DM blew me off

[Ken T]

So tell me, the water temperature in Thailand was 82f and the water temperature in Cozumel was 78f, what the water temperature where you live? Is it truly possible to enjoy diving in cold water?

I enjoy the local diving here in Banff.
My wife not so much...she does get colder than I. But she does recognize the value of keeping up skills.

We did take our drysuit course in order to stay warmer.

She and I also enjoyed our few dives out on the west coast....lots of life to see, not as colourful, but interesting none the less.

We will be off to Hawaii again soon...and we do not need to brush up on skills as much as we would have too if we had not dived since last year.

We'll still be doing a pool splash this week to figure out our weighting with 3mm wetsuits and to review the basics again.

My log book the warmest temp at 60°F in Vernon, BC and the coldest at 40°F at Forget me Not pond in Kananaskis.

Banff temps average around 53°F in my log.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

So tell me, the water temperature in Thailand was 82f and the water temperature in Cozumel was 78f, what the water temperature where you live? Is it truly possible to enjoy diving in cold water?

I prefer cold water diving. The invertebrates, kelp and rockfish we have on the west coast make diving pleasurable for me.

 

[TSandM]

I'm with Max -- I've had the opportunity to dive a lot of places in the world, and the more places I go, the more firmly I believe that the best diving in the world is up and down the West Coast of North America, in the cold water. You want color? Do the granite pinnacles in Monterey, or the walls on Vancouver Island. You want spectacular views? Look up through the kelp forests of the Channel Islands. You want weird and wonderful? Come nudibranch-hunting in Puget Sound.

Of course, the diving to which the OP has easy access is not that amazing -- but if I can drive to Calgary from Seattle for a three-day horse show, the OP can drive to BC to experience the amazing diving up there!

 

[Hawkwood]

...
Of course, the diving to which the OP has easy access is not that amazing -- but if I can drive to Calgary from Seattle for a three-day horse show, the OP can drive to BC to experience the amazing diving up there!

The next time you do that you had better let me know!

As to driving to BC, we'll be taking a group out to Naniamo over Labour Day for some fun diving on the Saskatchewan and the Cape Breton.

 

[Notso_Ken]

So tell me, the water temperature in Thailand was 82f and the water temperature in Cozumel was 78f, what the water temperature where you live? Is it truly possible to enjoy diving in cold water?

Yes it is. Here in the midwest we dive in water down into the 30s most of the year.

---------- Post added March 13th, 2013 at 09:46 AM ----------

TSandM thanks for sharing but that one diver to the right was just a little bit worrisome...

At least he's staying warm!

 

[nimoh]

I think that video should be posted in the cialis thread

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/diving-medicine/449083-cialis-recent-dan-article.html

 

[StigOTracy]

I just came back from Roatan with a similar experience. I got certified close to 20 years ago but had not had a dive in about 8 to 10 years. I reported to the Dive Co. at the resort that I had less than 20 dives under my belt. I booked a refresher/shore dive at the resort where I was staying and I really enjoyed it, just myself and the DM. IMO she was very good, pointed things out and also regularly inquired about my air situation.

I booked a second dive which was led by a different DM. There were 5 divers and the DM. The other 4 divers were obviously already buddied up, 2 chubby American dudes, neither of which used wet suits and two females who sat together on the boat and were clearly friends. That left me with the DM.

I noticed that this guy was completely different from the female I dove with earlier. He never pointed out anything other than a conch which happened to be directly below our descent. I stayed close to the DM assuming him to be my buddy. I noticed that he never looked back at the group to determine if everyone was still there nor did he question anyone's air situation. I grabbed his fin to get his attention when I was down to 1000 psi and he signaled OK back to me and we continued @ about 60' depth.

When I was down to about 700 psi I really started to wonder when the dive was going to end as he showed no signs of it coming to an end at that point. Finally when I was at 500 psi I attracted the attention of another diver who happened to be wearing a computer and told her what my pressure was and she indicated that I should swim with her and we ascended to 20' and started a safety stop when I was @ about 300 psi. I finished the dive with slightly more than 200 psi.

I learned something from this for sure, first, I refused to dive with that DM from that point onwards but secondly not to assume that the DM is assuming the same thing as myself, in this case that he was my buddy. I believe he felt that he was on his own and so was I.

I can say that this was really the first time in my limited experience that I had a DM who was like this, the others I can remember were far more proactive and responsible.

 

[InTheDrink]

I'm surprised the DM didn't tell you to go up so you wouldn't ruin everyone elses dive. I give him credit for putting up with your lack of gas management not once, but twice.

I'd use stronger language but this is a public board. If you have nothing useful to contribute - and your post was not useful or helpful - then STFU. We were all new once. The Op in question presumably is happy to take new people's money.

Allowing a newbie to get to 10 Bar IMO is pretty unforgivable. Sure he needs to learn a lot but your kind of comment sucks.

 

[gmanstan]

I'd use stronger language but this is a public board. If you have nothing useful to contribute - and your post was not useful or helpful - then STFU. We were all new once. The Op in question presumably is happy to take new people's money.

Allowing a newbie to get to 10 Bar IMO is pretty unforgivable. Sure he needs to learn a lot but your kind of comment sucks.

I've been following this for a few days & it seems the blame is shared pretty equally.The DM shouldnt have to cut the dive short at the expense of the more experienced (air monitoring) pleasure,but at the same time after seeing the OP had a problem with air consumption the DM should have had a talk and made a plan for such occurrence if it was to happen again.In the same way even a "newbie" should know when your air is low to head towards surface not to wait until he's almost in an OOA situation.Buddy breathing is taught for emergency situations only(freeflow, bad hose etc) not because they weren't monitoring their gauges closely enough.1st time Op needed help the DM was right to help, the 2nd time the OP should have taken responsibility and headed towards safety stop /boat at the time he felt air was low.

 

[InTheDrink]

I've been following this for a few days & it seems the blame is shared pretty equally.The DM shouldnt have to cut the dive short at the expense of the more experienced (air monitoring) pleasure,but at the same time after seeing the OP had a problem with air consumption the DM should have had a talk and made a plan for such occurrence if it was to happen again.In the same way even a "newbie" should know when your air is low to head towards surface not to wait until he's almost in an OOA situation.Buddy breathing is taught for emergency situations only(freeflow, bad hose etc) not because they weren't monitoring their gauges closely enough.1st time Op needed help the DM was right to help, the 2nd time the OP should have taken responsibility and headed towards safety stop /boat at the time he felt air was low.

Yes, the OP clearly needs to brush up on skills. This much at least is shown with his confusion with Thai currency and air in his tank. But even getting to 10 bar with a new diver freaks me out. A half decent DM should not let this happen. If he/she needs to bar the diver from diving then so be it and I have nothing against that but if they do allow the diver to go down and then allow them to get to 10 bar, well that I think is unforgivable. And if that is the MO then it is a matter of when not if, it goes seriously south.

So whilst the OP seriously needs to brush up if they want to go diving safely I still lay the blame squarely on the DM.

John