you a safety cushion against ascending too rapidly, but the way the dive tables are formulated, you are able to ascend directly to the surface at any time during your dive without a stop. However, many of us encourage our divers to do safety stops at the end of every dive. It's a good habit to get into. This stop is typically a three-minute pause at 15 feet (not one minute).

There have been times when my students and divers have asked why I didn't do a stop at the end of a dive but instead guided them straight to the surface. Every time I've had this questions, my divers simply didn't notice that we were diving at 15 feet for an extended period and had effectively done the "stop" despite the fact that we weren't "stopped" while we did it. It comes to the same thing, of course. Is it possible that your group was diving at a shallow depth during the safety-stop period and you simply didn't realize that you were performing your "stop" while swimming?

[SC_Hoaty]

I can see skipping the stop if the whole dive is shallow - 20 feet or less. I would have made the stop for the 60 foot dives. Some times the tail end of the dive is actually several minutes in 15 feet or so of water. Nice to spend the time seeing fish instead of just hanging out looking at your watch.

[SC_Hoaty]

And I see Quero posted as I was typing, and probably said it better than I did!
:thumb:

[Barry_Calgary]

Thanks Quero, you are more than likely correct we possibly were diving at or around 15 feet on our 3rd dive while surfacing. On 2nd dive to 60 feet we had to practice the Emergency ascent so that is why we didn't do a safety stop. Our first 2 dives were shallow dives around the 30 foot mark. Makes sense now.
Thanks I will definately get into the habit of performing a safety stop, I guess it made me think because I didn't see the other divers in our group performing a safety stop. I guess just because they are not doing it doesn't mean I shouldn't. Like you said good habit to get into.

[Quero]

Well, you know, "great minds" and all that.... :cool2:

[TSandM]

If you did a PADI certification class, you may remember Knowledge Review 1, Question 5. That's the table of how things compress and expand with depth, and by looking at it, you can see that the biggest proportional changes in pressure and volume are in shallow water. (For example, a volume of air at 33 feet doubles in size between there and the surface, but the same volume of air at 66 feet will only expand by 50% at 33feet.) The air in your lungs and the nitrogen bubbles in your bloodstream are both expanding very rapidly in the top 30 feet, and the safety stop was designed to make sure your ascent through that region was slow. If your entire dive has been shallow (say, 30 feet or less) you have absorbed so little nitrogen that bubbles aren't really a worry. Or, if you have been meandering slowly up through that part of the water, taking your time and looking at critters, there is no reason for a specific stop to be made at 15 feet.

As an example, here is a typical profile at one of our usual dive sites: We submerge and swim down a line to about 60 feet, turn right and wander gradually up to about 40 feet and inspect some pilings and a rubble field that used to be a wreck. From there, we turn back, and spend the whole second half of the dive working our way from 40 feet to the surface. We rarely do a formal stop, simply because the ascent rate (40 feet in 20 minutes or so) is so slow that it isn't necessary.

In addition, the safety stop can be omitted completely in an emergency -- and this is important to remember -- so long as the ascent rate doesn't exceed the rate of the model you are using for decompression. (And with the RDP, that's 60 feet per minute, which is really fast!)

[SC_Hoaty]

Well, you know, "great minds" and all that.... :cool2:

"great mind" on my end? More like this! :rofl3:

http://derbyimages.woot.com/powoots/Even_a_blind_squirrel_finds_an_acorn_sometimes-rqh76n-s.jpg

[Islandheart]

As has been saidalready, Safety Stops should be a routine, in certain situations they become required. Look at your RDP, study your D.Computer.

Now, Some students miss it during their 4 Open water dives, that their instructor briefs them, during the dives, they will be simulating a saftey stop and then they will make a 3 min safety stop.

Now most of these dives are in 35' or less of water, ALOT is going on and students miss it when the Instr gives a sign for "Stop- Level Off- 1 or 3Min".

If you could rewind your entire OW training and then play it back in slow motion, Many things would jump out and would click for you.

DCS applies to you, not someone else. Don't add to issues that could gives you DCS.

Listen during the dive briefing from the DM if they plan a safety stop. If they don't plan one, TELL THEM, you want to do one.

I teach my students that the RDP has three areas; Green Light, Yellow Light and Red Light. I ask them how they approach a traffic light ?

Now, plan your dive as you would compared to that traffic light.

Green: Safety Stops Routine and if you have an emergency situation you can blow through it.
Yellow: Safety Stops Required, hope like hell you don't have an emergency
Red: You just went into Deco ....................... all that applys !

Only one butt attached to your tank, guess who it belongs to !

[Grifon]

Personally I like to do 3@15 even in shallow dives, great way to practice for when you do need to do a free essent.

[RonFrank]

I think the most important reason for doing a SS is to force newer divers to STOP at around 15' as its highly likely they are ascending faster than they should be. New divers often have an issue of ascending too quickly. Fortunately the rec guidelines are rather conservative. If you blow through your stop you can always go back down and complete it, or even skip it BUT I do not make skipping SS's a habit.

I often dive at a spot where it is fun to hang out at any depth and check out the rock formations. So the whole dive is a 45-60 minute ascent from 85'. This is a good way to dive. It teaches a very slow ascent. It teaches one to relax and enjoy the dive. It teaches one to take their time and find things that make the dive enjoyable even in a fairly boring environment (rock, crawdads, limited fish, other divers). A slow ascent is a good thing on ANY dive.

