gregor1234
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Sorry I am late in posting. Rustyrig is exactly right about calculating your SW weighting from you FW weighting but you can only make this calculation if 1) as rustyrig says, you know the exact weight of yourself and your equipment or if 2) as I say if you know the specific gravity of yourself + your equipment. Many of us do not know the weight of our equipment especially when rented. Without knowing you + equipment weight or density there is no way to calulate your SW weighting using only your FW weighting. You need more than just your FW weighting and that "more" is something few people have actually bothered to measure or know.
A word about wall diving in Grand Cayman. Limitations on novice diving propounded by certifying agencies are well thought out but are based on the general case. The conditions on most of the Cayman wall dives are special in that they are about the most benign conditions you can imagine. With *proper leadership* (which Dee obviously did not have the benefit of), the 90 foot wall dives in Cayman are the perverbial "piece of cake" even for novice divers. Novices should heed what the DM says about gas management for that depth but the water is clear and warm even at depth, any bottom encountered is coarse sand that does not silt up, current when it is present is usually a baby's breath and the wall is almost never more that 2-300 yards of near-glass water from a nice beach (often closer). The boat does not anchor (prohibited) or drift but moors to a pre-positioned bouy and the mooring line is used for descent/ascent. Cayman operators often take novices out on the wall but *usually* will require them to do one orientation dive first to assess basic skills and to iron out problems like Dee encountered here. Obviously there is no time for an orientation dive if you'er just off the cruise ship for an afternoon.
Now there are many, many newbies and once-a-year'ers who dive cayman and the operaters know it. And the operators willingly take thse "underqualified" folks along on 90-100 ft wall dives and they do it all the time because the walls are the big attraction in Cayman. Is this terrible? You may think so but I think not because the environment is extreemly benign and most operators taylor the conduct of these dives to take special care of the uininitiated while allowing more experienced individuals to go off and do their own thing. In constructing their dives this way, doing this they on a responsibility above and beyond that engedered by operators who simply "provide transportation". The DM in this case was not up to the task of providing that extra measure of supervision. Neither was he up to telling the customer that they should dive a less advanced dive with some other operator. In the case of Don Fosters, doing this would quite literally have been a case of pointing out the eden rock reef shore entry and dive stand about 3 blocks away.
I've never gone out with Don Fosters but I've only ever heard of very good things about them prior to this. I can see how a tired, overworked DM who maybe just prior might have had problems with a bunch who wouldn't listen and wandered off might get cheesed, but it is the measure of professionalism to take this in stride and react with composure and restraint when dealing with customers. Especially novices.
A word about wall diving in Grand Cayman. Limitations on novice diving propounded by certifying agencies are well thought out but are based on the general case. The conditions on most of the Cayman wall dives are special in that they are about the most benign conditions you can imagine. With *proper leadership* (which Dee obviously did not have the benefit of), the 90 foot wall dives in Cayman are the perverbial "piece of cake" even for novice divers. Novices should heed what the DM says about gas management for that depth but the water is clear and warm even at depth, any bottom encountered is coarse sand that does not silt up, current when it is present is usually a baby's breath and the wall is almost never more that 2-300 yards of near-glass water from a nice beach (often closer). The boat does not anchor (prohibited) or drift but moors to a pre-positioned bouy and the mooring line is used for descent/ascent. Cayman operators often take novices out on the wall but *usually* will require them to do one orientation dive first to assess basic skills and to iron out problems like Dee encountered here. Obviously there is no time for an orientation dive if you'er just off the cruise ship for an afternoon.
Now there are many, many newbies and once-a-year'ers who dive cayman and the operaters know it. And the operators willingly take thse "underqualified" folks along on 90-100 ft wall dives and they do it all the time because the walls are the big attraction in Cayman. Is this terrible? You may think so but I think not because the environment is extreemly benign and most operators taylor the conduct of these dives to take special care of the uininitiated while allowing more experienced individuals to go off and do their own thing. In constructing their dives this way, doing this they on a responsibility above and beyond that engedered by operators who simply "provide transportation". The DM in this case was not up to the task of providing that extra measure of supervision. Neither was he up to telling the customer that they should dive a less advanced dive with some other operator. In the case of Don Fosters, doing this would quite literally have been a case of pointing out the eden rock reef shore entry and dive stand about 3 blocks away.
I've never gone out with Don Fosters but I've only ever heard of very good things about them prior to this. I can see how a tired, overworked DM who maybe just prior might have had problems with a bunch who wouldn't listen and wandered off might get cheesed, but it is the measure of professionalism to take this in stride and react with composure and restraint when dealing with customers. Especially novices.