Bad Dive trip

[Morpheus]

Greetings,
I recently took a dive trip in Honduras. Im a newly certified diver so needless to say I was nervous...everyone else on the dive (8 people total) were experienced divers..there was absolutly no "planning" on the part of our divemaster except for "today we will be diving so and so spot,depths vary" I told him I was only OW certed and his response was "are you comfortable with your self and your gear?" I said yes.."dont worry about it than" he said. I asked how deep we were going, to which I was told "the deepest area is about 70 feet. OW certs are only for 66ish feet so i worried none. during the dive when my computer registered 110 feet.i started to worry. I was totally out of my league but I hung in there..is this typical of dive trips? any others with similar experiences?

 

[Wijbrandus]

Umm, where in Honduras did you go?

I've got a dive trip planned in October to Roatan with my dive buddy and our wives. If that's where you went, this concerns me. We are a mix of AOW and OW divers, but all strictly novice experience levels.

 

[MechDiver]

Welcome to the real world of diving. I think it would have been somewhat nice if you had done something about your depth before reaching the 110' mark. You were responsible for your dive, not the DM.
How did the rest of the dives go?

Glad you did okay and learned something.

MD

 

[GrierHPharmD]

I'll chime in: This isn't typical, but it's not optimal either. You need to always remain aware of your own position in the water, both depth in the water column and direction back to the boat. You can't rely on the boat captain or DM, who know nothing about your skills, training and experience, to be able to direct your dive.

I'm glad you made it back safely. You've had a valuable lesson.

Take care and ascend safely,
Grier

 

[miketsp]

Greetings,
I recently took a dive trip in Honduras. Im a newly certified diver so needless to say I was nervous...everyone else on the dive (8 people total) were experienced divers..there was absolutly no "planning" on the part of our divemaster except for "today we will be diving so and so spot,depths vary" I told him I was only OW certed and his response was "are you comfortable with your self and your gear?" I said yes.."dont worry about it than" he said. I asked how deep we were going, to which I was told "the deepest area is about 70 feet. OW certs are only for 66ish feet so i worried none. during the dive when my computer registered 110 feet.i started to worry. I was totally out of my league but I hung in there..is this typical of dive trips? any others with similar experiences?

Who were you buddied with?
Or did you dive in group?
Did the DM personally supervise you?
If you spent much time at 110ft you may have incurred deco obligation. Did you do any?
Did you discuss the situation with your buddy after the 1st dive?
Were limits set for the dive duration?
How did you decide when to turn the dive?
"Hanging in" is not enough and can get you into trouble. You need to be comfortable and know what is going on.

 

[Morpheus]

We were in Roatan...Fantasy island beach resort. We dove as a group....the boat dropped us off and took off to the pick up spot.I should have surfaced now that i think about it.. We did do a deco stop.the DM made sure of that. I realize that im responsible for my own well being but I figured that a DM at a PADI resort would know the skills and training of a PADI OW diver...thats their job isnt it? as far as my experience I was taught during my class to fill out that dive book to show DMs what experience I had, He didnt ask and showed no interest in knowing. next time ill be more prepared. I should have turned the dive but I wanted to stay as a group to not put myself in danger if i got in trouble

 

[Wijbrandus]

Morph,

I learned long ago in a white water accident not to trust anyone else's "obligation" to keep me safe. Fortunately, both of us have come out of our learning experience safely.

Now you know how to do your figuring for next time. Glad you came out ok.

 

[ShakaZulu]

I think this happens way more than we think. On a boat dive of this nature, everyone just seems to blindly follow each other. Amazing how many vacation divers don't even know what their computors are telling them. Just because there is a dive master in the group, doesn't mean everything will be ok. Think for yourself and approach the dive as if you are the dive leader.

 

[MechDiver]

that a DM at a PADI resort would know the skills and training of a PADI OW diver...thats their job isnt it?

In theory, yes. You have seen the reality though. He should not, per PADI standards, taken you beyond 60'.

If the dive was "lead", then the DM would most likely use a profile for the majority of the divers, which you said were more advanced than you. What should have happened is a buddy would have been assigned to you, do dive within your training, or the DM should have done so.

This was called a "trust me" dive.

MD

 

[miketsp]

We were in Roatan...Fantasy island beach resort. We dove as a group....the boat dropped us off and took off to the pick up spot.I should have surfaced now that i think about it.. We did do a deco stop.the DM made sure of that. I realize that im responsible for my own well being but I figured that a DM at a PADI resort would know the skills and training of a PADI OW diver...thats their job isnt it? as far as my experience I was taught during my class to fill out that dive book to show DMs what experience I had, He didnt ask and showed no interest in knowing. next time ill be more prepared. I should have turned the dive but I wanted to stay as a group to not put myself in danger if i got in trouble

OK. As already commented above you pulled through and learned a few lessons in the process.
I think the main problem in this particular case was the lack of a defined buddy. If the other divers were experienced as you say, I'm sure they paired off even if you didn't notice.
If you had any sort of failure at 110ft, who were you going to depend on?
Even if you were the odd man left over, being part of a defined group of 3 is better than solo if you don't have redundant equipment. At least it imposes a moral obligation on the others to keep an eye on you and you would have felt more comfortable.
What you experienced isn't that frequent but it does happen.