Oh man... AquaWorld... caution

[scubawife]

Like I said, I was slightly ahead of him and was taking a picture behind a coral head when the situation occured, it only took about 10 seconds, this was only his second dive ever and he was under a resort cert card (discover scuba) so was the responsibility of the DM/instructor. When I moved slightly ahead to take the picture the dive masters assistant who was supposed to be in the rear of the group (and was when I went ahead to take the picture) moved ahead of him and left him. Note that the gage read 500 psi, then 1000 psi on the surface and no air came from the reg even when he purged it. Sounds like the main intake was plugged temporarily so even the octo would not have helped.

He paniced as soon as he couldn't purge the reg and shot for the surface, if he would have thought he could have tried the octo, but it was only his second dive ever after a resort course.

Yes, I should have stayed by his side, but when I left him he was with the assistant. I didn't get a chance to handle it but would have gladly handed him my primary and used my spare (it is on my BCD fill so I hand over the primary instead of an octo). I am still sure even switching to his octo wouldn't help as it appeared to have been a primary, not a secondary stage problem. Secondaries usually fail open as a safety feature, they don't just stop. Combined with the wildly differing pressure reads it adds up to a faulty primary. The DM was responsible for him as he was under a resort certification and actually looked miffed if I crouded in, after all he was responsible for the resort certs with the group.

Mike

Thanks for the additional info, Mike. I didn't see anywhere in your post that you were ahead taking photos or that your SIL was doing discover scuba/resort course dives. Makes more sense now. The DM should have been right by his side and taken care of any problems.

Discover scuba and subsequent resort course dives are really hit or miss. My husband did about 60 dives before getting certified so we had alot of resort courses to compare. They ranged from 2 days of pool training with a really great experience of 3 days of diving to a quick rundown of the usual pool session while in a van on the way to the boat. That one also took him and another friend to 90ft and sent them up alone when they were low on air... And just about everything in between. You just don't know what you're going to get regardless of what the guidelines are. I tried the resort courses/discover scuba a few times and it was a miserable experience for me each time. But, I wanted to dive and once I completed a full course and got all my own gear (for my check out dives) I was fine.

Glad that he made it through and all ended well, and good on him that he did another dive after that experience. Hopefully, in spite of the gear issues, etc., he enjoyed it and will take a full certification course before his next dives!

 

[mikerault]

I am encouraging him...I need a dive partner! I wouldn't be so mad about this except Jenny at Aquaworld assured me they were the best and nothing like this would happen...so I gave them the benefit of the doubt even with the poor reports here on the board about them. This had the potential to be something really bad, I don't want my new grandson (due in October) to be fatherless because I took his dad diving and got him killed.

Mike

 

[z28pwr]

Glad you posted, people need to be aware of these things and sorry you got bashed for telling your experience with the dive operator. I strongly recommend everyone to purchase their own regulator, specially since you can buy a halfway decent reg for $130 bucks.

 

[mikerault]

Thanks, I didn't see it as a bash, just incomplete understanding, easily rectified. I agree, get a reg at least, BC issues can be dealt with generally speaking, but if the reg stops at 90 feet it is a real problem...

Mike