Andygoiii
Guest
Dive Site: Mactan, Cebu, Philippines
Visibility: Murky at shallower depth and clear after 25 meters
Equipment: Single tank, OMS wing/backplate, 13 liter pony
Dives: 199 for the 63 meter dive, currently 244 dives including 126 solo dives
The Deep Blue Sea
I finally accomplished my goal of hitting 63.2 meters on August 7, 2010. This long elusive deep dive goal was set when I only had 40 dives under my belt and for months I have been preparing to make this dive possible.
I remember doing my first "deep" dive at 30 meters during my advanced open water course late last year. My air consumption was not ideal and the feeling of going to that depth was a different experience. Yet, my curiousity for the deep began. Reading books and articles on deep diving made me realize several things the first being its dangerous. That even excited me more. I crave dangerous challenges. Its something that motivates me. And so I prepared for the last several months going incrementally deeper on my "training" dives. I was excited when I had my first narcosis experience. I wanted to know how I would react to it and learn how to deal with it. The reality is at depth you can't escape it. I have experienced it 5 times where I got extremely dizzy underwater and at least 4 times where i got light headed. Of the dizzy spells, 3 were on solo dives.
Solo, that word combined with dive elicits different reactions from different people. I have heard it all. Dumb, stupid, bold, daring. I really dont care. Solo diving is riskier, but people jump out of planes, climb rock faces without ropes, go to space, and many ordinary people even choose to cross EDSA (a busy road in Manila). I choose to dive alone for several reasons. One, it forces me to dive properly, enhance my skills, take pictures without bother and the pure thrill of being alone.
Thousands of people have done deep dives on air, but a lot less people have gone solo diving let alone a sub-60 meter solo dive. I know a few, but its a rare story one hears. So, I planned this dive doing over 160 or so buddy and solo dives of different types to prepare myself. Every dive was a training dive. I frequently took my gear off including my BCD, mask, and fins at increasingly deeper depths. I went on many zero visibility dives, wreck diving, line diving, drift, etc.
The Dive
I flew in to Cebu earlier in the day to inspect some underwater work for a project we are doing and the water was extremely murky due to habagat season in Cebu. I planned 2 dives for the day in preparation for my 200th dive the next day which was going to be my deep dive as well. After my first and 198th dive, I decided to do a practice deep dive (yes, I did a shallow dive before my deep dive) to 50 meters and check the effects of narcosis. And so I left my camera at the shore donned my gear and checked my tank which was at 180 Bar and jumped in. I started to make my way towards the wall which is around 190 meters from shore checking my gear and air consumption along the way. The water was extremely murky until I hit the wall where it cleared up a bit. I peered down to check how the wall conditions were visually and I could see the bottom. I checked my air noting I still had around 165 bar of air after around 8 mins of dive time. I checked the current at my current depth and it was surprisingly very calm. I began my descent facing north with the wall on my left side. I was at 30m when I changed to my tech position with my gauges and dive computer filling my mask. I would occasionally check my surroundings especially checking the condition of the current since at times it changes rapidly at different depths. Once I hit 50 meters, I faced the wall since I didnt want to worry about seeing anything that might cause me to worry or panic at that depth, like a shark or even a mermaid
. I could feel the onset of slight narcosis and I know people who start hallucinating at depth and I wanted to concentrate on my data. I stayed at 50 meters for a couple of seconds when I took a glance of the ocean floor. I knew then that was at around the 60 meter mark. I checked my air again and I still had around 110 to 120 bar. I already blew past my non-deco dive so I knew I had to make some mandatory decompression stops along the way. I observed how lifeless it is at that depth, but I also loved how peaceful and tranquil it was. The water was clear, cool, and calm. I made my way to 60 meters and hit the bottom of the floor. All this time, my eyes were glued to my computer and gauges breathing as calm and controlled as I can. I noticed there was a ledge that would take me a couple of meters lower so I made my way and dropped down to 63.2 meters. I stayed there for less than a minute and started my ascent. I looked up and was surprised how far up the top of the wall was. I thought to myself, "wow, Im 20 stories under the sea alone. how incredibly crazy!" I knew I was a bit impaired due to narcosis since it was hard for me to manage looking at three pieces of data of importance to me. My depth, my ascent rate, and my air. At around 60 meters my computer beeped as the SLOW sign showed showing I was ascending faster than I should. I quickly told myself, "see you are narced, your staring at your watch and still acending quicker than you should". I made the immediate effort to slow down as I made my way up. At around 50m, I started to see more sea life and schools of fish I noticed absent just 13 meters below. I had around 100 bar of air left when I broke the 40 meter mark and when I reached 30 meters I took my first decompression stop for 1 min. I kept my computer at chest level and held on to a rock or coral on the wall for exactly one minute before continuing my ascent. I went over the crest of the wall and made my way to 20 meters where I made another 1 minute decompression stop. I started to feel extremely excited and happy at this point since I knew I was almost in the clear. I say almost because I knew I still had to make several long decompression stops. I made another one at 12 meters for one minute then made a 3 minute stop at 6 meters and another 3 minute stop at 5 meters. By the time I finished my last stop I was shouting loudly as I can underwater. I was so happy. After over 170 dives I finally accomplished my goal. I made it to shore 33 minutes after I started my dive. I noted my air was at 30 bar. I was happy with my air consumption and was glad I was back to shore alive.
