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The ongoing discussion of warm v cold narcosis prompts me to add my own anecdote to the pile. The majority of my dives have been in the 60-100 ft range, with a max of 120. While in St Croix as an undergrad, I took an advanced diving course for a credit. One of the field trips was a dive to 140 ft, "for the experience", with 2 instructors and several very experienced divers. So... We went down the anchor line, smooth as silk, to 140ft. I recall no warm narcosis at all, but when we stopped at 140, I became aware of being *extremely* frightened, paranoid, had a ringing in my ears, could not recognize anyone else, and wanted nothing more than to get out of the water. The feeling passed as we ascended, and was certainly gone by the time we made our 10 ft stop, leaving me with a headache and a sheepish feeling; I've never been so irrationally afraid. Part of it may have been *rational*; I knew in part of my mind that if anything did go wrong; reg problems, a hiccup, whatever; I would be totally unable to handle it; I barely knew who I was. This is rational fear. But I know something else was occuring. Note that this happened on the anchor line, in warm water, with good equipment and no exertion at all, so metabolic CO2 production should have been well within normal for a body on a dive. The feeling was *so* harrowing that I've restricted myself to 120 ft ever since, simply to avoid being that out-of-control again. Subsequent dives to 120 have produced no ill effects. Has anyone else had this type of experience at such a relatively shallow depth? Dave Ventre Quincy, MA
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