Diving Disaster in Italy

[peterbj7]

There is one area that no-one has mentioned, which I regard as highly significant. It's covered in the OP's initial post:-

We arrived on time, showed the girl working the front desk our 'C' cards, and took care of the bill. She pointed toward the equipment area and told us in broken English to find the divemaster who would supply us our rental gear

In all my years running a resort dive operation I have never asked for payment until after the dive is over. I think it gives completely the wrong message. I have almost as rarely agreed to pay in advance when I've been a guest diver somewhere, and then only once I was satisfied I believed I knew what equipment and service I would receive. I do NOT buy a "pig in a poke". I do know it is common to require payment up-front and I know some of my competitors here do that, but to me it's unacceptable.

That said, it may well have been in the OP's mind that he'd already paid so had to accept what came. Exactly my problem with the system.

 

[Zeke XA3]

To the OP,

Do you think the language was also a problem here. Did you feel that because they spoke only broken English you were unable to initially communicate? One thing you need to know as a good DM candidate will be how to make other people feel comfortable, take this away with you for when your working. And maybe in future check that where you are diving can accommodate your language.

 

[Nylorac]

It all sounds like you acted like vacationing sheep and took no real responsibility for your dive. Please don't blame the DM, even if he is a poor quality DM. You are a grown trained diver. Be one. These things wouldn't happen, and you wouldn't whine about a bad dive, as a result. You are definintely not alone. There are plenty. The English couple, most likely..... and many others.[/QUOTE]

I don't need to read the rest of the posts to ask you why you think there is no blame for a "poor quality" DM. That is the job - do it well. I agree that no one should act like a sheep but a poor quaility DM is not okay. It sounds like the shop and DM made no effort to distinquish between newbies and experienced divers so there was a good chance not everyone on the dive were all good "grown trained divers". Newbies aren't likely to handle exchaning equipment easily - there really is an appropriate time to end a dive and since the DM did not know the divers experience he/she should have acknowledged that.

 

[kjack_1]

We arrived on time, showed the girl working the front desk our 'C' cards, and took care of the bill. She pointed toward the equipment area and told us in broken English to find the divemaster who would supply us our rental gear.

When the divemaster threw (literally) me my rental wetsuit, I should have abandoned the dive right then and there. It was a 5 mil 2 piece that looked like the last diver who wore it was eaten by a shark. It was completely shredded, with pieces and parts hanging off of it. I zipped it up only to find that the zipper was barely attached to the suit thereby exposing me to the cold sea.

When the divemaster threw (literally) me my weight belt, it should have been my 2nd warning. I was never asked how much I weigh or how much weight I needed.

When we arrived at the dive site, Karen (my buddy) sank like a stone and I floated like an over-inflated beach ball. Karen, a newly certified diver, remembering her training, inflated her b/c and smartly abandoned the dive.

Despite this 3rd warning, I soldiered on.

When the divemaster started randomly pulling lead weights out of the other diver's belts (after our decent to about 40 feet) and stuffing them into my belt as well as into the pockets of my BC, that was my 4th warning.

I'm starting to feel stupid now.

The 5th warning came when, at 91 feet, my regulator began to malfunction (it felt like I was sipping air out of a cocktail straw) and I had to reach for my secondary air source. I caught the divemaster's attention and gave the 'something's wrong' hand signal while pointing to my primary air source.

What do you think happened next?

The divemaster became visibly angry at me. At 90 feet, he grabbed me by the front of my b/c and proceeded to do a complete gear switch with me - tank, regulator, b/c, etc.

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!

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.

We clambered on board the small dive boat and headed back to the marina. There was a couple from the U.K. on board and Karen noticed that they were talking to each other in an angry, animated manner. I made eye contact and the woman, who was about 30, asked what our certification levels were. She explained that she was only a basic open water diver. They were visibly upset and shaken that we were taken below 70' (the max depth for that 'C' level), and at how a certified divemaster could show a complete disregard for his training and our safety.

It was divine providence that no one got bent or showed symptoms of DCS. I remembered a dive I did on the Spiegel Grove a couple of years ago. Someone who was on the wreck that day but from another dive boat got bent. His profile, we heard from the captain of the other dive boat, was about the same as ours that day in Amalfi.

I believe no experience, however good or bad, comes without a lesson. Having logged over 200+ dives in places all over the Western Hemisphere even in marginal dive conditions, the worst things I'd experienced to that point were a few divermasters with bad people skills. Even during the occasional equipment malfunction, training had always kicked in and safety protocols were followed. But there are dive operators out there who think cash is king and safety is superfluous. Nettuno is one of them.

I hope whoever reads this walks away with the knowledge that each of us as individuals are ultimately responsible for our own safety. There is nothing wrong with being risk adverse and aborting a dive, even if that decision is based on nothing more than a 'bad feeling'. Your dive buddy may not be as experienced as you or worse, overconfident. Your own decisions and actions will determine whether a dangerous situation results in a safe outcome more than those of your buddy or your divemaster.

