BanditDJB

Hi everyone, I was certified for open water last year. The dives for my certification took place off of a beach in about 30ft of water. I have not had a chance to dive again till now. This time I will be diving off of a boat for the first time. A dive master will be present and supposedly we could go as deep as 80ft. should a decompression stop be done? And, What is the depth that one should start planning a decompression stop? I looked around my trainning manuels and it says that divers should always make a precautionary stop at 15ft for 3-5 minutes on every dive. This didn't seem to be an issue in the trainning, do the rest of you guys stop at 15ft on all of your dives?

Scuba Mama

YES!!!!!

Any time you are planning to do more then one dive during a trip, any time you go stay down to the limit of the dive table and any time you pass a hundred feet. During a trip I will also do a safety stop at 15 feet for 5 minutes or longer air supply permitting. The dive tables are built on a theory of decompression, why push the theory. During the dive briefing you will find the dive master will encourage this stop. Remember to go up slowly, and slow down twice as much during the last 15 feet. Just try to image your a pop bottle, and your not to shake the bubbles lose.

Sorry, now the instructor in me will come out. Your suppose to be doing non decompression diving, so the stop is called a safety stop. If you hit a decompression the stop could be even longer.

MgicTwnger

That is right on the money. Mama knows best!

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I am not the one who needs mental help. I just need to vent.

BanditDJB

Hey, Scuba Mama. Your reply really cleared things up for me. I will be sure to do a safety stop on ALL OF MY DIVES! I'm glad the instructor came out of you cause it also helped me to find, in my manuel, The part about precautionary decompression stops and it says exactly what you did!

glynneco

How many of you are doing stops halfway up in addition to the 15 ft?

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Is that the bottom of the quarry or is the vis just really bad today?

MgicTwnger

I come up SLOOOOW and do what the computer tells me.

__________________
I am not the one who needs mental help. I just need to vent.

Kingpatzer

On No Deco dives, i do a safety stop anytime I go below 30'.

For dives where the entire dive is at 30' and I don't bump into NDL's (and since I typically am on nitrox for shallow dives, I rarely hit the NDL before I run out of gas), the necessity of a safety stop is so low that I will sometimes ignore it.

There is a BIG difference between a decompression stop and a safety stop. A deco stop is a stop that is mandated because the deco model you're following is predicting that without that stop you will probably be bent on that ascent. A safety stop is not mandated to prevent being bent, it is a conservative safety best practice that should be followed, but without said stop you are not predicted to get bent on that particular ascent.