peterbj7:
Depends what you mean by "shallow" - I think by far the best diving on the barrier reef at San Pedro is in the spur-and-groove formations between around 50' and 120'.
From liveaboards I routinely do between 5 and 7 dives a day for a week, usually with a lighter day in the middle (only 3 or 4 dives). Although I go into deco on at least half of these dives I come up very slowly and conservatively. Haven't had a problem yet.
To answer DiveMe's question, I tag off on Peter's resposne.
Slow and conservatively is the key. If I make 10 feet upwards in one minute- that's a lot. It is an acquired thing. Safety stop? Always, always, always- tie a line to the Nekton's 15 foot hang bar and just veg out. Suck your tank down, be motionless. In Belize, I gaped for 30 minutes at a barrage of Venus Sea Girdles and other pellagic jellies, Walnuts and such. The sun was sinking low in the sky and they were absolutely spectacular flowing by me! (I keep a 4' line and carabiner tied to my BC just for this)
Now that I read Peter's words, I am reminded of two things- yes, I did have a moment's "time out" at depth one day (My own fault- I was staring at a Pipe Fish in 70fsw for 30 minutes...Jeeez- like ya' never seen one before!)(It was my 3rd one
)
(and) The spur and groove was cool. The tops, as I recall were in 35fsw and they dropped precipitously after that. It was towards the end of the week, and we just ghosted from the 35' top of one coral precepice to the next.
We didn't go deep, but here's a story: We found an 18" Dead Parrotfish (here come the Monty Python Jokes!) and carted it over to the bottomless cravasse... and maybe 90 feet below us on the sand lounged a 12' Moray. He was the veritable finny giant sunning himself at 120' !
I dropped the Parrotfish from 35foot much as an early WWI bombardier dropped primitive explosives from aircraft. This dead fish hit everything on the way down as it pinballed its way and dropped right in front of the Moray's head. He looked at it for 1/2 a second and swallowed it whole. He then looked up as if to say, "Got any more?"
The visuals of that dive are spectacular.
Most of our night dives were 1.75 hrs long as compared to the usual divers 45 minutes. The Nekton crew-member who was assigned as "bubble watcher" on the top deck so as to be a look-out for errant divers, jokingly asked if we were making "a shore landing" as we poked very shallow and inland. Most divers spent their 45 minutes at 65 feet just below the boat.
We went to the shallows and found my first Toadfish,
Splendid :05: as he was! Then the jet of 200+ "Squidlets", maybe 1" long, and many, many other shallow delights. I am a shallow water dive junkie, I also go very slowly and in waters such as Belize, I will take a magnifying glass and creep along.
I used to solo dive all the time on the Nekton, mostly because "provided" buddies don't have the patience to do my dance. They started putting DM's with me because of a new policy. I turned several of them into shallow water macro junkies.
Watch your computer, and as Peter echoes- be conservative and slow and smart. I will add- skip the alcohol, hydrate, get rest, go easy on the hot tub, be smart. This itinnerary can easily be done on air.
