The Great Blue Hole: Business as Usual

[Karibelle]

I've only been there once, but this story does not surprise me. And chilly, given the number of stories just like this one, I do think it's the AC operators, not necessarily ops from Belize City. Taking unqualified divers to this site seems to be the norm.

 

[TSandM]

OMG. The absolutely recklessness and disregard for any concept of diving safety exhibited by that instructor is completely deplorable. (That may well be the strongest condemnatory statement I have ever made here on ScubaBoard.) Furthermore, his failure to recognize the superior gas resources of the sidemount team, when he had a diver out of gas and a whole bunch of people with marginal gas supplies with him, shows an utter lack of situational awareness or ability to process information at that depth (narced, maybe?).

Dives to this depth on small single tanks, especially when executed by novice divers with predictably high gas consumption, are ill-advised to begin with. But the idea that you would continue a descent and REMAIN AT GREAT DEPTH with a novice diver who was completely out of gas just appalls me. Do you know who this instructor was, or what agency he teaches for? This ought to be reported.

 

[Ratio]

I met that particular instructor four years ago, so yeah, I know who he is. I did file a formal report on both him and the operation. I'll edit the initial post as appropriate after I hear the results or (more likely) hear about the fallout.

The real problem, though, and Mike touched on this, is that his behavior is endemic out there. The instructor isn't someone who I would have recommended to anyone in the first place (I don't really like him as a person), but he also wasn't someone that I would have attempted to dissuade anyone from using as an instructor (in the past, obviously). He seemed perfectly sane and capable in other situations.

The Great Blue Hole is "the dive" for a lot of people visiting Belize. It crops up on bucket lists for non-divers, it's a world heritage site, and has infected the consciousness of large part of the dive community as something not only worth doing, but worth going out of your way to do.

If you can imagine yourself as a corporate entity devoid of your humanity and common sense, this is what happened: Everyone got the experience they paid for. The person in charge of the dive got everyone back to the surface without injury and kept the group nice and calm the entire time. The majority of the divers were more interested in talking about what they saw than anything else about the dive. From a purely economic standpoint, it was a success. If it ain't broke, don't fix it?

Reporting one instructor and one operation to the agencies that they represent doesn't really address the root of the problem. I'm part of the problem. I paid to go out there (yet again) and contributed to the economic pressure that encourages operators to continue to do this dive. The Blue Hole has an excellent safety record (IRT injuries that require care) and as long as that record remains intact and money from tourism keeps coming in, I'm fairly certain that the current local attitude towards the dive will persist.

I'm just a dumb grunt, so I don't have a solution that anyone in their right mind would consider appropriate.

 

[Jai Bar]

I have never been to Belize, so I perhaps I may say things that I don't understand but anyway...

Why the dive planning to 130' ? Is there something exceptional (e.g. stalactites?) that cannot be seen at 100'? I'm asking, because from my experience, divers tend to have their saying when the instructor/DM gives the briefing for the dive, and they discover it's going to be a rather deep one. Why divers care? Some do try to respect their certification limits, others know that such a deep dive means also a *shorter* dive, and/or it may limit the following dives for the following day/s, or they may be concerned of insurance issues if something goes wrong and it was discovered that they deliberately planned a dive beyond cert level...

So, unless something extra spectacular is waiting at 130', most divers will prefer to spend longer dive and compromise max depth to 100' instead of 130'. Again, this is my experience from our part of the world (for me, the one and only Blue Hole is at the Red Sea and usually there's not much difference between 130' and 100' - unless one goes MUCH deeper to ~200').

Anyway, what I understand from OP it is all about a simple, rather common phenomenon: what divers usually call "Air Hog on board".

What surprises me in this thread, is the flaming being targeted at the instructors/operators, with suggestions ranging from to confiscate his certification up to "let's feed him to the sharks"- rather on the divers themselves...

What I mean, is that I usually meet divers complaining that the instructor/DM cut off the dive after "only 15 minutes" because of a "bloody $@#!! AirHog" and why everyone has to suffer short dives ("we pay a lot of our best earned $$$ to come here"), typically followed by after dive discussion (that is, comparison of how much air each one got out of the dive, with suspicious unbelieving frowns upon the AirHog, who lowers his face with shame), and comments of "why such a short dive!!"), then suggestions as what to do with the AirHog (revoke his certification, fish him to the sharks next dive, toss him overboard immediately).

I'm of course exaggerating a little bit- I've never met an airhog that was actually thrown from boat- but I've got a feeling that the OP was also slightly exaggerated too, in order to make a point.

