Bad dive shop or is it just me

[waraebi]

Hi there!

I have just started diving, got my OWD license and have done only 8 dives so far. I am currently living in Asia, I am diving in the ocean, only.
(Sorry for my bad English)
I did 4 of the dives (2 beach, 2 boat) with the same dive shop (the OWD course was somewhere else) and some things were a little confusing for me. I wonder if this is really a dive shop I should not go to anymore, or maybe it's just me being too fixated on what I have learned in the OWD course. I hope I can get some opinions on the following things:

1) My OWD intstructor told me that I should ask for about 4 kg of weights (5mm wetsuit and steel tank).
So did I, but the dive shop refused and gave me only 2 kg, telling me that 4kg was much too heavy. As a result, I could not descend, needed the help of the dive guide to do so. One guide even put some stones from the ocean floor into my BCD to keep me down.

2) I thought it is absolutely necessary to have a dive buddy assigned and to do buddy checks before entering the ocean, but neither of that happened. Nobody checked each other's gear and we just swam around as a group.

3) They knew that I am only OWD certified but on one boat dive we went down to more than 21m. Is that a no-no or does that happen sometimes? I rented a dive computer from the shop but noticed under water that it was just showing "battery" on the screen, so I did not really know how deep we went until later after the dive. I know I should have checked it properly on the surface.

3) For the two boat dives I got a rental BCD jacket that was not functioning properly, in my opinion, But as a newbie I am not sure about that. When we descended I totally deflated the BCD (in my opinion) and I surely did not put any air into it again. But during the dive I noticed that something was constantly pulling me upwards, so I deflated the BCD again and again. And each time quite an amount of air came out of it, although I never inflated it once. I also heard some bubbling sounds from the inflator hose. I was constantly fighting for not floating upwards, I managed to do so somehow (by crawling on the sea floor), but that was really miserable. And I was really low on air after 30 minutes ( I mean, like 10 bar), which is not normal for me. It was so disappointing for my fellow divers as well.
I told the dive guide during the break on the surface. They changed the hose. And it was a little bit better at the beginning of the second dive, I even had to put some air into the BCD to stay above the seafloor. But gradually I got the feeling again to be pulled upwards, so I had to release a lot of air again every few minutes from the BCD and I think there still was the strange bubbling sound.
As a newbie I am asking myself whether I didn't handle the BCD correctly. But I've never had any problems like that with other BCDs.
For the two beach dives I got a different rental BCD jacket and that was so very different, no strange bubbling sounds and once I deflated it the air did not come back. But the beach dives were only 12m max.

4) I finished every dive with less than 50 bar. When the needle entered the red area on the gauge I told the dive guide but they did not worry about it. I thought it was ok for the two shallow beach dives. But especially during the two boat dives with the strange BCD I anxiously checked the gauge all the time and I told the dive guide "now I am at 70bar - 50bar - 40bar. At the last boat dive we started ascending so late that I surfaced with 10 bar only, without safety stop. Of course they don't want to disappoint the other divers who had more air left, so they pushed me to the limits. But in the end I thought that was really, really close to being out of air, or am I being just overly anxious?

I guess nothing goes exactly the way it is written in the textbooks in any dive shop. And my fellow (but much more experienced) divers seemed to have been quite satisfied with their dives. Am I worrying too much about the things written above?

All in all, I feel like the two boat dives were quite miserable. I somehow came to think that this might not be the best hobby for me. But then, I enjoyed the two experience dives before getting the OWD so much, and I was also very happy during most of the two beach dives. I will probably give it another chance in a few weeks with a completely different dive shop and a private dive guide, I don't bother fellow divers, then. At least I know now that I can do double troubleshooting (my mask was also leaking a little bit, but I am used to that) at 21m without panicking

Thank you for reading this!

Kind regards,
waraebi

 

[Wingy]

Yes wrong shop. You won't instantly die if you go deeper than 21m and if you are solo in most of Asia the guide/Dm is your buddy unless there is another diver alone. Where do you live - which country - people here can maybe help suggest a better one

Don't be discouraged, this is not the sort of shop anyone new or experienced needs.

 

[DiveClimbRide]

I'll try to address each point on its own then address the whole situation at the end.

4kg does not seem excessive to me for that setup. They should have given you what weights you asked for in my opinion.

Yes buddy checks are necessary before each dive. Sometimes you can swim in a group but it's always best to have a dedicated buddy in that group.

They absolutely should not have taken you down to 21m. However you should also not have continued down further than you are qualified to. Also don't dive with a dive computer that isn't working. Yes it's horrifying that they gave you one like that but you should not dive without something to tell your depth, time and NDL's.

