Once Upon A Dive
Posted By Eric Fattah on 2 January 2006
My gear was identical to the previous weekend. Again, after gearing up, I did one pack stretch lying on my back. I got in the water, and swam to the deep line. Our deep line is on a huge reel. The line has 5m markings on it, so we can put light sticks at predetermined depths as we lower the line, even without the benefit of scuba divers. I had told Tom to put lightsticks at 33m, 45m and 65m. I was hoping to make 65m, even with this thicker suit. It was a bit ambitious--I realized it was the equivalent of 70m in a 3mm suit, but I was in a good mood. I did the usual 5 minutes of facial immersion, followed by three exhale dives to 21ft, each lasting 0:35. Then, I did a lung pack stretch. I was not at all happy with the amount of air I packed, so I did another pack stretch right after. Then, I told Stephanie I was going to start my warm up dive. I was planning a deeper warm up than usual--another change to my prep routine. I started my warm up dive. When I passed the 33m lightstick, I could already see the 45m lightstick. I decided to sink down to it, even though I wasn't quite negative enough. I then confirmed what I had earlier feared. Using 3mm pants and a 5/6mm top, the buoyancy is concentrated at the chest. Plus, the extra weight around the waist moves the center of gravity towards the legs. This means that the center of gravity is far behind the center of buoyancy, and I was extremely unstable as I sank, and I was unable to sink upside down. I sank horizontally, holding onto the line. I descended to the 45m marker (which was actually at 46m). On the way up, I checked the depth of the 33m marker. The aqualand read 112ft. Despite wasting time trying to read the aqualand in the darkness, I hit the surface after 1:45 with no contractions. That was excellent. The deepest I have ever done with no contractions was 47m, so I had basically tied my best. The water was 60F on the surface, but unlike the weekend before, it was cool and cloudy, and I was a bit chilly. I was only planning on doing one warm up static--last weekend I had accumulated way too much CO2 after two statics. I did the static, and it was 3:30 (2:30), but the contractions were far apart, and it felt easy. By this time Tom was over at our line, so I told him my dive plan. I started breathing through my impulse 2 snorkel, face down. The usual breathing pattern. Except that I breathed for about 3 full minutes. Again I concentrated on the huiyin, and I was giggling with confidence. I took my last breath, remembering that I would have to pack extra because of the restricting suit. I packed 43 times (the same as last week), and started the dive. As in the warm up dive, I made an extra effort to kick harder in the beginning. I was so buoyant in this suit that the previous week I had taken forever to reach 20 feet (as I realized when I watched the video). This time the start was good, and I felt oxygenated. As usual I kept my hands by my side until about 50-60 feet. Once again I continued to look down towards my knees to keep myself perfectly inverted. At about 60 feet I extended my arms and started a wider undulation. My left ear tube was a bit tight, but it wasn't causing any real problems. Soon the first lightstick passed, marking 112ft. Then I passed the 45m marker (actually at 46m). As usual, I hooked my hand around the line with my arm extended, looked toward my knees, closed my eyes, and started sinking. Again I was overwhelmed with my instability and just couldn't sink inverted without constantly compensating. I tried to relax anyway and I counted to 12-thousand. I opened my eyes, expecting to see the red lightstick marking 65m. However, all I saw was darkness. My lungs still felt good so I kept sinking in this ridiculous semi-horizontal posture. Soon the light stick came into view. I grabbed the line, and extended my free hand, touching the light stick. A thought crossed my mind. I thought, 'Well, if Tom unreeled the line properly, I should be at 65m...' I started the ascent, arms by my side, kicking slowly. My lungs felt fantastic, yet I knew I had an enormous trip to the surface. I didn't even think of it, I just thought about the present moment--kick, relax, kick, relax. I knew that all I had to do was reach the 46m lightstick with no contractions. Immediately after I started the ascent, I was overwhelmed with nitrogen narcosis, stronger than ever before. I think I also felt some euphoria from the high O2 pressure. It got worse and worse. My lungs were searing now, and I was resisting that first contraction. In my delusional state I saw the green lightstick pass by (46m). Relieved, I let the first contraction hit me. Now the narcosis started fading. The CO2 in my lungs was now severe. Even with my extreme CO2 tolerance, I had another massive contraction as I passed the 112ft marker. However, I was actually happy at this point. During dives this deep, the 100-110ft point on the ascent is basically a sign that the dive is almost over. And, my lungs felt good enough to finish the dive. The next thing I remember was seeing Tom, as he met me at 60-65ft. As I reached 30ft, I was very buoyant, and I stopped kicking. An instant before I broke the surface I exhaled. Then I took some rapid breaths. My recovery pattern was not as clean as I would have liked it. I checked the gauges. The apneist read 67m/2:28 (or 221ft when switched to imperial). The aqualand read 215ft. However, during my 57m/187ft dive the week before, the aqualand had read 184ft, and also 200ft instead of 203ft during my 62m dive August 20th. Nevertheless, the line is measured, and the 65m indicator was 1m below the surface. So according to the line itself, the depth was 66m/217ft. Given that I lost 5 meters in the hybrid suit, I had effectively broken my personal best by 10 meters in one dive! Plus, I had totally forgotten to re-inhale at all.
I was in disbelief. I couldn't believe that I could have reached such a depth wearing a thick wetsuit.
The salt worked again, my blood pressure was excellent.
I was in disbelief for the rest of the day, unable to accept that I had made such a dive using a snorkel, a non-modified mask, a thick suit, with an unstable weight situation. Who says you can't dive deep in cold, dark, murky water?
I'm looking forward to diving with fluid goggles, a nose clip, wrist weights, a 3mm suit, in warm clear water, and breathing off a platform..!
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