New Divers Beware: Sketchy dive shop in Cozumel puts profits over safety

[ggunn]

I wonder if the OP had his memory jogged by the two rebuttal responses. I may have to go to the PADI website to understand the elearning process.

Does the student get any pool work prior to going to Cozumel? I can see doing book work on line but how do you do all required pool work just prior to the first two checkout dives? Just seems odd if I understand an earlier post correctly.

Of course I do not twitter or use f*ceb**K either so I am be crotchety and set in my ways.

If I am being bad, you know how I should be disciplined.

Send me to Castle Anthrax!

 

[Jackie]

Its unfortunate that anytime there is anything negative posted about any dive op or instructor, the poster is the one called into question and judged.
This board would be a lot more interesting and informative if people could give their honest opinions. Many do not as they rightfully, after years of watching the movie, know the ending. Anyone saying or implying anything negative gets judged by people who were not there and most likely have not even dived with the one in question.
It is just a matter of time before the pile on starts....

 

[SCUBAPA75]

Its unfortunate that anytime there is anything negative posted about any dive op or instructor, the poster is the one called into question and judged.
This board would be a lot more interesting and informative if people could give their honest opinions. Many do not as they rightfully, after years of watching the movie, know the ending. Anyone saying or implying anything negative gets judged by people who were not there and most likely have not even dived with the one in question.
It is just a matter of time before the pile on starts....

Thats all fine and good Jackie. But I WAS there. I saw the whole thing as it unfolded. And I will be the first to stand up and tell Debbie that one of her dive masters messed up. I've done it before. This was NOT the case. Rafael did everything to help the poster to have a safe, successful dive.

 

[SCUBAPA75]

is it possible that the instructor was merely telling the student that they were heading down, would wait for him there? why did the student feel he had to go down at the same rate as the other divers?
i do not dive with deep blue but i do know louis and deb so maybe i am just seeing it from their pov.

He absolutely did not. In fact the instructor stayed at the surface until he could get down on his own. I know because I was waiting at the meeting point on the sandy bottom for them. The instructor asked him MANY times if he was okay....and got the OK signal back every time.

 

[DevonDiver]

Everyone including the Dr at the DAN clinic said it was "normal".

As the links to the Diving Medicine forum I posted earlier in the thread confirmed.

In your first post you stated: "He seemed uninterested and said it was "normal". Bleeding is not "normal" in ANY adventure sport." I am glad that you now have some peace-of-mind and can accept that sometimes new divers do experience a little bit of blood from the nose whilst learning equalisation and/or whilst the sinuses adapt to pressure changes. It isn't an 'injury' and no physical harm occurs.

I guess "normal" for a symptom of Barotrauma.

Firstly, lets be clear. "Barotrauma" means nothing more than 'Pressure Injury'. It's non specific. 'An injury caused by pressure'. A term that covers everything from a ruptured lung down to a tiny burst capillary in the nose.

Sitting here at my laptop, I could pinch my nose, blow real hard and cause myself a 'barotrauma'... specifically, I could damage my middle ears through over/forced equalisation. Water is not necessary. Likewise, on a dive, I can cause a 'barotrauma' to the ear-drum by not equalising sufficiently on descent. Or to my eyes, by not equalising my mask on descent. I could cause a 'barotrauma' to the lungs by ascending whilst holding my breath.

If you were 'coughing blood', then it was almost certainly a tiny amount of blood from your nasal sinuses that entered your throat as a post-nasal drip. You stated in your first post that it was "serious bleeding" - that was a gross exaggeration and painted a very unfair picture when compared to how the dive centre/instructor allegedly reacted to the situation.

We both agree that I probably caused the problem by trying to force my ears to clear at depth rather than ascend a bit to relieve some pressure, than try at the lesser depth.

Which concerned me, because your initial post was certainly casting a finger of blame at the dive instructor for your injury. As you later admitted, the dive instructor was on hand, supervising, and instructing you to equalise. Your initial post made it seem that the instructor was abandoning you, which was incorrect. The equalisation technique, as taught in your dive theory and confined training is to ascend and re-try. Thus, in this instance, I don't see how any blame is attributed to the instructor. He was observing and he was providing you with the correct feedback to resolve your problem.

Many commentators on this thread have leapt to a conclusion that the students was somehow 'abandoned' by the instructor. I'd suggest that the instructor was supervising correctly if, as the OP stated, he was on hand and in communication with him.

