Stuck with beginner diver who runs out of air in 20 mins?

[Bob DBF]

That's fair but my feeling is why does the group HAVE to go with the DM? I've never been on a livaboard where EVERYONE must follow the DM-I usually buddy up with someone and then we do our own thing. Either way I keep my distance from newer divers.

Some areas are protected and may require divers to dive with a DM. If it's just the boats policy, they may be unwittingly engineering their own demise.


Bob

 

[kablooey]

Perhaps the boat could have provided a second DM or guide, and split up the group?
I've only been on two liveaboards, but in both cases we could request a private guide at no cost (except maybe a tip).
The guides were not always DMs. Sometimes they were just members of the deck crew.

 

[DepthCharge]

In the group that I travel with I'm the only diver. We go to all inclusives. I usually book diving off site. Two years ago I didn't do that.....what a mistake!!! So we're on the dive boat, and they break us up into two groups experienced and newbies. To make a long story short, they stuck me in the newbie group. Tried to change it, but they wouldn't let me. So the dive lasted about 20 min. +/-. Got back to the boat, spoke with the dive master about it again and was told that's the way it is to make the groups equal. Didn't dive the rest of the trip.
Later,
John

 

[stuartv]

What can I do the next time I am stuck in such a situation? Thanks in advance for your advice.

Like much of scuba, prepare in advance so that you don't get into that situation.

I don't book dives with an operator that will require me to stay with (and ascend with) a guide. I can live with a reasonable overall time limit on a dive, but otherwise, I want a dive operator who will let me dive my whole tank. And, while I don't have a lot of experience, I have not really had trouble finding operators to dive with who offered that.

If I wanted to go somewhat that had a law requiring me to stay with a guide (and the dive operator wouldn't offer me any guarantee that I could dive my tank), I would seriously consider just going someplace different. There are LOTS of nice places to dive, all over the world.

 

[scbaNE2179]

Some areas are protected and may require divers to dive with a DM. If it's just the boats policy, they may be unwittingly engineering their own demise.Bob

Hi Bob, I've been on 9 Livaboards(Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Belize) and never once was I mandated to dive with a DM. All of the dive sites are protected Marine Parks as well so it must be the boat's policy. I don't agree with this policy as it impacts everyone else.

 

[scbaNE2179]

Perhaps the boat could have provided a second DM or guide, and split up the group?
I've only been on two liveaboards, but in both cases we could request a private guide at no cost (except maybe a tip).
The guides were not always DMs. Sometimes they were just members of the deck crew.

My guess is that for this diver it's a matter of pride-either he/she is truly a new diver or just someone who's been out of the water for a long time and is reluctant to ask for extra guidance.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

If close to the boat the group could have returned the low on air diver and then continued their dive?

I did this with a diver that consumed air faster than me. Even sucked on the other diver's octi to conserve my own air while doing the safety stop together !

 

[Doctorfish]

Independent of the reason the diver ran out of air, if I were on that boat and dive, I'd raise hell before going back in the water with him again. No competent liveaboard boat should force their paying customers to cut their dives short for a week. For sure, I would never use that operator again, why don't you divulge the name of the boat to avoid aggravation for the rest of us in future?

 

[drbill]

It's pretty unusual for there to be that big of a difference in air usage. You're implying a 3:1 difference.

Unusual but not unheard of. I've seen a few divers in my time that could empty a tank in no time. I was buddied up with one in Australia but he told me ahead of the dive that he used his air up quickly and apologized after my dive was cut about 50% short. I told him no apology necessary since he had warned me before the dive.

Now if I were diving on a liveaboard that had the same policy as the one the OP was on, I'd certainly be politely requesting that they find a solution.

 

[Damselfish]

I'd be curious what liveaboard this is. In my experience liveaboards don't insist on led dives unless there is a good reason to do it on a particular site, or in a particular region. They tend to mostly get divers that aren't rank beginners, but I would certainly expect them to figure out how to deal with this situation better than this. I would have spoken up the first time it happened, and depending on the circumstances I might be looking for some sort of refund.