A level is one depth held for one length of time. The planner’s Depth Profile section is a list of them, in the order you dive them, and it is the only part of the plan that describes the dive itself; everything else describes how the dive is executed.
Level 1
The fields
- Depth (m): the depth held, not an average and not a maximum excursion. The planner descends to it, holds it, and ascends from it.
- Bottom Time (min): time at that depth. It starts when the descent reaches the level and stops when the ascent away from it begins.
- Label: optional free text, such as wreck bottom. It replaces “Level 1” as the card’s title and appears nowhere in the schedule.
A level can be added below or above the one before it. The remove control appears on every card once there is more than one level, so a single-level plan has none.
What bottom time excludes
Bottom time excludes the descent, the travel between levels, and the whole ascent: decompression stops, travel between stops, and the last stop to the surface. The number that includes all of it is runtime, reported on the Review step, which is why a 25-minute bottom time can produce a 70-minute dive.
Multi-level dives
Levels are dived in the order they appear. The planner does not reorder them, and it does not require the profile to be monotonic: a dive that drops to 45 m, comes up to 30 m for twenty minutes, and drops again is a valid three-level plan.
Tissue loading carries forward across every level. A shallow second level is not a rest; it is continued on-gassing in the slow compartments while the fast ones off-gas. The tissue view on the Review step is where that shows up.
Next
Gas mixes is the next section down: what you breathe at those depths, and when you switch. Also worth reading: tissue compartments.