Safety Question

[penguinpete]

Thanks very much for the info about salt water aspiration syndrome. My wife and I both had leaky regs and we were both unexplainably tired while in Belize.

I have gotten many helpful replies about my hypothetical scenarios. Thanks to a reply from herman I think I know why the hose failed.

I may be a little defensive about Jim's reply but if you read his entire reply it is 90% critical and 10% useful information. He is making huge assumption from very little information.

For example:

"The final issue I'll address is the buddy skills or lack thereof."

He and other people are assuming that because I wrote about one dive where I was separated from my dive buddy (wife) that we must have terrible dive buddy skills. The truth is this dive is the worst case scenario. I used this dive as an example because it was such an anomaly. Normally we are pretty good dive buddies but Jim and others did a pretty good job of jumping to conclusions.

And also:

"It would appear that from your posts, that before you go into the water again you get with a good instructor and do a thorough review of all aspects of the sport- gear, choosing a dive site or location, and buddy skills. There are too many issues here, any one of which could have tragic results, to ignore."

How would you feel if Jim wrote this about you after reading one post that was mostly about a hypothetical situation? He has no clue what my diving skills are, he is guessing.

To answer your question: I want to learn and I have gotten a lot of useful information from this forum and the helpful people here but like any internet forum some people choose to criticize. Not saying that is what Jim always does but his post is was mostly critical and not very useful and a little condescending.

Finally, and I know I am going to get flack for this but my comment about DMs checking air seems to have touched a nerve. I originally just stated that my experience was that when I have dove in Mexico, Turks and Caicos and Hawaii that the dive master always does an air check but they do not in Belize.

It doesn't matter to me if the divemaster checks my air or not I can manage my air. But now I am going to get myself in trouble, I always believe in erring on the side of safety and think that checking air cannot hurt and is not babysitting. If it saves one life it is worth the effort. I am not a dive master but that is my opinion.

 

[penguinpete]

Great idea. Thanks. Are you at Anjilita cenote in your picture?

 

[ktomlinson]

Hope it works for you! The picture was taken at Ginnie Springs, Fl. Regarding DMs checking air, no matter what you think about it, it is customary at most places that put a DM in the water with you.

 

[Nemrod]

Sorry you misunderstood my post.

AT NO TIME DID I SAY THAT I WOULD INFLATE MY BC AND DO AN ASCENT FROM 85 FEET.

Seriously, you did which is why so many people became concerned for you. Nobody wants you to get hurt regardless of how they go about expressing it.

The dive that we just completed had an enclosed swimthrough about ten yards long at 85 feet deep.

The regulator hose blowing out brought another situation to mind. We doing a drift dive in about 40 feet of water with strong current.

We got in a discussion about what would be the safest thing to do if the regulator hose blew on that drift dive and I could not use my octopus. I say that I should inflate my BC and head for the surface.

Any comments about the safest way to handle either situation?

N

 

[jongles]

I have another stupid question. When renting equipment the psi of a new tank has alway been from 2800 to 3300 tops but in Belize it was consistently 3600 to 3900. Were they over pressurizing the tanks? Is that why the hose blew?

Hi folks an interesting thread. Just want to digress a bit.
I have on occasion had very generously filled tanks normally I would blow some of the excess off pre dive. Off the top of my head 3600/3900 equates to about 240/260 bar I would definitely be letting some out in that situation. I seem to remember over pressurised tanks can be problematic or have I just been throwing away free air?

 

[captain]

Hi folks an interesting thread. Just want to digress a bit.
I have on occasion had very generously filled tanks normally I would blow some of the excess off pre dive. Off the top of my head 3600/3900 equates to about 240/260 bar I would definitely be letting some out in that situation. I seem to remember over pressurised tanks can be problematic or have I just been throwing away free air?

For the most part throwing away free air. To some 3600 to 3900 is considered too high for a yoke connection, DIN no problem but the Cousteau crew used yokes to 5000.

 

[herman]

I've always assumed the DM was asking for turn pressure reasons. I can understand you wanting to monitor air on those fresh out of OW course perhaps. But on the other hand if this was the general approach it could easily result in divers getting into the habit of only checking when asked by the DM, that wouldn't be great.

It's not just green OW divers that end up OOA, plenty of "experienced" divers do too. If I am diving with someone I really do not want to have to deal with an OOA situation because someone was not paying attention to their gas pressure, esp if it's a large group I am DMing for. We have all gotten lax at one time or another and forgotten to check as often as we should, I have. If I ask then I am positive that everyone in my group has checked and I also use it for turn pressures. In the event that someone responds with a pressure I don't expect I have time to deal with it in a controlled manner. I much prefer to deal with a problem at 1500 psi instead of 150. If someone does not care to keep me informed on their gas usage then they can find another buddy. If you don't make it a practice to be informed about your buddies gas pressure, sooner or later it will bite you and if Murfey has his way, at the worst possible moment.

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks very much for the info about salt water aspiration syndrome. My wife and I both had leaky regs and we were both unexplainably tired while in Belize.

Well there is more to it than just that really. Regs should not leak that much, but what if they leaked more - enough to cause gagging? It's your call if you don't want to own your own regs, have them serviced, test dive them locally before trips, and carry them on trips - but I carry my three wherever I dive. Tested them on local dives last week.

It's not just green OW divers that end up OOA, plenty of "experienced" divers do too. If I am diving with someone I really do not want to have to deal with an OOA situation because someone was not paying attention to their gas pressure, esp if it's a large group I am DMing for. We have all gotten lax at one time or another and forgotten to check as often as we should, I have. If I ask then I am positive that everyone in my group has checked and I also use it for turn pressures. In the event that someone responds with a pressure I don't expect I have time to deal with it in a controlled manner. I much prefer to deal with a problem at 1500 psi instead of 150. If someone does not care to keep me informed on their gas usage then they can find another buddy. If you don't make it a practice to be informed about your buddies gas pressure, sooner or later it will bite you and if Murfey has his way, at the worst possible moment.

I don't know that the DMs I've dived with in recent years knew where I was half the time much less asked my tank pressure - but I wouldn't mind. Every 500# on your tank might be every 1000# on mine, and if we were in a group dependent on turn pressure I'd volunteer my half tank info anyway. The vast majority of boats I've dived from tho had DMs that just lead, trusting us to handle our ascents as needed, or didn't put DMs in the water.

 

[drdaddy]

For the most part throwing away free air. To some 3600 to 3900 is considered too high for a yoke connection, DIN no problem but the Cousteau crew used yokes to 5000.

My 3442s get "overfilled" regularly to 3500 and I would not freak out if someone filled their rental tanks to 4000 with my Sherwood Yokes.

As I said before. I always travel with at least my own reg, computers, and mask/fins. I`m in Japan as we speak and go diving next week for for a 2 tank boat dive. I cannot imagine going to a strange/unfamiliar shop and trusting their gear. I not only brought the above, but also my BCD, Apollo Split fins, and 2 wetsuits (3mm & 6mm -　depending on water temp). They told (through interpreter) that they did not believe that they would have the right wetsuit size for a tall fat American :cool2:!

It was a few months ago that one of our board members almost died using crappy rental equipment at Galapagos. They should have cancelled their dive, but went right ahead . I call a dive when in doubt, which isn't often - but I do it. Oh, I even carry extra o-rings in my dive kit, along with extra fin strap, etc.