Maui Dive op experience

[robpco]

I feel obligated to post this since the only reason we chose B&B scuba was because of this board. We had the worst experience diving ever and my daughters safety was in question.

My 13 year old daughter was thrown into the water on her second dive without having her tank switched out. She had <400 before she realized at 40 feet she didn't have a full tank. My wife and I were gearing up on the opposite side of the boat, the DM was helping my daughter get geared up and put her in the water before I had my BC on. My wife and I finished up, did our checks and jumped in behind her. Luckily, my daughter looked at her gauge within 10 minutes to see the problem. This was only her 6th dive! The boat knew that as well. I get furious every time I think about it.


We don't dive often, so I look for reputable dive ops, talk to them via phone prior to arriving and explain what we are looking for. I spoke to Brad prior to our trip and was assured they would take care of us.

The captain on the boat was the biggest ass I've ever met, his mission was to get us in and out as quickly as possible. The dive briefings were rushed and uninformative. Nobody seemed to care what we were looking for in a dive and did the rote dive trip. When the boat returned to Kihei we were packing our gear up the captain made us "hurry up" off the boat.

We chose another dive op from the maui revealed book for the rest of the week and were blown away by the professionalism, personalities and caring they showed us.

 

[Peter Guy]

Thank you for your post on this. As you mentioned, B & B has a generally accepted good reputation on this (and other) boards -- and I've been one of those who recommend B & B. I've done dives with them off and on for several years without any of the issues you found.

While I can't talk about the dive briefings, the captain's actions, etc., I do want to make one point about the tank switching. I believe, and teach my students, that it is solely their responsibility for making sure they have their equipment all in good order prior to entering the water. That includes making sure they have checked their air supply. I hope that you will use this as a "teaching moment" on this point. Yes, people make mistakes (as it appears happened here) but it is the diver's responsibility to make sure her gear is ready-to-dive at the time the dive is about to start.

BTW, the "thrown into the water" comment strikes me as a bit odd. Your 13 year old daughter just did a giant stride, did she not?

I'm also going to guess that you, your wife and daughter are PADI certified (only because that is the biggest agency, not from anything you wrote) and as a 13 year old Junior OW diver your daughter was required to dive with an "adult."

A 12 to 14-year-old Junior Open Water Diver or Junior Scuba Diver is qualified to
dive only when accompanied by another certified diver who is of legal age.

I can't help but think that, maybe, perhaps, there might be (just guessing here mind you) a bit of defensiveness by Dad for not being there for daughter and double checking prior to daughter being allowed into the water.

In any event, I'm glad you had a good time with the other dive op -- btw, since you complained about B & B, why not tell us what dive op was so good? Go ahead and name names, especially since your experience was positive.

 

[DiveMaven]

I've never gone out with B&B, but I have to agree with Peterguy that the one positive that came out of this was a lesson in why it is so important to check ALL of your gear prior to every dive, especially if someone else set it up or changed tanks, or whatever. To me, all of these experiences are lessons to learn and help me become a safer diver.

That said, I absolutely do not condone what happened to you and your family, do not in any way, shape, or form believe it was your daughter's fault about the tank, and the dive op clearly let you down.

It's great that you found another operator to take you out that gave you a good experience and that you were happy with, so at least all was not lost on your trip. Would be nice to hear who you enjoyed diving with and what kind of cool things you saw.

 

[ItsBruce]

While not directly on topic, I make it a point (and taught my kid when he was 12) to set up my own gear for every dive. The only exception I make is when a deckhand, in order to progress up the chain of "command" needs to show the captain he is doing the setup. In that case, I do him the favor of letting him set up the gear, but I watch very closely, but unobtrusively. The one thing I've found is that deckhands are at least as conscientious as me (their tips and livelihoods depend on it) and at least as quick as me. BUT I ALWAYS REALIZE IT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY THAT EVERYTHING WORKS. My kid knew this from the time he was 12.

 

[Shaka Doug]

...We had the worst experience diving ever and my daughters safety was in question.

My 13 year old daughter was thrown into the water on her second dive without having her tank switched out. She had <400 before she realized at 40 feet she didn't have a full tank. My wife and I were gearing up on the opposite side of the boat, the DM was helping my daughter get geared up and put her in the water before I had my BC on. My wife and I finished up, did our checks and jumped in behind her. Luckily, my daughter looked at her gauge within 10 minutes to see the problem. ...... I get furious every time I think about it.

I'm sorry to hear that you were unhappy but I think there may be more to your story than you tell us and hey, that's diving. For as many millions of people that get in the water every year, every now and then something can slip by (LIKE A LOW FILL)...that's why we stress the pre dive safety check for all divers for every dive!! Who was her buddy? Did she and her buddy do a check on the surface before dropping in? Were you and Mom her buddies?

