My dive incident

[jstamets]

Too bad you didn't read the 13 pages - this would have been off your chest about 12 pages ago.
Odds are, if you are thinking it and it is more than a few pages old, someone else has already posted your sentiment.

 

[Bogie]

As everyone has been saying "you are responsible for every dive".

This most important piece of safety equipment is you brain.

Diving starts before the dive. Always be prepared to "not make a particular dive for any reason" or to "abort a dive at any time". Safety first.

You cannot control others or depend on others to make decisions for you or to think for you.
You can only control yourself and make your own decisions.

Now you can learn from mistakes that you made and learn from them and not make them again.

Why would you force a decent when if you can't dessend with a full tank how would you assend at a safe speed and do a safety stop with 500 psi at 15 feet?

The first goal of diving is safety. Every dive I dive is a success because I surface safe and healthy.

You did make some good decisions because you monitored your psi and po2 and made the right choice to abort.

Knowing you were lightly weighted you could have gone up the anchor line and held on for assent and safety stop.

Now all this can make you a better diver. We learn sometimes the hard way but it can make us more responsible and safer divers the next time.

Good health and good diving.

 

[MMM]

Am just catching up on threads after 8 weeks in Cozumel. I appreciate all the thoughts and may be repeating many previous comments.

I have no regular buddy, nor have I ever had one so have had to mitigate that from the beginning.

First, based on my personal training, I don't think instructors emphasize enough how much you are responsible for your safety. There seems to be some over-dependence on the buddy system which, as I note above, doesn't work for me.

I have tended to seek out other people on boats who seem to be competent (watching them in action as opposed to listening to them cite their accomplishments), ingratiating myself and asking to join them as a buddy 3-some. They have always been most accommodating and watchful.

And, for the past several years, I've dived regularly in Cozumel with a number of ops and deciding who I like best. And then regularly diving with them with a clear expectation that I want to learn from each and every dive. I am never disappointed. Usually I "buddy" with DM but it's pretty loose as we've dived together so much that we've got an unspoken connection.

So I wonder why you went with a different op from your previous positive experience unless it was due to location?

If I dived more locally (which I don't because it's frickin' cold) I'd be more involved with forming relationships with local dive ops and local divers. Given your location, it might work better for you than it does for me.

P.S. I'd suggest going and doing a bunch of easy dives (shallow, no current) to build your confidence/skills. And I forgot to mention above that I did a lot of on-line research on ops I've dived with to make sure I dived with ones that met my expectations.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Aozger...I have only one further question to ask...have you gotten wet yet since the first posting on this thread? If not, I would encourage you to do so.

Take many of the comments with a grain of salt, and a smile. We all make mistakes, and it can come at any time in a diving "career." I've seen an experienced USAF pararescuemen on a simulated Apollo parascuba jump make the jump without his swim fins! Embarrassing before NASA and the whole world, but he simply completed his tasks without them.

Diving is a fun sport, and half the fun is being weightless. So that bit about buoyancy control is important. But I had many years under my belt when I tried using a dry suit for the first time, and had an unfortunate ascent...controlled by kicking down as I ascended.

These things happen. Yours was an "incident" and not an "accident," so learn from it and move on. All this discussion about divemasters (the "masters" of the dive, right?) is just that--discussion. Everyone has their opinions.

The important thing to take from this is that you had a poor experience (especially the seasickness part), and now know how to make a better experience out of it. This was a "wakeup" for you about equipment checks, and a reality check about boats, divemasters, buddies, etc. It usually takes between ten and twenty-five repeats of a new activity to become comfortable with it. So learn from this, put it under your (weight) belt, and dive...

SeaRat

 

[Skeeter1097]

I wounder if at time you where advanced or open water. If you only had two dives 100" dives in West palm Beach are not the dive you need to do by your self. Glad you are OK. Drop me a line and I well dive West Palm with you. I have over 300 Dive in West Palm. The diving there is the best.

 

[JohnB47]

I don't think anybody mentioned the fact that this was his 13th dive! Of course he had bad luck! He should have just skipped the 13th dive, and gone straight to the 14th! (Of course, that one would then have been the 13th...)

Sorry about that. I couldn't resist.

In many parts of the country, there are quarries that are 30-60 feet deep. The visibility usually is not too bad, and there are no currents to contend with. They are great places to get more practice, so that you are prepared for the exotic boat dives when you have an opportunity to go on those. Get yourself a buddy, and go to the local quarry. If you find a good buddy and dive the quarry with him/her, then maybe you can talk your buddy into going on a dive vacation with you so that you can dive together on the boat.

 

[LEE MORRIS]

Im glad that you are Ok, the above quotes are true, you are responsible for your own safty, I have found diving with buddies lead to false since of security, I suggest that you dive within your limitations and I found the best place for shore diving would be Bonaire, you can pick your own depth and most of the Marine Life is about 50 feet and up. Also I see that most new divers don't practice there skills after being certified. They should be practice on a regular basis until it becomes second nature. Keep diving and be safe. If you don't feel confortable abort the dive.

lee