WHY DO DIVERS NOT ROUTINELY USE DIVE TABLES?
There is probably no more intimidating subject to many divers than dive tables and their high tech cousins, dive computers. Everyone learns to use “no decompression” tables during the basic open water course, but most newly-certified divers seem to quickly forget what they learned. From simple observation it is apparent that few recreational divers bother consulting any printed table when diving. Nonetheless, most divers do dive “by the tables.” There are two explanations for this paradox. It is common to make some mistakes with dive tables in a classroom, where there is good lighting, a stable desk and all the time in the world to calculate and check answers. Understandably, new divers often feel awkward and unsure when figuring out dive tables under open water conditions, which may include a rocking, crowded boat with no convenient place to sit and calculate. Dive tables are difficult unless one uses them routinely, so most recreational divers (particularly those who dive infrequentl
