Tough Lesson to learn, I'm not an instructor

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Even though we were a group of four my friend took off on his own. I spotted him at well over 250 ft. We sucked both tanks dry trying to decompress. My friend had a large embelism in his neck for a week or more.
The both of you are very lucky. There was a group of divers recently that made a dive to those depths using AL80's, the outcome wasn't for the best for a couple.
 
I call BULL$hit..... Just Saying..... No way a Student gets to 250 ft and you see him.... What depth were you at ?

Jim...
 
I taught several people to dive before being an instructor. I did a good job. I made them be able to freedive comfortable to around 30 feet before any scuba lessons started... Worst accident... exploded blood vessels in the eyes.. mask squeeze..

Lots of folks do what they are not properly trained to do and by luck and fate get away with it. That doesn't mean that it was a "good job" or that it should continue to be done that way.

Often the negative effects of folks diving or "teaching" beyond their own training aren't apparent immediately. Sometimes the error of those ways is suffered by the dive buddies or "students" of the diver that was taught by the first untrained "instructor."

Granted there are also trained instructors who do not necessarily do a great job but the odds of better training increase exponentially when someone stays within their training and experience.
 
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I call BULL$hit..... Just Saying..... No way a Student gets to 250 ft and you see him.... What depth were you at ?

Jim...
Well there are places where you can have 300 ft vis, but the best I've had is more like 160 ft... maybe he was at 100-130 ft?

And some people are dumb enough to go off like that, dive op I was using most of my trip in maldives told me that while I was on my liveaboard cruise, a couple of polish guys I'd previously dived with(same boat, different group) went down to 200 ft, chasing a shark. DM tried to get them back up but stoped at 135 ft, but they were lucky enough to not have an chamber ride/fatality. These were OW divers.
 
The initial post mentioned the Marianas . I assume he is referring to the Pacific Islands that would easily have excellent visibility.
Before PADI and others, diving was self taught or mentored by experience divers. My dad was my first instructor. It would be interesting to compare the success percentage compared to the newer methods. The two "students" in question could have had similar outcomes regardless of who taught them.

However, with today's inexpensive and efficient dive training methods, do it yourself diving should be a thing of the past.
 
i can't help but feel :furious: and feel like :m16: you , it is life man, aint some doll (if i assume whatever you posted is true), though i strongly feel a bit of embellihment there.. may be i am wrong ...god...as long you realized your mistake
 
The " student " would be so narc'd..... He would not even be able to be helped.... He.also would have blown through his gas at that depth...

Jim...
 
I don't know the validity of the original stories (although the second one is certainly VERY believable!) but I do know that instructor (or divemaster) training makes you think about a lot of things you might not otherwise have remembered, when you are working with students. Those of us who have dived for a long time may not remember that we had to LEARN to equalize (something which is given short shrift even in professionally run classes sometimes). The choice of dive site for students is important, and having a hard deck within recreational range is really pretty necessary.

There is a lot of learning about how to be proactive and mitigate risk, in the teaching of diving. I do think a very thoughtful person can probably mentor a friend through basic open water safely, but I think it is far better done by people who have had specific education in doing it.
 
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