Dive Computers - Pros and Cons

[Chris H]

I will be the first to admit that, in the past, I relied heavily on my computer to tell me how, and when, to do a dive. Like Jon mentioned, the Vienna was a bit beyond a recreational dive. I had a great time on it, but it also made me appreciate a lot of the things that have been said here, mostly by Jon and or Gert.

I have since taken a Nitrox course and made sure that I had a much better understanding of dive tables than I previously had. I need to do a bunch more reading to get a true understanding of what is going on. I, like Jason, have only done a handful of decompression dives, of which no stop was ever more that 15 minutes. There are many times when I would have loved to stay longer, but deco usually looms so the dive has to be terminated.

The other factor that seems to limit bottom time is the charter captains and their schedule. If you show up on a boat to do a really great dive, and there are others on the same boat who have a single 80, points are not made spending an hour + in the water. I know that now there are tech charters offered through Deep Blue (Thanks Gert) and possibly others too, but in the past the opportunity to even get into Deco on a lot of charters was very limited. It is partly because of these "tech" charters becoming more of the norm that I think it is time to consider where to go next with my diving. I don't care about deep at all. I have been this deep because I wanted to see 200 on my depth gauge? Forget it. However, if there is a great wreck in 150' of water, I have some interest. I also want it to be done as safe as possibe.

I need to learn some more things before the 100'+ dives, or anything that involes deco for that matter, become the norm for me. Gert, don't apoligize for being hard core, for most of us this is all new. Even if someone doesn't agree with statements made, it should at least make them stop and think. Your comments have done just that for me. Thanks.