Diving Equipment Help Needed

[dreamsofgold]

Hello everyone.. I need a crash corse education in diving and equipment .. I am going to be obtaining my dive cert in the soon future but at this point I am not even at the Ameture stage lol .. So, I need to learn about the pressures of different depths and what kind of equipment is needed for the various depths.. Any opinions on what type of equipment would be needed for a dive 300ft or less.. Any suggestions, information, opinions or knowledge will be greatly appreciated.. Thanks

 

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[Postalrevnant]

As a dive instructor in Hawaii for 3 years.... Military back then.. have not been able to go diving in 8 year though. I cannot stress the importance of getting certified. Loads of many dangers to consider for dives at that depth. I do not want to appear to just be trying to get you to spend money. Indeed I will get nothing out of that, plus I don't have any friends to profit from it either.

However, if I did not warn you and something happened I would certainly not forgive myself.

Rev

 

[bill gent]

ditto here get certified certified certified then choose your equipment an above all know your dive partner real well not just that day I had a real bad experience not doing that when at night the buddy bailed out on me over a 125' spot at night in the ocean.

and at 300 ' well regular tanks will do but cant stress enough get your certification first and choose carefully a dive partner that has gone that far it dont seem far down but the dangers are great
IF GOD WANTED US TO SURVIVE UNERWATER WE WOULD HAVE GILLS INSTEAD OF LUNGS

 

[packerbacker]

No shortcut here dreams. You HAVE to get certified. Every 30 feet of depth is another atmosphere and a threat to your body. You can kill yourself by taking a deep breath at 30 feet and then surface without exhailing. Your lungs will explode. Tank diving is nothing to play around with, even at shallow depths; GET CERTIFIED!! 300-ft dives require even more training than the normal Open Water Certification. Good luck

 

[Sandman]

Many ditto's from here too. The certification will train you in the skills needed to dive and equipment needed for all dives. A dive of 300 feet is nothing to play around with. I have done much diving an I even carry a pony tank plus spare air on even a dive to 30 foot. I have recovered much at this depth also without having to descend into the dark anymore.

Sandman

 

[sendin]

Don't mean to sound like the 'B' side of a broken record, but education and training (i.e. proper and sufficient certification) from a reputable dive school is a must. Your life is at stake. Also might be a good idea to get a complete medical check-up before you enroll. I think one might me required anyway. I know I had to do it when I started diving for the Monterey Bay Aquarium back in '84. I think mixed-gas is used at those depths. You should have a lot of dives in your log before you try any deep diving. Supervised training and experience reduces the chances of making a mistake and just one mistake at the kind of depth your talking about could be very dangerous.

It is a great skill and you can get a lot of enjoyment from tank diving; don't let all the warnings scare you off - just remember to respect that it is a dangerous sport.

 

[Postalrevnant]

Wonder if they got the course and training or an embolism and DT's?

I got stuck once at deep depth. Well not too deep 110 foot. I could not clear my ears at all. I had developed sinus stoppage I guess while I was under. Reverse Block I think is the correct word if memory serves. Gah. Finally just had to bust it up or run out of air. Sent my friend up since he was getting low and just went for it.

Ack that hurt. Bit of blood, lucky to be alive. Atleast I did not panic and hold my breath. THis was my 50th actual dive at the time. I was disoriented for 1 week. Walking into walls that when I looked was the doorway. Dymenxia? Anyways had to spend 12 or 13 hours in the decompression chamber. Lucky for me one was around. NOT GOOD experience. And a tale I am lucky to be around to tell.

So hope you decided to get certified, then get some real experience long before you start going that deep. And keep in mind, NEVER dive if you are at risk of getting sinus problems during dive, or if you have a cold.

Was my 6th dive of that day. Saved deep dive for last for rest of night to vent Nitrogen. LoL so much for that one. Anyways I did not have any symptoms of sinus problem except a little sniffle. Didn't think much of it since I don't get sinus problems. Atleast not back then. WOW was that a learning experience.

Anyways would love to hear from you Dreamsofgold to see how it goes?