Afterthought
Solo deep diving to me is really a mental game. I always knew that at any instant I can die. I knew the risks and was willing to take it. Was this to show I was a tough man? No, I don't really care what others think. This was for me. It was to challenge my psyche. I wanted to do something high risk. Is going deep high risk? Yes, but there are safe parameters to work with. Is diving solo dangerous and risky? Yes. And that's where my challenge was and Im happy to survive it. Will I do it again? Maybe not alone. I really can't say if I would again. I would probably try to hit the 66 meter mark, but I am fully aware of oxygen toxicity which I do dread.
This isn't for everyone. Many will say this isn't even for me, but well Im still alive to talk about it. Maybe I just got lucky, but luck plays into many things. It was an amazing experience to be alone at 63 meters. I hope someday to visit that part of the ocean again, but its not something I take lightly so Im sure it will be another 170 dives before I think about it.
For now, im back to doing 40 meter dives. I will be doing a 50 meter dive soon enjoying underwater photography with my Lumix GF1.
Visibility: Murky at shallower depth and clear after 25 meters
Equipment: Single tank, OMS wing/backplate, 13 liter pony
Dives: 199 for the 63 meter dive, currently 244 dives including 126 solo dives
The Deep Blue Sea
I finally accomplished my goal of hitting 63.2 meters on August 7, 2010. This long elusive deep dive goal was set when I only had 40 dives under my belt and for months I have been preparing to make this dive possible.
I remember doing my first "deep" dive at 30 meters during my advanced open water course late last year. My air consumption was not ideal and the feeling of going to that depth was a different experience. Yet, my curiousity for the deep began. Reading books and articles on deep diving made me realize several things the first being its dangerous. That even excited me more. I crave dangerous challenges. Its something that motivates me. And so I prepared for the last several months going incrementally deeper on my "training" dives. I was excited when I had my first narcosis experience. I wanted to know how I would react to it and learn how to deal with it. The reality is at depth you can't escape it. I have experienced it 5 times where I got extremely dizzy underwater and at least 4 times where i got light headed. Of the dizzy spells, 3 were on solo dives.
Solo, that word combined with dive elicits different reactions from different people. I have heard it all. Dumb, stupid, bold, daring. I really dont care. Solo diving is riskier, but people jump out of planes, climb rock faces without ropes, go to space, and many ordinary people even choose to cross EDSA (a busy road in Manila). I choose to dive alone for several reasons. One, it forces me to dive properly, enhance my skills, take pictures without bother and the pure thrill of being alone.
Thousands of people have done deep dives on air, but a lot less people have gone solo diving let alone a sub-60 meter solo dive. I know a few, but its a rare story one hears. So, I planned this dive doing over 160 or so buddy and solo dives of different types to prepare myself. Every dive was a training dive. I frequently took my gear off including my BCD, mask, and fins at increasingly deeper depths. I went on many zero visibility dives, wreck diving, line diving, drift, etc.
