greg454:
The diving shop did give me a depth gauge and an air gauge. Those I did use.
Hope I dont' scare any future dive buddies with my honesty. LOL.
It's not your honesty that will scare off other divers. That would be a complete lack of planning your dive, understanding your NDL limits, and not having necessary equipment.
Don't blame the Dive shop, you need to tell them what you need so you can keep yourself safe. A bottom timer is a fundemental piece of equipment even it it's a $20 Timex waterproof watch! This should have been covered in your training. Maybe "the rest" was not as easy as you believe as you seem to lack the knowledge necessary to plan a dive, understand your NDL, and know what equipment is necessary.
In addition to the lack of planning on your behalf, what about the DM or captain on the boat? Did they not give a good briefing as to the site conditions, what to expect, and how long to dive? Every boat I've been on the DM/Captain gives a briefing including max bottom time or air guidelines, and generally the site layout and features.
In general it goes something like, "We will be diving to X feet, the current is X knots, blah blah.... Surface after 60 minutes or start your ascent at 750psi whichever comes first. If you seperate from you buddy look for 1 minute, and then surface to meet at the surface/boat. Plan on a 3 minute Safety stop, or longer if you choose. Try to be out of the water by no later than noon. The pool is open!"
Of course even if the DM captain does NOT brief the divers, you should still have a plan. A good plan will include things like boat spotting (if necessary), review of communication signals, discussion of any goals (like maybe site navagation), who is leading, and whatever else you think will make the dive enjoyable and safe. It's too late to try and work out a plan once you are under the water unless you are very comfortable with your buddy.
