Rapture of the deep

cmccuist · 07-13-2006, 09:13 AM

Any SCUBA divers out there. I've been in St Croix for about a year and dive every weekend - sometimes during the week. There's a nice reef off the beach at my condo.

Lately, I've been sinking deeper and deeper. There's a wall near where I live (Cane Bay) that's not too far out and drops off to >600 ft. Last night I dove to 180 ft and was completely blasted from nitrogen narcosis.

I can feel it coming on at about 140'. The guy I dive with has a greater tolerance for it. I'm not crazy, but there is an exhilaration going deep. There's nothing to see at that depth - you just get narc'd and then come up. The rest of the dive is spent at 15-30 feet to completely decompress.

I think I'll stick to shallower dives - too dangerous. Also, it's cold and dark down there even with the 100 foot visibility here in the Caribbean.

Tishabet · 07-13-2006, 09:15 AM

Get some heliox dude!

cmccuist · 07-13-2006, 09:23 AM

Grant, is there a certification or training that goes along with it? They have Nitrox fills here on the island, but I don't think that's for going deep.

id10t · 07-13-2006, 09:26 AM

Nitrox is for deep or long, or both. And yes, there's a cert for it. I'd recommend flying up here to Gainesville Florida and do a combo cave and nitrox cert with Lloyd Bailey's outfit...

scottmandue · 07-13-2006, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cmccuist

I think I'll stick to shallower dives - too dangerous. Also, it's cold and dark down there even with the 100 foot visibility here in the Caribbean.

I don't dive but I think that is the safest route... my brother worked on a dive boat and he pulled a dead body out of the water about once a month.

cmccuist · 07-13-2006, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by scottmandue
I don't dive but I think that is the safest route... my brother worked on a dive boat and he pulled a dead body out of the water about once a month.

Nitrogen narcosis is incapcitating to some people. Your head starts spinning and you either laugh or cry depending on your mood (I had a pretty good laugh last night). It goes away when you get to 100 feet or so. It's not something you want to dismiss as harmless.

dhoward · dhoward's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by scottmandue
I don't dive but I think that is the safest route... my brother worked on a dive boat and he pulled a dead body out of the water about once a month.

Glad I don't dive with that outfit.
Diving for narc is, how shall I say? Not good?
EAN dives require a little more planning than air, because now you need to figurer high partial-pressure O2 effects as well. Take the class, it's just a vid, a book, and a test.
Be careful!

KCPSG · KCPSG's Garage

I agree w/ dhoward... I have been a commercial diver for over 15 yrs and a scuba diver for approx. 20 yrs, however I don't get to scuba dive much anymore. What dhoward said is correct, it is not as easy as getting some Nitrox and going deep. There is a completely separate set of dive tables that you need to follow, and you should know how to figure PP/O2 and know what it means for depth limitations.

I personally never agreed w/the scuba communiuty having acess to mixed gasses, it gets (inexperienced) people into situations w/a limited amount of gas and bottom time and decompression becomes a whole new problem to deal w/. This is just my opinion, I know that thousands of dives are made each year successfully w/no incidents or accidents, but I also know that there are more and more decompression related incidents every year because new and young divers get their certification and feel that it's their ticket to do whatever they want.

Tishabet · 07-13-2006, 10:21 AM

Yep, you can get an advanced cert to use mixed gases (i.e. heliox, nitrox). I agree that narcosis is not something you want to fool with, taking your regulator out of your mouth and swimming off is not unheard of. I would place intentional narcosis diving in the same domain as diving while seriously drunk in terms of your likelyhood to screw up and drown or bolt for the surface.
BTW, seeing as you live in St. Croix, have you dived on "the wall?" I did that one around 94-95, spectacular!

dhoward · dhoward's Garage

My opinion is that the more widespread availability of computers has probably kept more people out of trouble. That being said, I've been under narc before, and didn't much care for it. Of course I'm old, and lazy, and don't dive limits anymore. I usually get cold and tired before I'm much in the caution zone!

Moses · 07-13-2006, 10:54 AM

I've been diving for years. Deep dives are rarely much fun unless you are diving a wreck.

