newbie Dm proves lack of experience.

[SteveDiver]

Spoon you did the correct thing. Just because the person is a DM it does not mean that you place trust in them. My rule is if I do not feel comfortable rather it is the diving environment or maybe just a gut feeling I will go up with my buddy regardless. The last time I went up without the group was in Belize the reason...well it was a boring dive and I lost interest, so I got the attention of the DM to tell him we were going up. The best advise I was giving is to always have a compass, know where you started and how to get back and never place trust in another. You have to get yourself out of any given situation on your own which is what you did Congrats.!

 

[Spoon]

The whole thing sounds wrong. Taking inexperienced divers that deep on a site with potential for that kind of current - lucky nobody got lost or bent.

On the other hand, by going and I assume signing waivers (maybe not required there, I don't know) you are implicitly or explicitly saying I know and understand the risks and am capable of dealing with this dive. Otherwise it's what's known as a "trust me" dive, and those get people killed.

What is the DM's job? Applying good judgement and helping avoid dangerous situations? Yes. (Given the apparent experience level of at least some of the divers involved, it probably should have been called and moved to a more apporpriate site.) Providing orientation to a local site, yes. Babysitting supposedly qualified divers? Debatable. Nothing in any waiver that I've seen says the DM or anyone else will think for you.

You exercised good judgment, a credit to you and possibly your training. That is what is expected of qualified divers.

we had a briefing on what the site was, diveplan, low on air procedures but not once did they mention current. we all sign waivers before every dive but this one was different. we assumed that everything needed to be discussed at the briefing was dicussed.

apparently these people grossly misjudged the current that day. the dm who took us never dove the site, how were we supposed to know that? i know the guy aint suppose to babysit us divers but he should have tended to the less experienced divers the minute he found out the current was much, much stronger than he originally anticipated.

 

[Spoon]

Spoon you did the correct thing. Just because the person is a DM it does not mean that you place trust in them. My rule is if I do not feel comfortable rather it is the diving environment or maybe just a gut feeling I will go up with my buddy regardless. The last time I went up without the group was in Belize the reason...well it was a boring dive and I lost interest, so I got the attention of the DM to tell him we were going up. The best advise I was giving is to always have a compass, know where you started and how to get back and never place trust in another. You have to get yourself out of any given situation on your own which is what you did Congrats.!

thanks, i was very uncomfortable but my mistake was that i hesitated i only bailed out towards the end. i should have bailed out the minute i felt comfortable, was hoping the dm would realize this situation sooner and rounded up the group so we all could descend together.