In this series, we will take a look at how to create a solid dive plan. First, let’s take a look at what is being taught in the traditional open water courses. When I went through my open water course, I was taught that the most important component of a dive plan is our No Decompression Limit, or NDL. The NDL was the factor that controlled how long we could stay under water. As I began my journey towards better diving, I learned that this was wrong. The controlling factor of how long we can stay under water is determined by how much gas we are carrying, not our NDL. This article will not discuss gas management. That will be discussed in another article. Instead, I want to discuss how NDL can be determined in another way. That is, we don’t need to rely on tables or a dive computer. We can calculate NDL times in our head. [Read more...]