Caribe Blu / Blue Angel -short review

[scubawife]

I dive with two Aeris computers and my dive buddy has Oceanics. These brands (same manufacturer) are two of the most aggressive/liberal computers on the market. On deep dives where we anticipate to be at least in the "caution" zone, I am routinely the last in and first out of the yellow. On dives like Devil's Throat or Maracaibo where we plan it expecting to have some deco obligations, again, our computers are usually the last in the group to hit the red and tend to have the least minutes of obligation.

I know my computer is aggressive. I am not and I always spend several minutes more then it says even on my standard "safety stops." What I do like about having such a liberal computer is that on the days that I do want to be a bit more aggressive with my planning I know that my computer won't freak out.

Just curious if everyone ended the last dive with their computers locked out. Or after a 5min SI how many of them didn't even allow that last dive but were just ignored. Glad that you are ok and it wasn't a harder lesson to learn. It's never worth pushing your common sense or computer limits to get in a dive. Those dives you don't get to do are just another reason to plan a return trip.

 

[driftin' by]

I chalk it up to inexperience, and stupidity. We're lucky nothing worse happened.

I'm glad to hear that you realize what you did wasn't a good choice. I've see it all too many times in Mexico... DM's eager to please even if it means breaking the rules.

 

[alcina]

DM's eager to please even if it means breaking the rules.

Ultimately, it is the solely the diver's choice and responsibility...I only restate it as it often gets lost.

 

[cheesehead]

Ultimately, it is the solely the diver's choice and responsibility...I only restate it as it often gets lost.

While true, it does not exclude/excuse the divemaster. He did not full fill his professional responsibility at all. He certainly should be on a short list to watch if you dive with him.

The other item that hasn't been discussed is if the computer can even adequately handle the dive. The Oceanic instruction I have rules out reverse profile dive sets. I wonder how well the alogrithym handles that set of dives. My understanding is that the mathematics is significantly different.

Tim

 

[driftin' by]

Ultimately, it is the solely the diver's choice and responsibility...

Absolutely! It goes without saying but I should have probably said it. However, like cheesehead said, the DM bares the responsibility to not be so suggestive and willing to allow things to take place that would otherwise be largely unacceptable.

I witnessed it first hand last year when my wife's computer auto-magically stopped working at the start of a second dive. She noticed it on decent and thrummed the dive. We both returned to the boat soon followed by the DM who had suggested a dozen different possible solutions in a effort to get her back into the water. All were entirely outside of our comfort level as each broke the simple rule of when you computer quits, you done diving for the day. All these risky suggestions in an effort to earn their tip. I don't necessarily think this makes them bad people... they're willing to do what it takes to make you happy which directly correlates to tipping, in most cases. But it's not just incidents like this or doing Devil's Throat as a third dive, it's also the ones that handle fish, feed them and poke them out of their hiding places who are working the tip meter. With their experience consisting of thousands of dives, I'm sure they've experienced some crazy stuff and lucky for them, without incident. People must realize that it isn't the end of the world to thumb a dive or do a particular dive on a return trip... It's your life and you only get one.

 

[ggunn]

I witnessed it first hand last year when my wife's computer auto-magically stopped working at the start of a second dive. She noticed it on decent and thrummed the dive. We both returned to the boat soon followed by the DM who had suggested a dozen different possible solutions in a effort to get her back into the water. All were entirely outside of our comfort level as each broke the simple rule of when you computer quits, you done diving for the day.

Well, everyone has his comfort zone, and I wouldn't try to shake anyone out of theirs, but I dove without a computer for years. If mine quits at the beginning of a dive (and that happened to me on my last trip to Cozumel), I revert to first principles and dive conservatively WRT depth and time with a long safety stop.

When that happened to me last May, my wife and I stayed close together and I occasionally referred to her computer to get a rough idea of where my N2 loading was (although I was not diving her computer) and we dove so that she stayed far away from NDL. Had she not been with me, I still would not have aborted the dive.