What would you do when discovering one among your group is an AirHog (who also paid his best $$$ to come diving)?? Would you complain the instructor/DM is having him share some air (and *prolong* your dive), or "damn, he was the best instructor I've ever met- he cut the dive after 10 minutes because we had an AirHog situation on board"??? Common, be honest, tell the truth...

And what if the AirHog was YOU, or your son? Would you notify beforehand the instructor and the group, asking for some consideration (or larger cylinder), or be shy/afraid of letting it known, for the fear of being ridiculed (at best) or fed to the sharks/thrown overboard (at worst)?? I WAS an AirHog, when at same age and experience of poor little Tim. Now I guess I'm okay, nobody will complain about me being the cause for shorter dives- on the opposite (they now start whining why they always have to wait too much for me to end the dive), but it did come with experience, as I suspect you all know.

Tim? If he would ask here on SB "Guys, I've got only six dives after cert, airhog- should I book a trip to BGH??", I'd probably recommend him not to waste his money- to acquire some more experience and then book his trip to GBH (or wherever), as he will enjoy much more the dives instead of focusing on his buoyancy skills and air consumption. But he made his choice, and the instructor actually tried his best to have the rest of the group unaffected by the hog's presence in the dive?

But hey, all these guys in the group were actually certified divers? Why did they agree to such a dive? As far as I know, 130' is beyond certification from AOW, or it's different over there in the western hemisphere? No self responsibility? Nobody asking why such depth, what happens from insurance point of view if something goes wrong? etc etc. That's why I'd imagined from reading OP that most flaming comments were going to be towards the divers and not the instructor/operation.

On the good note for operators, I understand they do placed an extra air tank with regulator- such a practice is not very common over here, and considered an extra precaution. I mean, for regular boats/liveaboards (i.e. sport divers). Tech cruises will have oxygen (or 50% O2) bottles on trapeze...

 

[DiverGirl1972]

"So there we were, hanging out at 40msw and I was really trying to appreciate a hole in the wall. We were about to start making our way back up when Group 4 arrived at our depth. The second group had already come and gone, having made a much faster initial descent than we did. (I was taking my time and looking for sharks on the way down. Why else would I dive here?)

One of the divers from group 4 was on the instructor's octo. Let me restate that for clarity. Two divers had begun sharing air at some point on their descent to 130fsw, and one of them was ostensibly a professional."




THIS is the reason why the instructor is being flamed! The air sharing began on the descent. The instructor (and essentially, the safety diver for this dive) should have had the common sense to thumb the dive once it became necessary to share air at those depths. Period. It is never acceptable to put multiple people's life at risk just so that someone can get their "money's worth". Perhaps if 'Tim's' dive experience had been prematurely shortened, he would have learned that the next time, he better speak up and make arrangements in advance to get a larger tank or his own personal DM, otherwise he and everyone else in his dive group is going to have a crappy experience. But he didn't learn anything, except he doesn't have to be responsible for ensuring he has enough air for his dive...someone else will swoop in and save the day. How can you possibly defend the instructor's behavior?

 

[Jai Bar]

"One of the divers from group 4 was on the instructor's octo. Let me restate that for clarity. Two divers had begun sharing air at some point on their descent to 130fsw, and one of them was ostensibly a professional."

THIS is the reason why the instructor is being flamed! The air sharing began on the descent. The instructor (and essentially, the safety diver for this dive) should have had the common sense to thumb the dive once it became necessary to share air at those depths. Period. It is never acceptable to put multiple people's life at risk just so that someone can get their "money's worth". Perhaps if 'Tim's' dive experience had been prematurely shortened, he would have learned that the next time, he better speak up and make arrangements in advance to get a larger tank or his own personal DM, otherwise he and everyone else in his dive group is going to have a crappy experience. But he didn't learn anything, except he doesn't have to be responsible for ensuring he has enough air for his dive...someone else will swoop in and save the day. How can you possibly defend the instructor's behavior?

Yep, now I see the thing about the instructor descending while sharing with Tim- but it does look strange, isn't it? A diver that has finished his air while descending?

I can't believe such a tremendous air hogger exists- must have probably taken an half empty cylinder to begin with? In that case, the first responsible is Tim- because it is HIS life and he is the one who is responsible for his life to begin with. If a diver doesn't get this basic instinct to make sure how much air he starts the dive with- it is just a matter of time to get a Darwin Awards nomination. Next time he may be not so lucky to have a whole group to share air with- a diver must be first and above all self reliable- at least to the minimal stuff of being able to check his own gear + his buddy's. A diver without the minimal knowledge to check his own air before a dive, that fully depends on somebody else to do this for him (e.g. instructor) cannot be called a diver, and he should not dive as a qualified diver but restrict himself only to one on one introductory dives, until he can become a regular diver. Period.

