Back in late May, I took a gigantic step backwards in my diving skills when I switched to eCCR, and it’s been a hard, slow, small, steep, step-by-step clime back up for me. But Saturday we did a dive that really showed me where the CCR sings.
The profile was 250’ for 20 mins. My buddy & I originally planed for a longer BT, but an OC diver joined us, so we cut it back a bit.
The gas prep for this dive was minimal compared to what we’d had to have done on OC. We already had our bail-out bottles ready to go, because once you mix and fill them, unless you have to BO and use them, they are ready to go. So, we quickly top the 20cf CCR O2 bottle (well, not too quickly
) and top the dil bottle from a set of pre-mixed doubles, and off we go.
My CCR buddy and I each carried two 80’s for bail-out, and our OC friend carried 3 bottles for deco. He started on his travel gas, then stopped and switched to back-gas on descent, then stowed his reg. We watched him.
Once at 250’ and swimming along, the OC diver kept a close eye on his gas supply. At 19 mins, he turned the dive.
On the way up, he switched to his deep deco mix, then his 70’ bottle, then O2. We watched some more. He lead a precision deco profile, with regimented times and moves that matched his cut tables. We moseyed along with him and watched the ceiling on the HammerHeads continue to move up ahead of our ascent. There is no hurry on the CCR like there is on OC, where gas supply is priority and there is often no time to mess around - you gotta' get onto those deco bottles and keep moving, especially deep where gas comsumption is high. Gas comsumption on the CCR is the same at 250' as it is at 20', so there is no hurry. By the time we hit 20’, my CCR buddy and I only had a few minutes until clear. I flushed my loop and cranked up the PPO2 even after I was cleared by the electronics, poked around waiting for the OC diver to finish his deco, and came out feeling clean and energized.
Total dive time was 91 mins. I used maybe 8cf of O2, and 16cf of dil. I'm guessing our OC buddy used about 220cf of gas.
Our OC buddy went home after that dive because he didn’t have a second set of doubles and a bunch more filled deco bottles. My CCR buddy and I did another dive, max depth 150’, dive time about an hour. A second OC diver came and joined us for that dive.
I figure that the two dives cost me about $12.00 in gas and $14.00 in scrubber material. Anyone wanna' guess how much those 2 dives would run with OC?
The dives were so wonderfully relaxed and easy. I dive my kit by setting the PPO2 at 1.0, then I fly it manually at 1.2, and crank it a bit during deco. With the HUD, keeping the set point has become second nature. My situational awareness is finally back (or close) to where it was in OC.
Watching my OC friend, I was really reminded how incredibly “busy” deep OC dives are compared to the fluid relaxed nature of the CCR.
Deep trimix dives are where the CCR really shows off. I pay for it, though on the shallow stuff, but I have committed to diving the CCR exclusively (pretty much) for one year, so I will pay the price.
I’m 51 years old. And part of what makes me tired after a day of this kind of diving is dealing with the mixes and the fills and all the bottles and taking it all to the LDS for tops, and lugging it all around before and after hitting the water. I think switching to CCR has extended the years that I will be able to continue doing the deep stuff.
I love it! I had a blast on Saturday! Thanks so much to my buddy Al for all the help, support and friendship getting me here and to my instructor for the never-ending classes and mentoring and guidance and friendship.
Tonight I will post some video my buddy took of the dive.
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