Broken equipment seems to be a common theme at this shop.

Regarding air. Yes the divemaster should have listened to you and surfaced when you got low on air. However your safety is also your business if you feel your air is too low (and I agree it was) you should surface.


In conclusion run as far away from that dive shop and never go back. I'm sure you'll enjoy diving much more with a competent divemaster and a proper dive shop.

 

[Raphus]

4kg might be a bit high, but still ok!
They should Give you 4kg with the hint, that you should do a weigth check at the end of the dive.
2kg in 5mm is not enough for most beginners.

Sounds like your bcd or hose was not working properly.

Never dive without a computer!
You have to check all the renting (and of course your own gear too) gear, when u get it.
Check the computer next time on land, where its still possible to change it.
Of course you are a beginner and its all overwhelming, so its normal to forget something.
Lesson learned i guess.

Diving in a group without a dedicated buddy is quiet common.. I dont like it personally.. Just speak to the people on board or during the breefing and find a buddy.

Leaving the water with 10 bar is not acceptable.
50 bar is the minimum air you should leave the water. There are 3 reasons for this:

1. In an emergency you dont have any air left. This could be a net or fishing line which catches your leg or sth else..

2. Depth gauges are not always perfectly working. Especially when other renting gear is poorly maintained. So 10 bar can be 0 bar.. And the air suddenly stops coming.. This is especially true at depth, where other effects come into place, which i dont explain here now. If the gauges shows 20 bar you should always expect the reg to stop working in any moment. So be near a dm/guide and tell Them. And switch to their octo, even if you have 20 bar left. So you can still use your bcd. If the tank is empty you cant fill your bcd.. Which might be really really bad.

3. I learned, that at arround 10/20 bar moisture can go into the tank and cause corrosion. Of course this is not your own tank.. But of they allow you to go low on air, or possible go to 0 bar. Then other customers did aswell. So tanks might have corrosion inside. I guess i dives aluminium tanks?
Then aluminium dust can seal your filter and close the valve.
Some dive boats even want a fine, if you go below 40 bar. Thats for a reason.

So dont dive with this shop anymore.
Inspect your gear on land.
And never trust your dm or anyone else in case of an emergency.
Its you safety and you are responsible for it.

 

[Raphus]

Ask before the dive what happens if you go low on air early. In most cases an ascend (slow including an saftestop) is the best way to deal with it.
In some drift dives this might be dangerous, so ask the guide during the breefing. And follow this procedure. Of course tell the dm before ascending.

 

[RemcoDutch]

1. Yes very common. Everyone always knows better about weights! At least now you know. I had so much trouble with that at the start.

2. Even when diving in groups, a good school / DM would assign 2 or 3 people together.

3. As a newbie, it is confusing sometimes for sure! I sometimes get weird bubble sounds from my wetsuit when it releases air.

4. Damn I would get nervous aswell at 10 bar. Ofcourse there is some spare of air with your DM/Buddy. But that not very ideal! On our boatdives here we always go for safety stop at 50/60 bar.
Where I dive the DM brings 1 buddy pair back to the ascend line when they have 50 bar. There they can do their safety stop and go to the boat. Rest of us then hang around looking under rocks for the last 15 min or so .

5. Here where I live, I tested most of my diveshops / school. And now I stick with the one I like best!
Hope you have plenty more around you. 'Cause this one does NOT sound like fun!

Good equipment and safe procedures are the most important!
With a good school you will have so much more fun!

Hope you will find a good shop, then you will see. When you feel comfortable you will use less air, dive longer and have ALOT more fun!

 

[Edward3c]

Hi there!

I have just started diving, got my OWD license and have done only 8 dives so far. I am currently living in Asia, I am diving in the ocean, only.
(Sorry for my bad English)
I did 4 of the dives (2 beach, 2 boat) with the same dive shop (the OWD course was somewhere else) and some things were a little confusing for me. I wonder if this is really a dive shop I should not go to anymore, or maybe it's just me being too fixated on what I have learned in the OWD course. I hope I can get some opinions on the following things:

1) My OWD intstructor told me that I should ask for about 4 kg of weights (5mm wetsuit and steel tank).
So did I, but the dive shop refused and gave me only 2 kg, telling me that 4kg was much too heavy. As a result, I could not descend, needed the help of the dive guide to do so. One guide even put some stones from the ocean floor into my BCD to keep me down.

Not all dive operators have your best interests as their driving force, some are in it for the money. If their scrimping on weights that’s a sign they might not have enough kit to go round. I would politely thank them for their advice, but take the weights anyway. Normally, on my first dives of a holiday I will have an extra kg or two just to be on the safe side.

