Insta-buddy DECO Diver: What’s NDL?

[Diving Dubai]

This level of complacency is concerning.

Welcome to the "real world" Not unusual - frustrating for sure, but not unusual. Depth gauge, SPG, Bottom time - For some, they're mere fashion accessories with no discernable practical use

To be honest, I don't really know the standard signals for pressure etc

This I find concerning - I always wonder if we're teaching people to suck eggs when we go over hand signals on a dive brief. It really is an easy thing to refresh yourself on though just to be safe

 

[caruso]

If your instabuddy got bent and suffered a permanent disability you'd likely find yourself on the wrong end of a lawsuit.

 

[Tournesol2000]

I see a big problem with the dive company taking divers on a shallow dive first. All dives I go on, and from my training was to complete deeper dives first! Just my newbie 2 cents.

 

[kafkaland]

I don't know if the conclusion you arrived at can be established with having had just /one/ dive buddy, who had not dived in about 20 years, likely someone who only had done trust me dives, as dive computers probably weren't as accessible for individual ownership so many years ago.

The DM went up earlier because he went into deco, which is the responsible thing to do. If he was using a Suunto, for example, why would that be shocking that his dive computer would go into deco before a Shearwater, even on low conservatism? (I don't have a Shearwater or Suunto, but from what I've read, the Shearwater's are vastly more liberal.)

Many DM's ask what everyone's dive computer is, especially when dives could go into deco, to see which would likely go into deco before others. That's likely from their experience of having to dive with many insta-buddies. They go with whichever is the most conservative, to prevent lock-outs among all their customers. From that, I know to see what dive computer my buddy is diving with. Since my primary dive computer is a Cressi, I already know it's pretty conservative so if I approach deco, my buddy is likely around there too, or still safely in NDL.

I'm glad you educated your buddy on NDL again, but it's one of those situations when the dive op should have pushed for a refresher course.

LOL - yes. I had a DM spotting my Shearwater, asking me what my GFs are. When I told him that it’s on 30/70, he told me to set it to 99/99 - because he didn’t want me to go into deco. I wish it was as easy to reprogram my physiology. I went to to 45/80 which I still feel comfortable with in warm water, and it wasn’t an issue during the dive or after.

 

[caruso]

Doing the deeper dive first for safety reasons is largely debunked and disputed.

 

[Tournesol2000]

Oh OK, thanks @caruso. Good to know

 

[Soloist]

I too avoid diving with insta-buddies, but if I did, I like to think I would do the same sort of simple dive planning I do with my regular buddy while we’re gearing up: “The DM said the depth will be about XX feet. My computer [in planning mode] shows we will have about XX minutes of no-deco time. Does that agree with your computer?”

Since you ordinarily dive solo, that kind of interaction might not occur to you. For me, that’s just the minimal planning I would do on any dive.

Very good points. Are you also alluding one should ask an insta-buddy to review a dive plan per their computer as a polite way of ascertaining their level of understanding? That approach would have been very effective and revealing in this situation.

On the upside, I am certain my buddy learned some valuable lessons from his deco experience. For me, I will be more inquisitive and proactive in the future. Lesson learned. Do I believe the dive op will conduct themselves any differently? No, not for a second.

 

[Gareth J]

If your instabuddy got bent and suffered a permanent disability you'd likely find yourself on the wrong end of a lawsuit.

@caruso
In this particular case, it wasn't an error by @Soloist .
@Soloist followed the profile on his computer that said he was clear and safe to ascend. His buddy confirmed he was OK, or at the least, didn't indicate he had exceeded his NDL, or had decompression stops to complete. So @Soloist followed safe dive practice, ascending before his NDL expired (or after his decompression stops cleared).
So as a buddy, he followed his duty of care to his buddy as would be expected by any agency.

The error, and any liability for the missed decompression does not sit with him , but the buddy. If there is any additional liability issue, it sits with the facility that allowed his buddy to dive with new 'clean' computers even though he had violated decompression requirements on previous dives. The facility should have made him sit out any further dives for 24hours.

 

[Diver below 83]

I see a big problem with the dive company taking divers on a shallow dive first. All dives I go on, and from my training was to complete deeper dives first! Just my newbie 2 cents.

All the cruise ships dives I have done always started with the shallower dive first.

 

[kafkaland]

Doing the deeper dive first for safety reasons is largely debunked and disputed.

From a safety perspective, it doesn’t matter. But if you want to squeeze the most out of your allowable nitrogen loading, there is a point to the first dive being your „major“ dive, as in the combination of depth and time, and then, after off-gassing the faster compartments during the surface interval, doing a „smaller“ dive to top off those fast compartments an so squeeze the last bit out to get all compartments cloße to their M-Values. It’s a good way to get the most out of your dive day, but it has a bit of a feeling of gaming the numbers (i.e., computer).