Total of 12 dives and already a few lessons and one almost "near miss"

[YZed426]

Posting this for a bit of a whinge on the state of things(training wise) and also I guess if anybody wants to provide feedback on stuff we did wrong that I haven't worked out yet.

Background on me and my "Buddy". Got my open water cert in ~2014-15, didn't dive again till Feb last year when I did my advanced open water + 2 extra dives(In Port Vila with Big Blue. Was awesome. The Kunanda and the Cathedral were a awesome.)
My "buddy", and good mate, is in a very simliar situation, but he was certified back in the late 90's and then only did a few dives until he redid his cert with me. ~20 dives, but only the same 11 as me recently.

So, the story, the lessons learnt and and the whinge....

Since the dives in Feb, we've been buying gear and intending to dive, but the usual excuses keep popping up. So last week, dive time finally comes around, and we've got new BCDs(Mares Hybrid Pure, so rear inflate and intergrated weights to boot, only used hire jackets and weight belts before), new fins, new computers and 2nd hand regs that have been serviced by the LDS.

On booking the dive, and on arrival on the day, we made it clear that we had all new gear and these 2 dives were basically going to be setup/testrun/get comfortable and that it was almost 12mths since our last dives. Not expecting much. We get grouped with 3 others; a DM, a very experienced diver who is well known to the crew, and a freshly minted open water diver who is on his 6th dive(also with all new gear and herein refered to as Nunubie).

Conditions were not great. Choppy(~1m swell) and viz <5m, but max depth was only 10m and we're in a cove. Nunubie wasn't OVERLY confident, but was happy to go ahead with it(we ARE with 2 highly experienced divers).

Due to viz, DM decided to do a 30m surface swim to the descent point. We were to decend on the "wreck", swim the length, then continue on the same path till reaching the rock wall to look for marine life. We had intended to do our bouyancy checks at the boat but the DM stated that he was carrying extra weight and we'd be fine (Mistake 1? Ours and theirs) Uncomfortable swim to descent point; Ok's all around; thumbs down...I get down to the level of my buddys fins and realise he's not coming. Ascend. He's shaking his head, deflator in the air, button depressed and still riding high. We were both carrying an extra weight from what we'd dived previously but he had a new wetsuit and gained a few KG's..."a few"

We bob around for a bit, he rolls around pulling dump valves, duck diving, nothings working. There's bubbles close by, must be the DM with his weights....nope, it's Nunubie. He cant get down either(although I don't know where he was up till his return. I suspect the viz may have been a factor in his bouyancy issues) We wait for a couple of minutes...stuff it, lets go back to the boat and get weights. On the way, we pass the dive shops' instructor with his group of open-water trainees. He asks what's going on, we explain the situation, he confirms that we're happy to return to the boat and sort ourselves out, we continue.

At the boat, Nunubie calls his dive(understandably) he also loses a fin on the way onto the boat (Oceanic MantarayFirst dive) (Lesson learned: Dont give up your fins till you're ON the boat. I'm gonna get some sort of clip to secure my fins while climbing the ladder, rather than handing them up) My Buddy gets an extra weight, now at 5x"1.5kg". Does a "bouyancy check" sinks below the surface, so all good. We start our surface swim back.

Halfway back, probably 15min since thumbs down, the DM and the experienced guy(Nunubies "buddy") surface. "what's wrong? what's going on?" Our very dry response was that 2 divers did not have sufficient weight to decend so we had to return to the boat. He comes back to the decent point to "guide us". Thumbs down, buddy gets below the water but then stops decending. Again, can't get down. DM gives him the 2 spare weights that he had(which was supposedly going to help 3 potentialy under weighted ppl). Mate still doesn't decend. Not sure what he did on his "bouyancy check" but we need to work on that(OUR 2nd mistake?)

At this point he's gassed(3 surface swims, plus diving, rolling etc) He realises his breathing is shot, probably affecting his bouyancy, so the dive is shot. Inflates his BCD, removes his reg and tells the DM he's done...DM reaches behind him and pulls the dump valve!!. Mate gets a gutfull of water, pushes off the DM, reinflates and we return to the boat...(is it EVER ok to touch somebodies BCD, except in an emergency?)

After about 15min rest, we decide to sort the weight situation before everybody gets back. We pull out his 7 "1.5kg" weights, and on comparison, some seem about half the size of others(poor casting, wear and tear etc) He loads up 8!! decent size weights and we prepare to go in for the "bouyancy" check("make sure he sinks" check).

We decide to take the "cool" entry option, during which my mask comes off my face, but after some paniced thrashing I realised the strap ended up around my arm. We settle, OK each other, thumbs down, down we go, he's quicker than I am. Excellent. 3m, stop decending. I sign if he wants to go to the bottom "just to be sure" (Almost mistake. Plan your dive, dive your plan. We were only in there to make sure he could get past 2m. I was just stoked we were actually under and wanted to stay down for a bit) He gives thumbs up, we go back up...all is good in the neighbourhood.

