When Scuba Diving, When Does Your Buddy Check Start?

During one of our trips to foreign dive sites we meet sometimes brilliant people.

This tale will take you to the year 2003 in Northern Spain to a little fishing village called L’Estartit not to far from Barcelona.

I want you to meet my diving buddy Patrice; he was a bit of a weird Frenchmen, old tatty shoes, blue jeans, very colorful knitted sweater, an even more colorful scarf around his neck and wearing a pink cap. He must have been in his mid forties, bold on his forehead and long curly brown hear, nearsighted minus 11 on both eyes. He looked funny, but he also was very funny, and full of life. We had some incredible laughs together.

Risking Traffic

One day we needed to go to the shops for some groceries and he offered me a ride in his old banger. Driving through L’Estartit on the main road you will find huge ditches in the road to drain the water running from the mountains when it rains. Every time I warned him there was one coming up in front of us, he looked at me, while testing his shock absorbers. We flew from left to right, and I was hanging on to anything I could put my hands on

Then the look on his face changed in “oohw, this is what you meant “. When I warned him for the roundabout (big roundabout, with an even larger statue in the center), he missed the statue by an inch, and the roundabout completely.

First Dry Suit Dive

First time we met was the day before, on a dive boat. At the end of the day I heared he tested his dry suit for the very first time. Never in the pool, straight down to 22 meters. The dive was a disaster, from the tails he told us. I don’t have to explain which risks he took on a test dive like that.

Taking the Plunge

My own buddy did not feel well that day, when I turned up at the jetty on the sunny morning of my second diving day. Patrice was already waiting for me, waiving when my car was close enough for him to recognize it. He noticed I was using a dry suit, and asked me to team up with him to show him some tricks of the trade. We agreed on half an hour in shallow water, and then progressively take it a bit deeper on his second dry suit dive.

While I was kitting up I started explaining some techniques. Here I noticed that his eyesight was even worse then I thought. His nose was on my pressure dump valve to recognize what I was doing to it. You might be laughing but remember I went to the shops with this guy driving through a busy tourist area. He convinced me, he was an

experienced three star diver with CMAS and I did not have to worry a thing. I was not convinced, but more then aware.

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Let’s Go Diving

The boat moored in one of the little bays around one of the islands of the Isles Mides. I’m all dressed up and ready to go. Hanging back on a bench and enjoying the morning sunshine. During my kitting up I always watch my buddy kit up. This for two reasons, one - to see if he is competent with his equipment, and two - I can help him when he needs me. I could see that Patrice was very competent in handling his dive kit. He had a bit of a struggle to get into the dry suit, but he managed to pull the seals over hands and head. I helped him with the zip. He tested the suit by putting lots of air in it, all was working fine I saw him putting on his weight belt, and going for his fins. He could not reach his fins (to much air in the suit), he cleared the weight belt and drops it behind him while he was still sitting on the bench. I stood up and walked to the back of the boat. The captain would let us as the most experienced divers go in last, and was taking care of some new students while I watched. The captain shouted to a group of Germans beginners, GO GO GO! I look at my friend Patrice, he responded to the captain’s voice, dropped his fins. Straitened himself, walked past me and jumped into the water. I was too stunned to stop him.

What was going through this guys mind, at that moment?

Like Bob the Buoy

The moment he hit the water, all the air in his suit was around his neck, and without his fins or weight belt he had no change of going anywhere. He looked like a big mooring ball with a funny smiling face. This facial expression, I will never forget. I threw a float with a line at him and pulled him back to the boat.

When he climbed the ladder, we could not resist to laugh with him. Tears we’re rolling down our cheeks. Even the captain, who never spared a laugh, walked away with a large grin from behind his moustache.

I will spare you the rest of the dive details, but I abandoned the dive after 25 minutes.

Later over a beer, he explained that his eyesight did not allow him to oversee the whole picture and he responded to the captain, as he thought it was time to go.

See the big picture?

Buddy check starts when you walk onto the boat, until you enter the water together.

Scuba Diving - 90 Meters Deep In a Swimming Pool

You probably think there are no swimming pools this deep. And you are one hundred percent correct. However I did a ninety meter deep dive in a four meter pool! We are talking serious technical scuba diving here, an extreme sport which attracts more and more people. People have been playing with various gasses as breathing mixtures for a long time, to make diving more safer in reaching greater depths. By mixing various gasses we can also reverse the effect. We are able to bring you under pressure in shallow depth, but we bring your head to a much greater depth. Gasses get toxic at certain pressures, and the following story will reveal how that feels.

