Why so Deep?

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Like the others I will go a little deeper if there is something worth seeing. We tend to look for vacation spots with wrecks in the 60 to 80 foot range. That gives us a nice balance of deep enough for the wrecks to be relatively intact but shallow enough for good bottom time. When I travel to dive I want to spend as much time as possible underwater. Reefs bore me to death if I don't have a camera. I prefer to dive deeper reefs where the divers with no buoyancy control haven't beaten them up. There's a nice healthy reef in Nassau where the shallow part is 60 feet. No beginner divers there, you need to have good air consumption and be able to do blue water ascents and safety stops if needed. Perfect!

The deep divers I have met that actually do deep dives are confident in what they do but not "in your face bragging" cocky. When I hear someone crowing about their deep diving exploits to anyone who will listen as well as all who won't that diver is suspect in my mind. This sort of person has come up in conversation with deep divers I know and it usually ends up being someone they regard as unsafe. Deep divers are passionate about what they do and they will tell you their stories when asked. They don't generally holler them out at random so beware any deep diver that is.
Ber :lilbunny:
 
A fair number of unsubscribed species. We brought up one rock that had 4 new species and two new genera on it.
 
Except people from this board who are very reasonable, a lot of (male?) divers go deep to brag about it. Like cars, bikes' engine, long/fast boats, and other stuff, it is important to ‘beat a record’, and to show you have a longer d$#k – I mean depth – that the other guy. Somehow, getting deeper than your best buddy/friend, has nothing to do with how much money you make and whether you can afford a bigger car.

I have heard many time, at the beginning of a boat trip, some guys saying: “today I’ll do a deep dive”. No special goal but deep. Besides, there are always a possibility to find an ‘excuse’ / reason about going deep.

Around here, deep means below 100 feet as first step, which is the rec. limit for Padi and other agencies. So many divers will try to beat it for the record. And there are indeed a few things you can see between 100 and 120, that you cannot above.
The second limit is somehow 120ft as the super max depth for rec. And once this limit has been established as the real max, it is very exciting for many to claim a 130 or + dive. For the record.

There are other agencies where the limit is 60m/180f (yes, on air), and I know a few divers who are happy to say they beat it to 185. Once again as mentioned above, it is very likely an ego thing. Whatever the limit is set….

Is it really that bad, stupid, and should we judge and hang every one bragging about the deep(est) dive ? Not sure. It is sad some people will do this without any understanding of the risks, but in reality, many know what they do, and that it does shorter the dive significantly, so it is the compromise. Besides, I don’t think it is only a ‘new diver thing’. Ego has nothing to do with experience. It may have a little with age.

But so far, I haven’t met a woman bragging about reaching 155ft on air with an AL80, and claiming there was a real interesting stuff which justify that dive. Interesting, isn’t it ?



Final note: I do understand that there are plenty of reasons to go deeper than 100/130. But then the question is how you do it and safely and for how long - but this opens another set of threats/questions.
 
In reading it seems that a lot of people are into "Deep" diving. My question is: "Whats down there?".

I have very limited experience, and I admit to being fascinated with the pretty fishes around a reef. Some of my best experiences, like the time the dolphins came to check me out, were done snorkeling in 20' - 30' of water. My deepest dive so far is only 86' and to be honest, the more interesting stuff was around 60'.

If there was a wreck or cave that was deep, I could definately go for that, but if I am on holidays, most of the more interesting stuff has been in the 80' and up stuff. And just to qualify, most of my diving has been in the coz, playa area of mexico, so I really dont have a frame of reference.

This summer the plan is to head to Vancouver Island, but again, the stuff I have been reading about isnt that "deep". What am I missing?

We cant tell you. It's a secret.

Just kidding.

Deep Wrecks
Deep Wall dives
Deep Caves

Different things to see and do.

Safe Diving

Tony Flaris
NAUI #44662
 
Are you building it off the boat ramp or jellyfish hill? :D

Diver's Ramp to the left around 130'. We had to halt construction until my buddy gets back from overseas. He has all of the underwater construction tools. Everything has been built on the surface right now and will be disassembled and built underwater upon his return.
 
I gotta say, RhoneMan, 160m seems a long way to go for "lavatory equipment"! We'll be looking for your trip report. :)

I am working up the necessary experience. Expect my trip report around 2032...
 
In reading it seems that a lot of people are into "Deep" diving. My question is: "Whats down there?".

For me it's Wrecks.
 
since the majority of my dives are freshwater dive I usually cap my depths at 40 to 60 feet depending on the dive partner and the point of interest. Like said previously you burn through air faster at depth then you would in a shallower location.

In the lakes I personally think a rock at 100 feet looks almost identical to the rock I seen at 20 feet :)

In the ocean I have found the vast majority of my dives to be between 60 and 80 feet which is more then fine with me since this is the peak depth range for Nitrox where the beneifits are at the broadest range (Dont have a chart but something like 30 minutes on air and around 60 minutes for certain blends of nitrox)

My opinion is though I have seen wrecks and reefs and I personally enjoy the reefs so much more :)
 
In reading it seems that a lot of people are into "Deep" diving. My question is: "Whats down there?" What am I missing?

This:

Wreck of an 1800s schooner, 115 FT:

[vimeo]11857549[/vimeo]

Shark City, USA, (SS Proteus) 130 FT:

[vimeo]3168545[/vimeo]

Wreck of a WWII submarine, 140FT:

[vimeo]6310207[/vimeo]

:D
 
For ALL, down there you will find the ability to go through more air and shorten your dive as well as less light and (in many but not all places) colder water. For some, they believe going deeper makes them look cool (I have seen these people and cannot stand them). And other times there actually is some really neat stuff that makes the shorter dive worthhwhile.

I personally would rather spend 1.5 hours at 30' rather than 40 minutes for a dive to 110' (I just picked numbers here for example so no need to dispute the numbers). That is of course there is something to see. I love diving for diving so it does not always take much to keep my intererst underwater.

This post is classical BS. This is the same garbage that was spouted by the now defunct Skin Diver magazine that diving below 130ft was all about ego and bravado and there is nothing to see, it is highly dangerous blah, blah, blah.

Diving is about enjoying the marine environment, exploring things that few get to experience and experiencing everything the water has to offer.
Anyone who tells you there is nothing to see down there has never been there and anyone who says it is all about ego does not know what they are talking about.
I am very disappointed to see this attitude still exists in the scuba community.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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