A trip to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital's new decompression chamber saved a certified diver from serious injury this week.

Thirty-eight-year-old Bermudian Derrick Fisher went to the hospital on Monday evening after suffering decompression sickness related symptoms and became the first diver to be treated in the Hyperbaric and Wound Care chamber.

Mr. Fisher, who holds an unlimited dives package at Nautilus Diving Service in Southampton, had a two tank dive on Saturday morning and then dove two more times that day.

A Nautilus spokeswoman said Mr. Fisher was not prevented from diving by instructors because he was certified and could read his own recreation diving planner.

"He can read his own tables and should know how many times he can dive,'' she said. She added that he was fine when he left Nautilus on Saturday afternoon but alleged that he was going diving elsewhere on Sunday.

When doing a two-tank dive, a diver uses one tank on each dive and has his/her residual nitrogen level checked in between intervals. The amount of nitrogen in the diver's blood is then compared with a generic profile for all divers.

After breaking for lunch, Mr. Fisher went on a third and fourth dive because he was told he was able to, considering his diving profile.

His profile looked so good that instructors also estimated that Mr. Fisher would not need as long a surface break between dives that he had been having.

Between his third and fourth dive, what should have been a much longer break was lowered significantly because it was felt that Mr. Fisher could handle it.

Mr. Fisher said the Nautilus operator told him he could make a fourth dive because of his profile.

And he was told that he could go down to 35 feet and stay underwater for up to 100 minutes.

But Mr. Fisher said he was wary of the advice and on his fourth dive set the alarm on his tank to 30 feet.

The alarm did go off twice, Mr. Fisher told The Royal Gazette , but the Nautilus spokeswoman said he was fine when he left.

The next day, Mr. Fisher said he felt as though he had sunburn on his left shoulder.

"The usual symptoms are a rash, sore joints and itchy skin, but I didn't have any of those'' he said.

But his ankle was hurting on Monday so Mr. Fisher decided to get it checked at the hospital around 4 p.m.

He was diagnosed with decompression Illness and was treated in the hospital's new 22-foot decompression chamber for five hours -- becoming the first diver to use the facility.

Dr. Carol Ferris at the hospital said the heat on Saturday and Mr. Fisher's condition -- he was dehydrated and had not eaten anything besides granola bars -- led to his illness.

After returning home, Mr. Fisher experienced chest pains and returned to the hospital again where he was treated in the chamber with the wound care patients for another two hours.

Mr. Fisher stressed his fate was no one's fault and acknowledged it was not such a good idea to dive so many times.

But he added that he trusted the instruction he received from Nautilus otherwise he would not have dove again.

"It falls under the heading of one of those things,'' he said.

He continued: "One of my friends in Toronto went diving at a resort with his family. Four people went diving at the same depth, came up at the same time and only one of them got what I have.'' He added: "It all depends on the diver. It depends on the physiology of the person. The tables are generic. There are some divers who can go diving six times a week and others who can't.

"I've done more dives than some people who have been diving for seven years.

These things can happen. I didn't expect it at all, but these things do sometimes happen and can happen to anyone.'' DIVER SEA HOSPITAL HOS