Buddy got bent, sort of...

[HenrikBP]

I felt the same way as your bf after my deep/nav dive day recently. The deep dive was 10 minutes at 100 ft with some tasks to perform. Then a slow ascent to 45 ft. for some sightseeing and then end the dive with a nice, slow ascent and 3 min. safety stop. On the nav dive (35 - 45 ft) I did a fairly long swim giving me a good workout.

For about 5 hours after the last dive I felt completely beside myself; wobbly "sea legs" as GrassyKnoll describes, but also kinda beat and out of it. Kept forgetting which sites I dove that day, spacing out during conversations etc. I cancelled the sightseeing that afternoon and hit the hotel for a quick review of DCS signs & symptoms (nothing that matched how I felt ) and a long nap. I finally felt better around dinner time.

I'm in good shape, low bodyfat, 45 y.o., was well rested and well hydrated. Still not sure what was going on other than the rocky "sea legs" thing. That however, I had to a varying degree the entire week.

I'm a physician and worked some years in an ER and usually don't get too concerned about my health and such. But I can certainly understand how someone could get quite concerned feeling that way, especially after what sounds like a somewhat stressful dive.

Henrik

 

[Jeff Toorish]

Shannon,

First of all, thanks for posting this report. It is interesting and has provoked thought, some of it actually helpful.

I agree with those folks who have concluded you really made no serious or significant errors. It was your first post certification dive, you seemed to have a reasonable dive plan and were diving with a professional. All makes sense. The fact that you came onto ScubaBoard to make this report and ask questions also shows that you are trying to learn.

You may have noticed it is the more experienced divers who believe you chose pretty much the correct course of action. Take that as a vote of confidence in your decisions.

Like so many of these incidents, I suspect there is more information we are not hearing. Most likely, as a new diver, there were simple aspects of this you don't know about or are not making completely clear.

As for your boyfriend, it would be helpful if he made a report here, as well. Perhaps we could glean more information and draw more accurate conclusions. I believe you have given us an accurate rendition of your recollection, and don't take anything I have written in anyway negatively. I simply believe hearing more details may be helpful.

As for your boyfriend's not being taught about tables and other critical information in his open water class, I personally find that hard to believe. At the very least, on the OW final exam, there are (last time I looked) 5 must pass questions. PADI requires any student to either get those questions correct or have some remedial time with the instructor. So, unless things have changed or the instructor simply gave your boyfriend the answers, something doesn't add up here.

Again, it would be helpful for him to give us more information here. There are instructor trainers on this board and I think they would be very interested in knowing if someone is out there mis-teaching the OW course, resort or not.

Like others, I question if he was really bent, or just having some sort of panic attack. I'm not qualified to render much of an opinion in that area, so I'll leave it at that.

I appreciate your posting and hope you continue diving.

Jeff

 

[muddiver]

You might want to re-evaluate your current relationship in regards to compatability and personallity traits...

 

[Thalassamania]

You might want to re-evaluate your current relationship in regards to compatability and personallity traits...

Isn't DrBill advertising?

 

[ereediver]

Let me explaine my earlier post a little further. I had to leave the compiture, so I did not get a chance to finish. From her post it sounds like she saw the wholes in her buddies training and noticed he was un-comfortable in the water. Planing a dive to 100 feet in the first place seemed for lack of a better word irresponsible. As you can see I am no Jacque. I have only a few dives on my belt, but seeing the post it seemed to me Shannon has the most "wits" about her. In my opinion, she should have stuck to him like glue. As has been stated many times before problems snowball fast. It would have been better to set up a shallower dive. As the DCS goes I'll leave that one alone.
Her buddy is a whole other story...