Your overall 'complaint' in this regard thus seems to be that the instructor 'didn't take you back to the surface'. That complaint is unjustified. Not many instructors would abort the dive and return to the surface as anything but a last resort to a persistent inability to equalise, especially on dives 3/4 of the course. At no point are students taught to 'return to the surface' as a method of dealing with the problem. Furthermore, repeated ascents/descents will actually put more cumulative stress on your ears/sinuses.

 

[nodakdive]

Unfortunately sometimes diving just isnt for everyone and there is not always a villain. Not taking sides because I wasnt there just adding my 1cent

Thank goodness I clicked on "post quick reply", and somehow my message disappeared. Saved y'all from another wordy soapbox soliloquy. It was about 4 or 5 nice, fat paragraphs of what seemed to me to be very even handed explanation and rebuttal of what you quoted, deeper thoughts. heh.

In short, you're right, diving isn't for everyone, but in light of the new information we've seen from the dive shop in question, and a poster (ScubaPA75) who was on the boat and diving with the OP during the dive in question, what do you call it when someone, (the op), completely misrepresents the fact to the point of what appears to be fabrication?

What do you call it when they use this platform to mis-represent the truth and call the dive operation "sketchy" and "racketeering" and "unethical" and "not well established". It may not be villainous, but whatever it is, it's not good.

Had the poster been honest, and said "gosh, I just don't like them. I don't think others will either", it might have been acceptable, but if you're mis-representing and fabricating, it's something, and I think there's a legal term that escapes me, but again, it's not good.

I wasn't there either, and due to that fact I attempted to be diplomatic about the event. I eagerly await bvana1's counter to the light that's been shed by people actually involved, but at this point, it blows my mind that many people spent time calling out bad instructive practice when the guy wasn't on a cert dive. (according to Deborah Felixson's post). "abandoned his student", "took the student deeper than PADI standards on a cert dive", etc, and so on, and so on. Wow. I'm glad I'm not an instructor that bit into that post.

Btw, IF (that's the large size if) the OP's post had been truthful, in my non-professional opinion, it'd be noteworthy information. I can understand how a dive pro could read that and take issue. But, as I mentioned before, it surprised me greatly, as it bore no resemblance to the practices I've witnessed with that shop and it's employ. Ever. Point by Point, I've not seen what the OP claimed, just the opposite. But I kept an open mined, until now. Again, I do await the OP's counter to the Deborah Felixson post, and the ScubaPA75 posts.

Not trying to pick a fight deeper thoughts. I respect that you admit, as do I, that you weren't there. But in light of the new information, I can't condone the OP's statements.

Ok, 7 paragraphs, but they're skinny....

-Blair

 

[cvchief]

I wonder if the OP had his memory jogged by the two rebuttal responses. I may have to go to the PADI website to understand the elearning process.

Does the student get any pool work prior to going to Cozumel? I can see doing book work on line but how do you do all required pool work just prior to the first two checkout dives? Just seems odd if I understand an earlier post correctly.

Of course I do not twitter or use f*ceb**K either so I am be crotchety and set in my ways.

If I am being bad, you know how I should be disciplined.

If PADI released Elearning and it doesn't work, then we should blame _______

And yes Ron, you have and we know what you have earned:

 

[Quero]

Well I can see we have picked up right where the Scuba Mau thread left off.
:chairfight:

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

People!
​

Please take a moment to read the sticky at the top of this forum.

The Cozumel forum is a hugely popular one on SB, and you give your favorite destination a big black eye by your behavior here. It's actually more damaging than any single boat sinking or disgruntled customer review could ever be.

The moderation in this forum is getting tighter and tighter with each successive contentious thread. Patience is growing very, very thin. Forum bans are distinct possibilities. Go out and shovel some snow or something to get rid of all your pent up energy. Mellow out with a glass of wine in front of a fire. Go cuddle with your loved one. Do something so that when you come in here, you're not itching for a brawl.

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[cvchief]

Quero,

I appreciate your work, but can I get a little clarity? Do you mean that Zman's post is outta line or are you agreeing with him? Is the problem too many disagreements? If I am outta line, I give you permission to call me out and quote the problem so we all can better understand the issue. (Or maybe I am the only slow one in the class....)

 

[Ben Prusinski]

I would have signalled to the instructor about problems equalizing and waited for the instructor to help me out.