Ok, so it's time for me to post my Cozumel screw ups...

[eponym]

I lived in Madrid for nine years and I think I'm pretty close, would accept corrections from humans but as to Babelfish, here's the classic story on machine translation from the 1960s:

As a real test of their Russian/English translation software, the engineers gave it the classic "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." After translation into Russian and back to English, they ended up with "The ghost is ready, but the meat is raw."

After forty-some years it's a lot quicker but idiomatics are still problematic.

The verb "quedar" means "stay" in this context. And "valvula" in my post had an extra accent mark over the L, so Babelfish didn't know what to do with that word. My bad, or at least my editing software's bad, or yours for copying and pasting.

Ain't computers grand?

-Bryan

 

[DandyDon]

I lived in Madrid for nine years and I think I'm pretty close, would accept corrections from humans but as to Babelfish, here's the classic story on machine translation from the 1960s:

As a real test of their Russian/English translation software, the engineers gave it the classic "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." After translation into Russian and back to English, they ended up with "The ghost is ready, but the meat is raw."

After forty-some years it's a lot quicker but idiomatics are still problematic.

The verb "quedar" means "stay" in this context. And "valvula" in my post had an extra accent mark over the L, so Babelfish didn't know what to do with that word. My bad, or at least my editing software's bad, or yours for copying and pasting.

Ain't computers grand?

-Bryan

Ah, credentials! :medal: Thank you!

Madrid Spanish may vary somewhat from Yucatan Spanish, as well as that used in Roatan or Belize. Kinda like talking with Brits gets confusing at times. But I'll ask about yours. Heck it wouldn't hurt to print them all out and ask the dive shop manager which works best locally.

Wait! My Cancun dentist speaks very good English, and has scuba dived some at least. I wonder if he would be a safe one to ask? I'll email him.

 

[halocline]

Well Don, maybe none of this would have happened if you had followed Christy's advice and not spent all that time harassing the Cozumel locals with your "merry band of partiers". Or was it "little band of partiers"? Or "little merry band..." I can't quite remember.

(You'd have to look up an old thread for that one...)

 

[DandyDon]

Well Don, maybe none of this would have happened if you had followed Christy's advice and not spent all that time harassing the Cozumel locals with your "merry band of partiers". Or was it "little band of partiers"? Or "little merry band..." I can't quite remember.

[-](You'd have to look up an old thread for that one...)

WTH you talking about?! I detest partying with scuba. Talk about a lame hijack attempt. [/-]

Now I remember, when we were evacuating Coz in advance of H.Dean and I was speaking loosely about ideas here. Hehe

 

[Web Monkey]

Yes, you dove without a pony. . . . Yes, you are without your buddy.

Without getting into the whole "solo diving" debate, everybody needs either a
"real" buddy (someone who actually stays with you and can be counted on when the brown stuff hits the fan) or a fully redundant air-source.

Diving with neither is trusting your life to a spin of the roulette wheel.

Terry

 

[MMM]

Don, simpler is better in my experience. Yeah it may not be precise but folks will "get" it.

Plus - and this is very, very important - add the "por favor" so you don't come across like an a-hole.

 

[DandyDon]

Oh, sorry if I didn't include "por favor" in my discussion. In practice, sure - always. Please & Thank-you are two words to learn for anyplace one visits, and use them.

 

[HowDidIGetIntoThis?]

:lol:​

Failing to check my spg often enough really goes down as stupid, I know. Not much to add to that, but I am happy that I swam out of that without panic as I did the other challenges.

Don't be too quick to beat up on yourself, DD. To correct any major problem without panicking is both something to be proud of and excellent insurance against future problems turning into disasters. I've made my share of mistakes already but it bothers me much more that I didn't handle them particularly well at the time. Sure, I'll react better next time but does can I count on always being lucky enough to have one get-out-of-jail free card for each unique problem?

With respect to not checking an spg often enough it's a hard mistake to imagine until it is experienced first-hand. I've always been very good about frequent checks until I got into a particularly interesting dive (i.e. allowed my mind to wander) and sucked down 1,000 psi between checks. As it was early in the dive there was no harm done, but it sure was a sobering moment.

