Buddy got bent, sort of...

[diver 85]

Get rid of him & don't look back.............he sounds like a P-I-T-A..........good luck......As Barney would say, 'Somin' ain't right'..........

 

[grazie42]

The dive-profile sounds allright to me.

The discription of your bf´s ow-course doesent.

Without knowing either of you it sounds like your bf´s "feelings" may have been an easy way for him to not have to dive again.

Get him some proper instruction and maybe he´ll be able to be the "buddy of your dreams"...or decide which you like best, your newfound love of "the life aquatic" or your bf...

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Here, here! Sounds like a hypochondriac. Going to Bonaire and he does not expect to dive alot? Dump him fast.

 

[jbd]

You were his buddy, He did not want to go that deep you should not have gone that deep. It also sounds like you left him. That makes you the bad buddy

Sounds like they might have been 7 feet a away from each other. Thats just a bit more than a body length. Much closer than that and they might as well been in the same wetsuit. The only issue with the depth difference would be whether she knew where he was. He obviously should have been able to see her.

Shannon--your boyfriend is not a diver and more than likely will not continue to dive. Nothing wrong with that. Plenty of couples have seperate hobbies. Both my wife and I dive--I scuba dive; she skydives and never will the two switch or be shared. There is nothing on the face of this earth big enough to push me out of an airplane that is still in the air She feels the same about getting underwater.

 

[MsParamedic]

I don't think she was asking for advice on her relationship, just asking advice about her dive experience.

Pat

 

[jbd]

But the most stunning thing about your story to me is that anyone would go do a deep dive like that without even having received the most basic OW instruction.

Not saying its right, but it is a very common occurance especially in the warm, clear waters.

Not to be harsh, but I have to agree with the others who said that as a buddy, you made a huge mistake. I know you wanted to experience the dive and get the most out of it for yourself, but you are each other's redundancy. If you were that far away from him, could you have saved his life if he ran out of air, dropped his reg, or panicked (a strong possibility, given how uncomfortable he was with the depth)?

Neither of them were each others redundancy in this case. Had he run out of air, he would have bolted to the surface completely out of control. Had she attempted to assist him, he would have ignored her or dragged her to the surface with him most likely resulting in both of them being injured or dead. If she would have experienced any problems, he would have been completely unable to assist her and would most likely panicked and bolted to the surface, with similar results.

...remember that if something goes wrong, you only have the amount of time to hold one breath before you DIE.

Its not quite that cut and dried. I know of one person that passed out at a similar depth to shannon's dive after running out of air at a depth greater than 100 feet. The person regained consciouness floating face up at the surface. People have survived shallow water blackout and numerous people have been "resuscitated" form near drowning events.

With proper training and practice there is much that can be done if one should end up on that one breath of air.

 

[josh]

. Both my wife and I dive--I scuba dive; she skydives and never will the two switch or be shared.

Bet that makes you really, really careful what gear bags you both pick up. Jumping out of a plane with an AL80 strapped to your back might not be a good idea...
-j-

 

[miketsp]

..snip..
We followed the DM's instructions and stayed with the group, although bf only went to about 85ft (I went to 92ft) because he felt uncomfortable about the depth. Being newbies, we pretty much stayed close to the DM the entire dive and watched closely for his signals. We made 4 safety stops: 67 ft, 45 ft, 25 ft, and finally 12 ft. The entire dive lasted around 25 minutes.
..snip..

25 minutes total run time probably translates into a bottom time of 15 minutes max if you came up at a reasonable rate and did 4 stops. That should be quite OK for a first dive.

I still am not entirely sure that he had the bends.
..snip..

Even diving a safe profile undeserved hits do happen and symptoms as described should be checked out.
Was he wearing a computer to check his profile?
A hit could have been provoked by poor buoyancy control at the stops. Were you floating free or on a line?

Not to be harsh, but I have to agree with the others who said that as a buddy, you made a huge mistake. I know you wanted to experience the dive and get the most out of it for yourself, but you are each other's redundancy. If you were that far away from him, could you have saved his life if he ran out of air, dropped his reg, or panicked (a strong possibility, given how uncomfortable he was with the depth)?

?? Where does she say she left him?
She said they both stayed close to the DM throughout the dive and she only went 7ft deeper.
That's a huge mistake???

..snip..
Though I am curious about all the safety stops - why so many and why those depths?
..snip..

I did a dive a few years back with a NAUI DM as a guide, it was to a wreck at 36m but we aborted the dive at 27m as the vis below was less than 1ft. Even so he insisted on doing the full deco we had planned with 5 stops using his weird tables. For me it was nothing more than an ego trip to demonstrate his superior hovering capability.
The next 5 dives we did on the same wreck on another occasion we dispensed the guide and did our own conventional planning.

 

[BKP]

A couple of issues as I see it:

1- Your BF went to Bonaire to dive once or twice in a week? (That's either dedication, or he confused Bonaire with Aruba).

2- Did you call DAN (and talk to a DAN doc) before the chamber ride (since the "DCS symptoms" were questionable, given the dive profile)?

3- No dive insurance?????? :no (but you already know that). (I'm surprised he only maxed out *one* card).

4- I once lived with someone with a surplus of "anxiety induced maladies." I empathize... (and at the risk of sounding like an armchair shrink, I agree with Leejnd -- run for the hills).

However, on the upside, you enjoyed your diving for the rest of the week (yeah, and other than *that*, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?)

 

[tampausmc]

I'm about to pay to get my girlfriend certified.....i hope she takes it better then your boyfriend....I'm already planning big trips for the summer time......I'd hate to leave her on the beach, but in times like that i don't see any other option....