Posted by Karl on May 28, 2002 at 10:11:01:
In Reply to: Re: What do you think? posted by Ken Kurtis on May 27, 2002 at 08:53:10:
You wake up in the middle of the night and you see red and green "vapor trails" following all the light sources coming through the blinds on the windows in your bedroom, following a technical diving day?
Depth was 203 fsw, mix was Trimix 18/30, 10 min bottom time, 20 minute egression time, stops of 1 min at 100, 2 min at 40, 2 min at 30, 6 min at 10, 2 min at 5. Pretty easy dive. We would have stayed longer but someone developed a leaking seal in their drysuit. Deco mix was EAN36 at 100 on up followed by EAN80 at 30 on up.
The 2 min stop at 5 fsw is just thrown in for added safety after a standard deco regimen.
Query:
1) Are the TDI published deco stops too aggressive?
2) Which would be a better replacement for them, DecoPlanner or Abyss?
3) Was the 2000 ft altitude mountain pass between Santa Cruz and San Jose too high to cross after diving, even after a 4 hour wait, cleaning up gear and the boat, refilling tanks, and having lunch?
4) Could it have been something in the food?
5) Is this just normal for Helium offgassing from slow body tissues like the optic nerve?
Both my tech instructor and I have long given up all controlled and uncontrolled substances, including beer, iced tea, coffee, Pepsi & Coke, and we limit ourselves to pure water, so it wasnt due to drugs. That is his health philosophy for the course.
One thing I know for sure, is that it had nothing to do with hydration. I was fully hydrated. Like a race horse, so to speak.
There is one really good thing that tech training teaches you: that ALL dives are deco dives, including NDL dives, and ALL require a "safety stop" preferably including egression by halves. [This is the main relevance to your troll, Wayne, and your view, Ken.]
When I think of "safe" scuba diving, now, I think of staying shallower than 50 fsw. That is still well within freediving limits. At that depth, you could dive with air and still be reasonably safe. Anything deeper than that and you probably should be on Nitrox instead.
Before I found Eddie's site, I had never heard of Trimix. Or TDI. Or GUE. I have learned a lot from reading this board.
Speaking of freediving, it is abalone season now. I am going up with a group this coming weekend. I will let you all know how it looks along the North Coast.
See you in August, seahunt-MikeB.