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Myth No. 1: Deep Air Diving is safe This is often claimed by people who dive between 30-66 MSW / 100-218 FSW. The claim is then supported with the statement that below 66 MSW /218 FSW divers rarely get CNS toxicity. Yet, everybody diving in this range is subject to nitrogen narcosis. Myth No. 2: You get used to nitrogen narcosis This statement has no scientific foundation whatsoever. It is the same as claiming that you get used to driving drunk. Or that you get used to working while being stoned. Nitrogen narcosis influences your central nervous system in a negative way. Maybe you can compensate a bit by doing your skills slower, or by practicing more. But you can never fully compensate for the negative influence of nitrogen narcosis on your diving. Myth No. 3: You can train yourself to dive safely while being narced This school of thought is based on the belief that if you repeat your skills often, over and over, they become second nature and your skill-level compensates for being narced. It is a good idea for every diver to train the basic diving skills until they become automatic. But this does not compensate for impaired judgement and reaction speeds when you allow yourself to become narced. Nitrogen narcosis = decreased safety, always. Myth No. 4: Trimix/Helium enriched mixes are for use below 66 MSW / 218 FSW This is also not true, because it is a very good idea to avoid nitrogen narcosis by adding helium to your mix when you descend below 30 MSW / 100 FSW. You do not only use trimix at great depths just to avoid cases of CNS toxicity. It also helps to avoid nitrogen narcosis, by lowering the narcotic effect of the mix, and hypercapnia, by lowering the breathing resistance of the mix. Myth No. 5: There is not always an alternative for deep air diving At shallow depths you can also use helium to make your diving safer. And if there is no infrastructure for helium in the area where you dive, you can organize it with like-minded divers. And if the cost of helium or the trimix course is a problem, then you can dive the 0-30 MSW / 0-100 FSW range until you have saved the money. Myth No. 6: You can safely dive to 50 MSW / 166 FSW on air, because commercial divers do the same Commercial divers do not do the same, they dive surface-supplied, and they dive with surface support. They have a standby diver, verbal communication with 'top-side', and an on-site recompression chamber. They have an unlimited air supply, and a lot of very good safety procedures. You cannot compare commercial divers with sport divers, they are a whole different breed of divers.
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