Safety tip: Avoid diving with French people. They tend to ignore dive plans and dive tables. Crazy-ass divers.

cmccuist · 07-13-2006, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tshabet
Yep, you can get an advanced cert to use mixed gases (i.e. heliox, nitrox). I agree that narcosis is not something you want to fool with, taking your regulator out of your mouth and swimming off is not unheard of. I would place intentional narcosis diving in the same domain as diving while seriously drunk in terms of your likelyhood to screw up and drown or bolt for the surface.
BTW, seeing as you live in St. Croix, have you dived on "the wall?" I did that one around 94-95, spectacular!

Grant, I dive on "The Wall" on average about once a week. I never get tired of that dive. It's exactly 150 kicks with each fin to get out to the bouys.

We saw a manta ray there last week that had to be 8 feet tip-to-tip. There are almost always turtles, sometimes eels, plenty of exotic tropicals, warm water, great visibility and air fills are $3 at the Cane Bay dive shop. There's also a nice place to eat overlooking the beach.

All of the good scenery is at <75 feet. The Wall drops off into infinity, so the tempation is to test yourself. But all the good sites disappear quickly, so there is no real incentive to go below about 100 feet.

Burnin' oil · 07-13-2006, 11:54 AM

I frequently free dive to 200 feet.

KCPSG · KCPSG's Garage

The Virgin Islands are absolutely beautiful. So much marine life to enjoy. I was working in St. Eustatious a few years ago and working barely 100' off the shoreline, the bottom dropped off to 350' in that short distance. There were so many lobster I couldn't believe it. And these Lobster wouldn't hide from you either...we were on bottom working on a pipeline and literally hundreds of loster would come out and swarm the P/L...you would have to push them out of the way in order to get any work done.

We weren't able to bring any back to the boat however....lobster are the main export of St. Eustatious and can only be caught by commercial fishermen.

That was the story we were told anyhow.

Paul T · 07-13-2006, 12:38 PM

I don't dive, but I sure love hanging out at the "off the wall" bar - great place. No shirt, no shoes, no problem!

Joeaksa · 07-13-2006, 02:08 PM

Been diving for about 30 years and started out with one of the old two hose aqualungs like Lloyd Bridges used on Seahunt.

Been to about 140 feet in the Red Sea and thats as deep as I want to go on normal air. Guy I work with does the gas mix and does 200 feet from time to time...

cmccuist · 07-13-2006, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paul T
I don't dive, but I sure love hanging out at the "off the wall" bar - great place. No shirt, no shoes, no problem!

Paul, Off the Wall was one of my favorite places to eat. With incredible sunsets and great food. About a month ago, the owner kind of went nuts of something and the whole wait staff and chef just up and quit. The place is shut down right now and no one knows if it's going to reopen. It's the low season, so I don't think the guy is in any rush.

That was a sad day when I drove went for Sunday brunch and found it closed.

That was the first place I ate at when I got to St. Croix. Spent many an evening listening to the local musical talent and watching the waves.

cmccuist · 07-13-2006, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by john_cramer
Did you ever read "The Last Dive" about the guys who try to do a German U-boat at 230 FSW on air? Reading it once will make you painfully aware of the max PP02 depth limit of air.

Be careful!

John, I tried to order that book from Amazon ($2.50!! Great deal)l, but they wont ship to St. Croix. I'll have to pick it up when I get back to Texas. Looks like a sad story - father and son.

Joeaksa · 07-13-2006, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cmccuist
John, I tried to order that book from Amazon ($2.50!! Great deal)l, but they wont ship to St. Croix. I'll have to pick it up when I get back to Texas. Looks like a sad story - father and son.

Craig,

Want one of us to buy it and post it to you? Glad to help... I do it for my Canadian and European friends all the time.

Joe A

cmccuist · 07-13-2006, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by john_cramer
The writing's not spectacular but the story is a graphic one. I don't want to spoil it for you so that's all I'll say.

Try www.alibris.com for used books.

Placed the order. $8.89 with shipping. The "Fatal Descent" part of the title doesn't sound encouraging.

Thanks for the tip. I enjoy true stories of survival. I'm guessing someone lived to tell the tale!?!