 

[scubawife]

driftin', I've had a computer die on me before a second dive (and I now dive with two computers). I also always wear a watch. If you know your profile and had an adequate SI, you don't have to call the dive. You could do it the "old fashioned" way - dive tables. (Yeah, I'm a bit of a dork and always have a set, incl the Nitrox tables, in my dry bag.) My primary computer doesn't give any warning when the battery is low. It either works or it doesn't. I also carry a spare battery now.

You would think that someone at the shop would have vetoed Devil's Throat for these 4 divers considering it was their 3rd dive, but reality is you sign a waiver and you're responsible for your own choices. Not a great choice but even more troubling is that all of them felt it was ok to jump in for another dive after only a 5 minute SI. I can't imagine that all their computers allowed that last dive. Or maybe they felt that since they didn't need the computer the next day, it didn't matter?

Someone else mentioned that the Oceanic's instructions rule out reverse profiles. I think most if not all will say that in the instruction book. With an adequate SI an Oceanic will allow it. Depending on where you are when you start the dive (green or yellow) it might give you more deco obligation and sooner in your dive, but the computer won't lock out. Even though it's an aggressive/liberal computer I'd be surprised if it allowed the 4th dive.

 

[driftin' by]

When that happened to me last May, my wife and I stayed close together and I occasionally referred to her computer to get a rough idea of where my N2 loading was (although I was not diving her computer) and we dove so that she stayed far away from NDL. Had she not been with me, I still would not have aborted the dive.

With all due respect, that's what I call winging it... something I'm not willing to do with my life, however, there are so many people in this world willing to do it with yours.

Unfortunately my wife doesn't have a backup device of any kind and didn't make note of max dept and time of the preceding dive. Nevertheless, with her computer (Cobra) being air integrated, there was no way to monitor her air supply which led to a scary suggestion by the DM... He said that since she was a female and inherently used less air than I, that she'd be okay as long as she surfaced when I got to 750psi! Look, we are both confident with our skills and ability to handle an out of air situation but I'd rather save those skills for a true emergency.

I keep dive tables in my bag also and I have/use a dive watch for a back up. If she had any knowledge of her depth and time on the previous dive and a backup reg/spg available, there wouldn't have been any problem with completing the second dive according to the tables. But given the situation, it just wasn't worth the risk (winging it). "Live to dive another day, dude."

In the end, we hold no hard feelings about this situation. In all our travels to Mexico was have become accustomed to these kind of things and actually think it is "cute" of them to be so eager to please. Knowing that ultimately we will make the right decision for ourselves we feel very safe and it's what we love about Mexico and Cozumel specifically. YMMV

 

[cheesehead]

...

Someone else mentioned that the Oceanic's instructions rule out reverse profiles. I think most if not all will say that in the instruction book. With an adequate SI an Oceanic will allow it. Depending on where you are when you start the dive (green or yellow) it might give you more deco obligation and sooner in your dive, but the computer won't lock out. Even though it's an aggressive/liberal computer I'd be surprised if it allowed the 4th dive.

The "fourth dive" would have been treated as an extension of the 3rd dive for calculations. My Oceanic computer would have logged it as part of the 3rd dive.

The question on reverse profiles isn't whether or not the computer continues to operate, the question is whether or not the calculations are reliable. I don't believe you can construe the continued operation of your computer during or after misuse as an endorsement of what you are doing/did.

Tim

 

[ggunn]

With all due respect, that's what I call winging it... something I'm not willing to do with my life, however, there are so many people in this world willing to do it with yours.

No offense taken, but in my case it wasn't winging it. It was the day's first dive, and I had mechanical air and depth gauges, which is all I had for years when I first started diving. I didn't know that your wife's computer was the only way she had to monitor tank pressure, but that's a dependency on computers that I would never subject myself to. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

FWIW, I would have called the dive, too, under those circumstances.