Can I dive to 40m (130ft)?

[Diver0001]

Oh, and I should mention that the bare hands were my tip-off..... If you dived with bare hands here when it is really cold then the pain would be so intense that you might not even get to the point of pulling on your fins before you called the dive. In the winter I dive with dry gloves. During training for my IANTD ice certification I cut one of them open by holding too tightly on the line during a "zero viz" drill. The only thing that flooded was my glove and after 10 min I couldn't feel my left arm all the way up to the elbow. The pain was so intense that it felt as though my arm had been lit on fire.... at least until it went numb and I couldn't use that hand for anything anymore.

R..

 

[RainPilot]

Richard Pyle and his team subscribe to the “cold deep, warm deco” mindset. They usually are diving in waters that are VERY warm in the shallows, so a lot of exposure protection would lead to a lot of sweat and hyperthermia is a possibility.

Richard famously dives in a dress shirt and shorts down to 400’ plus. On deco he swims gentle laps around the group to keep perfusion up.

When I first saw his videos I also thought that his suit choices were nuts, having heard him speak on the subject it is clear that it is a reasoned choice he is making. I on the other hand am a cold wussy for sure.

 

[Diver0001]

I think it depends on where you dive. Mark Ellyatt once told me that in the Red Sea the temperature on the surface and the temperature at 300m is nearly the same. He also said that this is one of the few places he knows of where this is the case. IIRC Pyle dives mostly in the Philippines, which may experience something similar.

R..

 

[RainPilot]

I believe it’s the Pacific islands in most of the videos I’ve seen.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

So... you're saying that the temperature dropped to 18C/65F.

In my local area the PEAK water temperatures in the height of summer are +/- 18C. This is what Dutch divers call "warm water". I can dive for hours in this temperature.

In a 3mm?

I get what you're saying, Rob ... but if people aren't expecting a thermocline like that at depth, and pack for expected water temps, then their equipment selection is going to be limited to what they brought with them.

I don't want to get into a measuring contest here, but I can dive for hours in that temperature too. At home it's much colder than that. But I wear a drysuit and 400g thinsulate undergarment. I don't see me ever packing that gear for a trip what's normally tropical water temps ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I think it depends on where you dive. Mark Ellyatt once told me that in the Red Sea the temperature on the surface and the temperature at 300m is nearly the same. He also said that this is one of the few places he knows of where this is the case. IIRC Pyle dives mostly in the Philippines, which may experience something similar.

R..

I have been below 200 feet in a couple different parts of the Red Sea. In Dahab there was very little temperature variation ... either at the Blue Hole or the Canyon, which is where I did my deepest dives. At Brothers I encountered that thermocline I described earlier. Even knowing it's there I wouldn't waste my precious luggage weight packing colder water gear. I'd simply opt to plan my dive profile to avoid it ... or do what I did that time and modify my profile to a more comfortable level. But that doesn't equate to Pyle's video, which I took to be a working dive.

Coolest part about those dives was the water clarity. I remember looking up from 210 feet in Dahab and seeing sunlight ripples on the surface ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[wKkaY]

The 2nd one is Zebra shark at 147’ (44m) in Palau, in December 2017. See the picture below.

View attachment 443650

That shark can be found in shallower waters (10-20m) in other places though, like Julian Rocks in Australia.

 

[Diver0001]

I haven't been that deep in the Red Sea (yet) but I've been at 165 and could clearly see the surface from there as well.... During one dive near Marsa Alam conditions were so clear that if it weren't for the curvature of the earth you could probably have seen the coast of Saudi Arabia.

R..

 

[Dan]

That shark can be found in shallower waters (10-20m) in other places though, like Julian Rocks in Australia.

Yes. My buddy found one in 75’ (23m) deep in Raja Ampat, a couple months ago. I was not lucky enough to see it at the time. It swam away after it was blinded by his camera flash.

In my case in Palau, it didn’t care with my camera flash, it just continued sleeping. So, I was having a field day of taking pictures & videos of it until the dive guide busily banging at his tank at 30’ above me to tell me that my 2 minutes at 147’ was up & get the hey up to a save level. So I did

 

[kafkaland]

Since some of the comments here mention guides pushing the limits, I have my own story to tell. On Cozumel, the guide asked me before the dive how I had set my Shearwater. I told him 40/80, something I feel comfortable with in warm water. He asked me to set it to 99/99 - he didn't want to risk me going into deco! I just wish I could program my body the same way...