Uwatec problems

[dfreeman]

Some people do not use computers or charts and just follow the group, with the hope that they know what they are doing.

It is very easy to rely upon the computer alone and not take any of the other precautions recommended by the tables. It is a good practice to check your profiles, but it takes some skill to check multi-level profiles. Good wisdom is to have a good surface interval (over 40 minutes, I like at least an hour) and plenty of safety stop time to shed nitrogen, at least 3 minutes. I like to swim around at the 20 foot depth for as long as possible, just to see the sights, use up the air (spent $4 for it anyway) and dump nitrogen.

I have checked my profiles and it was not the decompression dives that I have taken that presented the worst DCS risk. It was a short surface interval boat dive in the Cayman Islands where my buddy and I were easy on the air. First a 100 foot multilevel dive for 30 minutes and then a 50 foot dive that turned into a 65 foot multilevel dive for 45 minutes after only a 35 minute surface interval. I was very surprised at the nitrogen levels that my computer estimated when I checked the dive afterwards. Still safe but wow.

Be careful and do not push the edge of the charts or the computer.

Doug