Second responsible award goes to his buddy- where the heck was he and how did something like this happened? It is his responsibility to check the buddy (inc. air) before the dive, and also make sure the buddy checks him too.

And, even if he got a full tank to begin with, and really got into such situation that he needs air sharing after, what, 2-4 minutes into the dive?? Then HE and Buddy must have signaled to dive leader they are having an air problem and aborted the dive. I cannot comprehend a diver willingly going down into a 130' dive, then seeing that he needs air sharing already in the descent and just go on like nothing is wrong with it, trusting god, luck or the instructor that everything is going to be fine and he'll somehow get air shared for him throughout the dive. I'd **** in my wetsuit if I was him.

I think one of the worst fears of a diver is getting into an OOA situation, and this dude, barely starting to grow a mustache, with only 6 dives on his belt- starts a dive already OOA and goes on like normal??? And the rest of the group just shrug and share air like "oh, just another day on the reef" instead of signaling to dive leader "get these two dudes the hell out of the dive NOW"??? I truly cannot understand or believe this is what happened- too strange, too odd. I cannot believe this is common practice somewhere in the silent world...

Third responsibility, in my opinion of course, goes to instructor. I don't think it is his duty to check every one's air prior to the dive- we are dealing with qualified/certified divers who are supposed to check by themselves + Buddy - for him it was enough to make sure that they did buddy checks. So if he failed to make sure Tim + Buddy did check themselves it is bad.

Or, in the case of a rare air hogger that depleted air while on primary descent- there are some times in which you have to let go the tip that is awaiting from a happy customer (or to accept the rants from an unhappy one) and tell him that you are sorry, but this is not a dive for him. It is not very often that this happens, and it needs full backing from the operator, but when speaking about responsibility of people's lives then it is more important than a bunch of $$$. I could think of other ways he could compensate him- if boat schedule and/or available personnel allows- like getting him on a private dive to a shallower depth with him (the instructor)- or another professional if available on boat, while the rest of group takes the deeper plunge.

A check dive was not mentioned in OP (or later discussion)? So it remains unclear whether the instructor (and the group, including Tim & his buddy) had any clue or idea of a) his poor weighting, b) balancing skills, c) air consumption, so it is also bad if the intructor + group + buddy + Tim get the first impression upon a rather not simple dive (130', one cu80 cylinder?). That is bad. A check dive might have helped figuring out who in the group are self reliable (like 14&16 brother/sister pair) and who are probably going to need close attention (Tim). But it looks there's not enough info to figure this out. And maybe check dives are not common in Belize? Hope it is not the case.

Anyway, I think this thread is great, I think a lot can be learned from it, so Kudos to OP for starting it (although I still think there is some either exaggeration or missing info on how Tim needed to share air while on descent...)- but true or not, exaggerated or not, for pedagogical discussion it's just fine.

[EDIT] Another possible explanation to what happened could be that Tim was just a fine chap and a great diver (lets forget about over weighting for now), and he turned his cylinder ON, then 1/4 turn back, like they usually teach (some urban legend that the handle can get stuck). Then, his buddy while checking him- by mistake thinks the cylinder is OFF, so he actually turns handle backwards/the cylinder OFF, and then 1/4 turn back ON. This can happen more with some valves and inexperienced divers, not aware that these valves exist, and not experienced to take a few breaths from regulator and check the SPG needle is not moving frantically.

So one starts the dive with the valve turned on only 1/4... Actually this happened to me when I was a novice diver, got an OOA feeling at about 6 meters (until then 1/2 a valve turn appeared to be enough to breath). But if this was the case, it could be remedied in just about 10 seconds, no need to hassle the whole group into air sharing...

 

[Mike]

I have never been to Belize, so I perhaps I may say things that I don't understand but anyway...

Why the dive planning to 130' ? Is there something exceptional (e.g. stalactites?) that cannot be seen at 100'? I'm asking, because from my experience, divers tend to have their saying when the instructor/DM gives the briefing for the dive, and they discover it's going to be a rather deep one. Why divers care? Some do try to respect their certification limits, others know that such a deep dive means also a *shorter* dive, and/or it may limit the following dives for the following day/s, or they may be concerned of insurance issues if something goes wrong and it was discovered that they deliberately planned a dive beyond cert level...