2nd dive goes to plan. He says he was getting pretty floaty towards the end though. Might need 9 next time!!!

So, biggest lesson learned: We are open water certified divers, advanced at that. Regardless of experience we alone are responsible for making decisions on our dive. Don't rely on anybody else.

This brings me to the whinge...Except damn that took a lot of writing, sorry, I'll try to be brief...

I see it so often on here, people with +200 dives being told they aren't experienced and to come back to the argument when you have +1000, yet very inexperienced divers have to be prepared to go it alone, even when diving with a professional outfit. That is also stated on here repeatedly in the accident forum. "you have your open water cert, your DM is not responsible for you, they're just a guide"

Now I'm confident enough to hire some tanks and go find some safe, easy, clear places to dive with my mate. But that's not what this was. It was a dive in an unknown location with poor viz with a professional dive outfit. Surely at least Nunubie could have expected a bit more hand holding? After we(me and my mate) reviewed how the dive went, we were mostly happy with how we dealt with the situations. We agreed that we should have done bouyancy checks at the boat, but the DM took responsibilty for that by stating he had enough extra weight and wanted to get going. I'm sure he would have understood if we'd insisted, now we know that we do our thing regardless.

My biggest whinge, is why do WE have to work that out. One thing they definitely don't harp on about during your open water and advance training (at least with PADI) is how, on your 5th dive, you should be prepared to be abandoned by your DM AND your buddy; and your training, mental state, and confidence damn well better be up to a state to handle that...in <5m viz. Instead they just gently usher you out into the world of diving without a hint of warning and heaps of lovely stories and pictures of 50m viz and happy dive groups. Everybody should be made to spend a few hours reading the accident forum, then they'd know what to expect

A few days after, my mate had a chat to the owner of the store, more regarding Nunubies experience, but also the DM dumping his BCD. He was going to have a chat with the DM and also reach out to Nunubie.

Just quickly, my almost "near miss". Our last dive in Vanuatu, geared up, buddy checks, standing on the platform, inflate BCD, reg in, breathe, jump, splashdown, turn, ok the boat...realise I'm not floating...inflate bcd, bubble coming from behind me?? Struggle back to the ladder(dodging entering divers), barge my way out past the confused cruise ship divers to a DM. Right shoulder dump cord was somehow wrapped around something and was dumping air as quick as I put it in. I blamed my buddy for not doing his checks properly, I mean, how was I suppose to know my BCD was dumping air right next to my ear? Dumping weights never even crossed my mind till I was on the boat...I hope it would have if I was actually sinking.

Any advice on how, if neccesary, I can shorten this post without losing "relevent" information would be greatly appreciated. Any advice about my diving, decisions and conclusions will be recieved with the guarded scepticsm that my experience affords me

 

[Esprise Me]

Did you inflate and deflate your BCD as part of your predive check on that near miss dive? I like to use each of my dump valves for part of the deflating to practice reaching for each one. Might have made the difference there. I share your frustration with the DMs who push you to trust them instead of your training but then let you down.

 

[YZed426]

Did you inflate and deflate your BCD as part of your predive check on that near miss dive? I like to use each of my dump valves for part of the deflating to practice reaching for each one. Might have made the difference there. I share your frustration with the DMs who push you to trust them instead of your training but then let you down.

Definitely not once I had it on. I can't remember the exact circumstances, but I would assume I did all the standard procedures on setup, but either didn't allow the BCD to stay inflated long enough before deflating, didn't notice it deflate before I deflated it myself or the tangle happened during the putting on stage. Once I have it on, I just inflate it during the Buddy Checks. At that stage, we both definitely missed that fact that it deflated again. I even recall giving it a couple of "pumps" just before stepping in, as I didnt feel that comforting tight "hug" that the jacket style gives. Still stepped in:/

It was a good eye opener for me as I'd done the 5 dives earlier in the week and an awesome one that morning, so I was feeling comfortable with it all and on a bit of an endorphin high. Nice to have little kicks in the pants to bring you back down to earth.

 

[AJ]

It was a good eye opener for me as I'd done the 5 dives earlier in the week and an awesome one that morning, so I was feeling comfortable with it all and on a bit of an endorphin high. Nice to have little kicks in the pants to bring you back down to earth.

That's what we all need from time to time. These are the moments we actually learn and get better. Keep on diving and you will make many more mistakes, but you'll learn form each one. It's called experience

 

[CraigfromUK]

Rather than clipping your fins on and climbing a ladder, I suggest you agree some words with the boat crew before you hand over your fins. On our club boat you don't let go until you hear the words "I have" from the crew. That will cut down the chance of losing kit.