[TSandM]

I like the stoplight analogy, but a diver with only an OW cert shouldn't ever be in the yellow, let alone the red. It's hard to get into the yellow with a 60 foot max and an Al80, if you're a novice.

[DevonDiver]

If you can do one (air, time, water conditions permitting etc) then there's no harm in it. Sometimes "unprovoked" (i.e. unexpected, statistically unlikely) DCS can occur - adding conservatism and maximising off-gassing before surfacing is simply prudent. As a beginner diver,whilst developing buoyancy skills, possible issues with fast ascents (or portions of ascent), saw-tooth profiles etc etc can add to the prudence of doing a stop. Likewise, other factors may increase your tendency towards DCS - such as dehydration, sickness etc (quite common on overseas/tropical holidays).

If nothing else, they offer good practice for the diver - a chance to work on buoyancy and gain better control in the water column.

A safety stop is, by definition, not a mandatory stop. That said, it is definitely 'best practice'. If other factors are higher - and doing a safety stop would cause any element of risk, then it should be skipped. PADI do say that a safety stop is "required" for dives below 30m, for dives that end at a no-decompression limit, or within 3 pressure groups of a no-decompression limit. This is due to the larger risk factor (greater nitrogen absorption) on those dives. Whilst "required", it is still not mandatory and can still be skipped if other significant factors demand a direct ascent.

As a PADI diver - diving within the limits and boundaries to which you are qualified and advised to maintain, you will always have the option of immediate and direct ascent to the surface in an emergency. A safety stop simply makes a dive 'more forgiving' in respect of DCS.

If your PADI instructor advised you to do a 1 minute stop, he was wrong. PADI states a 3 minute stop. In reality, many divers will extend that stop - especially if there is something they can enjoy at the stop depth (multi-level on a reef etc) or use the time to practice/revise skills etc.

[Teller]

Saftey stops arnt requiered but recomended. I have also seen people do half stops for one minute. Half of the deepest depth for one min. Personaly myself and my buddies do both when doing recreational dives. I like to keep it conservative.

[Jax]

H
Thanks for your assistance. Any feedback much appreciated.

Hi, Barry! :wavey:

Some feedback -- You've had the cream of the diving crop answering your questions. ;)

[Peter Guy]

Just to reitereate Quero's post -- the term "Safety Stop" is somewhat of a misnomer in that people think "Stop" means not moving. To the contrary, the idea is to stay (more-or-less) at the depth so a "swimming Safety 'Stop'" is often the best way to do this. And, of course, while it is good to practice staying at a certain depth, doing three minutes (or more) between, say 18 and 12 feet (15 feet plus/minus 3 feet) certainly would comply with the "spirit" if not the "letter" of the guidelines.

[nimoh]

I agree with the posts that even if the safety stop is not required given the profile, it is still a good idea.

Good practice for buoyancy, and helps to ensure that you don't forget about it on a deeper dive when there is more of a need for it.

I also don't see an issue with doing the safety stop while your buddy and/or instructor blows it off. in most places you can still maintain eye contact from 15 feet away.

[smellzlikefish]

I don't skip safety stops unless I have a pressing reason to leave the water(low air, predators, angry girlfriend etc.).

[DevonDiver]

I also don't see an issue with doing the safety stop while your buddy and/or instructor blows it off. in most places you can still maintain eye contact from 15 feet away.

I do.

"Eye contact" is not the same as 'on hand and ready to provide immediate assistance'. Besides which, how observant will that departed buddy at the surface really be? Also, if you do have a critical need of assistance, how quickly could it realistically be delivered?

Plan your dive & dive your plan.

Safety stop should feature in dive plan and pre-dive discussion. If one diver wants to do it, then others should comply. The dive doesn't end until all members of a team/buddy pair/group are safely back on the boat. It doesn't end at 15'. A buddy pair should have an identical dive plan - if not, then they aren't a buddy pair.

[Kingpatzer]

I always say they're "required like motorcycle helmets." The law doesn't demand it. No scuba police will pull you over for not doing one. But if all that's between you and an undeserved DCS hit is 3 minutes at 15 feet, you'll really regret not doing it later.

[DivemasterDennis]

Good comments. I'd like to add a few more. First, my wife and I always do a safety stop on dives 40 feet or more, and if we have been doing repetitive dives over a number of days, we do them on every dive. Some dives end with diving in the shallows, and if we spend 3 or more minutes at 20 feet or less, that counts as our safety stop. A good example is in Bonaire, diving the Helma Hooker from shore. The dive is to about 90 feet or more, but the exit is a gradual climb up a 45 degree reef wall, the top of which is between 15 and 20 feet. Swimming around in the shallows and enjoying the animal behavior and colors at shallow depth makes for a great safety stop. When we have a safety stop when ascending from about 6o feet or more, we always look into the deep blue, during the stop and are often rewarded with sightings of rays, sometimes tuna or other predatory fish, and even an occasional game fish like a sail or swordfish, and the occasional shark. Safety stops are also good places to practice body control through different positional hovers. Making a practice of safety stops reduces risks on those occasions when you can't or don't make one. As a DM I have had to retrieve dropped gear at the end of a dive and not always had the time or inclination to do a full stop, especially if its the last dive of the day. But except for those occasions, I do. A safety stop habit is a good habit to have.
DivemasterDennis

[Hawkwood]

As you said you were doing your four OW dives, you had to have done one safety stop for 3 minutes at 15 feet. It is a requirement. Perhaps you did as Quero suggested, swam the safety stop. To bad it was not made clear to you.