Disturbing trend in diving?

[oceanmatrix]

i think they expect people to pay attention at the debrief and ask question there. new diver do just go play along and follow the leader. and i got put off trying to ask questions. to me mental... like i GOT QUESTION answer it! what you don't know won't hurt mentality. i did my training in pattaya and thank god i got a good instructor he was a freelancer and have knowledge around the world. ya was not impressed my the owners but tells you ASK QUESTION! A LOT OF IT!

 

[scrane]

It has been posted enough. My solution was this and never looking back:

I am asking so the same thing won't happen to me. Can you at least provide a link?

 

[Nemrod]

I am asking so the same thing won't happen to me. Can you at least provide a link?

The best thing you could do is park your DH.

The DSV leaked badly, the cage valve must have been stuck, the intake hose flooded and shot water down my larynx causing me to have a laryngeal spasm, this at about 110 feet, switched to crappy pancake secondary, then, let's see, my computer quit just as I saw it went into deco since I could not go up, I could not inhale or exhale so I blacked out, I came back to at some point and somehow managed to inhale/exhale occasionally, made an ascent, dropped my spool, caught it after it unwound, nearly lost my camera but finally got it locked away, made it back to the surface, boat picked me up, bleeding from my mouth, told them I bit my tongue, had pneumonia for two months and three courses of antibiotics. More or less that is it. Quit diving DH regulators, that is my advice, for serious diving of any sort beyond fiddling about in a shallow swimming pool. That way it will not happen to you. I have had enough split hoses, leaky valves, water sputtering down my throat, after decades of DH, enough is now enough, time to move on.

 

[rapanui]

Noob here. I was just in Curacao last month. We rented gear, and I asked about a dive computer and they just shrugged and said "you don't really need it, we're not going deep but we can add it to your rental if you want". Our dives were entirely guided.

At no point did I feel unsafe (the instructors were extremely professional and conservative), but yeah it was a bit eyebrow raising since the DC is the first piece of gear the instructors recommend buying after getting OW certified.

 

[scrane]

OK. DSV problem. I'll start taking more notice on maintenance and pre-dive. Thanks.

 

[Allen-1]

Noob here. I was just in Curacao last month. We rented gear, and I asked about a dive computer and they just shrugged and said "you don't really need it, we're not going deep but we can add it to your rental if you want". Our dives were entirely guided.

At no point did I feel unsafe (the instructors were extremely professional and conservative), but yeah it was a bit eyebrow raising since the DC is the first piece of gear the instructors recommend buying after getting OW certified.

Dive computer is useful not only for determining how deep you are, but perhaps more important for tracking your ascension rate and managing your 15' safety stop.

 

[dmaziuk]

Dive computer is useful not only for determining how deep you are, but perhaps more important for tracking your ascension rate and managing your 15' safety stop.

In case you haven't been, they typically park the boat in 5-6 msw and follow the reef up to the anchor. It's not like coming straight up from 30 msw in open blue water, you don't really need ascent rate alarm. And you "manage" your SS by hanging around the anchor looking for small stuff.

We've been doing Bonaire-Curacao-type diving for a decade now and I can promise you're not going to bend a computer by exactly following the DM for 2 dives/day for 5 days there. Well, maybe if you buy a birdix and set its GF to 20/40 or something.

 

[Allen-1]

In case you haven't been, they typically park the boat in 5-6 msw and follow the reef up to the anchor. It's not like coming straight up from 30 msw in open blue water, you don't really need ascent rate alarm. And you "manage" your SS by hanging around the anchor looking for small stuff.

We've been doing Bonaire-Curacao-type diving for a decade now and I can promise you're not going to bend a computer by exactly following the DM for 2 dives/day for 5 days there. Well, maybe if you buy a birdix and set its GF to 20/40 or something.

You're correct, I haven't been there. My comment was more generic in nature - but given your statement of conditions above - yeah - dive computer not necessary. I'd wear one, but that's choice/habit.

 

[pauldw]

The best thing you could do is park your DH.

The DSV leaked badly, the cage valve must have been stuck, the intake hose flooded and shot water down my larynx causing me to have a laryngeal spasm, this at about 110 feet, switched to crappy pancake secondary, then, let's see, my computer quit just as I saw it went into deco since I could not go up, I could not inhale or exhale so I blacked out, I came back to at some point and somehow managed to inhale/exhale occasionally, made an ascent, dropped my spool, caught it after it unwound, nearly lost my camera but finally got it locked away, made it back to the surface, boat picked me up, bleeding from my mouth, told them I bit my tongue, had pneumonia for two months and three courses of antibiotics. More or less that is it. Quit diving DH regulators, that is my advice, for serious diving of any sort beyond fiddling about in a shallow swimming pool. That way it will not happen to you. I have had enough split hoses, leaky valves, water sputtering down my throat, after decades of DH, enough is now enough, time to move on.

So other than that, it was a good dive?

 

[TerriB]

So, lately I've seen some things posted that have me raising my eyebrows a bit.
There have been a few stories posted about people relying completely on the divemasters or guides for their bottom times, NDL status, basic dive profiles. This seems to be in Mexico from what I gather but it might include some other locations.
The trend seems to be that these divers in question don't have computers or depth gauges/any kind of timing device and rely 100% on the divemasters to take care of them and keep them safe.
Is this a thing?

It’s a concern of mine, as well. And a subject included in every dive class I teach.