Dive called with 1000psi left?

[Scotttyd]

my bad, tried starting a new thread

 

[sabbath999]

The last trip we went on was to Kona, and the dive op did the "tell me when you are at 1800" instruction, and it was amazing how quickly somebody in the group got there. Fortunately, they took the hoovers back to the boat and let the rest of us hang out. They put a time limit of 60 minutes PLUS no-stop time, because the boat also did afternoon dives and they needed enough time to get two one-hour dives in plus an hour+ surface interval.

My wife, am am sure, never got back on the boat with less than 1500 left, even when we went down to 80 or 90 feet... me, I generally did my hour with the last 10 or so minutes hanging out around the mooring line using down to 500 by the end of my safety stop. Those balls are all in great areas though, so there was still plenty to see right under the boat.

There were several dives where she dropped me off at the mooring line because I was getting close to where I needed to come up with gas and I just basically hung out down there as everybody else was going passed me up to the safety stop. When the last person in sight started their stop, I went with them. Not really doing it by the book, I admit, but when you are at 30 feet right under the boat and there are divers all around, the risk IMHO is minimal.

40 minute sounds pretty darned short to me, if you can go an hour or even a little longer and still have plenty of gas you should be "allowed" to do that. IMHO.

 

[dwhthediver]

Look at it from the business owner's side, with the cost of insurance in this sue happy world, cost of fuel, paying a captain, utilities on the land end, salaries, maintainence, time tables are necessary just to stay in business, much less make a profit. a not tipping the divemaster, not his fault they have to run the boat out twice a day to stay open,I would not short his tip because you don't use air the way other divers do.
It is recreation for us, it is a business for the boat.

 

[Saudi-Diver]

If your doing group led dives don't batter the DM for turning you early while you have plenty of air, he has to plan for the worst case. He also has the whole group to look after. You should choose a charter that lets you and your buddy plan the dive you want to do. I get to dive both in the Red Sea a lot with DMs who have very rigid rules and in Scotland where I do the dive plan and brief my buddy, the boat is just a means to get us to the dive site. The diving in Scotland is a lot more challenging than the Red Sea. I find it really ironic that I can do what I want in Scotland with very, very little supervision, but in the easier conditions prevalent in the Red sea I have to play by rules put upon me by boat charters. I really don't mind though its all about going diving. I just love being in the water.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

The ops I have used in the Keys usually have a one hour time limit for all divers. The way to get the most out of this if it's a mixed group is to be the first off the boat. When they say one hour I clarify with them that this means one hour for the guy who got into the water 10 minutes after me? If so I now have 70 minutes. Unless it's a deeper site I don't worry about being back with enough air. One dive on the Benwood I did was particularly relaxing. I was diving alone (ok by the op after seeing me in the water the previous 2 days) and even though my tank was a short fill- 2700 psi ( I was ok with it) my dive time was 67 minutes and I had 1200 still in the tank. Max depth 37 feet but most was on the wreck and between 25 and 30. Yet there were still people back on the boat after 40 minutes with 500 or even less in their tanks. I was glad they did not require us to follow a DM. In fact I make it clear when booking dives that the DM will not govern my plan. If that is not ok then I will not use that op.

 

[fisheater]

If your doing group led dives don't batter the DM for turning you early while you have plenty of air, he has to plan for the worst case. He also has the whole group to look after. You should choose a charter that lets you and your buddy plan the dive you want to do. I get to dive both in the Red Sea a lot with DMs who have very rigid rules and in Scotland where I do the dive plan and brief my buddy, the boat is just a means to get us to the dive site. The diving in Scotland is a lot more challenging than the Red Sea. I find it really ironic that I can do what I want in Scotland with very, very little supervision, but in the easier conditions prevalent in the Red sea I have to play by rules put upon me by boat charters. I really don't mind though its all about going diving. I just love being in the water.

Scottland sounds like California. Diving conditions are much harsher and there are few rules and the DMs stay onboard unless there's need for a rescue. That's because the divers that need handholding (as I've seen, literally, in the Carribean) won't dive in cold water.

The warm water dive ops have to worry about the vacation-once-a-year divers.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

I'll start by saying that I'm a pretty new diver, but this caught my eye because it was in the Keys, where I've done my dives.

Temporarily ignoring any other reasons there may have been once the dive progressed (someone used up air quickly and was at 500psi, etc.), I'm still reading that the DM told people the dives were to be capped at 40 minutes before they even started, specifically so that people "would be warm for the second dive."

Maybe I'm just cranky, but that would rub me the wrong way. What if I had done my research ahead of time, figured out what the water temperature and my own proclivities would be, and then purchased a 5mm full suit just so that I would be warm enough for a full length (1 hour) dive on my once-per-year vacation to the Keys? Now I'm still being told to be up in 40 minutes specifically so that I will be warm enough for the second dive?

Now if there were other reasons, okay, but then (if I'm the diver) tell me those reasons.

B.

 

[Scott L]

Stories like that make me glad I don't live in Florida. Where I live the boat crew doesn't plan your dive for you. They give you a dive briefing, hand you your camera after you giant stride into the water, help you back on board at the end of the dive, and hand you something hot to drink after you've taken off your rig.

Time limit? What's that? Plan your dive, dive your plan ... because when you let someone else do it for you, you have to play by their rules ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

It's like anything else. Being a Floridian I know who to use for whatever type of diving I wish to accomplish. My bottom time is only limited by the weight of the cylinders I may strap on my back. In the Keys and elsewhere I always gravitate towards tec operators who likely have less rigid guidlines. By the way, most divers in S Florida simply ignor the warnings and max NDL but shoot a bag to let them know you are alive and well...

 

[DaleC]

Stories like that make me glad I don't live in Florida. Where I live the boat crew doesn't plan your dive for you. They give you a dive briefing, hand you your camera after you giant stride into the water, help you back on board at the end of the dive, and hand you something hot to drink after you've taken off your rig.

Time limit? What's that? Plan your dive, dive your plan ... because when you let someone else do it for you, you have to play by their rules ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

+1
I am glad these types of threads get posted though so I will know to do my research before paying $ to go to an exotic locale and be babysat.

I can see limiting a dive if there are two locations planned and travel must be factored inbut I assume that would be discussed in advance. I can also see a group being led by a DM (and his/her rules) if they opt to but I wouldn't want to be on a boat where all passengers are treated like new divers arbitrarily.

PS. Rock bottom calculations don't mean one has to end a dive when the limits are met. It just means that one can no longer stay at that depth. One can hit rock bottom for 100' (for example) and then move up to 60' till the rock bottom for that depth is met, then move up to 30' etc...

 

[Damselfish]

Some operators limit dive times for good reasons, some for bad reasons. Some ops don't limit times. Limiting dive times "to stay warm" is not a valid reason in my book. Nor is getting back in time for lunch.

Some dives are done as a group, and if everyone comes up at the same time naturally some people will have more air left. Sometimes group dives are run a little looser so the group comes back to the boat but some people hang out under the boat for a bit longer as air allows. And lots of ops run dives where you don't dive with a group at all unless you want to.

After you've been diving a bit, you'll probably dislike dive ops that make you dive in a group or limit your time for no good reason, and will learn to make this part of your criteria for picking a dive op. Since you're asking this question, you're probably getting there.