Postalrevnant

 

[Treasure-Diver]

Get Certified!!!! I think it was mentioned once or twice in the above postings Like everyone mentioned it can be a dangerous sport, but then again driving 100 mph down a crowded street is dangerous and crazy! Point I'm trying to make is diving is fantastic IF YOU are responsible and don't go beyond your limits. My wife and I have been diving for six or seven years now. I would do it everyday if I could. LOVE IT!! Its like being in space or having the ability to fly! Totally awesome experience. I'm not sure why you want to go 300 ft though. 300 feet of water is NOT 300 feet of air. The safety stops on a 300 ft dive alone would be more than I would want to deal with. If your interested in "treasure" it is estimated that most treasure ships were lost in shallow water. I think the Atocha was only in 60 foot of water. Check out the Florida Keys and you will see why. Very shallow water for miles and miles. Bottom time last much, much longer on shallow dives. If great depths interest you go for it. It will take a lot of additional training. Your open water certification is only good for 100 ft. or less. Deepest the wife and I have gone is 67 feet. in the Caymens. Get the Best Equipment you can afford! Its your life your dealing with. We both have about $5000 bucks invested in equipment. BC's, dive computers, tanks, lights, fins, wet suites, I could go on and on. It is quite the expensive sport. But OH what a sport!! Good Luck and be safe!!

 

[Treasure-Diver]

mrs.oroblanco

Hi, I don't personally know any places in Arizona. I would suggest checking the internet or phone book for any reputable diver training that is either PADI or SSI certified. Either one is excepted all over the world. My wife and I are SSI certified. We were certified in Houston, Tx. Any large cities have trained professionals. If your near Phoenix or Tucson they should definitely have places. As far as equipment goes. As long as you maintain your equipment (clean, dry storage, rinse after using, etc.) it should last you a very long time. The only equipment that must be re-certified every year is dive tanks. I would suggest you have your regulator inspected by a pro dive shop every few years to make sure it stays in good working order. Always check hoses, computers, straps, o-rings etc. before diving. They will go over all this in training. We have no problem keeping our equipment in great shape it cost too much not too! Good Luck I hope I was of some help to you.

 

[gord]

Was my 6th dive of that day. Saved deep dive for last for rest of night to vent Nitrogen. LoL so much for that one. Anyways I did not have any symptoms of sinus problem except a little sniffle. Didn't think much of it since I don't get sinus problems. Atleast not back then. WOW was that a learning experience.

Postalrevnant

That was your first mistake right there. ALWAYS make the deepest dive FIRST! Off-gassing will happen as long as you are at a shallower depth, you don't need to be at the surface.
Gord

 

[ScubaFinder]

Mrs. Oroblanco, Treasure diver gives you good advice. When I got certified I found a local dive club and ask them their opinions of the dive shops in town, after hearing the same things from 5 or 6 people I knew which shop to get certified by. I bought equipment that my new dive shop carried and was repair certified for said equipment. My regs and BC go in yearly for inspection, my tanks get a hydro test yearly also.

Dreams of Gold...do yourself a favor and get the book "Deep Descent - Death and Adventure on the Andrea Doria" (or something close to that). These guys or some of the predominant deep divers in the world, and many of them lost their lives at 230 feet, and they all had thousands of dives logged. My advice is to get certified, dive for about 3 years until you have at least a couple hundred dives logged at 130ft. or less, THEN go get you technical diver certification, and slowly work your way down to the depths you wish to dive at. There are only a handful of guys in the world who dive that deep, they all know exactly what they are doing, and any one of them could die on any dive to those depths. I am certainly not saying that it can't be done, but don't go into it lightly or you will likely come out of it dead...cold hard truth.

Jason

 

[njcommercialdiver]

just for some info, A 10 minute, 300 ft dive I did on 12% O2 Heliox surface supplied had a 83 minute decompression that started at 120 ft . better get alot of dives in the 150 to 200ft range before even attempting to go further. I did a 26 minute dive to 225' on the Andrea Doria and I had a 2 1/2 hour deco hang. buy good dependable equipment and keep it in tip top shape and it will take care of you

 

[GorskiDvr]

I see the very important subjects of training & Equipment & the maintanence thereof have been covered , but in the post above I would like to reitterate that you need to try dives @ those depths first gradually working your way deeper ....... (with the proper training & supervision of course). Getting to depth is the easy part ....... deco sucks .
In the Oilfield Diving community (Commercial Diving) there is a lame but very true saying ..... " I dive for free..... they pay me to decompress" ........ Deco @ those depths is long & cold & will make the average diver think about whether they want to do it again. I know I did when I was doing "Inwater D" from a 218' gas pop wearing a 5mm wet suit & the hotwater machine kills over on me .....

