Want to go Deep?
This is often the first question asked by divers after a dive, some divers seem to enjoy the dive more if they have been deeper rather than staying in the shallow water.
For some divers deep water holds a fascination not experienced in the shallows.
To enable divers to go deeper than the entry level of 18m there is the Advanced open water course and then the Deep diver specialty, these enable the diver to go to a depth of 30m and 40m respectively.
The main reason divers go deep is to see and experience things not found in the shallower waters. This could be shipwrecks, often better preserved due to less exposure to the weather and sea conditions. Deep water pinnacles which often have fantastic sponge and coral life due to less impact from surge waters, or a particular marine live that prefers the deeper waters.
There are though disadvantages to going deeper, less light penetrates the depth, so reducing the colours, less bottom time due to increase nitrogen loading during the dive, nitrogen narcosis affecting the divers judgment and faster air consumption due to the pressure.
Deep diving is safe as long as certain precautions are taken. These are covered in the Deep Speciality course.
Simple precautions such as regular air checks, proper dive planning using tables or eRDP combined with a dive computer, safety stops and slow ascents.
The Deep speciality course also teaches the use of drop tanks or pony bottles as a precaution for low on air situations.
Most divers when completing deep dives also combine this with diving using computers or multilevel dives plans using the eRDP. This way a longer dive is permitted than using dive tables alone. The Deep diver course also goes into the theory of this and the benefits.
Nitrogen Narcosis is a phenomena only experienced at depth, due to the partial pressure of the nitrogen gas in the air we breath. It affect different divers at different depths, but generally the deeper you go the more pronounced the effect would be.
During the Deep diver course you would complete 4 dives to enable you to go to a depth of 40m safely. The course covers the planning and execution of the dives, accounting for narcosis, DCS, air consumption, navigation and gaining the most from the dive.
Want to go deeper still? ask us about the Tec Rec Courses
Scubacat Community