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Here is a description of recreational dive planning. The purpose here is to demonstrate basic dive planning and use of Dive Tables for non-divers who are interested in becoming certified but are worried about the complexities and math involved. Learning to use dive tables is usually the single most daunting classroom task for a student diver. It's really not all that hard.
The purpose of dive planning is to manage the Nitrogen gas that is absorbed into the tissues of your body while breathing air at higher-than-normal pressures underwater. If you absorb too much Nitrogen at depth and then ascend to normal atmospheric pressure, the gas will form bubbles in your blood and tissues. This is called Decompression Sickness, commonly known as "the bends." Decompression Sickness can vary in severity from barely noticeable to fatal, depending on your dive profile and other factors. The goal of no-decompression dive planning is to plan your dives in advance so that under no circumstances* can ascending to the surface result in Decompression Sickness.
* statistically speaking
These dive tables are presented here solely as examples, and should not be used for real dive planning, or by individuals who have not been certified to dive by a major certification agency. It should be noted that Navy Dive Tables are designed for young male divers in top physical condition, and allow for an "acceptable" loss rate. Recreational or "Sport" dive tables are more conservative, allowing for divers of all ages and physical conditions.
Dive planning is done with Dive Tables. Interspersed throughout this article are reproductions of the actual Navy Dive Tables. General step-by-step instructions are in normal black text and numbered. Helpful definitions are in blue text, and a specific real-world example is presented in the blue boxes. Please also read the warning above. The Navy Dive Tables are arranged in three sections, labeled Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3 here. We begin with Table 1.
Print this page and trace out the operations with a pencil if that helps.
We begin with Table 1: ( above )
Note that our maximum bottom time ( in column 3 ) is 30 minutes, more than what we are planning, so we are ok. If we were doing just one dive, we would now be finished. But we're doing two dives, so now we need to plan the second one:
So we need to adjust our plan of 25 minutes down to 22 minutes. Alternatively, we could extend our surface interval by another hour, which would increase our Adjusted No-decompression Limit to 27 minutes.
These dive tables are designed for planning just one repetitive dive, but they can be used to plan more than one with a simple trick:
If you plan to do more than two dives per day, you really should get a dive computer, which will perform the correct calculations for you much more accurately than the table. In fact, if you plan to dive much at all, you should get a dive computer. Nowadays, tables like this are a quaint but useful way of teaching the fundamentals of decompression theory to students, but are seldom used for recreational ( no-decompression ) dive planning. ( Technical diving is a different matter, and relies heavily on tables of a different sort - decompression tables. )
Note that this is not an exhaustive demonstration of all the mathematics and physics involved in an Open Water dive certification, but is a good taste of one of the more difficult aspects. For those who are interested in the technical details behind this sort of dive planning, see decompression theory.
I make no claim as to the accuracy, validity, or appropriateness of any information found in this website. I will not be responsible for the consequences of any action that is based upon information found here. Scuba diving is an adventure sport, and as always, you alone are responsible for your own safety and well being.
Copyright © 1996-2008 Rich Galiano
unless otherwise noted
