Safety Stop

A precautionary pause of 3 minutes at 5 m/15 ft at the end of a dive, giving the body extra time to release absorbed nitrogen before surfacing.

A safety stop is a voluntary pause near the end of a dive: you hold at 5 m/15 ft for 3 minutes before making your final ascent to the surface. Unlike a deco stop, it is not mandatory for the dive to be safe on paper. It is an extra margin that lets dissolved nitrogen leave your tissues while you are still under a little pressure, reducing the bubbles that form after surfacing.

The stop works because the last few meters are where the relative pressure change is greatest. Slowing down there, combined with a controlled ascent rate, measurably reduces decompression stress. Most agencies recommend a safety stop on every dive and treat it as strongly advised after dives deeper than 18 m or dives approaching the no-decompression limit. Dive computers display a countdown automatically when you reach stop depth.

In practice, the safety stop is also a skills moment: you hover neutrally buoyant, watch your computer, and often deploy a DSMB so the boat knows where you are. If you are low on gas or conditions are dangerous, you may skip a safety stop and surface; it is a buffer, not a ceiling. In cold water or after a demanding dive, extending the stop to 5 minutes costs little and helps.