On Sunday 11th May, a group of divers from the Maldives club visited the Hyperbaric Chamber at Arrow Park Hospital on the Wirral. The intention was to see what it would be like to dive to 50m without actually messing about with all that regulator, dry suit and water rubbish that is normally associated with diving. So it was that we arrived by mini-bus at about 10:45 on the Sunday morning, armed with food, drink and warm clothing for the unique experience. Prior to the 'dive' we were given a lecture by the head of the hyperbaric unit who gave an extremely interesting lecture about the chamber and its' many and varied uses - apparently, diving related problems account for about 10% of their work - and we thought 3.5 million quid had been spent just for us divers! The majority of the work is related to the promotion of healing by pressurising patients and giving them oxygen rich gas to breathe. Some of their results were quite astonishing in the success of healing. The lecture lasted about an hour, after which, we moved downstairs for the dive itself. The chambers are quite small, so we had to divide ourselves into two groups. I was in the first and have to admit to a certain amount of aprehension as we entered the chamber. I was quite concerned for my ears, normally it takes me a few minutes to descend even to 20m, so what would 50m be like? I didn't want to let anyone down by calling a halt. Luckily, they have an anti-chamber that can be used to evacuate anyone if it becomes a serious problem.

Several of us had bought our computers for the record and a bucket of water had thoughtfully been provided for their use. Apparently, dive computers get very upset at pressure when dry. We had a quick brief on what would happen and then the door closed. We could hear and feel the pressurisation starting immediately. Continual swallowing was necessary to equalise the ears and I found myself worrying about keeping up. I managed until about 35m when my mouth ran out of saliva and I had to ask for a pause. I soon cleared and we recommenced. At about 45m, Monkey had a similar problem and again we stopped for a short while. Eventually, we were all happy and bottomed out at 51.6m for about 3.5 minutes, giving us a bottom time of 10 minutes. The feelings are amazing. On the way down, the vocal cords tighten, so one quickly acquires a Mickey Mouse voice to the amusement of everyone else. Being 'narked' aids the humour and we were all having a fine old time. At 50m, the air is thick, moving a hand felt like moving through treacle, and talking had an odd gritty feel to it. The tongue 'tasted' metallic. We all observed that it was easy in a chamber, but imagine being in 50m of water and having to retain sense and order. One is not out of control, but simply does not care. It is euphoria, rather than drunkeness.

All too soon, we were told the dive was over and we would start the ascent. The chamber was quite warm at this stage, but as soon as the ascent started, condensation formed and the environment chilled considerably. We had been told to bring in warm clothes, partly because it felt cold, but also to stave off any DCI effects which would be more likely on cold skin. On the way to the 'surface', we had two safety stops, one at 6m and one at 3m before finally reaching zero. We were all surprised to find that we had been down for 25 minutes, it had hardly seemed any time at all. We clambered out, all of the 'narking' effects now completely gone and the second group entered and repeated what we had done whilst we watched with interest and amusement at their actions and high-pitched voices. We were provided with a sandwich lunch and chatted to the staff for some time before leaving. It had been an excellent experience, worth repeating at some point in the future and I would recommend anyone to do it. It is educational and great fun.