I don't want to post this in accidents because of a few people that have 50 dives and feel they are qualified to reply and it's an island thing, so here goes!
This last Saturday myself, Kathy my GF and another SB member went for a boat dive here on Oahu. Ended up on the Nori Z with Capt Joe. First about the boat. No water, none! Had a few juice drinks but the water cooler was empty, glad I brought one with me. No boat brief which is required by law. Im certan we were over loaded with people, I just dont see that boat passing a stability test with the 18ish people on board and it's 14 life jackets. It is a wreck waiting to happen. Wasn't at all happy to find my glasses in the"dry" box with a tank that there was no room for sitting on top of them. And then he couldn't decide where to go. He picked the sea cave with well over two knots of current:11:
Now the dive. Because we had to ride on the bow, no more room in back, we were the last group to get into the water. We gear up and jump into this river of an ocean. Hang on to the rope or be washed away. We worked our way to the bow line and the mooring. I check with my GF and the DM. Im in front then Kathy, DM from hell then the other board member. All is good, we signal to descend. I looked back and the DM had ahold of Kathys BC. I thoght she had let loose of the line to do something and he grabed her. NO, turns out that he had PULLED her off the descent line. This I found out later. I again ask OK? Yup, things are fine, so I descend. About ten feet down I look back and no one is behind me so I wait for a minute or so. Nothing. I surface and all three are gone. I go back down to 15 feet and look as best I could through the cloud of bubbles from everyone else already down. Nothing. I wait about two minutes, still no sign. I surface again and go to the back of the boat. I find two people getting back on after aborting the dive but not my group. I look around then decided I am going to do a fast decent off the line to end up near where the rest of the group would have. At this point I hade some ear discomfort, not bad but just not clearing fast enough. Hit the bottom and worked my way up to the line then to the cave, still no group. I go back to the line and find four others from my group hanging on and discover there is no boat attached to the mooring line anymore. We hang out untill air was low then I got everyone to hang on to each other and asscend. At the surface we find the boat 1/4 mile or more away near another dive boat. They came and got us. Once on board I checked to see if my Oh so POed GF was OK, she was as was the other board member. The DM was doing everything he could to make up for a "short" dive. How short? five minutes surface to surface but they did get to 85 feet. I checked the computer.
The second dive wasen't life threating but not good either.
I will now cut and paste the other board members reply when I asked him for his side of the story. This is what happend as per a Navy CPO:
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No worries on the dive. Glad to hear you are alright I didn't realize you were having ear problems. And as far as stepping on toes no worries there either, Chiefs are not exactly known for beating around the bush and looking out for people's feelings.
Here's wat I saw. Jumped in and and pulled my way forward on the line. Everyone signaled down and I started my descent. Looked behind me I saw Kathy going up with Ryan and since I saw them go up I went up. Asked what was wrong and got no response. By now the current took us about a 100 yards behind the boat. He signaled down to look for you and the rest of the divers. Didn't quite make sense to me but before I could say anything they were on their way down so I descended to let the current take us fruther away. Tried to signal him to swim back toward the boat but he just drifted upright with the current. We hit bottom and he signaled up again. From there we went up he blew up the signal and one of the other dive boats who we were closer to us came over and said the boat was on the way, and then one of island divers DM (I think) jumped in with us and we waited for the boat to pick us up. Knucklehead kept on calling us to stay with him as he kept on drifting from us who tended to stay together. After that we got on the boat and went around to pick up others. No everything OK, no help with gear, nothing. I went up to the bow after that to get out of the way since the boat really started getting crowded and people were just dumping gear everywhere and none of the DM's were really doing anything. I didn't see Kathy do anything wrong. I know she was pissed when we got on the boat, for good reason.
Second dive I felt like we were babysiting him more. He was supposed to be my dive buddy and I had to keep on circling to him. Also I am more used to the DM's leading the way even more so after I tell them it is my first dive there. Talking with him I don't think he's been certed long. Just seemed a little unprofessional. Him getting in the water and not even telling me where a tank is ticked me off. I have no problem changing my tanks out but he should have at least showed me where a tank was and he got into the water without even letting his divers know ticked me off a little more. Also there was entirely too many people on that size of boat.
I did get a full refund when we got back to the shop. No questions asked just a I need your credit card to give you a refund.
I am more of shore diver since I like the freedom a little more. Usally I boat dive with south seas or dive oahu. Both are great, boats have never been packed, and the DM's or instructors have been nothing but outstanding. Dave (south seas) and Eddie (dive oahu) are always outstanding.
The dive shop refunded our money and was going to counsel this DM. Im just not sure that is enough....My ear has fluid behind the membrane but did not rupture from my stone like descent loking for a distressed group of divers that some how got away from me, even though I wasn't the DM.
So in brief, the rest of the groups dive. Hit the water, drift away from the boat, descend to 85 feet then asscend in a total of five minutes and end at the wrong boat.
Anybody wanna guess how much of a tip he got? He did buy us lunch to make up for it but this is a safety issue not a " bad dive" issue.
