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By Collin Breaux | 747-5081 | @PCNHCollinB | CollinB@pcnh.com

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NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY PANAMA CITY Since Monday, hyperbaric doctor Brad Hickey has been isolated from the outside world.

Hickey and five others began a 500-foot descent Monday in the Ocean Simulation Facility (OSF) at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) as part of a 10-day saturation dive. Six divers have been separated from family, friends pretty much everything but each other and an extensive task list since the start of the week and wont come back up until Feb. 2.

Despite the challenging conditions, Hickey was in good spirits Wednesday.

I am doing great, he said. Weve got a great group of divers and, more importantly, weve got a great group of individuals outside working three shifts a day, 24 hours a day, taking care of us.

The divers are all Navy-trained and certified, and have varying degrees of experience with saturation diving.

So far everyone is doing great and there are no medical concerns to speak of, Hickey said.

By Wednesday, the divers had descended more than 300 feet with plans to reach 500 feet. The OSF, built in 1975 and with a working depth of more than 2,000 feet, is a training ground for what-if scenarios such as how equipment and the human body functions several hundred feet underwater.

It simulates open diving at extreme depths, NEDU Lt. Jonathan Brown said.

NEDUs divers arent actually 300 feet below ground this week, however; using the simulation, they are nestled above ground in capsule-shaped wet and dry chambers.

In laymans terms, saturation diving is when divers are sent to safely live in high-pressure environments underwater for an extended period of time. The saturation refers to divers being saturated with nitrogen or helium, which allows them to breathe safely and avoid nitrogen narcosis, Brown said. It has a rich history in Bay County NSA PC is billed as the home of military diving encapsulated at the nearby Man in the Sea Museum where the legendary SEALAB 1 underwater habitat is displayed.

Saturation diving allows the Navy and divers to go deep depths for extended periods of time, NEDU Cmdr. Jay Young said. There is a need for it for depths below 300 feet. ... It allows divers to train inside and to maintain efficiency on the saturation system.

At NEDU, divers are spending this week in hyperbaric chambers, where they are sent food, clothes and other supplies in pressurized chambers from up top. To get to the underwater part of the unit called the wet chamber they pass through whats called a trunk. The entire system is above ground at NSA PC.

NEDU does saturation dives at least twice a year, sometimes more.As common practice, doctors are sent down to live with the divers in case they get sick or injured an essential role, because decompression can take hours, at the least. Before the dive, there were months of heavy planning including medical screenings and equipment testing for divers and chambers.

Decompression sickness also known as the bends is one medical concern for resurfacing divers. Saturation diving cuts down on this, although divers still require time in a decompression chamber once they come back up. The time spent decompressing depends on how long they are down there. Because the divers are descending so deep this week, it will take about six days for them to decompress a rate of about 5-6 feet per hour, Brown said. Their carefully controlled ascent will begin Feb. 2.

While the divers are under, a team in a control room communicates with them and tracks their every move using computer monitors and high-end technology. The team extensively monitors the physical conditions in the OSF, including gas levels, and can alter them for diver safety.

Navy Diver Senior Chief William Sinrich was at the depth control board Wednesday, which also controls the chamber and water temperature. Although the OSF water was a chilly 50 degrees, the team cancontrol the hot water that flows through the divers diving suits.

It feels very important because we do unique evolutions that no other dive command does, Sinrich said. It benefits all the services that use diving and increases medical knowledge.

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NSA PC saturation divers to spend week 500 feet deep - The News Herald