Can I dive to 40m (130ft)?

[Youssef ElNahas]

I'm going on a dive trip in a couple of days and one of the dives I want to do will be at 40m.

I've done 32 dives, 7 of which have been at 30m (100ft), with one at 35m. I have a PADI AOW certificate where the recommended depth is 30m. The dive will be on air.

Do you think I have enough experience to try doing dives of up to 40m? Do you think the PADI Deep specialty is worth it (I personally don't but if someone can convince me to do it...)?

Thanks!

 

[wedivebc]

If you are asking the question I suspect you are likely self aware enough to know the answer.
Watch your air consumption and remember you have a very small NDL and don't do anything you are not comfortable with.

 

[Kevrumbo]

With a standard single Aluminium 11L/bar Cylinder, at 40m in challenging conditions like working against current at depth -you can use up as much as 50bar of Air in five minutes.

Other hazardous factors to consider are short NDL time and having enough Air to do any required deco; Nitrogen Narcosis at this depth; enough reserve Air to share with a Buddy in an out-of-Air contingency to get you both to the surface; and potential CO2 retention/toxicity due to exertion work-of-breathing Air beginning at 40m and deeper.

 

[divinh]

I had done two dives to 43m after having only done one dive to 30m before, with the rest staying above 25m. However, before doing those two 43m dives, I had done 20+ over two weeks straight, which meant I was pretty "into the groove" at that point. I had good buoyancy and air usage. For the two dives, the guide, who was an instructor, had four of us to keep watch. One person did end up low on air and had to share air during the first safety stop, then switched to the bottle hanging underneath the boat for the second. We did two safety stops, by the way, hanging ourselves off the mooring line to keep depth.

My recollection was that it was about 5 minutes down, 15 minutes swimming around, then about 10 minutes back up, with two safety stops. We had a two hour surface interval, when we had lunch, then we repeated the dive on another part of the wreck.

 

[Chilly_Diver]

Not trying to sound snarky, though that’s a question if you have to ask means you are likely not ready. If you had calculated your RMV, conducted the proper gas planning for that dive profile and likely gas mix availability, etc. you would know the answer to your question. On air you are looking at a 5-10 minute dive before mandatory deco begins assuming your RMV permits even that much time given your likely limited back gas.

 

[Chilly_Diver]

Your previous dives also sounded like “trust me” dives. Did you plan any of those previous dives or just follow the guide?

 

[decompression]

You can dive as deep as you like.......it’s coming back that’s the tricky part.

Seriously, it’s beyond your training and experience, why risk it? Lots of other dives there.....

 

[DiverDownD3]

So what is at this depth that you'd like to see so bad? Is it worth the risk? Have you considered everything that can go wrong and are you prepared to handle those types of things?

 

[scubadada]

I'm going on a dive trip in a couple of days and one of the dives I want to do will be at 40m.

I've done 32 dives, 7 of which have been at 30m (100ft), with one at 35m. I have a PADI AOW certificate where the recommended depth is 30m. The dive will be on air.

Do you think I have enough experience to try doing dives of up to 40m? Do you think the PADI Deep specialty is worth it (I personally don't but if someone can convince me to do it...)?

Thanks!

Depends on your own competence, experience, and confidence. Descent, less than your NDL at 130 feet, normal ascent and safety stop is less than 50 cf of gas at a RMV of 0.6 cf/min. Only you know if that is a dive for you.

 

[Youssef ElNahas]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I'll definitely take it all into consideration =)

Your previous dives also sounded like “trust me” dives. Did you plan any of those previous dives or just follow the guide?

The majority were what you call trust me dives. I will have an experienced guide with me on this one as well but I didn't want that to affect the answers I got. I'd rather not run into any problems in the first place than rely on the guide if I happen to if that makes sense