An interesting dive

[orange_diver]

this DM air sharing happened on a couple dives recently whilst on vacation. and im glad it did to be honest...

travelling solo, i went with the best, most expensive dive op because i was told i would be placed on a small boat with like-experienced divers, and that wasnt the way it worked out. while only about 5-6 of us, a couple were freshly certed (<10 dives) divers and those who hadn't dived in 4 years on the boat.

sorry, but after all the expense of airfare, hotel, dive boat, etc, not to mention the constant dive education and training i do back home, should i suffer reduced BT because of some air hog that isnt my buddy? were drift diving in a group, so i cant just continue with my insta-buddy. when the DM calls the dive, everyone goes up and if he chooses to share air when another diver is LOW, not OOA, to extend BT to all the other divers, i appreciate that. we were at 30' or less, so any diver should be able to do a CESA if absolutely necessary, which would be a slim chance of happening anyway.

and before anyone jumps down my throat, when MY insta-buddy thumbed one dive because he was low on air, of course i ended the dive with him, even deciding to separate from the group because the DM ignored the thumb and continued the dive. so i shot a bag and up we went and all was good...

 

[wedivebc]

I wouldn't want them doing any tech dives with me.

I just finished up a series of cave dives in Mexico. 2 teams of divers on CCR and we all did safety stops even though our equivalent air depth was less than 10ffw for most dive profiles. Why, because it is important to practice good habits. I don't know what kind of tech diving you do but we consider ourselves tech divers and we do safety stops.

 

[Gdog]

In my humble Opinion.......each diver is responsible for himself, even diving buddy. If you suck air, work on your consumption. My wife always has more gas than myself. Just the way it is. Do I use her gas? NO WAY...not even at the start. I am not going to gamble her safety later in the dive because my SAC rate is higher, even if it means I may have to asend 5 minutes earlier. Damn..a whole 5 minutes. I know....you pay big bucks to go tropical and dive, I do it too. But...in the end, what is the difference between 55 minutes and 60 minutes, if you involved someone else's gas reserve in the event something....and those somethings do occur, happened? I respect many of the folks who have posted here that follow the practice, however....If I am going to do a long trek into the wilderness, I do not drink my partner's water or eat his/her food, even early in the trek. Again....nobody knows what may occur next, regardless of experience level. Where and when are we willing to begin compromising safety practices drummed into us? You can.....I will not. Even if it costs me 5 minutes of additional bottom time in Cozumel.
Just my two bits.....

 

[MikeFerrara]

I just finished up a series of cave dives in Mexico. 2 teams of divers on CCR and we all did safety stops even though our equivalent air depth was less than 10ffw for most dive profiles. Why, because it is important to practice good habits. I don't know what kind of tech diving you do but we consider ourselves tech divers and we do safety stops.

I guess I sort of see what you're saying but if I do a dive shallow enough that most of the dive is a safety stop (like your dive with an EAD of 10 ft), I don't nee to do more "safety stop". I'm not skipping it...it's already been done.

We have a little local site with a max depth of about 25 ft but the average is more like 15 ft. I don't do a "safety stop" because the whole dive is one long safety stop.

What I get bigger kick out of is the number of divers I've seen there who canceled their diving plans because their computer wasn't working.

 

[wedivebc]

I guess I sort of see what you're saying but if I do a dive shallow enough that most of the dive is a safety stop (like your dive with an EAD of 10 ft), I don't nee to do more "safety stop". I'm not skipping it...it's already been done.

We have a little local site with a max depth of about 25 ft but the average is more like 15 ft. I don't do a "safety stop" because the whole dive is one long safety stop.

What I get bigger kick out of is the number of divers I've seen there who canceled their diving plans because their computer wasn't working.

I agree, I was answering the opinion that someone doing such stops don't know what they are doing and I suggest for myself I probably do know what I'm doing and sometimes choose to do them even when they are not warranted only out of practicing good habits. As was the case in Mexico.

 

[all4scuba05]

I agree, I was answering the opinion that someone doing such stops don't know what they are doing and I suggest for myself I probably do know what I'm doing and sometimes choose to do them even when they are not warranted only out of practicing good habits. As was the case in Mexico.

There are a lot of things that are good habits. Like shooting bags, laying lines, doing mask swaps, sharing air, etc So why aren't you doing them all on every dive? My statements are based on the fact that many do some of these things and yet they don't know why they "need" to. They don't NEED to but they think they do. If you do it because it's a good habit, there's nothing wrong with that. I like to swap regs on each dive because I want to give both regs a good use. They both get serviced at the same time so might as well.

You don't have to do a safety stop on EVERY dive for 40 years because it's a good habit. It's not a bad habit but not a necessary one either.