PEOPLE - Don't Lie about your dive experience!!

[river_sand_bar]

Just got back fromn a weekend trip to Cozumel... went out on a fast boat.. Panga with 9 divers. All had buddies but 1. THe single told the DM that he was experienced and had just dove 2 weeks prior... he was from Isreal and not really good english and even worse spanish.

We dove the Palancar Caves which is a fairly deep dive between 80-100swf. Being that I am a DM also, the boat DM ask if the single could buddy with me and my buddy.... I said sure. Again, was told he dove 2 weeks prior. Descent with no issues, check everyone with ok signs and air reads. 20 mins into the dive, the single comes to me and shows me his gauge...he is down to 800 psi.... damn, that was fast I thought to myself. I signal the boat DM with LOA sign and we (3 of us) start our ascent. I give the signs for a 15ft 3 min safty stop and everyone returns ok.

Getting to 15 ft myself and buddy stop... looking over see the solo diver shooting.. now at 8 feet.. crap!! Make a mad dash, grab his b/c and drag him to 20 ft. He looks at me like "What??" I continue to hold onto him through the safty stop and making sure he did his time.

Once on board, he lets the truth out that it had been a few years since he had dove and that he forgot about doing a safty stop.....

People DONT LIE about your dive experence!!!!!!! Its not just your life but others as well.

 

[Gombessa]

In all of my 900 dives, I have never heard of anyone lying about their dive experience!

 

[17-40]

Why lie about the experiance that you have if you have lots of knowledge then share with others. If you are newer to it then let evey one know and ask lots of questions and get as much help and guidance as you can.

 

[Blackwood]

In all of my 900 dives, I have never heard of anyone lying about their dive experience!

I find that hard to believe. Back when I was teaching Cousteau to dive, even he exaggerated about his experience

 

[mwilding]

I was diving with this guy named Sheck and he tried to feed me a line of BS about his 4000+ cave dives and the time he went below 400ft on air.

 

[Thalassamania]

Did you consider that he might not have recognized your hand signal and that not everyone believes in "safety" stops?

 

[ligersandtions]

There should be no shame in being new or having not been out in a while. I'm a new diver and I ask my experienced friends tons of questions....if I were on a boat with a bunch of people I didn't know, I'd let them know my experience, and if they seemed to be knowledgeable, I'd probably pick their brains too. So much to learn....I'm glad that I have no shame in being new and asking!

 

[river_sand_bar]

Did you consider that he might not have recognized your hand signal and that not everyone believes in "safety" stops?

Well, he sure gave me the "OK" sign when I gave him the 15ft stop sign... so I assume he knew what I was talking about. And after a 90 ft dive for 20 mins... I sure hope EVERYONE believes in a safty stop... but being that he was using analog guages and my computer tells me to stop... I STOP.

 

[Teamcasa]

There should be no shame in being new or having not been out in a while. I'm a new diver and I ask my experienced friends tons of questions....if I were on a boat with a bunch of people I didn't know, I'd let them know my experience, and if they seemed to be knowledgeable, I'd probably pick their brains too. So much to learn....I'm glad that I have no shame in being new and asking!

Not everyone feels the same way, their ego sometimes chokes out the truth.

Many new divers freely admit their inexperience and it does make diving with them easier, safer and way more fun. So to you newly minted divers out there, just say so. We won’t pick on you, we promise!

 

[Thalassamania]

Quite frankly I have no idea what the "sign" for a 3 min 15 ft stop would be. I'd probably understand yours, and I'd have little trouble making a sequence that would convey the idea ... but lots of foreigners are used to saying "yes, yes, yes" even when they've not the vaguest idea of what you're saying.

As far as safety stops are concerned ... as one of those who was in on originating them, let me tell you truth. The idea of safety stops came out of some research that showed that recreational divers were, in point of fact, making their ascents between 100 and 120 feet per minute, back when a standard ascent was 60 fpm. I think it was at the AAUS Decompression Computer Workshop that Bruce Bassett suggested perhaps a stop between 20 and 10 feet for two to three minutes would be as effective as actually getting divers to slow down to 60 fpm. In addition it would cover most errors of one depth too deep or one time too long.

Then along came dive computers with ascent meters and such and the reason for the stop was forgotten, just the procedure was remembered.

Do I do "safety" stops? Sometimes, but far from always. I try to be fairly rigid about my ascent procedures, safety stops are for when something has made me sloppy and I want to be extra careful.