Time to hang up my wetsuit after near death on NYE

[Dominik_E]

I personally would not see this as a near death experience. I can imagine it must have been stressing and a negative experience subjectively, and it may be (although impossible to judge for me from a distance) mistakes were made. But in the end you and the DM managed to bring the dive to an end that did not result in an accident. Diving is actually a very safe hobby, and this in part because things can go wrong but there are still options. Sure, one should not take this as encouragement to continue pushing all boundaries. But why not step back and analyse, learn, and enjoy in future? I would not end a hobby on such reasoning. There will for sure be dives that you can enjoy without negative feelings. Just proceed slowly and build confidence again?

 

[Edward3c]

I second @KenGordon suggestion of checking out both BSAC clubs in Singapore. There are also BSAC clubs in Malaysia, I'm hoping to dive with BSAC Pehang in the not to distant future.

When reviewing dive centres you can search this board or ask.

When you do a checkout dive with a new centre, its your opertunity to check them out to see whether they live up to the advertising.

In Thailand I use Master Divers (Koh Tao) or DJLDiving (Koh Lipe). both have close connections with BSAC.

 

[DanBMW]

I'm a newly certified AOW with 20 dives under my belt. On the eve of new year I decided to go for a fun dive with a dive center that had pretty good reviews on TripAdvisor.
I'm out with a DM who is new to the divesite.
On the first dive everything goes well, we dive at 18m the currents are pretty strong but we pass the strong currents just once.

On the second dive, the DM takes us through multiple sections of high current zones where we're swimming against the currents. This is honestly new to me as I've never dived against such strong current and my air consumption is higher than normal.
At around 20mins into the dive I'm reaching the reserve levels in my tank instead of reaching the reserve at 45 mins as is my usual air consumption.
I signal the DM that I'm low on air and she doesn't take notice. I look around for my dive buddy in case I need to swim to him to share air.
After a while I've reached my reserve and I indicate to my DM again that I'm low on air and she just asks me to swim in another section of high current.
Now a sense of panic sets in, I decide to swim into the current straight towards her and show her a low air directly on her face. Now I have 20 bar air left but I'm a bit relieved because she's got the message. We share air but because my tank is so light it drags us both up.
In my sense panic and the rapid ascent I forget to control my buoyancy and we both surface without a safety stop.

So there we go, that was a traumatic ending to 2019 and in all honesty I've decided that scuba in general is too risky for me to pursue. I love swimming and snorkeling is a better alternative for me.
The DM had her version of the story but I was in a state of shock and I didn't argue with her. I was the customer after all.

I'm not going to read all of the above comments, but if you haven't already gone back to your original instructor, I'd do several things. 1. TAKE A DEEP BREATH, RELAX and DO NOT QUIT. 2. Take your initial message back to your original instructor (or another highly recommended instructor) for critique and additional training in a calm environment. Many mistakes were made, your instructor can point them out, but you are ultimately responsible for your safety. You are in one of the most beautiful places in the world to dive and most of us are jealous.... Hang in there..... you will get better and love the sport..

 

[Scraps]

My general view is that calling a career is like calling a dive--it's not to be second guessed.

Sometimes people do both prematurely, but diving is not something anyone should be talked into doing. You either want to do it for your own reasons, or you probably shouldn't be doing it.

As a lot of people have pointed out, this dive could end up being a learning experience, the start of acquiring more skills and confidence, and a step toward getting more enjoyment out of diving--but only if the OP decides that is what he wants to do. If he has already decided it's not fun and not for him, by definition, he's right.

Best wishes, whatever you decide--

 

[Midwesterndvr]

The OP is from Singapore. It's hard for North America or European divers to really grasp the average state of diving in SE Asia unless you've been there. They take marginal swimmers, put them through the absolute minimum training and hand out the certificates. To keep these folks reasonably safe, dive ops load people into their gear, have them closely follow a DM, keep the dives short and then more or less drag them out of the water. Most divers expect or even demand to be treated like this, because they don't actually know how to navigate or plan a dive or handle themselves in or out of the water.

Edwon1 - It doesn't have to be like this. Better instruction and better dive trips are available in your area. But you aren't going to find them on TripAdvisor.

As an aside, I was just diving in Cozumel with my friend who lives in Singapore. All of his previous diving had been in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. He could not get over how much more competent and self-reliant the divers were in Coz and the cenotes and how the DMs actually treated divers like adults.