As for weight checks these are important and you need to record the weight used your equipment and wet/dry suit used in your log book that will help you identify any issues. Note also the salinity of water can change especially between fresh and salt water but also at river exits and in places like the Red Sea.

One trick I've found over years to help the get under water is to think down in your head, make sure you have exhaled from your lungs and stop finning

 

[YZed426]

Rather than clipping your fins on and climbing a ladder, I suggest you agree some words with the boat crew before you hand over your fins. On our club boat you don't let go until you hear the words "I have" from the crew. That will cut down the chance of losing kit.

From reading opinions on here, I plan to get in the habit of not relinquishing my fins until solid on the boat. This is due to concern about getting washed/bumped off the ladder and having to try and swim back in full gear and no fins. One dive in Vanuatu ended in a decent sized swell, and climbing out was challenging. Last weekend was my first time with spring heels, I tried sliding one on each arm but it wasn't ideal.

Re the weighting, we also need to get in the habit of doing a bouyancy check after the dive so we're truly neutral with an "empty" AL tank. We were both getting a bit floaty at the end of our last dive.

We'll have to try the "think down", also never really considered what my feet are doing at the begining of the descent. I'll pay more attention next time.

 

[WinfieldNC]

For getting your weighting correct webtools/apps can be helpful. This one works well for me when switching between tanks, suits, etc... It is imperial and not metric but you can do the conversions.

DiveBuddy

 

[JXT71]

I've been sitting here thinking of what to type in response, but you've already figured out the biggest lessons.

[...] Now we know that we do our thing regardless.My biggest whinge, is why do WE have to work that out. One thing they definitely don't harp on about during your open water and advance training (at least with PADI) is how, on your 5th dive, you should be prepared to be abandoned by your DM AND your buddy; and your training, mental state, and confidence damn well better be up to a state to handle that...in <5m viz.

You don't really have to work it out, you already knew it. Plan your dive, dive your plan. You just got smacked upside the head with the "Why," though.

Your dive sounds like a dud, but it's one of "THOSE" experiences where you can take away so much more from the bitter failure than an uneventful success. You can be upset with PADI if you want, but the end goal of OW is to impart the basic know-how for a diver and a buddy to plan and execute a dive with a suggested max depth of 60ft without hurting themselves. You may not have scored a 10 out of 10, but you did do that on the second dive, correct? How did that turn out?
The other issue here is that you had a solid plan: gear test. But you let someone talk you out of it because they were in a hurry. Never again, right? As you said: Plan your dive, and dive your plan. What you asked for on the trip wasn't difficult to understand, or comply with. It was critical to your dive's success, and you made it known ahead of time. Remember that, and in the future take charge in the event someone tries to brush it aside. You've done a tremendous service to yourself in analyzing the situation. Don't let the DM's actions or your frustrations cloud your perception of the event, stay focused on what went wrong and how you can better manage it for your self next time.

As for your BCD event, I can relate. The BCDs we had at work had 3 or 4 pull cords on them, something ridiculous. The one on the right shoulder could get the handle wedged through a D-ring nearby and locked open, only releasing when you shoved the knob back through the ring. It could happen after buddy checks. Absolutely annoying. It's poor design, so the only fix was to do your gear checks properly. Fully inflate the BCD until the overfill purges. That lets you know the inflator button works right, the valves hold, and the overfill purges. Give each dump valve a quick hit. A dump valve stuck open is not subtle. Just before jumping in, do another quick check of the inflator, and reg. That's your final test, you will know if something changed and is amiss.

 

[divinh]

I've found it very common that when you start diving with a new dive op, they'll ask you how much weight you need. If you don't know, from recording such information in your logs, then they'll ballpark an amount if you can't come up with a number yourself. Either way, the DM will always carry some extra weight, just in case someone needs more once in the water. Usually, the DM will watch everyone descend and if anyone is having issues, s/he will come up and offer some more weight.

The OW and AOW courses, to me, are introductory courses to introduce you to knowledge and skills. I don't think after having completed them that you can declare yourself competent enough to rent some gear and dive on your own, or with a similarly experienced buddy. Further, at unknown dive sites, it's better to have a guide that knows the local conditions. The declaration that you are responsible for your own safety is because you are. The guide/DM will usually assist, but they can't watch everyone all the time.

If you have to climb a ladder to get onto the boat, you usually have to remove your fins. Handing the fins to the crew is the common practice, though you could also throw it aboard (with the risk that it might fall into the water if you toss poorly).

Under swell conditions, it's a good idea to keep the reg in your mouth so that you don't accidentally swallow water while removing your fins on the ladder. The dive is over, so there's no need to conserve air on the surface at that point.

If the guide/DM was doing anything to your setup, s/he should have made it clear what was being adjusted.

 

[jadairiii]

The failure of most agencies and a good many instructors. They dont teach trim/weighting properly (or at all). That should be A#1 in any basic scuba class.

And you and your buddy's experience is what burns out most new divers.