Question for DMs and Dive Guides

[TSandM]

My husband and I were just on a dive vacation in Indonesia. We both dive a long hose/bungied backup configuration, mine with a 7 foot hose and his with a five foot. Peter's air consumption is consistently higher than mine, which isn't an issue at home with the tanks we own, but does become a limiting factor when on vacation with an Al80. As a result, it's not unusual for us to spend some time on a dive sharing air -- it equalizes the air supply and is good practice for the air-sharing procedure.

Unfortunately, on the first dive of this trip, we forgot to tell the guide that we do this. We're about a half hour into the dive when Peter calls for an air share. The guide sees us doing this and swims over, very concerned. Peter shows him his gauge, which has over 1000 psi, and we calmly return the regulator to me and proceed with the dive.

In discussing this with folks afterward, a couple of instructors said that, had they been the dive guide, they would have surfaced the entire dive (six people) at that point. The reasoning given is that air-sharing is an emergency procedure, and therefore if you have to share air, the dive is over. One instructor said he would surface the whole group and let peer pressure punish us for what we had done.

What's your take? If you turned around and saw two divers sharing air, both swimming in a relaxed fashion, and on your inquiry, both proved to have adequate supplies and stopped the air share, would you see a reason to end the dive?

BTW, we apologized profusely to the dive guide for failing to let him know ahead of time, and we warned all future guides before we got in the water. We were remiss not to have done so, but I was still surprised at how vehement the instructors with us were about insisting on ending the dive then and there (and punishing us).

 

[Doc]

There really is no discussion.

You should have informed him (and others with you) of your intentions in advance.

It's not what you were doing, it's just that it was unannounced.

It's that simple.

 

[Diver0001]

One instructor said he would surface the whole group and let peer pressure punish us for what we had done.

LOL....that's brilliant....

What's your take?

If you're used to guiding beginners then you get a big radar for anything looking unusual. These guys probably just aren't used to divers who can share air without drowing.

If you turned around and saw two divers sharing air, both swimming in a relaxed fashion, and on your inquiry, both proved to have adequate supplies and stopped the air share, would you see a reason to end the dive?

Well, obviously, if they told me before the dive I'd give them a quick OK and assuming they gave OK back that's that. I share air regularly with buddies and don't see it as unusual. Some divers (and some DM's) probably never share air or only in an emergency.

If they hadn't told me then I would assume they had a problem and I would look into it. If they showed me that they were ok by answering "no" to the "problem" sign, they answered "no" to the "surface" sign and they showed me their gauges and I could see that the diver sharing air had significantly higher pressure then I would draw the conclusion that this is not an emergency and assuming they looked comfortable I'd personally leave it at that.....and then I'd have a pow-wow with them after the dive about if there are other "things I need to know".

R..

 

[jbd]

I have a different take. The dive guide was justified in being concerned, checked the situation and found that all was OK. There is then no need to arbitrarily end the dive based on knee-jerk reaction to something, and especially for the entire group. Sometimes instructors need to just relax and lighten up a bit--it makes analzing situation so much easier.

 

[TSandM]

RoatanMan, I agree with you that we were remiss in not letting him know. But my question was, given the information I put in the original post, what would you have done?

BTW, one of the instructors told us that getting the "okay" sign from us wouldn't have changed her decision at all, because "people say they're okay all the time when they're not."

 

[jbd]

BTW, one of the instructors told us that getting the "okay" sign from us wouldn't have changed her decision at all, because "people say they're okay all the time when they're not."

That to me is an indication of an instructor that is not thinking. She really needs to develope some assessment skills and learn to make sound judgement calls based on the assessment at hand.

 

[cummings66]

I'll give you my opinion as that of joe blow diver who's seeing this transpire. I would at first thought assume somebody ran out of air and wait to see the ascent. After not seeing you go up I'd wonder why and come over to see if there's some other issue at work. After you showed me the gage or told me the pressure or you're ok I'd wander off to play elsewhere having done my good deed for the day...

The thing is how would I as a stranger know you're not having an emergency after seeing what's normally done in an OOA or LOA situation right before my eyes?

A predive briefing explaining the event would make things better. Yes, I've run across similar things before diving and wondered what on Earth?

I would never presume to end the dive for everybody nor would I chastise you for it. In fact I'd understand what happened and think to myself I'll do that next time I want to extend my bottom time.

 

[Darnold9999]

Don't think there is any question that you "should" have told the DM in advance, they have way too many beginners doing dumb things, however as you didn't, I think the instructors were out of line. The DM saw it, investigated, found no problem and continued the dive. Exactly the appropriate response IMHO. If he investigated and found Peter OOA and not able to go back to his reg or with some other problem that could not be resolved then he should call the dive.

If the reasoning was as given - "if you have to share air the dive is over" it doesn't apply. You didn't have to, you choose to - big difference. I would agree if you have to share air, and you can't resolve the problem, for example by turning on a valve, then the dive is over - something has gone wrong. If you choose to then nothing is wrong, no need to call the dive.

 

[ffdiver]

i think and i mean this with all due respect and no ill intent but I think your husband should try to work even more on getting his air consumption in check rather then just share air...which by the way is a great practice but i don't think that it really solves the bigger issue. I could understand why the instructors said that but don't agree how he/she wanted to punish you. The DM did the right thing but I think fixing the problem rather then justifying air sharing to prolong the dive might be the better route. And once again with all due respect to your husband and you.

 

[piikki]

I agree with Matthew. It would disrupt my dive a little to notice something like that happening on a leisure dive without a warning. Especially if I saw DM not reacting to it! I would not blow an artery for it but I sure as heck would be more mad at the DM/guide than you if the dive got called for it after the situation was checked. I would understand the anger but not the overreaction. By the way, did any of the DMs/guides ever say they do not wish you to perform this on their dives?

However, I’d like you to make a follow-up question on the DIR-section. I am curious to hear what is the DIR opinion on this kind of ‘leveling’ of gasses by air share when there was no pressing reason other than extending a rec dive.