And never forget your training! Your life will someday depend on it.

I'll be the first to agree that diving in Italy presents some of it's own challenges.

The ripped wetsuit is more normal than you know - should've asked for a fresh one.

The weight belt issue - standard procedure. They throw it to you and you figure out how much weight you need on your belt, and you put it on the belt yourself.

The language barrier - well, you are in a foreign country. Broken english was/is acceptable. You actually had someone that could speak a little english. How's your Italian? The desk clerk use to grab me by my elbow and point me in the right direction. Where's the boat - grab elbow. Where's the potty - grab elbow. Where's my wife - grab elbow.

When it came to your dive buddy - newly certed - didn't you realize that her BC was not inflated? Ummm, really, no offense here but she is your buddy.

Now, your divemaster. Underwater gear switch. Pretty cool that he could keep you wrapped tight enough to do that. Right or wrong - not for me to decide. But I too did that with one of the divemasters in Italy...not Nettuno either. I learned some good things from that, and I'm sure the other divers in the group did too. The twins - Doff and Don.

The safety stop - when I was in Italy (97-00) - the safety stop was not a norm. In the later part of 2000 - the DM's started using safety stops more often. Just wave at the DM when you're hanging. Give him a couple fingers to tell him how long you'll be.

Now, with all those red-flags you had going off - why didn't you call the dive? I used Nettuno once while I was in Italy. That was a long time ago. They were a pretty good dive op then. But a lot of the stuff you are talking about sounds familar to me while diving in Italy. But I knew then it was my dive and I had the ultimate control on whether to continue with the dive or bag the whole thing.

 

[Divedaily]

kjack_1: Love the post m8 And couldn´t agree more. Don´t want to offend anyone, but I don´t think Americans (seems like most people on this board are from the US) would speak Italian (even broken Italian ) with an Italian tourist, would they? Even when they work in Tourism. Changes are the guide was fluent in Spanish and Frence (apart from Italian), but some people just expect the whole world to speak English (no offense).
I would have laughed my head of once he would start doing the gear-exchange though (and not gone ahead with it, I´d stick with my octopus and called the dive).
Different cultures have their own cons and pros, and as stated loads of time in this topic, in the end its you who sets (and is responsible for) his own limits.
Thx for the post OP, some lessons learned and a good story heard

 

[Shasta_man]

Another "who cares about the actual dive pro potentially killing newbies, the question is why you couldn't deal with the screwed up situation you'd already paid for" thread

 

[tracydr]

Mitch- are you sure you're ready to handle the most uncomfortable part of being a DM? To me, it sounds like you are adverse to making a confrontation. How will that play out when you are the leader?
This was your dive, not the DM. I don't even let a DM exchange my tank in-between dives. Get used to being responsible for yourself, your gear, your buddy's gear and everybody's safety. OW, you are an accident waiting to happen.
My advice- take some sessions with a counselor or some other "life coach" before it's too late and you've led someone to their/your death. If you can't even say "give me X pounds" for my dive belt and just follow along aimlessy without taking your safety stop, how are you going to lead a group of obnoxious "know it all" tourists or students yourself?
Please, please don't go to some of the more difficult dive sites in the world until you stop playing "follow the DM" and star taking responsibility for your own dive. Acting like this in the heavy currents somewhere like Galapegos will get you killed and someone else killed fast!
Sorry to sound harsh. Have you read the Galapegos incident? That poor girl was a "master-diver", buddied with a dive instructor. Chilling but the reality of life.

 

[Leejnd]

Are you guys aware that you are responding to an almost year-old thread? Three posts up from this one, a new member necroed an old thread. The OP never did come back and reply...and after almost a year, I highly doubt that he will.

Just letting you know that it's probably pointless to be asking the OP questions now, since he hasn't been back to SB since he posted this back in Sept. '09.

 

[Leejnd]

Sorry to sound harsh. Have you read the Galapegos incident? That poor girl was a "master-diver", buddied with a dive instructor. Chilling but the reality of life.

That "poor girl" is me. I'm the one who posted about my incident in the Galapagos. I'm not a "master diver" - I'm AOW-certified. I'm not sure what your point is about my incident...can you elaborate? Or better yet - post your comments about that incident in the thread for that incident here: Near-Miss in the Galapagos

 

[bleeb]

That "poor girl" is me. I'm the one who posted about my incident in the Galapagos. I'm not a "master diver" - I'm AOW-certified. I'm not sure what your point is about my incident...can you elaborate? Or better yet - post your comments about that incident in the thread for that incident here: Near-Miss in the Galapagos

Um, I don't think so. I took the "poor girl" in the Galapagos incident that was referred to as: Galapagos Scuba Diving Fatality - February 12, 2010 - Eloise Gale. IIRC, she was indeed a master diver who died while nominally buddied with an instructor-certified guide.