No-decompression limit

The day before we left on vacation, Dan sent me an e-mail stating he was “crispier than bacon.” Several incidents at work (details deleted) where his employees had been complacent. Had done things “the way they always did.” Had skipped procedures because they just didn’t see the point. As Dan explained, there but for the grace of God he would have had to tell three women that their husbands were not coming home from work. Ever.

Dan’s tension, coupled with significant changes in my job left us both ripe for some time off to decompress. We welcomed our annual dive trip to Cozumel.  We signed up for a “scuba review” to refresh our underwater skills, then launched into a week of diving. The one skill we’ve been less than proficient at maintaining is understanding our “no-decompression limit.”  Most divers these days wear a computer that calculates how much time they have at various depths against the amount of time needed for a 15’/3m safety stop before their final ascent. If you dive within the no-decompression limit your safety stop is 3 minutes. If not, you need extra time during the safety stop for your body to eliminate the nitrogen that collects in your bloodstream during the dive. As we don’t own dive computers (yet), manual calculation between dives is required, or you must rely on the dive instructor for direction.

Looking good underwater.

On our last dive of the week we hit our maximum dive time at depth and Sven, our dive instructor, had us follow him up from 90’ to 45’ to stay within our no-decompression limit.  Careful attention to the physics of diving and adherence to expert guidance resulted in a 67 minute dive, our longest, with "air to spare". It was the perfect way to end a week of diving, especially after a bit of a down note on the day before.

On the previous day, we learned (after our two glorious cenote/cave dives) that exactly four weeks before three divers had been complacent. Had done things “the way they always did.” Had skipped procedures because they just didn’t see the point. A dive guide with 15 years experience and two guests never finished their cenote dive. The guide and the woman were dead with empty air tanks. The guy still had 200 PSI (not a lot, enough to get out) but was dead as well. All in the cave we’d finished diving minutes before.

This got me thinking about the need for reflection. For decompression. For keeping a fresh perspective on the things, people and relationships I’ve known and had for years. For fear that if I get complacent, they (and I) may not fare so well. My personal self, my work self and my relationship self all do so much better when I’ve had time away from the routine. The need to decompress can not be underestimated. Inadequate decompression in diving will get you “the bends”.  Insufficient or infrequent decompression in life will result in all kinds of physical and mental side-effects, and they are not pretty.

During our first introduction to diving we learned that the number one rule of diving is to “look good”. We later learned that the real number one rule of diving is to not hold your breath. But we have always clung to the “look good” rule because it’s true. If you hold your breath, your lungs will pop, your eyes will explode, and you will not look good. So my hope for you is that you find your safe way to decompress. Because you have such lovely eyes.