A deceptively easy way to die

[TMHeimer]

Jim L., Yeah, I tell students no buddy skills you learn mean anything if you're not right close with your buddy. By in large the instructors at our shop stress this, even when the "group" swims out to the training buoy. But without overstepping my bounds, there are times when I chime in. Yeah, it's a good OW or anywhere video. Instructors leading OW students into any kind of entrance to a cavern/cave--what's that?

NW Bob, Holy crap. 70' on OW #2. Silt out. New Instructor. Unbelievable. Man, you have to watch out for yourself.

Hope I can meet you guys someday before I'm too old (next week).

 

[Neilwood]

This is the best thing about the above (overall awesome) post.

Quietly trying to correct an instructor who is screwing up (horribly and outside of both standards and responsible action) without completely subverting their authority in front of students. Good show!

Lamentably, there are all too many instructors out there without anyone to correct them certifying lots of students who don't know better.

What I find lamentable is that the instructor can't think enough for themselves to see that they are putting people into a dangerous situation (both the students and themselves legally).

As you say though, better to speak to someone quietly than in front of a group.

 

[MikeT73]

I see no reason to scare little Johnny and Mom in the front row of a basic scuba course.

Oh I don't know, maybe so little Johnny doesn't become an orphan, or a fatality himself? But no, we don't want to hurt our profit or the image of the sport. Glad you have your priorities in order.

You've had feedback from a lot of folks who don't just talk the talk. They are not internet divers. Some have recovered bodies, and lost friends and family of their own. Tread lightly please. You would be prudent to eat a slice of humble pie and learn what they are (politely) struggling to teach you.

MT

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Oh my no ... we wouldn't want to scare little Johnny and Mom ... better to take them out on an ill-advised dive and let one of them end up dead by virtue of doing something because they didn't know any better ... like that Mom who died on her first post OW dive did at Les Davis this past summer (it's discussed in the A&I forum) ... leaving little Johnny not only without a parent, but probably blaming himself for something that wasn't his fault.

I have never minced words about the risks of scuba diving. I have yet to have anyone frightened away from class because of my warnings about the risks. I have, on rare occasions, had someone drop out of class after an OW class dive ... and in every case, I felt it was the right decision. Not everyone should scuba dive. Not everyone who signs up for a class should be granted a certification. If giving someone a realistic assessment of the risks ... or their ability to manage the risks ... causes them to decide that scuba is not for them, I see that as a good thing ... it may well have saved their life.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Nasser]

If giving someone a realistic assessment of the risks ... or their ability to manage the risks ... causes them to decide that scuba is not for them, I see that as a good thing ... it may well have saved their life.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Careful NWGratefulDiver,

You may be accused of "excessive hyperbole" and being "overly dramatic" !

 

[oya]

"I couldn't pass my scuba class because the instructor was excessively hyperbolic."

 

[MikeT73]

He clearly needs a trip to the hyperbolic chamber.

 

[oya]

He clearly needs a trip to the hyperbolic chamber.

Boooooooooo!!!!!!

 

[Akimbo]

I could never understand why anyone could have difficulty comprehending how easy it is to get lost in a hard overhead environment and run out of breathing gas. Nothing deceptive about it and no special training is required. Does diver training discourage thinking and depend solely on memorizing rules?

 

[Nasser]

I could never understand why anyone could have difficulty comprehending how easy it is to get lost in a hard overhead environment and run out of breathing gas. Nothing deceptive about it and no special training is required. Does diver training discourage thinking and depend solely on memorizing rules?

I don't think it's about diver training discouraging thinking... it just seems that it is not as self-evident to some divers as one would hope.

A couple of months ago I was in Sharm Al Sheikh, Egypt diving some wrecks and caves. One particular cave we dove was located inside a very popular OW reef that is frequented by a large amount of divers daily. The cave opening itself is only at 6m and has a beautiful entrance with sunlight penetrating further into areas of the cave due to openings from the top of the reef... openings far too small for any divers to swim through as an exit. Nevertheless, it does lead some divers unaware of the structure of the cave to mistakingly swim inside thinking that an exit is just a little further down the cave where the light is. Unfortunately, by the time they discover this is not an actual exit they have elarady silted up the envinrment and have lost the way out.

I was told after completing the dive (with the proper equpenmt and guidelines etc..) that only a coupe of months prior to my arrival two OW divers went into the shallow cave... they got lost. One managed to find his way out, the other was later recovered at about 40 meters inside the cave and only 3m from the surface.

This has happened more often than dive operators here care to remember and if you are also familiar with other wrecks in the Red Sea and the Blue Hole and Canyon sites in Dahab, far too many divers at various experience levels have perished. There are memorial plaques on the rocks there as a somber reminder. These are not some out of the way esoteric dive sites... these are very popular high density areas that are visited by thousands of divers every year - and without assigning blame to the operators, the guides, or even the diver themselves... it has happened far too often over here, and will probably continue to happen.

I wish that the dangers were indeed self-evident, but unfortunately they are not to an unacceptable amount of dead divers.