I think you’re on to something, I’ve seen some frightening videos of divers in and from Asia with out of control buoyancy and improperly weighted With a DM.

 

[rongoodman]

I think you’re on to something, I’ve seen some frightening videos of divers in and from Asia with out of control buoyancy and improperly weighted With a DM.

It was very noticeable in Palau when I was there last year.

 

[Midwesterndvr]

It was very noticeable in Palau when I was there last year.

I’ve never seen it in person but do you think the training can be much lower then the us? Do they have the same agency’s for certification there?

 

[M-Cameron]

He got into the water with a person claiming to be a MASTER. He should have zero expectations? How does he know that?



After four dives? Really? Or nine? Even after 20 he is still a baby diver.



So, has he been taught to use a DSMB, is he aware of surface conditions such as boat traffic? Is it reasonable to except a baby diver to execute a lone ascent?



He claims not to have panicked. But developing such a mindset takes time and experience. Is it reasonable to expect? With all the wild tales of panicking OOG divers on SB stealing regs it seems to be common, although I have never seen it myself...



Ah, now we are onto something.



I would say, never dive with a Dive Master. Absolutely never have anything to do with anyone calling themselves a Master unless you are a Tory MP in a basement in Soho.

Diving with a guide can be ok.

This is not the OPs fault, whatever the actions of the DM. It is a systemic issue with how people are trained (insufficiency) vs how they dive (haphazardly) in a holiday/commercial setting.

The OP might be criticised for a poor choice of dive op, or maybe going to sites beyond his capabilities, but I suspect those are not skills taught on his course.

Then what exactly is the purpose of the OWC or even the AOWC if they can’t dive safely without hand holding and constant supervision?

You can’t very well claim that just because someone is a DM they are a “MASTER”... and then in the next breath call someone claiming to be ADVANCED a “BABY”...

Regarding a SMB..... aren’t we not taught that in OWC? I personally was...and if it’s not standard curriculum, it 100% needs to be.

Now if you want to claim this is an industry problem... I tend to agree... there is a lot of emphasis on churning people out as fast as possible, and OWC is essentially “how not to drown 101”...


However with 20 dives..... you should have some semblance as to what you are doing, and to say this incident is not on OP is in my opinion at least partially incorrect. Dive ops are there to guide you around and show you cool stuff, but as always with scuba, your safety is 100% your own responsibility

 

[Stoo]

In my sense panic and the rapid ascent I forget to control my buoyancy and we both surface without a safety stop.

First off, I'm sorry you went through this... but from what I can tell from your post, I really don't think you almost died.... so that's a good thing. A safety stop is really just a buffer. In theory, it could make the difference between not getting bent and maybe taking a minor hit, but assuming you weren't pushing the NDL limits, odds are you would have been fine. So think of this not as a "near death experience" but a "character building experience"!

In my opinion, the only "mistake" you made was to believe that the DM was competent. That's not an unreasonable approach of course, but the reality is, DMs are being cranking out at a disturbing rate. I'm always amazed when I think that someone can earn a PADI DM certification with 60 dives. That's a little more than a third of the number of dives I do most years. In my opinion, once you realized that your DM wasn't responding the way you expected, you should have indicated (in a strong way) that you were surfacing, with or without them. And with or without your buddy if necessary. The most important thing for any diver is to stay alive. Running out of air at depth isn't ideal.

I haven't read this entire thread, so others may have suggested this, but consider getting back in a pool with your Instructor or someone you trust. Regain your confidence, and once you have done that, head back to open water, perhaps on a private, guided dive. I think you'll find that will be a much better experience.

Similarly, consider taking another course that has a strong open water component. 20 dives is really just enough to wet your whistle. With experience, your confidence will grow.

 

[uncfnp]

@Edwon1 Different people have different tolerances for risk and there is risk with scuba. Instruction and experience mitigates the risk but never eliminates it. It just may be that scuba is not the activity for you at this point. And may never be.

If you know it’s not for you, hang up the fins. If it just doesn’t feel quite right, know you are in good company. Many of us *experts* were complete disasters when we started. Take a step back. Explore SB. Ask question about specific concerns. Maybe take another class with intense personal attention in benign conditions. Could be you just need a little more time.