So, unless something extra spectacular is waiting at 130', most divers will prefer to spend longer dive and compromise max depth to 100' instead of 130'. Again, this is my experience from our part of the world (for me, the one and only Blue Hole is at the Red Sea and usually there's not much difference between 130' and 100' - unless one goes MUCH deeper to ~200').

Anyway, what I understand from OP it is all about a simple, rather common phenomenon: what divers usually call "Air Hog on board".

What surprises me in this thread, is the flaming being targeted at the instructors/operators, with suggestions ranging from to confiscate his certification up to "let's feed him to the sharks"- rather on the divers themselves...

What I mean, is that I usually meet divers complaining that the instructor/DM cut off the dive after "only 15 minutes" because of a "bloody $@#!! AirHog" and why everyone has to suffer short dives ("we pay a lot of our best earned $$$ to come here"), typically followed by after dive discussion (that is, comparison of how much air each one got out of the dive, with suspicious unbelieving frowns upon the AirHog, who lowers his face with shame), and comments of "why such a short dive!!"), then suggestions as what to do with the AirHog (revoke his certification, fish him to the sharks next dive, toss him overboard immediately).

I'm of course exaggerating a little bit- I've never met an airhog that was actually thrown from boat- but I've got a feeling that the OP was also slightly exaggerated too, in order to make a point.

What would you do when discovering one among your group is an AirHog (who also paid his best $$$ to come diving)?? Would you complain the instructor/DM is having him share some air (and *prolong* your dive), or "damn, he was the best instructor I've ever met- he cut the dive after 10 minutes because we had an AirHog situation on board"??? Common, be honest, tell the truth...

And what if the AirHog was YOU, or your son? Would you notify beforehand the instructor and the group, asking for some consideration (or larger cylinder), or be shy/afraid of letting it known, for the fear of being ridiculed (at best) or fed to the sharks/thrown overboard (at worst)?? I WAS an AirHog, when at same age and experience of poor little Tim. Now I guess I'm okay, nobody will complain about me being the cause for shorter dives- on the opposite (they now start whining why they always have to wait too much for me to end the dive), but it did come with experience, as I suspect you all know.

Tim? If he would ask here on SB "Guys, I've got only six dives after cert, airhog- should I book a trip to BGH??", I'd probably recommend him not to waste his money- to acquire some more experience and then book his trip to GBH (or wherever), as he will enjoy much more the dives instead of focusing on his buoyancy skills and air consumption. But he made his choice, and the instructor actually tried his best to have the rest of the group unaffected by the hog's presence in the dive?

But hey, all these guys in the group were actually certified divers? Why did they agree to such a dive? As far as I know, 130' is beyond certification from AOW, or it's different over there in the western hemisphere? No self responsibility? Nobody asking why such depth, what happens from insurance point of view if something goes wrong? etc etc. That's why I'd imagined from reading OP that most flaming comments were going to be towards the divers and not the instructor/operation.

On the good note for operators, I understand they do placed an extra air tank with regulator- such a practice is not very common over here, and considered an extra precaution. I mean, for regular boats/liveaboards (i.e. sport divers). Tech cruises will have oxygen (or 50% O2) bottles on trapeze...

The blue hole is the cash cow of Belize diving. A responsible and respectable dive operation elsewhere from Belize typically draws a line between money and safety. A responsible dive operation would have never taken a diver with 6 dives, is an air hog and divers without computers on an advanced dive in the first place. Typical behavior of a responsible dive operation would be to limit those able to dive the blue hole on a dive profile planned as an advanced dive to those QUALIFIED to do so. As in (1) proper certification. (2) Proper experience. (3) Proper display of diving ability on dives prior to the trip to the blue hole in order to qualify to go.

Or.... you take all comers who fork over the cash. You ride herd on your divers, you have a pretend shark watch stop that is a disguised deco stop, you hang tanks at 15 feet for all the out of air divers you know you will always have and pretend its business as usual.

his failure to recognize the superior gas resources of the sidemount team, when he had a diver out of gas and a whole bunch of people with marginal gas supplies with him, shows an utter lack of situational awareness or ability to process information at that depth (narced, maybe?).

That's the Belize blue hole ride herd on your divers mentality on display blinding the instructor from adapting on the fly. Accepting help from someone would have display his lack of control of the dive which is taboo on the blue hole dive. The dive instructor maintains his divers safety by riding herd on his divers, checking air supplies constantly, trying desperately to control his divers supplies by using the groups air total as his own to manage as he has to. This was not perceived as an unusual dive emergency for the instructor on this dive, he was managing it and of course he was the cause of it from the start, he had his plan and he was working it and he saw no need to adapt it as it was all business as usual to him. He was following the Belize blue hole dive manual to a T and all was going as planned.

