TheCuriousDiver

Visual learning for divers

From the surface to the silt line.

Interactive tools, math-honest calculators, and depth-true visuals — across recreational, technical, sidemount, and cave diving.

Citation-first Mobile-first Color-blind safe Educational only

01 · 0–30 m

Recreational.Sporttauchen

Open water through rescue. No-decompression diving on air or nitrox. Where most divers spend their careers.

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TL;DR

At 30 m on air, your no-decompression limit is roughly 20 minutes. Switch to EAN32 and that grows to ~30 minutes — with a hard MOD of 33.8 m at PpO₂ 1.4.

Physics · Boyle's law

Gas volume halves at 10 m, thirds at 20 m, quarters at 30 m. Every breath you take at depth costs more than it does at the surface — the foundation of gas planning.

PADI/DSAT 2009 · Ch. 4 Boyle (1662)

02 · 30–60 m

Technical.Tek-Tauchen

Decompression begins. Trimix replaces air. Stage cylinders, gas switching, gradient factors — diving becomes math.

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TL;DR

Past ~40 m, narcosis significantly impairs judgment; on air, PpO₂ reaches the recreational MOD (1.4) at ~56 m. Helium-based mixes lower both PpO₂ and narcotic depth — at the cost of tripling your gas-planning complexity.

Physics · Tissue saturation

Bühlmann ZH-L16C tracks 16 theoretical tissue compartments. Gradient factors (GF-Lo / GF-Hi) scale how aggressively you offgas — 30/70 conservative, 40/85 baseline.

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Beyond recreational limits. Decompression and mixed-gas diving require formal training from a recognized agency. These tools are educational and do not certify.

Deco schedule visualizer

Bühlmann ZH-L16C · GF tunable · stop ladder

Trimix MOD & END

PpO₂ + narcotic depth · best-mix solver

Rock-bottom / minimum gas

Two divers · ascent · conservative reserve

Bühlmann 1995 Powell · Deco for Divers Baker · GF papers

03 · 60–100 m

Deep Tech.Tieftauchen

Mixed-gas diving on open circuit and rebreathers. The twilight zone — where back-gas oxygen drops to 15 % and your travel and deco gases multiply.

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TL;DR

At 80 m, an air mix would deliver PpO₂ ~1.9 — toxic. Trimix 15/55 keeps PpO₂ at 1.35 and END (narcotic depth) near 30 m. The gas math is non-negotiable; the deco is hours, not minutes.

Physics · The gas matrix

A 90-minute trimix dive runs four cylinders: back gas, travel, deco, oxygen. Each has a switch depth, an MOD, and a CNS clock. Plan it on land or don't go.

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Beyond recreational limits. Mixed-gas diving carries significant risk — DCS, oxygen toxicity, hypoxia, narcosis. Formal training from TDI / IANTD / GUE is required. This site does not certify.

Trimix planner

Best-mix · gas matrix · partial-pressure blending

CCR loop diagram

Interactive · click components for function

CNS% & OTU tracker

Surface intervals · multi-day load

Hamilton & Mount TDI Adv Trimix Standards US Navy Diving Manual Rev 7

04 · Overhead

Cavern & Cave.Höhlentauchen

No direct path to the surface. Continuous guideline. Redundant gas. Three lights. The unforgiving discipline — where every protocol exists because someone already died without it.

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TL;DR — The Five Don'ts

Per NSS-CDS accident analysis: don't dive caves without training, without a continuous guideline, beyond your gas plan (rule of thirds), beyond your depth limit, or with fewer than three lights. Every fatality maps to violating at least one.

Protocol · Continuous guideline

Primary tie-off in daylight. Secondary inside the entrance. Unbroken line to the team's exit. Direction arrows always pointing toward fresh air. Personal cookies mark your team's turn-around.

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Cave diving is unforgiving. Overhead environments offer no direct ascent. Formal cave training (NSS-CDS, NACD, GUE-Cave, TDI Cave) is mandatory. This content is conceptual — it does not, and cannot, qualify you to dive caves.

Cave line protocol

Primary · secondary · jumps · gaps

Lost-line decision tree

Search pattern · reel deployment · team comms

Hand signals reference

Rec · tech · cave — printable bundle

NSS-CDS · Cave Diving Manual Exley · Blueprint for Survival (1979)