Projects > Doux de Coly 04 (June)
Rebreather dive
Latest update: June 27, 2004
Thomas after a dive that he thoroughly enjoyed!
We planned a dive of about 2 km distance with a bottom time of 120 minutes in the Coly this time. Starting point was again the shaft, about 300 m from the entrance. Decompression was scheduled to last about 4 hours.
The day before we did a little setup. We installed the deco gases on a rope
for both of us: at 6m was one 80 cu ft oxygen, one 80 cu ft trimix 50/25 (as
backup, in case an open circuit decompression would be needed) together with
our bottom gas, trimix 18/60. At 36m we dropped the trimix 35/35. Heat tubes
and food and drinks were also set in place. Thanks to Alex Braun for giving
us a helping hand, so that all was installed after a short dive.
The next day we were scheduled as the team after Hervé and Sandro, which gave us a certain time to assemble our RB80 neatly after a nice breakfast. With the help from the support crews, kitting up was much easier and kept stress away. At 12:00 we entered the water, just perfect to be back for dinner.
We started with a second trimix 50/25 and changed it at 21m for the bottom gas. We did it in turn, one after the other, so the partner could observe carefully and be ready for assistance at any time. The dive itself ran very easily because we had no other task load this time, only packed with our bottom stage and backup scooter, we could move very quickly through the tunnel. What fun! After 45 min (from the bottom of the shaft) we met Hervé and Sandro, who had just finished their survey work. After asking for "OK", we changed the scooters and continued for another 15 minutes. Just behind the corner behind our meeting point, the cave changes into a fantastic vertical canyon. Going ahead like slalom, after a few corners the caves became wide again. After 65 minutes we arrived at our turn point. Scootering home also went well and we arrived in perfect time for the first deep stop.
Götz after 2 hours of bottom time at 55 meters of depth. Six hours in the water is no problem with the right setup.
We checked the bottom stage: 50 bars, so a ratio of 1:8 or 2 b/l is confirmed as a good number for planning further dives. Decompression passed quickly and was a pleasure this time. We got plenty of help from the support teams. They took out our gear and gave us a lot of assistance. Even Micha and Reinhard gave us a hand. However, we hardly found the time to read our books. After an hour on oxygen was over, we put the rest of our gear together, hit the trigger and surfaced 20 minutes later. Nice dive; thank you to the whole team to make it possible!