I panicked, lived, and learned...

[scott_rettig]

Kudos on keeping your head ! Lots of little things can add up to ONE big issue if you dont keep cool, but you did a great job. Glad to hear you got right back in at kewalos.. Who was the dive operator if you mind me asking?

Aloha

 

[Gombessa]

You know, this sounds SO typical of the Honolulu diving scene. I haven't been diving long, but I see newly certified divers going on 80-100ft wreck dives like the Corsair, Sea Tiger and YO all the time (that included me). One lady I was talking to even said that she had a buoyant ascent from 90ft the day before because she mixed up her power inflator buttons. Her husband on the day's dive ended up using up his air and breathing off the DM's octo during the safety stop. A bit disconcerting, but I was my own train wreck that day so I'm not gonna judge

 

[Theunis]

My husband and I: new divers, got OW last Oct, have done several shore and boat dives in familiar water using our own equipment. We consider 60 ft reef dives off a boat deep and exciting...we are certainly not Xtreme divers.

Lessons Learned (please feel free to input any I miss):
*NEVER go on a dive that I did not plan, especially if I feel it is out of my league.
*I do not want to dive with unfamiliar equipment.
*Trust me dives are BAD news. Even with the guide...it did me no good because he was so far ahead. I need to rely on my own skill and do dives that are my level.
*It is better to be overweighted instead of under weighted.
*I was able to recognize a bad situation and do the correct thing.
*Listen to the advice on SB...if it feels wrong...DON"T DO IT! I had every reason to call the dive and didn't.

I did end up doing the second dive. My buddy was very reassuring that if I got down and decided I didn't like it all we had to do was come back up. It ended up being a normal, very nice dive on a pipe reef. I'm glad I did it and will continue to dive...but in the way that fits me.

GOOD FOR YOU!! You've experienced a live threatening problem, handled it and survived it. You have learned the right lessons and I do agree with you that it is better to be overweighted than underweighted. You can always inflate your BC when you are overweighted but from experience a diver tends to suffer if underweighted.

What I do suggest is to go for your OWA.

 

[fairybasslet]

As strange as it may sound, these kinds of experiences will make you a better diver. Glad you kept your wits about you.

 

[fishdelasol]

Thanks for all the kudos. I felt really foolish and read a lot of posts before I shared my experience. I am glad that others have had similar experiences and we can learn from each other.

We did not ask for a refund because we acknowledged and accepted the dive he took us on. I would rather just take the lessons learned from it rather than argue over payment. We will probably not dive in the Honolulu area again. Not just because of this one guy, but we already did it and it is not necessarily a great diving destination.

This all occurred on the Sea Tiger. For the two seconds I looked around it was really pretty and the water is so blue in Oahu. I think experienced divers would be a better fit for this particular operator. I picked him from the reviews on Scubaboard, so it wasn't a random choice from a google search. At this point in our diving experience, we are probably best going with more main stream dive operators. I bet a lot of operators are just sick of the day to day or find the type of dives we like very boring.

 

[CoralSeaMan]

Solving your problem makes you a better diver.

My first boat dive was the Santa Rosa Wall (my second dive since certification, and second ocean dive) in Cozumel. I had no business being that deep (90+ fsw) and in that current. I was almost certainly narced. After "only a few minutes," my buddy noticed I had only 500psi. My buddy (similarly unpracticed) had 750 psi. While ascending slowly to the surface I managed to run out of air at 40 feet. We made a safe shared air ascent.

Lesson learned? Watch your air! I have never come close to running out of air since. I have always credited thorough training with keeping me from panicking and allowing me to take appropriate action.

On the other hand, it was the most amazing dive I will ever have; the sense of flying, the endless blue, the passing wall, made me a diver for life.

 

[Missdirected]

I bet a lot of operators are just sick of the day to day or find the type of dives we like very boring.

Who cares? You are paying for it, they are making their money, it is all good. Pushing yourself beyond your limit so that a Dive Operator doesn't find you boring or whatever, isn't going to further your experience much, it is just going to make you not want to dive. Enjoy yourself. This is about your experience, not theirs

 

[KarenCD]

Bravo for you and kudos for sharing your lessons learned. They should be beneficial to many people who have not learned them already! Happy diving! By the way, I won't be booking a dive until I research scubaboard. As well as other media.

 

[TSandM]

It wasn't a good experience to go through, but it was good experience. The wonderful thing is that you have now had an opportunity to be in a situation underwater where you really, REALLY don't want to be there any more, and you felt the anxiety spiraling up, and you stopped it. This single lesson will come in useful over and over again, especially if you continue to dive and get more ambitious with what you do. Eventually, we all have dives where something malfunctions, or where conditions change or turn out to be unpleasant or stressful, and for me, having had that panic control experience on one of my OW dives has turned out to be a huge advantage.

Even better, you didn't give up diving

 

[ArcticDiver]

Congratulations on a job well done!

You have something not everyone does; the ability to handle the unexpected. Having that as a foundation should be a real comfort to you for diving and for life in general.