Complaint about recent diving experience.

[Still Kicking]

I had one boat pulling the ladder completely out due to chop. Had to time it, when to grab the ladder. When the boat dips. Then let the wave pull me into the air on the ladder, and go up a rung when the boat dips again.

All good fun but one guy mistimes it, gets his skull crushed by the ladder, and the boat is looking at a massive liability suit for gross negligence for putting divers in those conditions.

 

[MidOH]

Yep. That ladder was easily a skull crusher.

The whole boat was coming out of the water. Good fun.

 

[Altamira]

Yep. That ladder was easily a skull crusher.

The whole boat was coming out of the water. Good fun.

I thought you were being sarcastic until I re-read your earlier post! I can only hope you, or anyone you care about, do not get seriously injured by your favored cowboy style boat operators.

 

[MidOH]

You've never dived on a boat that doesn't hold your hand, coddle, and limit you?

 

[davecampbell]

I'm surprised they let you dive, not having been in the water in 5 years, and her never having dived before. I'd have thought they'd have been horny horny to sell you a $$$ refresher course and a $$$ DSD... with supervision.

I'm also surprised you still did the dive, if you were at all leary of the conditions. My wife and I will splash in just about any conditions, and have played the ladder rodeo before more than once, but we dive regularly, and know our limits. We will call a dive that is beyond our view of reasonable though... If you were questioning your/ their safety, you shouldn't have jumped. Did anyone else have an issue with the seas? did anyone else sit it out?

sounds like mistakes all around....

 

[dmaziuk]

...

sounds like mistakes all around....

IME it only happened once so far: the first dive was fine, the weather started moving in during SI but didn't look too bad, by the time we came up from the 2nd dive the chop was up -- almost to the point of the ladder coming out of the water completely, certainly enough to mess you up if you mis-time it. By the time we got back, waves were big enough that the captain had to "surf" the boat to shore. Stuff happens sometimes.

 

[JonnieB]

I am associated with a dive center in Phuket and we do a lot of DSDs off the normally calm and shallow waters of Kata Beach (only gets to 10 m 400 meters offshore. Our DSD clients perform their skills exercises in 3-4 meters of water on a sandy bottom. After that, they are guided along a shallow reef out to 8-10 meters and back. DSDs are NEVER conducted off a boat! You could definitely report the shop to PADI SE Asia and seek a refund of monies paid.

 

[Etmutt]

Well... No skill in confined is definitely a breach of standard.

If the shop is PADI or agencies alike; then yes you should file a complain on their website. It won't do much though; they are not enforcing, especially for money making shops.

Another more effective way is to name and shame; and to leave bad reviews all over.

Finally : yes they owe you the dive; but why did you accept to go on the boat in the first place!?!

 

[Edward3c]

Hi,

I am new to this forum and might've posted this in the wrong category, if that is the case, I apologize and humbly ask you to move it to the appropiate one. English also isn't my first language so I apologize for any typos etc.

Anyway, the reason I registered on this forum was to share an experience with fellow divers so that you can give your input on the diving experience and possibly tell me if I am way out of my depth (no pun intended) and who is wrong: Me or the or diving centre.

Background
I have an advanced diving certificate and my partner whom is very scared of deep water has basically never ever been snorkeling. Meaning she has barely been under water and has never seen a BCD/octopus etc.

Anyway I convinced her to a fun dive with a diving centre a couple of weeks ago in Thailand, we had positive expectations based on our initial interactions with the team. They assured that my partner without any diving experience would have the opportunity to practice essential diving skills on the beach/in the pool, such as breathing, swimming, and other necessary techniques to qualify for a real dive. Regrettably, the actual experience significantly deviated from our expectations.

At the day of the dive the weather was pretty chaotic. We called them at the morning informing them about the weather conditions, including large waves and heavy rain. I was pretty nervous for my partners sake, a fun dive in my world should be fun and not an episode of Fear factor.
Anyway, despite our hesitation, they gave us their reassurance that my partner could practice all the necessary aspects as promised at the beach, and that the dive would occur at a calm place in the ocean, I quote: "We do this everyday - It's fine".

However, our experience took an alarming turn when we were taken into the open sea (instead of the beach as promised) amidst the challenging weather conditions. Even I, (a semi-experienced diver) was nervous to jump into this turbulent water (the waves were several metres high and the rain was at its peak) without any rehearseal (haven't been diving for like 5 years), I can't even imagine how my partner felt. My partner, was immediately instructed to jump in and swim down to a depth of 10 meters, without adequate surface instruction or the opportunity to acclimate to the equipment. She possesses minimal familiarity with underwater breathing techniques and orientation or mask-clearing, and has never worn fins or a BCD before. She barely knew how to descend and she had no idea what the different buttons on the BCD do. She didn't know how to breathe in & out the regulator.

However she was instructed to jump into the chaotic water and immediately descend to the the ocean floor (10m down) and there my partner was instructed to fill her mask with water and empty it. encountered difficulties since she has no idea how to do it, leading to her mask filling up with water, striking her with panic and forcing us to resurface.This approach, akin to throwing someone out of a plane without any practical training on how to deploy a parachute, left her deeply distressed. The lack of proper guidance and training at the beach/surface and the subsequent trauma she experienced have left a lasting negative impact. She will probably never dive again because of this experience.

Our experience was highly unusual and potentially unsafe. I would like to think that neglecting safety measures to expedite the dive for financial gain is both shameful and unethical, and it is disheartening to think that someones well being is jeopardized for monetary reasons.

In light of the distressing events, we requested a refund for her dive (not my dive, only hers, even though I was forced to ascend because of this well). Additionally, we expected a apology for the disregard of her safety and the subsequent emotional trauma experienced by my partner. We understand the importance of maintaining a positive reputation in the diving community, and we hoped this incident could have been amicably resolved. However the diving centre totally ignored us without giving us any reply back. I really don't care about the money, I honestly just got really sad for my partner, she feels like she sucks at diving and that it isn't for her because of this incident. And it actually might not be for her, but I don't feel like a dive like this can decide that.

To the questions:

1. Am I wrong for asking for an apology and the money for her dive back?
2. Should I file a complaint or something to PADI?
3. What would you do in my situation?

Thank you for reading and also, I won't mention the name of the diving centre just yet unless I get green light from other divers that they were wrong in the matter.

Thank you, and once again, apologies if this is in the wrong category.

I’ve just come back from Egypt, there the practice you describe is common.

Be warned, giving a negative review of a Thai organisation, like a dive centre, is illegal and you could be arrested on your next visit. There was a case a year or so back when an English tourist was jailed for such action.

 

[34109411]

I’ve just come back from Egypt, there the practice you describe is common.

Be warned, giving a negative review of a Thai organisation, like a dive centre, is illegal and you could be arrested on your next visit. There was a case a year or so back when an English tourist was jailed for such action.

Are they checking all the comments on this website ? I am scared . oh well i am not not gonna go. . My GF did DSD in Utila. They look after her. Everything was done from shore. She really like it.