The Dive
I flew in to Cebu earlier in the day to inspect some underwater work for a project we are doing and the water was extremely murky due to habagat season in Cebu. I planned 2 dives for the day in preparation for my 200th dive the next day which was going to be my deep dive as well. After my first and 198th dive, I decided to do a practice deep dive (yes, I did a shallow dive before my deep dive) to 50 meters and check the effects of narcosis. And so I left my camera at the shore donned my gear and checked my tank which was at 180 Bar and jumped in. I started to make my way towards the wall which is around 190 meters from shore checking my gear and air consumption along the way. The water was extremely murky until I hit the wall where it cleared up a bit. I peered down to check how the wall conditions were visually and I could see the bottom. I checked my air noting I still had around 165 bar of air after around 8 mins of dive time. I checked the current at my current depth and it was surprisingly very calm. I began my descent facing north with the wall on my left side. I was at 30m when I changed to my tech position with my gauges and dive computer filling my mask. I would occasionally check my surroundings especially checking the condition of the current since at times it changes rapidly at different depths. Once I hit 50 meters, I faced the wall since I didnt want to worry about seeing anything that might cause me to worry or panic at that depth, like a shark or even a mermaid
. I could feel the onset of slight narcosis and I know people who start hallucinating at depth and I wanted to concentrate on my data. I stayed at 50 meters for a couple of seconds when I took a glance of the ocean floor. I knew then that was at around the 60 meter mark. I checked my air again and I still had around 110 to 120 bar. I already blew past my non-deco dive so I knew I had to make some mandatory decompression stops along the way. I observed how lifeless it is at that depth, but I also loved how peaceful and tranquil it was. The water was clear, cool, and calm. I made my way to 60 meters and hit the bottom of the floor. All this time, my eyes were glued to my computer and gauges breathing as calm and controlled as I can. I noticed there was a ledge that would take me a couple of meters lower so I made my way and dropped down to 63.2 meters. I stayed there for less than a minute and started my ascent. I looked up and was surprised how far up the top of the wall was. I thought to myself, "wow, Im 20 stories under the sea alone. how incredibly crazy!" I knew I was a bit impaired due to narcosis since it was hard for me to manage looking at three pieces of data of importance to me. My depth, my ascent rate, and my air. At around 60 meters my computer beeped as the SLOW sign showed showing I was ascending faster than I should. I quickly told myself, "see you are narced, your staring at your watch and still acending quicker than you should". I made the immediate effort to slow down as I made my way up. At around 50m, I started to see more sea life and schools of fish I noticed absent just 13 meters below. I had around 100 bar of air left when I broke the 40 meter mark and when I reached 30 meters I took my first decompression stop for 1 min. I kept my computer at chest level and held on to a rock or coral on the wall for exactly one minute before continuing my ascent. I went over the crest of the wall and made my way to 20 meters where I made another 1 minute decompression stop. I started to feel extremely excited and happy at this point since I knew I was almost in the clear. I say almost because I knew I still had to make several long decompression stops. I made another one at 12 meters for one minute then made a 3 minute stop at 6 meters and another 3 minute stop at 5 meters. By the time I finished my last stop I was shouting loudly as I can underwater. I was so happy. After over 170 dives I finally accomplished my goal. I made it to shore 33 minutes after I started my dive. I noted my air was at 30 bar. I was happy with my air consumption and was glad I was back to shore alive.Afterthought
Solo deep diving to me is really a mental game. I always knew that at any instant I can die. I knew the risks and was willing to take it. Was this to show I was a tough man? No, I don't really care what others think. This was for me. It was to challenge my psyche. I wanted to do something high risk. Is going deep high risk? Yes, but there are safe parameters to work with. Is diving solo dangerous and risky? Yes. And that's where my challenge was and Im happy to survive it. Will I do it again? Maybe not alone. I really can't say if I would again. I would probably try to hit the 66 meter mark, but I am fully aware of oxygen toxicity which I do dread.
This isn't for everyone. Many will say this isn't even for me, but well Im still alive to talk about it. Maybe I just got lucky, but luck plays into many things. It was an amazing experience to be alone at 63 meters. I hope someday to visit that part of the ocean again, but its not something I take lightly so Im sure it will be another 170 dives before I think about it.
For now, im back to doing 40 meter dives. I will be doing a 50 meter dive soon enjoying underwater photography with my Lumix GF1.
