Night dive, divemaster air monitoring

[doctormike]

I (and I think everyone else) appreciates the clarification of your question, because reading "between the lines" of your original post it seemed your situation was a bit different.

Not sure about that. It seemed pretty clear what the OP was asking. But then a bunch of people jumped down his throat because they thought he was expecting someone else to watch his gas. Which he wasn't. And the piling on continued even after clarification.

He was asking a totally reasonable question, as far as I can tell. Not sure why reading between the lines is necessary.

 

[DanielRJones]

This is where i believe a dm should never check air unless a private dm.
The guide is taking the group on a 60min dive. Why should the guide cut the groups dive short for 1 or 2 people we are all qualified and able surface ourselfs.
Last dive in the red sea guide led a dive down to el mina wreck at 30m then across to another fishing boat wreck at 30m. 4 divers turned 1/2 way to 2nd wreck due to air and i had to ascend 10m above the group on swim back not to go into deco on my computer.

 

[CathyE]

This is where i believe a dm should never check air unless a private dm.
The guide is taking the group on a 60min dive. Why should the guide cut the groups dive short for 1 or 2 people we are all qualified and able surface ourselfs.
Last dive in the red sea guide led a dive down to el mina wreck at 30m then across to another fishing boat wreck at 30m. 4 divers turned 1/2 way to 2nd wreck due to air and i had to ascend 10m above the group on swim back not to go into deco on my computer.

Some shops in vacation locations do not allow you to do this.
I was diving in Jamaica, we were going to go with the AOW group and I told the DM that I would stay a little above them as I was harder on air. He refused, said I had to stay at 80' with him, that we all had to maintain the same profile. He pointed to his computer. I pointed to my computer and said I would be fine, but no, he refused to allow it. I looked over at the other DM who was going to lead the OW group at 60', 'Really?', he shook his head.
We went with the second DM and OW group, we dove our dive, as deep as we wanted, puttering around under the boat after the others went up. It was definitely the better choice but we did not dive with them again.

 

[Painter]

Your anxiety largely is due to your over-reliance on the DM / guide to monitor your air. You're wondering "what happens if he doesn't monitor my air effectively??" And you're imagining that at night it will be even more difficult for the guide to do this.

So the solution to relieving your anxiety, as others in this thread have suggested, is simple: recognize that it's not part of the guide's job description to monitor your air. You should have an assigned buddy, the two of you should do your own dive planning (even though you will follow the guide) and you should communicate with your buddy as you learned in your OW course.

Make sure you understand exactly what the role of the guide includes. In most warm water locales, the guide's job is to show you the way... i.e. to guide you... and make sure you don't touch stuff. You should assume the guide's job is to protect the dive site from you, not the other way around.

Your safety and your dive plan is your responsibility. When you embrace this idea, your anxiety will drop significantly. And you will be able to enjoy your dives!

It looks like you may have not read some of my other responses. I DON'T rely on the DM to monitor my air. I do that pretty well for myself, thank you very much. If you go back through this thread you will see that my question was actually pretty simple.

 

[Painter]

My profound apologies.

Thank you.

 

[DanielRJones]

Some shops in vacation locations do not allow you to do this.
I was diving in Jamaica, we were going to go with the AOW group and I told the DM that I would stay a little above them as I was harder on air. He refused, said I had to stay at 80' with him, that we all had to maintain the same profile. He pointed to his computer. I pointed to my computer and said I would be fine, but no, he refused to allow it. I looked over at the other DM who was going to lead the OW group at 60', 'Really?', he shook his head.
We went with the second DM and OW group, we dove our dive, as deep as we wanted, puttering around under the boat after the others went up. It was definitely the better choice but we did not dive with them again.

That is fine i would have just ended up with about a 10min stop at 6m or i could have changed my profile to get me out with no deco.

Throughout the week the briefs were
60min or 50bar
Follow your computer and shallow up when within 3min of ndl.

 

[Ouvea]

Painter:

Perhaps I should clarify my question: because I tend to go through air somewhat more quickly than others in the groups I have been in, I try to keep the DM aware of when I am down to half a tank so that the DM will know when to turn the dive. That has always been the instruction in the pre-dive briefing. All I wanted to know is how this operates when on a night dive.

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This will depend on your dive location. However, this should be part of the dive briefing and you should follow the instructions of your DM. When you have reached the point that you need to ascend then inform your DM and follow the guidelines set forth in the dive briefing. Keeping a group together is harder during a night dive, for the obvious reason. In addition, if you have multiple dive teams, how do you identify the members of each respective teams? While I was in Hawaii a few years ago, the dive operation assigned a colored light which corresponded to specific dive master, so we new exactly to which team we belonged. I have yet to see a single DM terminate a dive briefing without asking if anyone had questions or concerns. Ask away, if you have concerns or questions, which the DM did not answer.

 

[yle]

The best divemasters (in my opinion) have regularly monitored all the divers in their groups, asking, with signals, for a check on air levels. I may do a night dive on my next trip, but I am feeling somewhat anxious about how the divemaster will keep tabs on us "hoovers?"

What has been your experience? What would you who have done night dives want from the divemaster?

Not sure about that. It seemed pretty clear what the OP was asking. But then a bunch of people jumped down his throat because they thought he was expecting someone else to watch his gas. Which he wasn't. And the piling on continued even after clarification.

He was asking a totally reasonable question, as far as I can tell. Not sure why reading between the lines is necessary.

All right, it seems everyone interprets things differently. The original post is above. What I read was, after the OP stated he had done 42 dives, almost all with divemaster guides in warm water:

1. "the best divemasters have regularly monitored all the divers in their groups"

2. "I may do a night dive... but I am feeling anxious about how the divemaster will keep tabs on us..."

I guess I was one of many who interpreted this to mean:

1. The OP has an expectation that DM guides will monitor the air of the divers in their groups. Why else would that be a condition for qualifying to be a "best divemaster"?

2. The OP is anxious about how the DM will monitor his air while on a night dive. He specifically says "keep tabs on us", but the only function of the keeping of tabs he has mentioned before this is to monitor air.

I agree with you, Dr Mike, that there is no "reading between the lines" necessary. Whether intended or not, the OP wrote that he had developed an expectation that the DM would monitor his air and wanted to know how that would happen on a night dive. Which is why the later clarification was appreciated.

 

[doctormike]

I agree with you, Dr Mike, that there is no "reading between the lines" necessary. Whether intended or not, the OP wrote that he had developed an expectation that the DM would monitor his air and wanted to know how that would happen on a night dive. Which is why the later clarification was appreciated.

The point that I was making was that the OP wasn't expecting the DM to monitor his air for him. He was expecting the DM to monitor the air of everyone in the group so as to be able to get everyone together for a group ascent when the first person hit ascent pressure. Those are two different things.

Most of the criticism of the OP was based on the assumption that he was expecting someone to let him know when he was out of gas, which is not the case.

 

[Painter]

The point that I was making was that the OP wasn't expecting the DM to monitor his air for him. He was expecting the DM to monitor the air of everyone in the group so as to be able to get everyone together for a group ascent when the first person hit ascent pressure. Those are two different things.

Most of the criticism of the OP was based on the assumption that he was expecting someone to let him know when he was out of gas, which is not the case.

Exactly.