TRAVELSPECIAL
It all started a year ago , with a phone call from my friend Shaff Naeem , a veteran commercial and military diver from the Maldives . He had a seemingly ridiculous plan , to stage a 50-hour scuba dive - a potentially dangerous test of physical and mental resilience . With most people , I would have written the idea off as terminally overambitious , but Shaff is not to be underestimated . Invited to document the event and also try out some new shark diving opportunities , I was excited to go .
Shaff wanted to stage a one-man endurance dive to raise awareness of two issues - to celebrate 50 years of diving tourism in the Maldives , and to highlight the universal problem of single use plastics . The idea was to spend 50 hours at six metres , hence the project ’ s title , Ocean 650 .
Although Shaff has amassed 25 years of experience at diving ’ s sharp end , he needed help . His own team of tech divers served as support crew , and his long-time friend , Ben Reymenants , gave him some crucial advice about sustained underwater living . A veteran diver and part of the Thai cave rescue team , Ben was enlisted as
Shaff with his team of Maldivian military divers
key support diver . It was decided to use open circuit scuba and nitrox breathing gas with 31 % oxygen ; as an additional safety measure , 100 % oxygen would be administered for the first 30 minutes after Shaff ’ s return to the surface .
Even though the Maldivian water would be a toasty 29 ° C , prolonged exposure could still result in anyone ’ s body temperature dropping to the point where there is a risk of hypothermia . The solution was a drysuit ; by minimising direct wateron-skin contact , he would retain enough warmth to see him through 50 hours .
Of course , using a drysuit removed certain practical benefits that a wetsuit could have afforded . Or , as most of the onlookers put it , “ How ’ s he going to poo ?”. This was taken care of with a strict ‘ liquids only ’ diet 36 hours before and during the dive , and of course his drysuit was fitted with a pee valve .
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