Konaquatica Faulty Equipment - not a dive experience for Beginners

[tamilgoddess]

I am a novice diver (under 5 dives) and went with this outfit because of their web presence; and discussion beforehand with the owner. I called and interviewed people at 3 dive shops. The owner of Konaquatica, Jim Holt, is a nice guy over the telephone. We asked for a private dive since we were 2 people and had not dived in over 1 year. I said I was willing to pay extra to make sure our experience was fun and safe since I was nervous.

Smaller boat and the water was choppy that day. Jim Holt, owner, must not have a lot of trips booked because he "borrowed" a friend to drive the boat. We went down; and I initially had buoyancy issues which probably made me suck air more than needed. At 500 psi I asked to go up but it was a great area with lots to see; and Jim suggested staying below. We came up and were at 15 feet (decompression stop). My equipment showed 300 psi but there was no air. I sucked and sucked but NO AIR. Imagine a beginner down under with no air!

Jim kindly gave offered me his spare octopus but I panicked and figured I could breathe out slowly and come upto shore instead. I came up and did okay but am now freaked out about going diving again.

Konaquatica Equipment is not calibrated correctly. The issues I had with this dive shop is (1) he knew I was a nervous novice and should have agreed to surface when I asked and showed him I was at 500 psi; (2) when we reached the surface and I was panicked - he kept talking instead of trying to blow air into my suit to make sure that I could float (which my husband did as soon as he came up a few minutes later and realized that I was dog paddling madly to stay afloat); (3) some offer should have been made to take me back the next day perhaps at a reduced price.

For the 2nd dive that day I refused to go with Jim; and his friend who apparently scubas and cleans boat bottoms went with me - this friend was great - so much more calming, relaxed and a much better master diver. Because this friend tried so hard to talk me into going on the 2nd dive; I insisted my husband tip generously (also because I was so glad I was safe). In retrospect, we probably should not have tipped and the owner probably should not have accepted.

I have not dived since that day which is too bad since my husband loves diving. Anyway, if you are a beginner/novice; stay away from the Konaquatica equipment...it is better to go with a dive shop that always has enough people to do daily dives.

Any advice on getting back into the sport would sure be appreciated.

 

[Scuba_HI]

I am a novice diver (under 5 dives) and went with this outfit because of their web presence; and discussion beforehand with the owner. I called and interviewed people at 3 dive shops. The owner of Konaquatica, Jim Holt, is a nice guy over the telephone. We asked for a private dive since we were 2 people and had not dived in over 1 year. I said I was willing to pay extra to make sure our experience was fun and safe since I was nervous.

Smaller boat and the water was choppy that day. Jim Holt, owner, must not have a lot of trips booked because he "borrowed" a friend to drive the boat. We went down; and I initially had buoyancy issues which probably made me suck air more than needed. At 500 psi I asked to go up but it was a great area with lots to see; and Jim suggested staying below. We came up and were at 15 feet (decompression stop). My equipment showed 300 psi but there was no air. I sucked and sucked but NO AIR. Imagine a beginner down under with no air!

Jim kindly gave offered me his spare octopus but I panicked and figured I could breathe out slowly and come upto shore instead. I came up and did okay but am now freaked out about going diving again.

Konaquatica Equipment is not calibrated correctly. The issues I had with this dive shop is (1) he knew I was a nervous novice and should have agreed to surface when I asked and showed him I was at 500 psi; (2) when we reached the surface and I was panicked - he kept talking instead of trying to blow air into my suit to make sure that I could float (which my husband did as soon as he came up a few minutes later and realized that I was dog paddling madly to stay afloat); (3) some offer should have been made to take me back the next day perhaps at a reduced price.

For the 2nd dive that day I refused to go with Jim; and his friend who apparently scubas and cleans boat bottoms went with me - this friend was great - so much more calming, relaxed and a much better master diver. Because this friend tried so hard to talk me into going on the 2nd dive; I insisted my husband tip generously (also because I was so glad I was safe). In retrospect, we probably should not have tipped and the owner probably should not have accepted.

I have not dived since that day which is too bad since my husband loves diving. Anyway, if you are a beginner/novice; stay away from the Konaquatica equipment...it is better to go with a dive shop that always has enough people to do daily dives.

Any advice on getting back into the sport would sure be appreciated.

