Time to hang up my wetsuit after near death on NYE

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Edwon1

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Location
Singapore
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I'm a newly certified AOW with 20 dives under my belt. On the eve of new year I decided to go for a fun dive with a dive center that had pretty good reviews on TripAdvisor.
I'm out with a DM who is new to the divesite.
On the first dive everything goes well, we dive at 18m the currents are pretty strong but we pass the strong currents just once.

On the second dive, the DM takes us through multiple sections of high current zones where we're swimming against the currents. This is honestly new to me as I've never dived against such strong current and my air consumption is higher than normal.
At around 20mins into the dive I'm reaching the reserve levels in my tank instead of reaching the reserve at 45 mins as is my usual air consumption.
I signal the DM that I'm low on air and she doesn't take notice. I look around for my dive buddy in case I need to swim to him to share air.
After a while I've reached my reserve and I indicate to my DM again that I'm low on air and she just asks me to swim in another section of high current.
Now a sense of panic sets in, I decide to swim into the current straight towards her and show her a low air directly on her face. Now I have 20 bar air left but I'm a bit relieved because she's got the message. We share air but because my tank is so light it drags us both up.
In my sense panic and the rapid ascent I forget to control my buoyancy and we both surface without a safety stop.

So there we go, that was a traumatic ending to 2019 and in all honesty I've decided that scuba in general is too risky for me to pursue. I love swimming and snorkeling is a better alternative for me.
The DM had her version of the story but I was in a state of shock and I didn't argue with her. I was the customer after all.
 
Too often I see poorly trained divers get hurt and quit. Before hanging up the suit, get instruction from a quality instructor. Your average run of the mill instructor quiet frankly sucks and pumps out subpar divers that end up in situations like this.

I personally travel all the way to Ft Lauderdale,Fl once a year to dive with @LandonL and his partner Ryan Custureri with Aqui Watersports to brush up on skills and work on something to progress myself.

They both work often in reaching divers like you, and I who had a bad experience and almost quit.
 
I was the customer after all.
There is the problem, you see yourself as secondary to the experience.

The dive is not all about your DM, it is all about you! You paid for it and got sucker punched.

An old surly boat captain (who has since passed) stuck his finger in my chest long ago and told me to 'Stay within your range. You know what your range is'.

I did and still do. Best U/W advice I ever got. Still alive, still loving the sport.
 
Hey, swimming and snorkelling are a lot of fun. But then again, never say never; in 5-10-35 years, you might want to dive again.Who knows, your 10 year old granddaughter might invite you to join her on fun dives after she has successfully completed her Open Water certification in some exotic dive location on your bucket list! Keep your options open (and go tech and dive redundant doubles!). I have dived in great 5-10 meter waters that is more forgiving than 20+ meters; again, you never know what opportunities the future can bring.

Thanks for sharing; all the best in 2020 and beyond.
 
More details about second dive? Boat dive vs shore dive? Drift or planned out and back to fixed point? Bottom conditions? Depth? Wetsuit? Weighting? Surface conditions? Known buddy or assigned on site? Were you close to each other? Did you have spool and DSMB?
 
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Sorry you had such a bad experience. Agree with others about using it as a learning experience but if you're feeling uncomfortable, you gotta do what you gotta do. Thinking about your dive though and assuming the depth of the 2nd dive was less than the first, missing the safety stop wasn't really that big of a deal. Also giving the "thumbs up" to end the dive might of been a consideration but maybe something you didn't think about because of being in a panic.

Enjoy whatever you wind up doing.
 
Most important thing ever is you are your own keeper. This whole buddy and DM thing are great concepts that you shouldn't rely on. We teach it, it works but there's two sides to it - one side doesn't do it's job, time to CYOA.

Low on air and DM doesn't respond, time to go up - plain and simple. Grab a buddy if possible and go up - otherwise go up alone.
 
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