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Notes -
Though I'm working off the dive medicine classes I took while still in the Navy which were a good 15 - 20 years ago now so I might have it all wrong, but my recollection is that any depth from which you'd have to do a staged ascent to avoid the bends is classified as "technical". I remember 350 feet being considered the maximum "safe" depth for conventional scuba gear due to high concentrations of inert gasses in the blood (relative to oxygen) producing a similar effect to intoxication and in more serious cases hypoxia. I don't think that some random normies pulling this off with recreational gear is all that plausible, but I did find it interesting that it was at least hypothetically possible.
In terms of diving deeper, the sort of specialized equipment we're talking about is at a minimum, a pressurized diving helmet (vs conventional mask and regulator) and breathing gear that'll give you a higher concentration of oxygen than the 20% oxygen 78% nitrogen mix you'd get from regular air.
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