I'm sorry to hear you had such and bad experience on your dive!!! Think of it this way not all your dives will be good ones being problems with vis, conditions or like you stated equipment, owner problems etc..... Your problem was very serous though why any guide would have kept you down at such low psi and poorly maintained regs is just stupid in my mind. Glad you came back safe but still a little shaken up. Thats where owning your own gear is best you know how it works and when the last service was made. I hope that you can work out your fears and dive again! There is nothing better in life to be able to dive with your other half, my wife is my best friend and best dive buddy I can have.
Good Luck

 

[riftvalley84]

I am a novice diver (under 5 dives) and went with this outfit because of their web presence; and discussion beforehand with the owner. I called and interviewed people at 3 dive shops. The owner of Konaquatica, Jim Holt, is a nice guy over the telephone. We asked for a private dive since we were 2 people and had not dived in over 1 year. I said I was willing to pay extra to make sure our experience was fun and safe since I was nervous.

Smaller boat and the water was choppy that day. Jim Holt, owner, must not have a lot of trips booked because he "borrowed" a friend to drive the boat. We went down; and I initially had buoyancy issues which probably made me suck air more than needed. At 500 psi I asked to go up but it was a great area with lots to see; and Jim suggested staying below. We came up and were at 15 feet (decompression stop). My equipment showed 300 psi but there was no air. I sucked and sucked but NO AIR. Imagine a beginner down under with no air!

Jim kindly gave offered me his spare octopus but I panicked and figured I could breathe out slowly and come upto shore instead. I came up and did okay but am now freaked out about going diving again.

Konaquatica Equipment is not calibrated correctly. The issues I had with this dive shop is (1) he knew I was a nervous novice and should have agreed to surface when I asked and showed him I was at 500 psi; (2) when we reached the surface and I was panicked - he kept talking instead of trying to blow air into my suit to make sure that I could float (which my husband did as soon as he came up a few minutes later and realized that I was dog paddling madly to stay afloat); (3) some offer should have been made to take me back the next day perhaps at a reduced price.

For the 2nd dive that day I refused to go with Jim; and his friend who apparently scubas and cleans boat bottoms went with me - this friend was great - so much more calming, relaxed and a much better master diver. Because this friend tried so hard to talk me into going on the 2nd dive; I insisted my husband tip generously (also because I was so glad I was safe). In retrospect, we probably should not have tipped and the owner probably should not have accepted.

I have not dived since that day which is too bad since my husband loves diving. Anyway, if you are a beginner/novice; stay away from the Konaquatica equipment...it is better to go with a dive shop that always has enough people to do daily dives.

Any advice on getting back into the sport would sure be appreciated.

You will get more advice by posting your concern in a different thread. This one is my trip report with Wanna Dive in Kona so it has nothing to do with Konaquatica. It is too bad you didn't go with Steve from Wanna Dive because you would have had a completely different experience. I hope you don't give up on diving, but try it again with a different operator.

 

[GatorJoe]

i have yet to dive w/ an outfit that hasnt had some sort of issue with having enough people for a dive at some pt during my dives w/ them.

 

[friscuba]

i have yet to dive w/ an outfit that hasnt had some sort of issue with having enough people for a dive at some pt during my dives w/ them.

It might be helpful to check on dive company's minimum passenger policies ahead of time. Some dive operators make their share of cancel calls the day or night before the dive because there won't be enough to make the charter a profitable run. That's not always the case.

I decided a couple years ago, if I'm booking it, I'm going unless the weather's too rough or the boat's down (luckily the boat's been very reliable for a couple of years after a major rebuild). There's one poster in this thread that can vouch for that, has had several charters over the years as the only customer because of booking a month or more ahead of time and I'm not going to cancel just because I can't get more divers. One diver is a money loser for me, but you've got to get to one to get to two to get to 3 or more... and I've found more often than not these days that solo diver becomes the 3rd/4th/5th diver that makes those charters money makers, it evens out over time and sending them elsewhere doesn't necessarily keep them coming back the next time. Generally we've lucked out that the days we've just got one customer they're a pretty good diver and we can turn it into a dive day we can't necessarily do with a group of mixed abilities... turns into a fun day for the crew. I run money losing charters on occasion, which is more often than I care to, but they're booked well in advance and I can't see telling someone who's booked several days of diving that they need to go elsewhere on short notice. NOTE: notice I said "booked well in advance", I turn down single night divers if I don't have one already set up, and I'm unlikely to book one diver on an empty day when it's slow and I think there's little time to get add-ons for that particular day, it's sort of a risk single divers take if they wait to book close to the actual date.

