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First Dive of 1997. Pretty amazing actually - many friends remembering that I dive occasionally did give me diving related gifts. Transpac, triple tanks, force fins, a plethora of dive computers, Spareayers, lights, many books, a lifetime subscription to one of the oldest dive magazines, a waterproof CD player with waterproof headphones, wow! Well I had to try them out. What better occasion than 1 Jan 1997. During Xmas week I read the pertinent literature. I was ready! I assembled my new tanks in series & was able to double the volume (needed that as I had two sets of triples bunched on top each other - just like the USD Triples). One set was O2, the other set air. I figured if I breathed the O2 reg & the air reg in tandem I would have my choice of Nitrox based on the number of successive breaths I took from each. A kind of human gas mixing bladder. Thus free of any electronic wizardry I would have air, infinitely variable Nitrox as travel mix & O2 for deco. I also rigged a Heliox tank (small pony) for the deepest part of the dive. Choosing my regulators carefully (unbalanced pistons each to warn me of low gas supply) wrapped green tape around the air, white around the O2 & blue around the Heliox reg so as to avoid confusing them. I was ready. This was the dive of a life time. No computer for this baby, I had already violated all of them. The dive plan was based on the No-Bends tables, calculated for 0 Doppler scores & the Emden-Myerhoff Pathway O2 neutralization system. This system induced SOD & enhanced its activity, thus O2 radical formation was limited via a mass-action chem reaction. The He exposure calculation was based on inert-gas counterdiffusion differentials calculated using Boolean algorithms developed using Fibonacci numbers. I donned my Transpac (also brand new), my force fins & stashed two Spareayers, one filled with O2 for deco, the other with Heliox for bail out from depth. making sure that my long hoses went around my neck at least 3 times; I carefully butt mounted the brand new square profile lights again given to me as gifts. I popped Verdi's Requiem Mass in the CD player & secured it squarely on my butt mounted square lights & put the headphones on, cranking the volume. Heaven. This was getting exciting. I tumbled (literally) into the water, started the CD & began my decent, assuring that the cadence of regulator changes matched my descent. I keep time to the music, humming. At 80 male voices of the chorus fill my consciousness, the vibrato of the sopranos become overwhelming. There is a break. It has been 2 min 39. Then the chorus comes on, slow. I am looking around, observing the life on the wall. I will go deeper, but I wait, looking, not knowing how much longer I can reliably observe. @ about 88 Pavarotti chimes in, it has been 5 min 04 sec as the soloists replace the chorus, 90, 95, 100, 105, 100, 120. Marilyn Horne @ 6 min 15, the trio of soloists @ 6 min 46 - wonderful. The music is softer, yes it is 7 min 12 sec. End of Requiem. 8 min Dies Irae begins. It is 8 min 56. I must begin my ascent. Yet the idea dies! As the number of hits I was taking of the air regulator increased due to increased depth, as did the feeling of relaxation & well being. The plan limit was, oops, 100 on air, then Heliox for the next 20, then return. But it felt good - you know: reallllllllll gooooooooooooood. I wanted more. Fleetingly I thought I would have preferred Orff's Carmina Burana instead, especially since it is 'profane'. Also with shorter cuts, the phases of the dive can be better timed. But it was still good. Yes I liked it so much that pushed the plan to the "125 & switch" backup. At 125 it was gorgeous, light streaming down, all blue, a few fish, no coral, a deep wall beckoning me deeper. So I went. No monsters of the deep, no detrimental physiological effects. Just many stars twinkling before me, all around me, and a very good perception of what is immediately before me. Dies Irae persists - still have time - I think. The brass and chorus of Tuba Mirium that should have heralded Dies Irae & beckon me to begin ascending, instead, are the victory chants of depth. I shift to the blue reg and descend until my capillary depth gage shows 150. Once again it is heraldry. But that should have come later, during ascent. Why now. Has it been over 11 min? Dies Irae will die soon, to be replaced with Tuba Mirium, rich base, rich chorus. I stop. I turn up, slowly, not wanting to leave this serenity. Verdi, Pavarotti, Horne ----. Eternal beauty. Blue beauty. Tuba Mirium - 13 min 06 sec. I think, contemplate. Yes I had a fulfilled my dream, I reached 150 using the system that I had designed while listening to Gregorian Chants. Gregorian Chants? What is the mezzo doing here? Or is it a castrata? I must ascend. Too many stars, chants, castratas. What happened, did the Tuba Mirium go down the tubes in my unexpected somnolescence? Mezzo and base duet. It has been 14 min 30 sec. That means Liber scriptus is around the bend at 14 min 39 sec. I lost at least a minute. The regulators still breathe flawlessly. Gas is OK. Where did the min go? I don't dwell on that. Liber scriptus begins, I just think of what I will write. I compose my freeform article as I ascend, having meticulously shifted over to the green reg at the 110 mark. It is a slow ascent, purposely so, increasing the rapture of the serenity, while, concomitantly, controlling bubble formation & growth. It is up and up and up, slowly, some may think miserably so. The beautiful mezzo & brass passage is on. 15 min 49 sec. Still not at the 15 m stop. Yes the soprano comes on - Quid sum miser - It is 19 min 58 sec. & I am at my first brief stop, at 15 m, taking shallow hits of 100% O2, knowing that my EM system would protect me from the deadly effects of a Paul Bert toxicity. The stars are still about. Little flashes of light, illuminating, ephemerally, my field of vision. I go up along the deco line, 12, 9, 6 & finally 3, executing the required stops. Each signalled by the music, the regal trio plus chorus of Rex tremendae, ending @ 23 min 44, then the recorder like mellow lament of soprano & mezzo in Recordare, the ingenious solo tenor of Ingemisco, base & chorus of Confutatis, avoiding the cheap shot of confused, and finally, at 39 min 45 sec, the Lacrymosa, punctuated @ 46 min 45 sec with brass, indeed causing tears as it signals the end of a great expedition that lasted 47 min 15 sec. I break the surface. I swim to my RIB & hang the gear on the painters. I lift myself on board, grinning. I don't believe it. I did it. 150! I pull the gear on board, start the engine, & head to shore, thinking what tomorrow will bring, maybe 200, or a push to 150 without a switch to Heliox (that would save some money). I am happy that I read all the pertinent literature (I Dive Deep, Mixology - An Introduction, Diving related articles in the Journal of Irreproducable Results, Tales from the Benthos & last but not least "I Plumbed The Abyss") and put on the extra weight that would increase the nitrogen absorbing lipids in my blood. Me and my Transpac, Spareayre, we are invincible. So I thought before waking up with pains on my left side, paraesthesia, the works. What went wrong? DCI was not possible with this system. Why, what? Being the occasion, I had taken it easy at the party the night before; refrained from over indulging. Just a few beers, a little bubbly to toast the departing great year & some to welcome the new one, some single malts later on & some vodka with the caviar. In the morning, as prophylaxis I had taken two salicylacetate tablets & two pseudoephedrins to combat any possible clearing problems. I had avoided coffee & kept my self fully hydrated with soft drinks like Melloyellow. What was the problem? I check & recheck the calculations while breathing pure 02 @ 60 ft (with air breaks, 5 off, 20 on) on a Table 6. The pain is gone, the feeling is returning. I am cold & thirsty. I take some drinks from my underwater drinking apparatus. Then it dawns on me - the durations listed on the CD for each of the parts are SIT, not bottom time. Ah! Lacrymosi. Two in water recompressions on 6 while listening to Gregorian Chants, to Catulli Carmina by Orff & the Ring Cycle of Wagner, I am good to go. The vast musical literature awaits. Esat Atikkan
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