One of those days when you shouldn't have gotten out of bed.

[pacificgal]

See, and I was thinking it was a monster that stole your buddy's weight belt.

 

[ReefHound]

Guess you had to be there.

Why should I have to be there? The facts of the story speak for themself. The student had to rescue himself once and his instructor twice in one day. I'm not criticizing you, and while your instructor may be a good guy and even quite skilled, he seems a little careless. Nobody is perfect. Everybody makes mistakes. But when it's one thing after another, you have to level with yourself.

Bottom line: most students are depending on their instructor to keep them safe, not the other way around. Be honest here. You responded rationally and skillfully but what if it had been some other student?

You chose the site and didn't research it, but why didn't your instructor? That's yet another lack of planning on his part.

What's the difference between 60' and 100'? A lot. Less nitrogen loading, less narcosis, easier and quicker to reach the surface, no trees, plus you would have had the chain as a point of reference. (your instructor could have used it to ascend more slowly and hold onto it at the end (I think it starts about 25') or the platform at 20' for a safety stop.

It seems like 7 times out of 10 when someone loses their weights, it's a WI pocket. I don't want more than 8 pounds ditchable. The point of dumping weight is to make you positive, not enable you to lift a barge. But I've not used a drysuit and never carried more than 14 pounds.

I'm sorry, I'm really not as judgmental as I might sound, it's just that nobody else was touching that point as if it was taboo. I hope your instructor is replaying the dive and analyzing it for lessons as thoroughly as you are. So did you get your AOW card?

 

[ReefHound]

I have not been to 100' in Travis, the deepest I have been there was 75'. With that pecan grove down there, I have definately decided to get a pony before going that deep there.

And a reel. If you follow the contour you are entering the trees on the old forest floor. It's not too long before you have a tree canopy above you, through which you cannot ascend (withut extreme risk of getting caught). In other words, it's essentially an overhead environment. Don't enter without proper training.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

Why should I have to be there? The facts of the story speak for themself.

Reef, I do appreciate your comments, and apologize for getting defensive. My point in this thread was to evaluate what I did or could have done. I don’t really want to bash my instructor, even though I doubt he participates on this board.

Along that line, you could say that I should have picked a better instructor, I suppose. Maybe I’m not too good at that, since my previous instructors (OW and Altitude certs) have been, well, less than perfect…

Anyway, I am aware of mistakes this instructor has made, both in the water and out, and am trying to learn from them, as well.

 

[limeyx]

I bet your buddy had a plastic weight belt buckle? Yes? They suck.

In my opinion diving in 1 foot vis, for a fun training dive in 100 feet of water doesn't really sound very safe to me. I would have called the dive when I couldn't see my feet at 60 feet.

The metal ones aren't "all that" either -- I have had one fail on me. Fortunately at the surface when I picked it up -- buckle fell right off. Fortunately (again) I dive the belt under my harness, so it wouldn't really come off underwater anyway.