Not everyone can dive to those depths either. I would suggest that you get a commercial style physical & get yourself checked out . I won't go into depth about it , but there are conditions that you may have & never know about till you deco from those depths & get bent like a pretzel. Get yourself checked out & make sure that your body can take it.

 

[Cablava]

DO NOT TRY TO THESE DEEP DEPTHS

The reason not many people dive to 300ft plus is because so many have died, even with the advances in equipment and computers, deep diving really does not belong in the amateur diving world. For optimum safety,It requires lots of topside equipment, it should be carried out from a bell and surface supplied diving hats, with chamber's topside.

I do not believe that armatures should be diving to deep depths, there is little you can achieve at those depths anyway with your type of equipment. An ROV will show you what you want without the danger, They are not that expensive these days.

I am not saying it cannot be done but After learning to dive in 1967,
Surviving working in the North Sea as a saturation diver in the 70's,
Deep bell bouncing, surface gas jumping, Gas supervisor, Gas superintendant in the 80's
Salvage company owner in 90's
Retired these days, still in one piece with just a few small accidents along the way.

I consider I am lucky to be alive, so many of my friends are not, particularly in the 70,' & 80's , even so we had more equipment that you will have available to you, we had ships or platforms to work from, chambers , diving bells, saturation systems, large teams of qualified personnel and accidents still happened.

So learn to dive by all means but if you want to go deep, use technology not your health and life.
The must go deeper brigade often end up at just 6ft.

 

[GorskiDvr]

"DO NOT TRY TO THESE DEEP DEPTHS"

I think this is the best idea for you yet!

 

[stevemc]

Regular air is deadly at depths lower than 200'. You would need to breathe nitrox on the way down and about 175' or less, start breathing like a 10% mix of oxygen, and Helium or other inert gas such as argon, stay down for a precise time then breath nitrox on way up after you're about 175'(depending on mixture) then decompress for a certain amount of time at various depths first at the halfway point, then at 50'. then 30' then 20' etc, using higher enriched nitrox. This is not something you just get certified for and do. Also you could do it with an adjustable rebreather, but these start about $5000 for something that could do that. You would need to get your Open water cert, then you should get nitrox, you will need that, then Advanced diver which you dive deeper than 100' and learn about decompression, but just barely. You then need more advanced diving, Tri-mix, rebreather,hard hat and heli-ox diving, with years of dives under your belt. This stuff could kill you in seconds! I usually dont dive deeper than 150' and that is with a low nitrox mixture, and I usually push my limits and have to decompress for longer than I need to, to be safe, but I have single tanks that hold 160 cubic feet of air/nitrox for the back-up, and deco times. Not many people dive 300', because of the problems and dangers. Like these guys said, 225 feet and hours of hang at depth, breathing an enriched mixture to flush off the nitrogen, then move higher and higher, and still some of those guys get bent. Many die! Usually it is just a shoulder or elbow, but what if its in your brain? Get your open water diver, then dive a lot, at safe depths. Steve.

 

[stevemc]

What groskidiver was talking about getting checked out for commercial deep diver is- there is a passageway in the brain, that would allow passage of a bubble, should you come up too fast, not deco enough, etc and it could kill you. How do you know you have that? You would have to get checked out by doing certain hi-tech check ups and tests. That is for folks who want to dive deep. if you were an oil rig diver, hard hat diver etc, you would have that done. I am sure some of the amateur tech divers have not had it done and often dive below 200', but they dont know either. I think it is found in something like 1 in 100 people, off the top of my head, it has been years since I heard of that. And it would only show up if you had it!

 

[GorskiDvr]

Yes sir , there is also a condition that involves a or several microscopic holes in your heart. You will never no they are there until you get checked for it. (or get bent as a result of it , even then would you know why you took a hit ? NO )

Getting yourself checked out with a good DIVE Physical properly is not just smart , it's self preservation.

 

[Cablava]

Regardless of the above stay away from the deep dives, even if you check out OK, it is easy to get hurt at those depth.

Invest in a small ROV for the deep work.

 

[Salvor6]

dreamsofgold is no longer with us. His last post was Oct. 2008. I guess he didn't take any of your advice!