 

[LaMissJude]

Oops wasn't logged in.

 

[supergaijin]

The instructor should certainly be chastised for allowing a 6-dive diver to these depths.

For me though, the operators should receive even more criticism for continuing to allow these beginners on the boat. The excuse will be that it is entirely possible to conduct a shallow dive at locations such as the Blue Hole. They know full well what the reality is.

Newly minted dive professionals are often too timid to question the boss. I know I was when I was starting out in the industry. There is often great demand for green instructors/DMs for precisely this reason. They're more likely to accept the status quo as they're not sufficiently developed themselves as divers or guides. They've drunk the cool-aid offered at Development Courses and they receive their Pro status sweetly believing that operators will always put safety first.

 

[Ratio]

For me though, the operators should receive even more criticism for continuing to allow these beginners on the boat. The excuse will be that it is entirely possible to conduct a shallow dive at locations such as the Blue Hole. They know full well what the reality is.

I agree. It is the operators that make me the most grumpy. I'm probably being imperialist or at least wearing the air of "first world superiority" in my attitude, but... Local instructors are a dime a dozen and if they have a high abort rate at TGBH, they're not going to remain employed for long. That seems to shift the responsibility even more towards the operators in my head.

That's the Belize blue hole ride herd on your divers mentality on display blinding the instructor from adapting on the fly. Accepting help from someone would have display his lack of control of the dive which is taboo on the blue hole dive. The dive instructor maintains his divers safety by riding herd on his divers, checking air supplies constantly, trying desperately to control his divers supplies by using the groups air total as his own to manage as he has to. This was not perceived as an unusual dive emergency for the instructor on this dive, he was managing it and of course he was the cause of it from the start, he had his plan and he was working it and he saw no need to adapt it as it was all business as usual to him. He was following the Belize blue hole dive manual to a T and all was going as planned.

Exactly this. They view it as herding cats. While most computers without conservatism settings enabled won't saddle you with a deco obligation the way the dive is normally run (Suunto's have a tendency to, on occasion), the dive is always planned with deco time because the operators do not to trust the divers to accurately report their current dive history.

Why the dive planning to 130' ? Is there something exceptional (e.g. stalactites?)

Stalactites. The walls are fairly smooth most of the way down. There's a small recessed area in the wall at 130' where you can see and swim around stalactites. It's mildly geologically interesting as it's visual confirmation that you are swimming in what used to be a living limestone cavern. If you're lucky, you'll see some sharks cooling down on your deep stop, but other than that, there's not a lot to see.

I'm of course exaggerating a little bit- I've never met an airhog that was actually thrown from boat- but I've got a feeling that the OP was also slightly exaggerated too, in order to make a point.

I could be, albeit unintentionally. I never saw the kid's SPG, so I don't know how much air he had available at any time. He was breathing off the instructor's reg when they arrived at depth, he was clearly over-weighted (which would have contributed to air consumption), but I don't know by how much. What I do know is that I never saw him breath off his own reg during the dive, I never saw him add air to his BCD and the group was behaving in a way that suggested he was out of air. It's perfectly possible that he had tons of air left and the instructor was being insane. When I talked to the instructor he indicated that on the previous dives (5) he'd been on with the kid that it was typical for the kid to need to ascend when the rest of the group was at their turnaround pressure, which would indicate that he was using twice as much gas as the next largest air consumer in their group. I did hear an O-ring blow that day when they DMs were turning on everyone's air, and I saw it being replaced. It wasn't our gear, so I didn't bother to check whose it was. Could it have been his and the replacement O-ring was leaking the entire time? Sure. Could he have jumped in the water with a half tank? Sure. Could a thousand other things have contributed? Absolutely. All I can talk about is the behavior that I saw, everything else would be conjecture on my part.

Another possible explanation to what happened could be that Tim was just a fine chap and a great diver (lets forget about over weighting for now), and he turned his cylinder ON, then 1/4 turn back, like they usually teach (some urban legend that the handle can get stuck). Then, his buddy while checking him- by mistake thinks the cylinder is OFF, so he actually turns handle backwards/the cylinder OFF, and then 1/4 turn back ON. This can happen more with some valves and inexperienced divers, not aware that these valves exist, and not experienced to take a few breaths from regulator and check the SPG needle is not moving frantically.

Possible, of course. Especially considering that the divers weren't the ones turning on their air. Which is another debate entirely, but that was SOP on the boat. On that boat, DMs turn on the tanks and remind everyone before they get wet to take several breaths off of their regs while watching their SPGs to make sure they have air.