Diving Disaster in Italy

[scubafanatic]

As the OP indicates, he ignored a series of red flags in this situation and a great deal of the responsibility (as he acknowledged) rests with him. Nonetheless, I am surprised at ZenDiver.3D's rather harsh replies... and the thanks given that member by people I respect.

I have seen operators like this in places I have dived. Of course under similar circumstances I have taken control of the situation and requested different gear or even thumbed the dive. However, this operator appears (from the post at least) to have been extremely improper in its approach and if the post is accurate (I wasn't there, nor was anyone else but the OP) deserves some harsh criticism as well.

...I quite agree with ya here, drbill.......ZD.3D's tag line reads "stupid should be painful" so her viewpoint is certainly in keeping with that 'slogan'. Underwater (at depth) gear exchange... *** ??? !!! ...that's gotta be the most absurd thing I've read on here in a long time ! ...the OP should just switch to his octo...problem solved ! The OP is correct.....that crazy DM had no idea the OP could handle a gear swap in mid dive/mid water column.....carefully maintaining full bouyancy control the whole time.......the vast majority of divers CAN'T handle that...and have never had to do that since basic open water class....honestly, how many divers ever practice that after OW class ? ......what if, in mid-gear swap, conditions had changed....downdraft/strong current ? ....what if another diver in the group needed help and that crazy DM is way over yonder caught up in the middle of this gear swap and hopelessly far away/busy ?

 

[openmindOW]

at least he admitted we was stupid for just following along. And give him credit for reporting his own mistakes so others might learn.

I agree. If Newbies get blasted for admitting their mistakes on this Board, then we are creating a disincentive for divers to admit their mistakes here.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Another reason that the dive should have been called and the DM told where to go. BTW my OW students do a gear swap as part of pool training. It's the way I was shown to teach during my YMCA DM/AI internship. Just another task loading exercise. And doing it midwater is actually easier as you can flip around anyway that makes it comfortable. I'm another who agrees with Zen's methods and attitudes. I'm even a bit stronger than her on some of them. My students still do the doff and don, bailout, and are reminded every class that they, not the DM, are responsible for their safety and dive plan. If the DM goes anywhere they are not comfortable at any time they are to end the dive and revert to their training. If I feel they would not be able to do that they won't be in the water anyway as they have not yet earned a c card from me. And he was not a new diver. He's halfway through DM, the decision making ability, judgement, and skills should have already been in place to not only make this a non issue but for the dive to have never happened in the first place under these conditions.

 

[openmindOW]

Without trying to sound like a broken record, this is yet another instance of a DM with poor judgement and no business leading a dive, and a diver that trusted a DM as his buddy.

This is one reason that we need to raise the standards for Dive Professionals.

How many new divers have had a bad experience with this DM? Probably a lot.

 

[openmindOW]

And he was not a new diver. He's halfway through DM,

Did you read something indicating that the OP is a DMC, Jim? Thinking I had missed something, I went back to the OP's posts to look for that. I didn't see it.

 

[bleeb]

Did you read something indicating that the OP is a DMC, Jim? Thinking I had missed something, I went back to the OP's posts to look for that. I didn't see it.

Paragraph 12 in the original post:

Did he know I had anything beyond a basic o/w certification? No, he never looked at my 'C' card. Fortunately, I'm a PADI Rescue Diver who is 3/4 finished with Divermaster and this was something I'd done at least a half dozen times. But I could just as easily have been a nervous, newly certified diver with no idea how to do an underwater gear swap!

 

[openmindOW]

Thank you, Bleep.

 

[openmindOW]

Fortunately, I'm a PADI Rescue Diver who is 3/4 finished with Divermaster and this was something I'd done at least a half dozen times. But I could just as easily have been a nervous, newly certified diver with no idea how to do an underwater gear swap!

After that, we finally started toward the surface. When we passed 15 feet and no safety stop was called for, I tried to get the divemaster's attention. Either he was ignoring me or didn't see me. I started wondering if I'd be spending the rest of the vacation in an Italian hyperbaric chamber. My computer logged a 92 foot depth for 35 minutes. The nitrogen indicator was in the red.

I thank Bleep, Jim and ZenDiver for noticing something that I had not noticed - and that I should have noticed. I read right over the Divemaster Candidate language in paragraph 12 of Mitchdive's OP. My apologies for missing that.

Mitch, I thank you for posting here but I have to be a bit harsh with you because you are a DMC. There is no excuse for a DMC to blow-off a necessary Safety Stop.

If you were a recreational non-professional diver, then I'd be going a lot easier on you. But you are now on the road to becoming a Dive Professional, so a higher standard applies to you. You owe it to the new divers you will be helping and to our profession to be an excellent diver.

ZenDiver is right. You, as a DMC, have to take repsonsibility for what happened. Yes, the DM you describe was terrible. But as a DMC you had a duty to be much better.

Please do not join my profession until you are ready.

 

[Web Monkey]

This is one reason that we need to raise the standards for Dive Professionals.

How many new divers have had a bad experience with this DM? Probably a lot.

No kidding. And it's not unique to Italy or this dive operator.

OTOH, there was plenty of bad judgement to go around here. The OP should have bagged the dive when his buddy did. It's pretty scary that between a DM and a DMC, neither had the good sense to get things squared away before the dive or cancel the dive when it was going badly.

Terry

 

[duskdiver]

Cmon!!! ZenDiver....you have a bad attitude or you own a diveshop...
Although you make a point, this is not the way to deal with things like this..we all are human
beings!!

PADI or other agencies should (I know they dont...one day maybe), do something about it and DM´s ofcourse, in a way are responsible etc..