Rebreather (CCR) Diving in Cyprus

Chris Demetriou, TDI APD CCR Instructor Trainer at Dive-In Larnaca firmly believes that rebreather diving is “the way to go”.

Chris has amassed thousands of hours on his units, starting off on a Draegar Dolphin in the late 90s he moved to the APD units in 2002 and has never looked back. He has also dived on Submatix, KISS and Poseidon units but has had at least one APD unit throughout. He is now the APD dealer for Cyprus.

Rebreathers are silent

For Chris, diving is about wrecks, but traditionally with each exhaled breath Open Circuit divers release a large burst of noisy bubbles. The effect of this can dislodge rust and silt in a wreck, losing a great photo opportunity, a no bubble rebreather dive reduces the effect significantly. Giving you longer to admire and explore the fascinating world of sunken ships.

For those whose interest is more with the living things in the water then rebreathers really come into their own – especially if photography is your thing. Rebreathers allow you to get up close and personal with even the smallest sea creatures without a cloud of bubbles sending them darting away.

Rebreather diving is warmer

The gas breathed on Open Circuit is cold due to pressure reduction before you inhale. On a rebreather you are breathing oxygen replenished exhaled air, so the gas is warm rather than cold. Meaning on an average dive you will be warmer diving on a rebreather than on Open Circuit – can't be bad!

Rebreathers are gas efficient

The most significant advantage that rebreathers offer is greatly increased gas efficiency, which means lower gas costs – especially when you reach the mixed gas (Trimix level). To be able to do a dive and not be limited by gas supply is brilliant. The two hour dives we have done around the Zenobia followed by a swim to the Alexandria prove that rebreathers win hands down for gas costs.

Rebreathers deliver the ideal gas

A rebreather ensures you are breathing the best gas mix for depth you are at, at all times during the dive. That means that even on long dives you could end up with significantly less decompression time than your Open Circuit buddies

Rebreathers are great for exploration dives

With the APD Evolution+ and Inspiration you can get a 3 hour bottom time from the scrubber, which makes it ideal for exploration diving and can make for shorter surface intervals. Which means you spend more of you day diving and less on the surface off-gassing.

Maintaining Rebreathers 

It does take longer to setup a rebreather and to thoroughly clean it after a dive, but this time is not significant and with practice can soon be done in the same time as setting up an Open Circuit rig. And any increase in set up time is far outweighed by the increase time you can spend on the dives.

Chris is passionate about CCR diving and willingly shares his knowledge and experience with his students and fellow CCR divers. All the staff at Dive-In Larnaca are CCR divers (even the admin staff).

Dive-In Larnaca offers TDI Rebreather (CCR) courses on APD units from Air Diluent (30m depth limit) to TDI Adv Mixed Gas courses at 100m and TDI APD Rebreather Instructor courses to Mixed Gas level. We also offer guided CCR dives on the wreck of the Zenobia. For more information see our website www.dive-in.com.cy or email Chris or Sheri at larnaca@dive-in.com.cy and let the silent dives begin.