This last Saturday myself, Kathy my GF and another SB member went for a boat dive here on Oahu. Ended up on the Nori Z with Capt Joe. First about the boat. No water, none! Had a few juice drinks but the water cooler was empty, glad I brought one with me. No boat brief which is required by law. Im certan we were over loaded with people, I just dont see that boat passing a stability test with the 18ish people on board and it's 14 life jackets. It is a wreck waiting to happen. Wasn't at all happy to find my glasses in the"dry" box with a tank that there was no room for sitting on top of them. And then he couldn't decide where to go. He picked the sea cave with well over two knots of current:11:
Now the dive. Because we had to ride on the bow, no more room in back, we were the last group to get into the water. We gear up and jump into this river of an ocean. Hang on to the rope or be washed away. We worked our way to the bow line and the mooring. I check with my GF and the DM. Im in front then Kathy, DM from hell then the other board member. All is good, we signal to descend. I looked back and the DM had ahold of Kathys BC. I thoght she had let loose of the line to do something and he grabed her. NO, turns out that he had PULLED her off the descent line. This I found out later. I again ask OK? Yup, things are fine, so I descend. About ten feet down I look back and no one is behind me so I wait for a minute or so. Nothing. I surface and all three are gone. I go back down to 15 feet and look as best I could through the cloud of bubbles from everyone else already down. Nothing. I wait about two minutes, still no sign. I surface again and go to the back of the boat. I find two people getting back on after aborting the dive but not my group. I look around then decided I am going to do a fast decent off the line to end up near where the rest of the group would have. At this point I hade some ear discomfort, not bad but just not clearing fast enough. Hit the bottom and worked my way up to the line then to the cave, still no group. I go back to the line and find four others from my group hanging on and discover there is no boat attached to the mooring line anymore. We hang out untill air was low then I got everyone to hang on to each other and asscend. At the surface we find the boat 1/4 mile or more away near another dive boat. They came and got us. Once on board I checked to see if my Oh so POed GF was OK, she was as was the other board member. The DM was doing everything he could to make up for a "short" dive. How short? five minutes surface to surface but they did get to 85 feet. I checked the computer.
The second dive wasen't life threating but not good either.
I will now cut and paste the other board members reply when I asked him for his side of the story. This is what happend as per a Navy CPO:
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No worries on the dive. Glad to hear you are alright I didn't realize you were having ear problems. And as far as stepping on toes no worries there either, Chiefs are not exactly known for beating around the bush and looking out for people's feelings.
Here's wat I saw. Jumped in and and pulled my way forward on the line. Everyone signaled down and I started my descent. Looked behind me I saw Kathy going up with Ryan and since I saw them go up I went up. Asked what was wrong and got no response. By now the current took us about a 100 yards behind the boat. He signaled down to look for you and the rest of the divers. Didn't quite make sense to me but before I could say anything they were on their way down so I descended to let the current take us fruther away. Tried to signal him to swim back toward the boat but he just drifted upright with the current. We hit bottom and he signaled up again. From there we went up he blew up the signal and one of the other dive boats who we were closer to us came over and said the boat was on the way, and then one of island divers DM (I think) jumped in with us and we waited for the boat to pick us up. Knucklehead kept on calling us to stay with him as he kept on drifting from us who tended to stay together. After that we got on the boat and went around to pick up others. No everything OK, no help with gear, nothing. I went up to the bow after that to get out of the way since the boat really started getting crowded and people were just dumping gear everywhere and none of the DM's were really doing anything. I didn't see Kathy do anything wrong. I know she was pissed when we got on the boat, for good reason.
Second dive I felt like we were babysiting him more. He was supposed to be my dive buddy and I had to keep on circling to him. Also I am more used to the DM's leading the way even more so after I tell them it is my first dive there. Talking with him I don't think he's been certed long. Just seemed a little unprofessional. Him getting in the water and not even telling me where a tank is ticked me off. I have no problem changing my tanks out but he should have at least showed me where a tank was and he got into the water without even letting his divers know ticked me off a little more. Also there was entirely too many people on that size of boat.
I did get a full refund when we got back to the shop. No questions asked just a I need your credit card to give you a refund.
I am more of shore diver since I like the freedom a little more. Usally I boat dive with south seas or dive oahu. Both are great, boats have never been packed, and the DM's or instructors have been nothing but outstanding. Dave (south seas) and Eddie (dive oahu) are always outstanding.
The dive shop refunded our money and was going to counsel this DM. Im just not sure that is enough....My ear has fluid behind the membrane but did not rupture from my stone like descent loking for a distressed group of divers that some how got away from me, even though I wasn't the DM.
So in brief, the rest of the groups dive. Hit the water, drift away from the boat, descend to 85 feet then asscend in a total of five minutes and end at the wrong boat.
Anybody wanna guess how much of a tip he got? He did buy us lunch to make up for it but this is a safety issue not a " bad dive" issue.
