Bad Lesson

[comcomtech]

As someone else pointed out, it's a small village thing.

As for PADI, it has investigated my complaint and I am sure will take appropriate action, which I hope will be limited to additional training for the instructor. We all have bad days.

---------- Post added March 4th, 2014 at 11:51 AM ----------

I spoke to the regional PADI office shortly after the incident. I might not have done, but the instructor had threatened to report me, the student, to PADI. The best I could understand, she was concerned that I would try to have another instructor sign off on the three dives I did with her. Other dive masters suggested, like some people on this board, that I had a duty to report it. So I called PADI and later gave them a written summary. PADI said that I will not know the outcome of the investigation; it is between them and instructor.

I am not angry about the incident. Despite everything, my family had a good trip and I did three dives. Diving is all about contingencies and this was one. As someone else said, it ended happily.

One lesson I learned: plan dive trips to good dive sites. I was in a country that used to have good dives sites. From now on, I plan to dive more in the Red Sea and Bonaire and less in tropical paradises awash with tourists, pollution and, occasionally, bad behaviour.

 

[Mike]

Thanks for the story, I guess the lesson you want everyone to learn from this is not to dive with a drunk divemaster. Other than that I don't see any lessons to be learned or any point to your post. If you want divers to be protected from situations like this the way to do so is to let divers know the name of the dive operation. You don't want to do that, so basically this thread is a waste of time. But I learned not to dive with a drunk divemaster. Well, I guess I knew that already so I guess I learned nothing. I fail to understand the logic of posting such a long description of your event and leave everyone blind to information that would help them make choices. You take the time to report it to PADI and obviously you feel PADI will do nothing, but the rest of us slap ourselves on the forehead in disbelief because the most good that would come of any of this would be actually informing the scuba community of who to watch out for.

 

[Steve_C]

So I know that on some island some where there is a lousy shop and dangerous instructor.

There is no information that would help me to avoid winding up at the same place. So my time was wasted in reading the post.

I personally find your easy going attitude surprising. If they are that cavalier what makes you think they maintain a clean air supply or service their equipment? If their standards are accepted on the island what makes you think the other shops on the island are any better?

 

[flots am]

I spoke to the regional PADI office shortly after the incident. I might not have done, but the instructor had threatened to report me, the student, to PADI.

That would have been fascinating.

I've never heard of any recreational agency revoking a non-professional card, and don't believe they can. GUE apparently has the threat of revoking if you smoke, but I don't believe they've ever done it.

Pro certs (instructor/dm/etc.) can and are revoked quite regularly.

It would almost be worth going to wherever that was and pissing off the instructor just to receive that threat.

flots.

 

[comcomtech]

Certainly, many members of Scubaboard (Steve_C and Mike) would never be in this situation and I agree that for them this post was a waste of time.

My hope is that some less proficient divers will see the need through this incident to be more self-reliant (I should have recognized the BCD malfunction, for example and even better--had my own gear) and to make difficult decisions (not diving) when circumstances warrant. These are not serious issues for experienced divers, but they are for the novice.

Another, less egregious situation, occurred a few months earlier:

We had planned a night dive in a remote region not accessible by conventional transport (sorry, but I am committed to preserving the anonymity of the dive shops in question). Because of poor organization, our expedition left late. The dive master got lost in the dark and our group separated in difficult terrain. Hours later we arrived, exhausted, at the dive site.

Since we had paid for a night dive, we decided we would do it anyway. The DM was unfamiliar with the site, which had a 1 metre entry channel through the reef. Instead of taking us against the current, he took us downstream and when we headed back, could not make it to the channel. The DM went ashore leaving my daughter and myself about 100 metres out in the water. We had to traverse a coral shelf about 70-80 cm deep. It was loaded with sea urchins and the occasional lion fish. It was a difficult passage, particularly with the narrow beam cast by our dive lamps.

I discussed the situation with my son, a dive master, who was with us. We both agreed that we should establish, at least in our minds, a clear point for not diving under a particular circumstance.

In that case, we should have cancelled when our expedition left late. Or when we got lost in the wilderness. Or when our guide left us in the wilderness. These were warning signs we chose to ignore. The fact the guide then changed the dive plan underwater should not have come as a surprise to us. Or that he lost his way back to the narrow entry/exit point.

So, if there's a lesson, it's primarily to beginners or occasional divers like myself. Keep your judgement in play at all times and act accordingly.

 

[nimoh]

a lesson I see in this thread is for new divers to not blindly follow instructors and DMs. Think about what they say and then think for yourself.

 

[flots am]

In that case, we should have cancelled when our expedition left late. Or when we got lost in the wilderness. Or when our guide left us in the wilderness. These were warning signs we chose to ignore. The fact the guide then changed the dive plan underwater should not have come as a surprise to us. Or that he lost his way back to the narrow entry/exit point.

So, if there's a lesson, it's primarily to beginners or occasional divers like myself. Keep your judgement in play at all times and act accordingly.

Always assume that everybody is dangerous, with horrifically bad judgement until proven otherwise.

Some of the most dangerous divers I know are "professionals"

Not being able to find the dive site is a big red flag.

flots.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

a lesson I see in this thread is for new divers to not blindly follow instructors and DMs. Think about what they say and then think for yourself.

Amen.

 

[Adventure-Ocean]

I totally agree with nimoh. With all the years of experience you have I'd think you knew more of dangerous situations than your DM.

The PADI courses do not teach people to be good people. Just because someone has certifications doesn't mean they are knowledgable of all things related to diving. As with teachers, there are good ones and there are bad ones. Obviously, you chose a less professional operation. You can just as easily find a good one.

It was a good idea to follow through with all your complaints and observations. The owners would not know they have a problem unless the customers speak out. The agencies would need some kind of history against the instructor to take action. Your complaint will definately create a file. If her unprofessional behavior continues, that file will grow and action will be taken.

It's a good thread because it details an event that taught you something. Now, with all the "expert opinions" being offered, we can all learn something as well.

Adventure-Ocean

 

[brnt999]

I disagree with those that are giving the OP a bad time. The lesson to be learned is that there are many dive operations out there--including many flying the PADI flag--that are unsafe and poorly run. I just returned from a 5 week dive trip to Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, and Isla Mujeres, and only a few operators were top knotch professionals, while many were lax and disorganized. Many hire young, untrained locals as DM's because they are cheap. Maybe they have been diving since they were 10, but they are not trained. I think many divers from first world countries assume dive operators in second and third world countries are closely regulated and governed. Thats a mistake and they should wake up to the truth.