Yesterday five of us went on a 24' boat to a gulf oil platform to dive. Seas were flat(best this year). Divers were as follows:
Boat Owner=Former instructor who had dove Andrea Doria and numerous technical dives.
Myselt and other recreational diver with at least 300 dives each
Other adult and his son. Adult is DM with hundreds of dives all over world. Son is student at Commercial diving school.
Not an inexperienced group by any means
Adult and son leave home with tanks that they think are full as they have caps on when sitting in garage Get to rig everyone does first dive no problems. Boat owner and myself and other recreational diver(buddy team) do second dive and return to boat.
Then trouble starts. Adult and his son enter water. Son does not look at his gauges before jumping. They go to 130' to touch bottom. Either son or father(who looked in dispute) looks at son's gauges at bottom and sees only 500 lb of air. The tank wasnt full to start with. Just because it had a cap on doesnt mean it was full. They make immediate ascent to surface. No one hurt.
Lesson is look at your gauges before jumping. Just because a cap is on a tank doesnt mean its full. Son said father told him it was full. I check my tanks myself every time. Some well meaning person(like my wife) could put a cap on an empty tank.
Boat Owner=Former instructor who had dove Andrea Doria and numerous technical dives.
Myselt and other recreational diver with at least 300 dives each
Other adult and his son. Adult is DM with hundreds of dives all over world. Son is student at Commercial diving school.
Not an inexperienced group by any means
Adult and son leave home with tanks that they think are full as they have caps on when sitting in garage Get to rig everyone does first dive no problems. Boat owner and myself and other recreational diver(buddy team) do second dive and return to boat.
Then trouble starts. Adult and his son enter water. Son does not look at his gauges before jumping. They go to 130' to touch bottom. Either son or father(who looked in dispute) looks at son's gauges at bottom and sees only 500 lb of air. The tank wasnt full to start with. Just because it had a cap on doesnt mean it was full. They make immediate ascent to surface. No one hurt.
Lesson is look at your gauges before jumping. Just because a cap is on a tank doesnt mean its full. Son said father told him it was full. I check my tanks myself every time. Some well meaning person(like my wife) could put a cap on an empty tank.