I've been thinking of asking my LDS to design a "course" in which one could (safely) experience a variety of critical situations but haven't been able to envision how it might work. The problem is that given even an extra 5 seconds advance notice that something is about to go wrong a person has enough time to start remembering the appropriate actions to be taken.

I'm intrigued that you seem to treat the pony bottle as a piece of equipment to be used fairly frequently. I've been considering getting one but have been concerned that, like a fire extinguisher, it would hang around unused from year to year and one would simply have to trust the annual servicing to ensure its functionality. Perhaps there is a middle ground that needs to be explored.

Happy diving.
HDIGIT

 

[Ayisha]

Hey Don,

People have already mentioned some of the lessons learned like doing your full pre-dive check away from where you can fall into the water, checking your valve and everything yourself right before jumping in, watching your gauge as you inhale to see if it fluctuates (signifying that it's off or only partially on), ways to be able to reach your valve yourself, checking your gauges often throughout the dive, and maintaining buddy contact, even if it is with an insta-buddy. If you choose to keep your valve open fully, it is even more important that you check it again right before you jump in because it often confuses people who check it for you.

You mentioned that you may have been underweighted because you were not wearing your pony. Remember that you and I were involved in a thread a while back and we disagreed about how to determine weighting with a pony bottle. The general consensus was that you should have your weighting correct first with your normal equipment, THEN add the pony without compensating the weight. You disagreed and stated that you determine your weighting WITH the pony. A 19 cf pony is about 2 lbs negative when full, and being 2 lbs overweighted is easy to deal with. However, if you use the pony or give away a slung pony, you are now underweighted at the end of the dive, when you may need to control your ascent and do a safety stop without a line. I know that you were able to fix this issue before you began the dive and you also had a different BC. I hope, however, that you can see that if you did have your pony on that dive and you used it as you would have rather than doing the CESA, you would have had a much more difficult time controlling your ascent with the emptying pony. I hope you reconsider doing your weighting check before you add the pony for future dives.

Regarding carrying the second mask, it might be prudent to put your anti-fog on both masks. Anything you carry as redundancy should be in working condition just as your primary equipment. Since you were able to switch masks at depth and seem to carry both, you should prepare both for use/possible use.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm intrigued that you seem to treat the pony bottle as a piece of equipment to be used fairly frequently. I've been considering getting one but have been concerned that, like a fire extinguisher, it would hang around unused from year to year and one would simply have to trust the annual servicing to ensure its functionality. Perhaps there is a middle ground that needs to be explored.

Oh gosh no! Did I give that impression? Sorry, no - it's a tool to keep handy in case of a need, but never plan to use - kind of like a spare tire, only more important. I really would not suggest one to others, but I like having mine enough that I always take it, try to always dive it, even on top of walls that are planned as shallow dives as I have been pushed off and down by down currents.

You mentioned that you may have been underweighted because you were not wearing your pony. Remember that you and I were involved in a thread a while back and we disagreed about how to determine weighting with a pony bottle. The general consensus was that you should have your weighting correct first with your normal equipment, THEN add the pony without compensating the weight. You disagreed and stated that you determine your weighting WITH the pony. A 19 cf pony is about 2 lbs negative when full, and being 2 lbs overweighted is easy to deal with. However, if you use the pony or give away a slung pony, you are now underweighted at the end of the dive, when you may need to control your ascent and do a safety stop without a line. I know that you were able to fix this issue before you began the dive and you also had a different BC. I hope, however, that you can see that if you did have your pony on that dive and you used it as you would have rather than doing the CESA, you would have had a much more difficult time controlling your ascent with the emptying pony. I hope you reconsider doing your weighting check before you add the pony for future dives.

I don't remember the discussion, but rather agree with you - even if I didn't before. Really, I don't know why I was underweighted; maybe it was the new BC. I got that straightened out and once I added the 3 mil suit and more lead the next day - was fine with or without pony, which I didn't use on some shallow dives. I look into that a little closer next time I can get some practice dives in.

Regarding carrying the second mask, it might be prudent to put your anti-fog on both masks. Anything you carry as redundancy should be in working condition just as your primary equipment. Since you were able to switch masks at depth and seem to carry both, you should prepare both for use/possible use.

Good idea. I see fogging as an inconvenience in need of a little mask sloshing, but it's always better without.

I need to go edit my remark to Matt...