G'day, Strike!

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Strike" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2000 18:47
Subject: Re: [SCUBA-SE] Safety stops?


> > On a recent wreck dive trip, the profiles called for a mandatory
> two-minute
> > stop at 10m/30' and three minutes at 5m/15', following no-deco dives to
a
> > maximum of 30m/100'.
> Steve!  Did you dive right up to the NDL limits?
On two of the dives (two man buddy team), we did.  On the other two dives
(three divers in one group), we ascended before the NDL by a fair margin b/c
the third diver hoovered his tank.

>How many dives were you
> performing on the trip?
We had six scheduled:  four on day one, two on the second day.  The third
dive was cancelled for "technical reasons" - slipped off the wreck would be
more accurate - and the sixth dive was cancelled for weather reasons (2m
seas).

How many dives had you performed prior to this
> dive? :-)
Those were my first dives Down Under.  AFAIK, none of the others divers had
been diving immediately before the trip.

> It's now generally accepted that because microbubbles are always present
in
> the blood following a dive, people who dive to the no-decompression limits
> and ignore safety stops are at greater risk of DCS than those who perform
> decompression dives!
That's how I regard it, too.  In fact, the only dive on the entire trip
without a safety stop was at Shelley Beach, unless you regard it as one
verrrrrrry long safety stop!  :-)

> Slower ascents with added decompression stops, (which is all that a
'safety'
> stop is!), helps rid the body of that excess nitrogen.
What's the best way to determine where the stops should be and for how long
on a dive with no planned mandatory deco stops?

> Did that happen on 'Undersea Explorer', out in the Coral Sea?
No, this happened on the Watersport while diving the Yongala.  Oddly enough,
they insisted that four dives per day were the maximum allowed.  Yet
afterwards I met another diver who had dived the same site on the Spoilsport
and reported that they had up to *five* dives on it one day.  What is the
maximum number of dives/day allowed in QLD?

Regards,
Steven