Seabase Altitude - Safe # of Dives?

[swimswitheagles]

Hello All!

My husband and I are driving from Arizona to Colorado, seeing the sights for about a week, then heading home. I would like to dive Seabase in Utah on the way back but I'm not sure what would be best given the altitude at Seabase and on the highway in northern Arizona. Seabase is at 4293 feet and we would be driving up to about 7000 feet on our way back to the Phoenix area, which is close to sea-level.

How many dives can we safely do in a day before driving back the next day? A 1991 PADI manual recommends only two altitude dives per day, period. Is that still the standard, and does it make a difference that the dives at Seabase are pretty shallow?

Thanks for any input!

http://www.seabase.net

 

[David The Gnome]

I personally wouldn't do any altitude diving without the proper training.

 

[WyCal]

The question isn't how many dives you can do at altitude at SeaBase; the question is how many dives do you want to make at SeaBase. The ponds are small and shallow, with vis up to 10'.
I wouldn't worry about altitude training for diving at SeaBase. Even with depths adjusted for altitude, you won't get to 35' (unless you dive "The Abyss", which is basically a 60' deep cylinder used for deep training dives for advanced certification).

 

[ScubaMike14]

You should also check out Homestead Crater in Utah, which isn't too far from Sea Base. I think it's a much nicer dive, however it is warm, fresh water and doesn't have pretty tropical fish in it.

Mike Rushton