 

[Texasdivechick]

Okay, I want to clarify a few things. I trusted my buddy because he is usually calm in stressful situations and he WANTED to dive the Hooker. Also, he had reported months earlier that when he did his OW cert dives the instructor took the class to 85 feet. So really I thought, perhaps mistakenly, that he would be okay with going to 100. BTW, we were never actually at 100ft, and yes, I know that according to the tables we were at 100ft.
When we got to Bonaire I was the one who insisted upon hiring an instructor for the first 2 dives (after checkout dives) to ensure that we would be comfortable diving in an unfamiliar place. Yes, while on the deep dive I was 7 feet away from him for approx. 30 seconds. I descended a few feet to check out a cargo hold on the wreck that the DM was gesturing to and then ascended to join my bf. He was directly above me and we could see each other and the DM the entire time. We made all of those safety stops because as newbies and the only ones diving on air we were usually waiting, with the DM, for the other divers to join us. He had a computer but it was rented and I had mine. I held my computer in my hand for a majority of the dive, referring to it every minute or so while checking my psi and practicing hovering based on the depth reading. That's how I knew what depths the safety stops were at. They were not prearranged but rather imposed on us by the DM telling us to level off and wait here. My main question was, as newbies, should we have stuck with the DM, following him where ever he went or should we have just stayed at 60ft. I'm inclined to say that it was right to stay with the more experienced diver just in case something happened that neither of us have the experience to deal with, such as those scenarios mentioned above (OOA, anxiety, etc...).
As far as his OW training goes, when I questioned him after his trip to the chamber, he reported that the exam was taken as a group, with the instructor giving the answers. He did not receive the book, nor the laminated dive table that I received in my package. They may have discussed the tables, but he never saw what it actually looked like. I did a quick review of the tables, signals, and buddy breathing with him at the hotel. I have some guilt about what happened to him, though I am also feeling some resentment that he made me apologize for him getting bent.
Again, the reason why I brought this up in the first place is 1) to impart knowledge to other newbie divers who may not have discussed the scenarios that I encountered, and 2) to determine what I should have done differently to avoid the whole buddy in the chamber situation next time.
I did continue to dive 2-3 dives per day for the remainder of the trip and never experienced any problems myself, with the exception of trying to take photos and my buoyancy would screw up. Now I just won't bring my camera on dives anymore until I become more consistent with neutral buoyancy. All in all, I had a great time and I found a sport that I'm passionate about. It's all been a huge learning experience for me. I hope other new divers learn from it as well.

 

[divermatt]

In my opinion, she should have stuck to him like glue. As has been stated many times before problems snowball fast.

It sounds like she stuck within 7 feet of the guy--that ain't ditching him. It's about 1 kick cycle, easy to do in less than 1 breath.

 

[sunnyboy]

Shannon,

For a brand new diver, you did just fine. I like your dive attitude, too. You should have no problem getting dive buddies.

Your BF sounds like a drip. Whether or not you continue this relationship is totally your decision, but I hope you have a lot of other things in common, because from your two posts, diving is not one of them.

Have fun,

-S

 

[Jeff Toorish]

Shannon,

I'll stick by my original opinion that you did fine. I'm not going to criticize your boyfriend, although you have nothing to apologize to him or anybody else for.

I am, however, very concerned about how he was certified as an open water diver. He has an OW card and on that card is the name of the certifying instructor. If there is anyone who has some apologizing to do, it is that instructor.

I strongly urge you to make a formal report to the certifying agency about this instructor's practices. It is not a stretch to say, you may be saving someone's life by reporting him.

There are many instructors on this board, also Divemasters and DiveCons who can help you.

Jeff

 

[Texasdivechick]

I also want to add that as we were both new divers, everytime my buddy got closer than 3-5 feet to me we tended to get tangled up. Not necessarily all his fault as I am still learning hovering, trim, neutral buoyancy and all. But it was generally a safer and more comfortable dive to be a few feet away (4-5 ft.) where I could get neutral and avoid his thrashing about. I am still not skilled enough to move swiftly away if the situation warranted it (ie. fins in the face, etc...).
I want to be a good buddy but there are many things to learn that the books just don't tell you. Some things you must learn by experience. For example, once I got a different buddy (bf couldn't dive anymore), I was told that it was okay if the more experienced diver was in shallow water, in sight of the boat, and still had much more air, for the less experienced diver to go back to the boat so that the other person could explore a bit more. Is this correct? I kind of became worried after he gave me the signal to swim to the boat and go up, then he didn't follow. This person was considerably more experienced (500= dives), but I still felt like a "bad" buddy for going up without him. Ah, the subtle nuances of diving. So much to learn!