Beware lunatic divemasters

[billt4sf]

The most significant thing I did was figure out my own comfort level. It took awhile.

Any time I am thinking about going to a new area, I research on ScubaBoard about the site(s), because I have never had a dive op describe the skills I would need or what the dives are really like. Usually they say something like "We have dives for every skill level" or some such pablum. Or worse, offer to send a DM with you (which, if you are over your head, can be helpful in the event but will not always keep you safe like most new divers think it will).

I DO have a comfort limit, and I DO intend to stay within it or near it. But with everybody ready to take your money, you really need to do your own research before you travel.

- Bill

---------- Post added July 6th, 2015 at 09:34 PM ----------

Some people, many people, prefer more energetic and adventurous diving and do not like being nannied. ...... Me, I will relax when I am dead, there will be plenty of time then.

Says the guy whose profile says he is not certified?

- Bill

 

[Brandon]

Says the guy whose profile says he is not certified?
- Bill

Nemrod's diving credentials are quite well established... Keep in mind that if you don't select a number of dives, the default is "None- Not Certified."

 

[Storker]

Some people, many people, prefer more energetic and adventurous diving and do not like being nannied.

Is there an equvalence between wanting to stay within personal comfort limits and wanting to be nannied now? That's news to me, when was that memo circulated?

Two things that kill are panic and complacency. I try to avoid the former by not straying too far from my comfort limits and build my experience in small steps in the company of someone I have a good reason to trust. I try to avoid the latter by maintaining a healthy dose of fear of drowning. It seems as if some in this thread aren't doing that.



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[chillyinCanada]

Russoft, why are you and your wife picking such aggressive dive locales in the first place? Why not start out with a week or ten days of diving some place like, um, I dunno . . .someplace like Roatan? Very pretty dives but mostly benign. Could be a good place for the two of you to take your AOW.

Or even Ambergris Caye Belize, though you should first know that many of the sites are around 80' (25m).

 

[The Chairman]

Russoft, why are you and your wife picking such aggressive dive locales in the first place?

This is a good point and the OP has proved that rather than bliss, ignorance can be down right terrifying. I love Cozumel, who wouldn't? However, I don't think it's such a great destination for a newbie diver who has not figured out what their limits are. Most of the good dives are deep and some are treacherous. Contrast that with Key Largo, where most of the good diving is shallow and I'm talking 30 feet (10 meters). Currents are usually benign and there is lots to see if you go slow. There are deeper dives available, such as some of the artificial reefs, but you have to have AOW to dive them. The best way to not get pushed past your limits is to dive areas that overall conform to them.

 

[Oldbear]

This is a good point and the OP has proved that rather than bliss, ignorance can be down right terrifying. I love Cozumel, who wouldn't? However, I don't think it's such a great destination for a newbie diver who has not figured out what their limits are. Most of the good dives are deep and some are treacherous. Contrast that with Key Largo, where most of the good diving is shallow and I'm talking 30 feet (10 meters). Currents are usually benign and there is lots to see if you go slow. There are deeper dives available, such as some of the artificial reefs, but you have to have AOW to dive them. The best way to not get pushed past your limits is to dive areas that overall conform to them.

I did some of my earliest diving in Coz, but when I look back at my old log books I see the Dive Operator (who does a lot of dives with newly certified divers) kept taking me to the same basic three dive sites. And I was not the wiser but now looking back very grateful they were looking out for me. It is now my hopes to return within the next couple of years and experience all of the "Other" dive sites. I could have just as easily ended up on an advance dive way above my experience level if I happened to have dived with a "questionable" looking to fill a boat not caring what my skill level was. Sometimes we are just luckier than we are wiser....

 

[Mike126]

Russoft - Good for you to finally realize that YOU are the only person that can determine YOUR comfort level. The DM should recognize what your certification level is and plan dives accordingly. If you are OW and are diving with a group of AOW that want to go into deco they should either keep the group to the lowest common denominator or have you go with another DM.

NetDoc is spot on. You need to feel confident in calling off a dive. I have made the same mistake of not calling off dives because of ear issues and as a result had to sit out the remainder of the trip. Unfortunately some of the resort DMs are burnt out with the standard OW dive profile that they want to push things to make it interesting for them.

Safe diving...

 

[Pin83]

Without having been present as a objective observer, and without knowing the other side of the story (I expect the DMs probably have a different point of view), it does sound like they acted irresponsibly. That said, I expect they probably did so thinking they were giving you a better time. This kind of thing happens often in tropical touristy places. I've heard of newly-minted OW divers doing their first non-course dives on the Coolidge, which is madness.

However, as they others have said, it's a divers right, and in fact responsibility to thumb a dive they are not confident doing. More than that, as a certified diver, it is your responsibility not to dive beyond the limits of your training and experience. At the point where you didnt want to be at 24m, you should have signalled that you and your buddy were going to ascend and level off at 18m.

Ideally both a DM and diver will have similar expectations (ie certified limits). Where one lapses, the other should stick to the plan, and no harm is done (most often, I suspect, this is divers blowing their depth limit, not DMs driving them past it). Where everybody disregards the rules/plan, things can get out of shape.

Dave.

 

[Neilwood]

I've only been pushed once hard, but not by a DM, but a dive buddy. I just got a DPV, I had about 30 dives or so under the belt (and about 16 of them in the Yucatan). It was winter, just snowed, Puget Sound, going to have to deal with strong currents (yes, I just acquired a DPV, but I wasn't used to it yet) and I wasn't feeling well. He pushed and pushed, but I backed out the last minute. I'm pretty sure he won't dive with me as he won't talk with me. But that's fine. I consider such a dive buddy as unsafe. This was a year and a half ago, and I'm approaching 200 dives and I'd have no problem with doing that dive now. Back then, definitely not. I'm looking at becoming an instructor in the future, and that is one thing I will emphasize to students: never let anyone push you when you are not comfortable to handling everything assuming you are suddenly on your own. Had I caved, I could have gotten into a really bad situation.

Now I am not a certified diver yet (working on the knowledge but with my course booked) but even I know that the buddy system is to watch out for each other not to get each other in to dangerous situations that are outwith your comfort zone. He certainly doesn't sound like a great dive "buddy".

If DM are deliberately misleading the divers in their charge into potentially dangerous situations and situations where the divers aren't certified for or happy with, then they are potentially dangerous in their own right. Who is to say what might happen when someone realises that they are nearly 40% past their certified depth and potentially going deeper? When people are so far out of their comfort zones it could lead to a possible panic attack.

The OP did the right thing about thumbing the dive imho

 

[Russoft]

Russoft, why are you and your wife picking such aggressive dive locales in the first place? Why not start out with a week or ten days of diving some place like, um, I dunno . . .someplace like Roatan? Very pretty dives but mostly benign. Could be a good place for the two of you to take your AOW.

Or even Ambergris Caye Belize, though you should first know that many of the sites are around 80' (25m).

That does require some explaining. Mexico was a honeymoon, chosen because it was cheap. Most of the diving was quite easy. It was my first real diving trip in 7 years because I was in University for that length of time with zero money for diving except a few pool and mud puddle (lake) dives. Prior to school, I actually grew up in southeast Africa (Mozambique to be specific). I have family there. That's why I was back in Africa. I didn't go because of the diving, but rather to visit family (although I've always enjoyed diving on the Mozambique coast).