Posted by RaiderKarl on May 08, 2001 at 13:41:15:
In Reply to: not to flame or anything but.. posted by mike on May 08, 2001 at 12:41:33:
one week, the limit could be 156' and the next week the limit could be 175'. Most NOAA divers that I have talked to definitely agree on this, that the limit is transient.
and if you dive to 156' and that is followed by an entire day of mild DCS symptoms, then after the 175' dive that is followed by 3 days of mild to moderate DCS symptoms and malaise, then you would also possibly conclude that you need to set your dive computer to a more conservative mode, including more decompression time, or else that you are approaching an absolute limit that is not bypassable, at least not on air as a breathing gas.
American diving agencies teach their rec divers to limit their dives to 130 feet. In Europe, the recommended limit seems to be 150 feet but expressed in meters.
Each of the diving agencies offers courses where they take you down deeper than that, under carefully controlled circumstances, for very limited amounts of time.