Just felt I had to respond, it's not a lock that scheduling with a smaller operator is going to mean some schedule juggling.

Aloha,

 

[montyb]

I'm sure others can verify what Steve with Wanna dive just stated. But I can certainly say that that is the truth - In all the years I've been diving with Steve, and there have been times when I've been the only paying customer the only time I can think of Steve canceling was once when we got to the mouth of the Harbor and it started to rain and the wind was terrible as well as the waves. We canceled and turned around. The other time was before the wanna dive was refurbished with new motors and we had some mechanical problems. Steve has a great track record. I'm already scheduled between April 10 and May 9th of this year.

 

[Busdiver]

This is a strange post. You state you are a novice with under 5 dives and your profile states you have been diving for 3 years. So the five dives where check out dives three years ago?

At the end of the day you need to take responsibility for your own actions underwater. If you were at 500 and felt you needed to go up, then tell your buddy you are heading to the surface and go.

Also, if you felt the gear was faulty then why did you dive it again that day? It would have continued to be faulty.

Finally, keep diving. Do not give up on an awesome sport. The key to all of this is to dive more, buy your own gear, and enjoy the experience. 5 dives in 3 years is way too long to be out of the water.

Take care,

Bus

 

[Doubler]

TamilGoddess,
Take this as a learnig experience and a little constructive advice
1. Diving is a sport that requires you keep involved. Involvement is dependent on experience. I have sat out for over 3 years without a dive, hit the water worked a little on my loss of trim skills and went on. I have almost 1000 dives. You have 5 dives in 3 years. You probably should have done a refresher, got comfortable then went out on your dives. Keep diving, relax, enjoy. If it has been awhile paddle around on the surface, breath, practice octopus passing with your buddy etc.
2. The number one priority of a diver is His/Her own safety. Your dive buddy does not know your state of mind at 500 psi or 2500 psi. You can thumb a dive and SHOULD thumb a dive when you feel your safety is compromised. In my younger years I was put in the same exact situation as you discribe, it will NEVER happen again, as I hope it never happens again with you.
3. It was great that you had the courage to go back in the water on the second dive, however you shouldn't have. Think about this, you where doing your safety stop, SPG reads 300 psi but your second stage was delivering no gas. After the dive did you determine the cause? Was it a miscalibrated SPG? How could you tell on the boat? Was it a first stage malfunction that possibly could happen again at say 50 feet? Was it the second stage? Was it a clogged tank filter? If you don't know, you should not have gone with that equipment unless the fault was fixed.
4. The good thing about this is that your desents equal your ascents and life experiences like this stick with you. You learned something even on a dive like this.
5. Stay safe and keep diving. A sport like this is great for a marriage in my opinion. I have had the same dive buddy for 30 years.

 

[TSandM]

Well, one of the reasons for reserving 500 psi in the tank is because SPGs are inaccurate at the far ends of their ranges, although this one was more inaccurate than one would wish. It may well have been an error on the part of the guide to encourage you to stay down with 500 psi, but if you were very shallow (and it sounds as though you were) he might reasonably have expected your gas to last a bit longer. You could have insisted (although I know that, as a new diver, it's awfully hard to gainsay the DM).

What worries me far more is that, when your regulator ran dry, you were unable to accept the offered regulator from the guide, but decided to bolt instead. Air-sharing should be a non-event when it is needed, especially if, as it sounds here, the donor is right at your side when the gas is needed. It is a much better reaction to calmly take the offered regulator, and execute a smooth, controlled ascent with your buddy, than it is to take off for the surface.

It sounds as though, whether from lapse of time or from rushed initial training, you are pretty unsure of your diving skills. I think you'd feel a lot better if you did a little pool time and refreshed things like air-sharing and mask clearing. And you learned a good lesson at very little cost to you, which is that it's unwise to try to milk every molecule out of a tank, and surfacing with 500 psi is better than feeling that reg suck dry!

I hope this experience does not put you off diving altogether, but I do think you'd benefit from a bit of work before you get back in the water.

 

[Becca_007]

Not respecting your wish to end the dive was wrong. But...

he kept talking instead of trying to blow air into my suit to make sure that I could float (which my husband did as soon as he came up a few minutes later and realized that I was dog paddling madly to stay afloat)

Why didn't you inflate it yourself?