WHY DIVE A REBREATHER? You'll never know 'till you try!
Our 32 foot Scarab sped across the blue waters off Nassau, Bahamas to our first dive sight, the Bahama Mama. This was my third day of diving a rebreather in warm, tropical waters. I was with a group of open circuit SCUBA divers. I was told I must dive within the time limits of the other divers so as not to hold up the boat. Other than that, I was free to enjoy the underwater world.
Preparing for the 400 foot wall dive...
I headed over the side of the Scarab first. I looked below and saw the deep blue off over the edge of the reef. Two Caribbean reef sharks cruised off in the distance. The water was very clear, about 150 feet of visibility. The temperature of the water was 82 degrees Fahrenheit. I descended to the edge of the reef at about 60 fsw, paused to look at the distant sharks, then began a brisk swim down over the wall. The two sharks swiftly swam over to me and another one appeared. They seemed very interested in me. I began to get the feeling they were checking me out for lunch. Since I had no bubbles, I must've appeared as a large sea turtle to them. They approached rapidly to within 20 feet, and I instinctively waved my arms at them to turn them away. They got the message and backed off. I turned my attention to the beautiful coral studded wall and began swimming down. I turned every few seconds to watch the sharks. They took a dive down after me, but turned back at a distance of about 40 feet and circled vertically on the wall. My depth quickly passed 300 feet, and I saw the bottom of the wall clearly. The wall had large fan corals, caves, and terminated into what appeared to be an ancient shore line at about 400 feet of depth. I slowed my descent as I approached 400 feet. The old shoreline was right below my feet. I looked up and saw the three sharks silhouetted in the sunlight circling vertically on the wall, about 100 feet above. I was overwhelmed with the immensity of the scenery. All the way up to the surface was visible and I saw the bottom of the 32 foot Scarab. I looked across the wall then down and behind me. I clearly saw the 300 foot plus tall cliff, the caves near the bottom of the bluff, and the old shore line sloping off into the depths. At this depth, I saw perhaps 200 to 300 feet in all directions, and 400 feet vertically. I began swimming back up the wall. I swam quite rapidly, yet without much effort, to 160 fsw. I paused to let the rebreather stabilize and even purge a bit of oxygen into the unit to speed up the process. I ascended back up to the 60 foot level.
Holding at 60 feet after the 400 foot wall dive...
The excursion had taken less than eight minutes. The other divers were just entering the water. We all swam around and over to the wreck, which was in 50 feet of water. I enjoyed the view of the wreck with them for about 20 minutes, and then headed back over to the boat's hang line to decompress for another few minutes on pure oxygen. We all got back into the boat together.
I had enjoyed an experience that the other divers could not comprehend in their wildest dreams. I was using a trimix in the diluent, and had custom tables for the dive profile. I chose a solo dive routine because the dive was more like a skin diving descent and ascent than a SCUBA dive. It was fast and exhilarating. I mention this dive because it showcases the complete change in a divers ability underwater. On open SCUBA, a diver could not have kept up with the needed swimming speed. Open circuit SCUBA requires careful monitoring of one's oxygen consumption to not over breathe the system. Plus, on open circuit, a diver would have needed to carry multiple staging bottles, which would have slowed him or her down incredibly. The profile simply could not have been done on open circuit SCUBA. Rebreather diving brings to diving what was once a fantasy, that is, to swim like a fish, to interact with the fish, and move about in complete comfort at one with the underwater world.
WHY DIVE A REBREATHER?
You'll never know 'till you try!
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DAN WIBLE REBREATHERS Seattle, WA 98136 USA 1-(206)992-4125 |
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