ScubaSteve
Wow.....what a DB
I think civility left a while ago. Now the only good thing to come from this thread will be popcorn.
New Divers Beware: Sketchy dive shop in Cozumel puts profits over safety
- Thread starter bvana1
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good point, will rephrase and say "let's keep it relevant"
nodakdive
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Hank49
Contributor
I don't know what happened. I wasn't there obviously but I'm sorry you had such a bummer of a time.
I'm curious though. I haven't thoroughly read all these posts. You mention you did all the E learning, but did you have any open ocean swimming experience at all before these dives?
I've seen quite a few "newbs" in the sea and with waves and current it can be a little intimidating. Can you do the E course, get the confined water in a pool, then show up at a dive shop....where ever, the Philippines, Hawaii? and ask to be taken out for your four open water dives?
That's asking a lot from a dive shop who knows NOTHING of your water experience at all. Anyway....I was just thinking about all this....
bvana - I respect that you had a horrible experience with your OW certification, however, that does not necessarily mean fault on the other's part (or anyone's part) and your caustic post did not strengthen your claim, it weakened it. You say that you accept responsibility for your part, but you litter the same sentence with vitriol and snide comments and turn around in the same paragraph and say that you have withdrawn your complaint to PADi and requested that your posts elsewhere on the internet be removed. You are all over the place! I suspect it is more to save your own butt now that a more realistic version of the truth has come out rather than apologizing to Deep Blue and Rafael now that the damage has been done. IMO, you are losing credibility with each post.
Trust me, I KNOW how bad an OW training experience can be - I don't think anyone's story can top mine actually, haha - and I lived to tell about it, and even ended up becoming a dive instructor and dive shop owner! In fact, it might interest Jim Lapenta to know that my truly life threatening 1st OW experiences for my referral dives was in Hawaii - the good ole USA.
This was many years ago:
My instructor took us from shore, on the NORTH SHORE of Oahu in Sharks Cove (this is where they surf - right near the famous Pipeline) - in March - with 7 - 10 foot waves coming in and a surge that went down 35 to 40 feet easily! As we dove along the shoreline I was knocked into sharp volcanic rock and even pushed by the surge into a "cave" (it was realistically about a 2 - 3 foot deep recess/crevice in the rock wall) and couldn't get out because of the surge! I had to grab onto rock and pull my way out - and guess what I did when I got out - I shot to the surface - which of course was WORSE from the waves crashing me into the volcanic rock wall like a rag doll not to mention the shooting to the surface. The instructor pulled me back down and swam while pulling me down to 40+ feet to get us out of the surge. My wetsuit was torn, I was bleeding, I was breathing heavy, and I was panicked! He did manage to calm me down, but we had to abort the dive immediately after because I was out of air. The instructor actually LAUGHED when we got back on the beach and told me "If you can survive through all of that, then I HAVE to certify you." Needless to say, I DID NOT finish my certification with that instructor and spent the rest of that Hawaii trip surfing instead of diving! It truly is amazing that I am alive! Trust me, my version of the events was MUCH more colorful and exaggerated back then because it was my perception. However, I do recognize where things went wrong and that we never should have been doing check-out dives in those conditions.
My point is that once you are a more experienced diver, you will look back and realize that many of the things you blame the instructor and the shop for are not warranted. You are asking them for an apology, but it seems clear that you did not complain to them while on the island - so just how and what are they to apologize if they don't even know. You had a barotrauma, but that truly is not their fault - and just for the record, even experienced divers can have a barotrauma from forced equalization or other accidents.
Fin59
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"This morning I withdrew my complaint from PADI and have requested that my other posts be deleted as well. My apologies to you and R. "
Just curious if you also asked to have your review of Deep Blue on Trip Advisor and wherever else you posted deleted, also?
I am glad your ears are better. Give them time to heal and give it another try. Go for more training if you need to.
Just curious if you also asked to have your review of Deep Blue on Trip Advisor and wherever else you posted deleted, also?
I am glad your ears are better. Give them time to heal and give it another try. Go for more training if you need to.
Let's not blame the eLearning. I did the PADI eLearning. So did my wife. So did our friend Kim. None of us has any difficulty describing our breathing gases. Although Kimi does insist on calling her fins flippers, despite the imposition of stiff beer fines.
Book learning is book learning. Doesn't matter if the words are on paper or a screen. You get out of it what you put in. You develop questions and you ask. The idea that you don't get to ask questions with eLearning is ludicrous. You're still expected to do a knowledge review with your instructor.
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