Bad Dive trip

[matt_unique]

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?

I had a similar first experience actually. My g-friend and I literally completed our final OW certification dives on day 1 and on day 2 we were at 110' after going through a swim through on Santa Rosa Wall in Cozumel. It was a long swim through and I was a bit spooked. When we came out of it we were on a straight wall heading into the abyss until the DM got our attention and had us rejoin the group at 100'. So I too fell into this trap of blindly following a group (then descending past the group) for my very first certified OW dive. Good lessons learned...if I knew then what I know now...etc.

I have been with other shops/crew that were extremely methodical and careful with excellent briefings and close monitoring of divers.

--Matt

 

[CathyI8205]

Morph, This has been our experience too. But we did our first ocean dives in Key Largo. The cattle boats are not at all interested in new divers. They told us that since we were certified we should know what we're doing. But as you know that's not the case at all. On our next trip to Key Largo we went with a small operator and hired an instructor. Not cheap but worth it. After battling the seas there I'm wondering if my husband is going to stay with it. Next trip is somewhere calm. Good luck and work on your advanced next. There is information there you should have. -Cathy

 

[Wreck]

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.

One dive shop tied to a fancy hotel in Hurghada didn't have depth guages in their consoles. I couldn't believe it. But then, if you're sticking close to a DM, I suppose a bit of the risk is somewhat mitigated. But still....

 

[RobinG]

What you experienced isn't that frequent but it does happen.

I find that it is frequent. We've been expected to stay with the group in Coz, Grand Cayman, Honduras and PNG, to name the ones I can think of off the top of my head, and all DM took us to 100+ feet. My dive buddy/husband and I are experienced and stay within sight of the group but we don't do group swim-throughs, or much of anything with groups except stay within sight. In Honduras, we watched the rest of the group, whom we knew to be newly certified parents with newly certified teens, race past us when we stopped at 110...and yes, the DM was leading. We shook our heads and indicated to the DM we were off on our own.

In Turkey, a DM took us all to 165 (OW divers too!), but that's a whole different world.

Robin

 

[Scubamedicjoe]

Morpheus as others stated we are each responsible for there own actions with this said , yes the dive master should of been more Prone to assist you. I see this allot off the coast of NC, but most of the time the DM pair them up with a very experienced diver . might be good time to get your advance open water and few other specialties.

 

[razor]

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?

I am also a newbie (35 dives) but my wife and I have also experienced a similar attitude with some operaters/DM. When it comes down to it we are responsible for our own safety. I am lucky because I have a good dive buddy who has a financial and emotional stake in keeping me alive. We have agreed that if either one of us gets spooked or is not comfortable with what is going on then the dive is over for us. We would surface and inflate the sausage and wait for the dive boat to come get us. This is such a great sport for both of us I would hate to do something that would turn us against diving. Don't let people force you to do something that your not comfortable with. Just my two cents

 

[voop]

One dive shop tied to a fancy hotel in Hurghada didn't have depth guages in their consoles. I couldn't believe it. But then, if you're sticking close to a DM, I suppose a bit of the risk is somewhat mitigated. But still....

Hmm....I would *not* trust my life to a DM remembering to check his gague under any condition. What if his gague malfunctions? What if the DM "malfunctions" (hey, narcosis and such, as well as more terminal stuff can happen to anyone). Now the whole group is hosed.

Nope, there's no excuse for trust-me dives.....never....next question?

 

[voop]

I am also a newbie (35 dives) but my wife and I have also experienced a similar attitude with some operaters/DM. When it comes down to it we are responsible for our own safety. I am lucky because I have a good dive buddy who has a financial and emotional stake in keeping me alive. We have agreed that if either one of us gets spooked or is not comfortable with what is going on then the dive is over for us. We would surface and inflate the sausage and wait for the dive boat to come get us. This is such a great sport for both of us I would hate to do something that would turn us against diving. Don't let people force you to do something that your not comfortable with. Just my two cents

That's the agreement I make with any buddy I dive with. Any dive can be thumb'ed at any time by anyone, with no explanation whatsoever. There is no discussion under water as to if a dive should be thumb'ed. EVER. A discussion, if any, can be taken when safely back on the surface. And the decission to thumb a dive cannot be questioned either.

 

[Web Monkey]

That's just scary.

I'm starting to think that the OW classes should put more emphasis on when to NOT follow the DM.

Terry

In Turkey, a DM took us all to 165 (OW divers too!), but that's a whole different world.

Robin

 

[theskull]

That's just scary.

I'm starting to think that the OW classes should put more emphasis on when to NOT follow the DM.

Terry

YES! I couldn't agree more. I hope many divers are reading this thread and deciding to take responsibility for their own dive profiles no matter whom may be "leading" the dive.

theskull