2) I thought it is absolutely necessary to have a dive buddy assigned and to do buddy checks before entering the ocean, but neither of that happened. Nobody checked each other's gear and we just swam around as a group.

This happens all over the world. One reason I only book a single trip with a new operator. Back it the office I thank them for the dive than explain that without buddy allocation I won’t be diving with them again. Buddy check: even if there isn’t an assigned buddy I ask someone to watch me check my equipment. It surprising how often this gets everyone to do a buddy check.

3) They knew that I am only OWD certified but on one boat dive we went down to more than 21m. Is that a no-no or does that happen sometimes? I rented a dive computer from the shop but noticed under water that it was just showing "battery" on the screen, so I did not really know how deep we went until later after the dive. I know I should have checked it properly on the surface.

I’m going to make an assumption. You were taught to end a dive if equipment fails? That said, most dives run by bucket shops are unlikely to put you into mandatory deco. Therefore, with a failed computer just stay shallower than other divers and you should be OK.

3) For the two boat dives I got a rental BCD jacket that was not functioning properly, in my opinion, But as a newbie I am not sure about that. When we descended I totally deflated the BCD (in my opinion) and I surely did not put any air into it again. But during the dive I noticed that something was constantly pulling me upwards, so I deflated the BCD again and again. And each time quite an amount of air came out of it, although I never inflated it once. I also heard some bubbling sounds from the inflator hose. I was constantly fighting for not floating upwards, I managed to do so somehow (by crawling on the sea floor), but that was really miserable. And I was really low on air after 30 minutes ( I mean, like 10 bar), which is not normal for me. It was so disappointing for my fellow divers as well.
I told the dive guide during the break on the surface. They changed the hose. And it was a little bit better at the beginning of the second dive, I even had to put some air into the BCD to stay above the seafloor. But gradually I got the feeling again to be pulled upwards, so I had to release a lot of air again every few minutes from the BCD and I think there still was the strange bubbling sound.
As a newbie I am asking myself whether I didn't handle the BCD correctly. But I've never had any problems like that with other BCDs.
For the two beach dives I got a different rental BCD jacket and that was so very different, no strange bubbling sounds and once I deflated it the air did not come back. But the beach dives were only 12m max.

As above about faulty equipment. Were you taught to disconnect the hose of the BCD during you training; it’s something included is our training.

4) I finished every dive with less than 50 bar. When the needle entered the red area on the gauge I told the dive guide but they did not worry about it. I thought it was ok for the two shallow beach dives. But especially during the two boat dives with the strange BCD I anxiously checked the gauge all the time and I told the dive guide "now I am at 70bar - 50bar - 40bar. At the last boat dive we started ascending so late that I surfaced with 10 bar only, without safety stop. Of course they don't want to disappoint the other divers who had more air left, so they pushed me to the limits. But in the end I thought that was really, really close to being out of air, or am I being just overly anxious?

I’ve come across a number or guides who play this game. My response, is to wave them goodbye and start my ascent. I dive with my own equipment, but still don’t rely on the gauge being accurate within 20bar.

I guess nothing goes exactly the way it is written in the textbooks in any dive shop. And my fellow (but much more experienced) divers seemed to have been quite satisfied with their dives. Am I worrying too much about the things written above?

All in all, I feel like the two boat dives were quite miserable. I somehow came to think that this might not be the best hobby for me. But then, I enjoyed the two experience dives before getting the OWD so much, and I was also very happy during most of the two beach dives. I will probably give it another chance in a few weeks with a completely different dive shop and a private dive guide, I don't bother fellow divers, then. At least I know now that I can do double troubleshooting (my mask was also leaking a little bit, but I am used to that) at 21m without panicking

Thank you for reading this!

Kind regards,
waraebi

Welcome to the undersea world. Yes you’ve started to learn that you have to think for yourself, dive operators generally provide the opportunity for diving, but you’re responsible for your own safety.

 

[Hank49]

...bad dive shop....but as mentioned, develop the mentality to take care of yourself and gear. Check everything. Eventually, when you become addicted to diving, you'll get your own gear...

 

[waraebi]

Hi,

thank you all for your answers!

Yeah, important lessons learned! I have to be more self-confident when dealing with dive shops and DM. I should insist even before the briefing on starting to ascend when I hit 60bar. If they refuse or give a vague answer, don't sign up for a dive.
I can't rely on the dive shop and their staff

Thanks again!

Kind regards,
waraebi

 

[Miyaru]

Where in Asia did you dive? Vietnam?