Did she get hurt? No. Did you all learn something? Yes. She waited ten minutes to check her own air?? Less than 400 psi at 40'? She was supposed to check it on the boat and at the surface prior to descent. It can and does happen (although very occasionally) that a tank can be switched but with a half empty tank. There are probably some circumsatnces we do not kow here, however, it is each certified divers responsibility to check their own air prior to going down. If she and her buddy had compared gauges, this could have been fixed and you wouldn't have gotten furious. Maybe you got furious with the captain and he just wanted you off the boat ASAP?

I know the nice folks at B&B well. If this happened it surely was unintentional and uncommon. I would think if you were to rationally discuss it with the crew when it happened that things would have been made right and you wouldn't be here on SB making a big issue for the whole world to know about.

Todays SB Lesson:

Always Check Your Own Air Prior to getting in the water. Is it on? Does it flow as supposed to? Does it taste and smell OK? Are there any leaks? Is there enough to make the dive? When will you turn back? What should you have at the end? Where is Alternate and how does it work? Now do the same thing for your Buddy...Is your Buddy's all good too? Yes? Dive. No? Correct it before you dive. It's pretty easy and your daughter should have known this since she was a certified diver. It's part of the BWRAF and also the Standard Safe Diving Practices Statement of Understanding (which she should have read and signed prior to completing her cert.) item # 3.

It only takes a couple of seconds but it's 100% worth the time. Please don't blame someone else if you get in and any of that has been overlooked and you find yourself in a situation you'd rather not be in.

As mentioned earlier, we would like to know who you were happy with as well. B&B is a great shop with a great reputation. It can happen where people just don't necessarily "jell" and unfortunately that's part of life. Possibly your expectations were extra high, I don't know. There are many choices here. Some work better for different folks for different reasons. I hope something positive comes out of this for you and I wish you happy diving for your family in the future.

 

[Brandon]

When the boat returned to Kihei we were packing our gear up the captain made us "hurry up" off the boat.

Doug covered a bunch of good points in his post - B&B is a quality dive operation and one I've enjoyed diving with on every trip to Maui. Some of the things you're complaining about are exactly the things I love about B&B (I love the efficiency).

Here's something else to consider:

The Kihei Boat Ramp is EXTREMELY busy, and all of the dive boats using the ramp have a very short window of time to get the boats out of the water and into the washdown area. Once there, they still have another short window of time to get all of the gear off the boat and their truck/trailer out of there.

There is a bit of a rush to get all of this accomplished, but rest assured, it most likely had nothing to do with you.

As far as the air thing goes... your entire family just learned the consequences of skipping the pre-dive check. Glad she's safe, but remember that personal safety is always your responsibility. You don't get to ignore it just because you're on a charter boat...

-B

 

[DiveMaven]

Doug is right, sometimes you just don't jell will a DM or whole operation. But that's one of the things I really love about Maui is that there are so many good dive operators to choose from, thus it's simply a matter of finding the one that works best for you. My choices may not be your choices, and vice versa.

 

[bobmaggi]

Yes, I agree with all the other posters here. It is YOUR responsibility to check everything before you get in the water. We did many boat dive trips with B & B in FEb/March and love diving with them. Sometimes I switched the tanks, sometimes the divemaster switched the tanks. BUT I thought that the tank valve was closed until we suited up again to do the second dive. Then we turned it on, checked the pressure and breathed thru it to make sure it was okay. Or right after switching I checked it out, then turned it off til divetime. Yes, I agree that if she was a junior, she should have been by you at all times, entering the water the same side as you, etc. I think something was left out of the story. Take care, Maggi

 

[robpco]

My wife and I were on one side of the boat gearing up, we had one dive master assigned to the three of us. He was on the other side of the boat gearing up my daughter. When he had her BC on he had her stride into the water. When she went in I was surprised she was in so quickly as my wife and I were still working on our fins. There is no way I could have checked her out, but I trusted the DM to do so.

Yes, she should have checked her air before entering, but at 6 dives and tremendous respect for dive masters, I understand. If the the three people running the boat wouldn't have been so lacking in basic customer service I could have let it slide. But the combination of their behavior and lacking in basic safety requirements, I'm not sure why any one would choose this dive op.

We went with Ed Robinson and there was a world of difference. Great dive briefings, a safety first approach, and caring compassionate people.

I'm not writing this for all those on here that dive several times a year, you wouldn't understand. This is for the people, like us, that dive very infrequently and look for a dive op that will keep us safe and show us a good time. B&B did neither of these. Rude service and poor safety precautions does not make for a good vacation.

 

[robpco]

btw, everything the "Maui Revealed" book suggested was spot on, the resort we stayed at, the golf courses we played to Mama's fish house.

The writers of Maui revealed DO NOT RECOMMEND this dive op. I should have listened to them. The dive op they did recommend was awesome.