Near Misses

[Lobs]

Don,

I didn't include our first dive in my previous report. Our first dive was navigation and it was a shore dive, it lasted about 15 minutes and we only went down about 6 foot. I really count that as a dive.

As far as having a safety sausage, you're right we were thinking about buying one right before we left, but based on previous dives with other dive ops we assumed that we would be OK without one. ASSUME (Makes as ass out of you and me). We had definitely planned on diving more, and we had planned on doing our AOW dives real quick and then get on to the pleasure dives, however again because of the constant miscommunications, cancelled dives, posponed dives and other various factors nothing went as planned. We will definitely chalk this vacation up to an expensive lesson.

 

[DandyDon]

I am going to dive with Palancar in a few weeks. I have used them several times before and had no complaints.....THey always took good care of me. As far as the CO, what is the PEL (permissible exposure limit) or concentraitions that would be alowed? I am leaving my office armed with a Gastech CO-82 carbobon monoxide meter. I use this in environmental situations in industry when we need to keep an eye on CO levels. This machine is zero'd to atmosphere and is capable of detecting 1 ppm (part per million) pretty small amount. Before dives I will check my tanks by bleeding raw gas out of the cylinder. For reference, cigarette smoke delivers a reading of about 180 ppm however it is not constant for 40 to 60 minutes like a tank. If I get any readings I am going to not use the tanks. I spoke to palancar and they have closed the shop at the Allegro and operate out of the Grand exclusively although they still pick up at the Allegro.

Are they still getting their fills from the big station on the island, or do they have a compressor at the Allegro? The big station seems to have an excellent record, altho for some reason still does not have inline CO monitors.

Since you are breathing air under pressure, the effect is approximately multiplied by the ATMs. It's actually more complicated than that as ascending aggravates a CO hit, but it's going to take me a while to find that discussion.

All of your tests should be zero CO, and I will look forward to hearing about your experiences. If I have this right: Government accepted limits for scuba air...

Canada's diving CO spec for air is 5 ppm

USA with its CGA Grade E is 10 ppm

Australia is 10 ppm

Britain has the tightest CO spec at 3 ppm.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/PUBNS/dvis9.pdf

Rest of Europe is 15 ppm

Much of the world - not controlled​

Hope that helps...?

Of the weak points with the cheaper CO detector I use, I have to keep it inside a ziplock or pelican box to keep it from getting fouled by humidity of contaminants, and it takes 3 minutes to analyze well. However yours works, I find it easiest to activate the detector inside a gallon ziplock and fill it from the tank and the ones with the slider handles seem easiest to close. Take enough to use a new one a day as they start to leak, depending on handling.

 

[yowilhelm]

Thanks, the Gastech is instant for CO. I checked a tank in my office and it read "0" (I keep my rig o there to remind me to to work hard so I can aford to dive

 

[DandyDon]

Don,

I didn't include our first dive in my previous report. Our first dive was navigation and it was a shore dive, it lasted about 15 minutes and we only went down about 6 foot. I really count that as a dive.

As far as having a safety sausage, you're right we were thinking about buying one right before we left, but based on previous dives with other dive ops we assumed that we would be OK without one. ASSUME (Makes as ass out of you and me). We had definitely planned on diving more, and we had planned on doing our AOW dives real quick and then get on to the pleasure dives, however again because of the constant miscommunications, cancelled dives, posponed dives and other various factors nothing went as planned. We will definitely chalk this vacation up to an expensive lesson.

So you did get your Aow done?

When I was new, I read an article in a dive magazine about being found at sea and have always had my sausage on me for every dive. I also wear a signal mirror from my neck inside my suit, a Dive Alert whistle, a Storm Whistle, and carry a dive light one day dives.

Thanks, the Gastech is instant for CO. I checked a tank in my office and it read "0" (I keep my rig o there to remind me to to work hard so I can aford to dive

Cool! The GasMan CO HI 0-1500 PPM Carbon Monoxide? Price is not bad. Any chance you can get some 10 ppm CO and test with it? I wonder how accurate it may be in low range?

 

[yowilhelm]

I had 188 and 198ppm and it was DEAD NUTS ON....

 

[DandyDon]

I calibrate mine with 100 ppm but still wonder how close it measures in the 5 to 15 range. Last month I was reading 5 ppm and less at a resort. Should not get any, but it happens.

 

[cruiser]

I calibrate mine with 100 ppm but still wonder how close it measures in the 5 to 15 range. Last month I was reading 5 ppm and less at a resort. Should not get any, but it happens.

Don--

Would you dive with a tank that measures 5 ppm? It may be okay on the surface but at depth....

 

[DandyDon]

Don--

Would you dive with a tank that measures 5 ppm? It may be okay on the surface but at depth....

I did. After flying to Roatan, what would you set as a no-dive max?

Do you test yours...?

I don't really worry about 5 ppm in my tanks so much as even at 130 ft, that 5 ATMS or the effect of around 25 ppm on surface. I do wonder why, did look around, and certainly would not dive a tank that I didn't test.

 

[DeerCreekers]

For those staying at either the Allegro or the Coz Grand in the next couple of weeks and have questions about other div ops that pic up from both hotel's docs, Scuba Mau does. We are staying at the Allegro next week (This will be our 5 time at the Allegro, 2 times at the Grand-we love these hotels).....but diving with Scuba Mau.

 

[DeerCreekers]

I have to say that we have dove with Palancar Dive many times, and although our taste has now led us to a smaller operation, I can tell you my husband and I never witnessed any safety issues with them. My husband received his OW on one vacation and we both got our AOW (with Karen) on another vacation. In addition, i trusted our teenage sons with them for their resort certifications (my son has since got his OW and AOW in the cold California waters).
In the interest of disclosure, I should say that we love these hotels so much that we purchased a vacation membership with them 3 years ago (which is long enough time to know if we feel we've got taken or if we are happy with our purchase. And we are very happy our decision 3 years ago.
We are diving with Scuba Mau in a little over a week so I thought i'd see if I could get their take on the situation.
This is the answer I received from Opal at Scuba Mau, via Email (she gave me permission to post it)
>>>>>Here on the island we have a saying, good news travels fast and bad news travels even faster. I know that Antonio Novello has ran a good operation for a long time! He is a fair man. If they had an issue with the air i am SURE that it has been dealt with and the answer to the problem was immediate! We as shops were aware that for a few days in Feb. some of the divers there were suffering from signs of co poisoning and a few went to the chamber. He does have his own compressor, however that does not mean that he did not rent tanks from the Company here on the island.
I like Antonio and he has years of running a tight ship, so to speak. So that is my opinion on the matter. If you like, you can copy an paste this to the link if it fits. I do not like the BIG boats so i never worked for him, but when we opened our shop, he was one of the very few people here that did not give us a hard time and he came by and offered advice to us on how to handle everyday situations that he had encountered. So i do feel bad to find out that they are slamming his shop! He is a local man that worked very hard to get what he has, he did not come from money and has made his own, so it is not fair to him and his shop, especially because i know if it was that kind of problem he had it rectified immediately .>>>>>