Worlds Deepest Pool

[loosenit2]

Nemo33 restrict what gear you can bring...basically you can bring a bathing suit, mask, and dive computer. The water is so warm that even a microfiber shirt will feel like too much at the beginning of the dive...not only is it unnecessary to wear exposure protecting it is forbiden unless you purchase a wetsuit new from their shop on that day and you want to "test it out". Nemo33 provides the tanks, BCD, full foot fins, and regulators. They offer stubby 12L steel tanks that are fairly negative pre and post dive, this is good because they do not allow weiight pockets or weight belts....not are they needed since one is only in a bathing suit and BCD.

this sounds like limited training value then. yes, going deep...testing narcosis susceptibility etc but not being able to use your own gear limits training effectiveness pretty severely.

 

[JBFG]

this sounds like limited training value then. yes, going deep...testing narcosis susceptibility etc but not being able to use your own gear limits training effectiveness pretty severely.

that's why to me NEMO33 is just a one time thing. you can't really work on skills, trim, etc if you are not using your gear and your thermal protection. Also you need to come with a buddy. I didn't have one and they would not register me and allow me to dive until I asked around and someone would agree to be my buddy. Thankfully I found a group that I could tag along with. Most people were just laying at the bottom of the 30m end and staying there until it was time to come up. kind of weird.

 

[Zef]

that's why to me NEMO33 is just a one time thing. you can't really work on skills, trim, etc if you are not using your gear and your thermal protection. Also you need to come with a buddy. I didn't have one and they would not register me and allow me to dive until I asked around and someone would agree to be my buddy. Thankfully I found a group that I could tag along with. Most people were just laying at the bottom of the 30m end and staying there until it was time to come up. kind of weird.

The first time I dove at Nemo33 my daughter and I descended to the bottom of the deepest section and there were a bunch of folks just sitting and lying on the bottom motionless, looking at their dive computers...at first we had no idea what they were doing and we were wondering what we were supposed to be doing in comparison to them. They were basically just watching their no-deco time tick down before heading upwards to a shallower depth. We did some narcosis awareness stuff and then slowly ascended working on staying in horizontal trim. There are chambers in the swim through where one can stick there head above water and talk, we exchanged some ideas and then swam around the 10 meter areas to kill the rest of the session time. I have been there with others that brought underwater frisbees and stuff to play with to pass the time...otherwise it is just a really boring dive.

I did dive there once with my wife, who is a timid diver and has problems clearing her ears, and while descending there were lots of folks already at the bottom which caused a massive and constant curtain of bubbles all around us. This made it difficult to tell if one was descending or not and caused my wife to become dizzy. On one side of the deep section there is a ladder that stretches the whole way down...we swam over to that and used it as a visual reference to assist the descent...other than that it was a boring uneventful dive.

Diving in one of these places is all about what one makes of it. It can be seen as an exciting adventure or just fodder for ones log book.

We have another pool, not nearly as deep, up near Antwerp, called TODI, it is filled with fish and artificial habitat. One would think this pool would be more interesting to dive in and it was for the first 5-10 minutes but with an average depth between 4 to 6 meters one quickly sees what there is to see and is over the expensive experience fairly quickly.

-Z

 

[EFX]

Diving in one of these places is all about what one makes of it. It can be seen as an exciting adventure or just fodder for ones log book.

I get into pools when I need to work on skills, trying out new equipment, or new exposure protection with weight adjustment. The last time I was in the pool I worked on back kicking and hovering skills. The benign environment is perfect; I can concentrate completely on what I'm doing without too many distractions.

 

[JBFG]

I get into pools when I need to work on skills, trying out new equipment, or new exposure protection with weight adjustment. The last time I was in the pool I worked on back kicking and hovering skills. The benign environment is perfect; I can concentrate completely on what I'm doing without too many distractions.

that's great when the pool lets you bring your own stuff.
I definitely understand the value of pool time, but does it need to be 30/50m deep for one to work on skills or test out new gear?
these pools are just novelty if you ask me.

 

[Zef]

I get into pools when I need to work on skills, trying out new equipment, or new exposure protection with weight adjustment. The last time I was in the pool I worked on back kicking and hovering skills. The benign environment is perfect; I can concentrate completely on what I'm doing without too many distractions.

Yeah except at 25 Euros a pop that makes for an expensive training session.

Plus I am a part of 2 clubs, one has exclusive use of a pool on Wednesday evenings for an hour and the other has exclusive use of a pool on Thursday evenings for about 1.5 hours. I don't need to descend to 33, 40, or 45 meters just work on reverse kicking. I don't even need a pool to work on that....I can do that in the quarries and lakes where I frequently dive year round...

...Every dive is a training dive!

-Z

 

[EFX]

Sure, if you can't bring your own equipment then forget it. My LDS up north during the winter took their students to a local high school pool for OW training. They invited a limited number of non-students. The cost was $20 and they provided one tank of air. The pool had two sections divided by a partial wall: 3-1/2 ft and 12 ft deep. The vis was excellent and the temperature was warm. The drive time was 15 minutes. They had the pool for three hours. Plenty of time to practice. The novelty of a deep pool would wear off especially with a high cost and limited time.

 

[CT-Rich]

Here is what I would do if I were thinking about diving this place. I would bring several slates and have several random maths problems, deco problems and word/comprehension types of problems to work on. Add a couple of simple puzzles to the mix.

Try half of them at the surface with a timer and repeat them at the bottom. I think this would be a really interesting activity to see how impaired cognitive functions are at depth.

Sitting at the bottom of the pool would be dull, but a bunch puzzles at 33m would be really interesting to play with.