"Rapture of the Deep"

[MSilvia]

A post in another thread made me think that it might be interesting, entertaining, and informative to discuss our experiences with narcosis.

When did you first experience it? What was your most interesting experience with it? How can you tell when you're starting to feel it? What was it like? How deep were you? Were there any additional details that might be significant like temperature, unusual profiles, what you were breathing, etc? Tell us you stories.

Personally, my first experience with narcosis was on the wreck of the Nina T., a 70' wooden trawler that sank off the breakwall outside Gloucester harbor in Massachusetts. It was the second dive of the day, the first having been on the nearby Chester Poling wreck. I don't have my log book handy, but I was diving wet and nothing stands out in my mind about the water temperature, so it was probably a fairly typical mid-season dive with bottom temps in the upper 40s or low 50s. The wreck deteriorated quickly since going down in 1997, and there's little left standing of her structure today. At the time, around 2000, she was broken but still somewhat intact at between 90 and 115 feet.

I don't remember many details of the dive... images mostly. One thing I do remember is that I was having great difficulty figuring out my remaining bottom time, even though I was using a dive computer. I checked it, checked it again, and checked it several more times in the space of a minute or two. As I checked it yet again, I realized I had been checking it too often, and still had no idea what it said last time. The reading still wasn't making sense to me, and I decided to tell my buddies (we were a threesome) that I was okay, but thumbing the dive. At about 70 feet, it suddenly became very easy to understand everything my computer was telling me.

[wgt]

As I approached 50 m, I recall thinking that Sarah Palin is a greatly misunderstood genius.

[3rdEye]

haven't felt the rapture....not even at 130ft

i've heard that people with high alcohol tolerance aren't very prone to getting narced...not sure if that's true, but maybe that's why

[BouzoukiJoe A.K.A. wrecker130 AKA Chuck Norris AKA joeforbroke (banned)]

Originally Posted by wgt

As I approached 50 m, I recall thinking that Sarah Palin is a greatly misunderstood genius.

Aren't we all?

The conditions seem to have an bigger effect on me than depth. I experienced anxiety and paranoia at 80 ft in cold murky water but no symptoms at 140 ft in warm clear water.

[No Misses]

I have shot fish with bull sharks less than 30' away.. I can only attribute those moments of genius to being narc'ed.

How does that song go? ...After a few beers I am 10 feet tall and bullet proof...

[Skred]

I had an episode in a swim through in about 100-105fsw in Grand Cayman that was induced by narcosis. I've been in plenty of swim throughs (including that same one) and a wreck penetration or 2 before and since and not experienced anything like it.

It was a fairly short but not tight elbow shaped swim through that was entered horizontally and exited through the top. Immediately after entering, I started feeling like I was drunk. It felt like everything was moving in extremely slow motion and the walls were closing in. I remembered later thinking that I had to find my buddy (my wife) because she was in trouble. Of course, she was fine and she told me later that I had a pretty bizarre look on my face.

Fortunately, once I exited the swim through and in the process came up to about 95fsw, I was fine.

[MSilvia]

Originally Posted by 3rdEye

i've heard that people with high alcohol tolerance aren't very prone to getting narced...not sure if that's true, but maybe that's why

I have a pretty high tolerance to drugs and alcohol generally, but sometimes I get narced pretty easily. Then again, it might just be that I notice I'm narced easily.

It's not a predictable ting for me though. Sometimes I can feel it coming on at 80', other times I've been to 120' with no symptoms.

[mwhities]

When did you first experience it?

About a month ago.

What was your most interesting experience with it?

I felt that the water was crushing me. I couldn't get enough air. I was swimming at an angle. (Like / but I was trimmed out.) Panic started setting in. I kept looking at my pressure gauge and had to keep looking since I forgot what it was the last time I looked at it.

How can you tell when you're starting to feel it?

I had higher heart rate, I could "feel" my heart rate in my ears. I started breathing hard and faster.

What was it like?

Scary as hell, although, very enlightening. Sorta of a nirvana feeling.

How deep were you?

130ffw. I started feeling it around 115ffw to 120ffw.

Were there any additional details that might be significant like temperature, unusual profiles, what you were breathing, etc?

It was cold as hell. Not sure how cold. Didn't pay attention to that. It was more of a bounce dive. Planned for 140ffw but, I couldn't handle thinking about the last 10' to go. I was breathing 21% EAN.

Suffice to say, I don't ever plan on doing it again in a 3m long suit. I don't really ever plan on going that deep again until I get adv nitrox/deco training. (Maybe trimix too.)

It was a open water dive meaning no visual reference. The next day, we followed the wall down and went to 107ffw and had a great dive. Less anxiety on this dive and I still felt a little narced but, it was "controlled" by slowly going to that depth than bouncing down to it.

I recommend that NO ONE does this unless properly trained. I wasn't and I was an idiot for trying it.

Michael

[wgt]

Matt:

Your experience is not atypical. There are large numbers of factors that dictate quality and intensity of the phenomenon. Rates of compression, mood, medication, recreational pharmaceuticals, long- and short-term adaptation, etc.

Another element to note is that, particularly for divers much less experienced than yourself, not recognizing the anesthesia does not necessarily imply being unaffected.

Originally Posted by MSilvia

I have a pretty high tolerance to drugs and alcohol generally, but sometimes I get narced pretty easily. Then again, it might just be that I notice I'm narced easily.

It's not a predictable ting for me though. Sometimes I can feel it coming on at 80', other times I've been to 120' with no symptoms.

[wgt]

MW:

That experience is reminiscent of CO2 retention, noting that elevated levels of CO2 potentiate the impact of nitrogen.

Originally Posted by mwhities

About a month ago.

I felt that the water was crushing me. I couldn't get enough air. I was swimming at an angle. (Like / but I was trimmed out.) Panic started setting in. I kept looking at my pressure gauge and had to keep looking since I forgot what it was the last time I looked at it.

I had higher heart rate, I could "feel" my heart rate in my ears. I started breathing hard and faster.

What was it like?

Scary as hell, although, very enlightening. Sorta of a nirvana feeling.

130ffw. I started feeling it around 115ffw to 120ffw.

It was cold as hell. Not sure how cold. Didn't pay attention to that. It was more of a bounce dive. Planned for 140ffw but, I couldn't handle thinking about the last 10' to go. I was breathing 21% EAN.

Suffice to say, I don't ever plan on doing it again in a 3m long suit. I don't really ever plan on going that deep again until I get adv nitrox/deco training. (Maybe trimix too.)

It was a open water dive meaning no visual reference. The next day, we followed the wall down and went to 107ffw and had a great dive. Less anxiety on this dive and I still felt a little narced but, it was "controlled" by slowly going to that depth than bouncing down to it.

I recommend that NO ONE does this unless properly trained. I wasn't and I was an idiot for trying it.

Michael