My kid asked why we still use the old dive tables instead of a computer.

2 comments

2 Comments

The 1992 Wakulla Springs project in Florida had divers using tables on a 24 hour saturation dive. Computers fail, batteries die. Tables are a physical backup you can read with a flashlight. They teach you the actual math of decompression so you understand what the computer is doing for you. Relying only on a black box is how people get into trouble they don't understand.

seanlewis12d ago

Exactly, @the_shane. That understanding from tables lets you spot when a computer is giving you bad info. It's the difference between just following beeps and actually knowing what's happening to your body.