Getting Narcotic While Scuba Diving in a Swimming Pool

A couple of weeks ago I went to France, to be part of an event for diving instructor trainers. The four days we’re extremely interesting, all sorts of new techniques where presented to us. And amongst us shared our diving and instructing stories from around the world. Tall stories as you may believe. The training agency offering this course, also educates people for the use of rebreathers and trimix or a combination of the two.

A rebreather is a mechanical or electronically controlled breathing apparatus, where the expired air travels through a scrubber unit to reduce or clean the carbon dioxide from the gas. The breathing gas is made breathable again. This is an ongoing process, and takes place in the breathing loop. When the oxygen content in the gas drops, and falls below the recommended limit, the unit will automatically put oxygen in the breathing loop.

Trimix and END

Trimix is a deep diving gas, containing oxygen, nitrogen and helium. When we dive on air (21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen) the gasses in air will give us limitations. The oxygen content will become toxic at depth. And the nitrogen content will give us decompression problems, and the narcotic effect of this gas at depth will reduce our ability to think and handle properly at depth, this effect is called nitrogen narcosis. It feels like being drunk and developing a heavy head.

To overcome these problems the amount of nitrogen in the gas is reduced by bringing a third gas to the mixture. Helium is a very pure gas which will have no effects when breathed by human beings. oxygen + nitrogen + helium is Trimix.

Depending on how much Helium we put in the mix the narcotic effect of the nitrogen in the mix will be reduced. The narcotic effect of the nitrogen is stated in END Equivalent Narcotic Depth, when compared to air. The END dictates where your head is. Your body might be at a depth of 70 meters, but because you breathe a trimix gas your head is only in 30 meters.

Diving with these gasses and mixture can be very dangerous, and can only .be done after extensive rigorous training.

Diving the Narcotic Gasses in the Swimming Pool

In Paris we had the opportunity to breathe a gas which had the opposite effect. Being in 4 meters of water with our heads at 90 meters. The four of us breathing from our normal scuba tanks filled with air, sat in a small square on the swimming pool floor. All of us holding hands like in a small marry-go-round In the middle of us was the cylinder with the magic potion equipped with a special breathing regulator. The person opposite of me was the first to go. He was having a good time; He was laughing and we could see his big smile behind the regulator in his mouth. We could read the fun he was having from his eyes behind the mask.

What an Unbelievable Diving Experience

Then it was my turn, I swapped my regulator for the special one. At first nothing happens, then after about a minute I felt a tingling in my fingertips, as if I where out in the cold walking into a warm room. I felt a tingling sensation all over my spinal court, I knew the gas was circulating around my body. I took a couple of deep breaths to speed up the process. The persons sitting next to me disappeared from my peripheral vision, the effects of tunnel vision where very clear. In front perfect focus, to the sides just a blur. I felt the same tingling in my feet, then a very warm feeling all over my spinal cord and shoulders again. All felt very pleasant. I could feel my head become lighter and lighter. To be honest, I knew I would not have been capable dealing with high demanding tasks anymore. I knew my name and where I was, but much more should not be asked of me. Lying on the swimming pool floor feeling happy was enough for me. I remember then when someone wanted to take the regulator away from me, I got very defensive. I handed the special regulator to the next person. I swopped back to my normal rig and after about two minutes my head was clear again. I nodded and it was time for number three.

Houston, We Have a Problem

Number three in our group, had a problem. The effects of the gas had a fast and much more immediate impact on this person. He lost control. He ripped the special regulator from his mouth and wanted to go straight to the surface. I immediately offered him my alternative air source. He refused and started crawling towards the surface obviously running out of air. I grabbed his chest strap and held him down. I stuffed my alternative air source in his mouth and after a few breaths he became calm again. I read from his eyes that he was okay. Slowly we ascended to the surface. His recovery was remarkable; but he could not remember what had happened a few seconds ago. He refused to believe it happened to him.

So, it is possible to do a deep dive in shallow waters, but needles to say it has to be done in a very controlled manner.

Diving on air to greater depths than 30 meters will have similar effects, the deeper you dive the more intoxicated you will become. Just stay within the safe diving limits. There is enough to see…

I was extremely thankful for the one organizing this rare opportunity. Merci Didier

If you have questions about the gas used, just email me.

We rather don’t reveal to the masses ;-)

frank.amptmeijer@hotmail.com