Training Dive #5- What went wrong?

[Freewillow]

"The dives took place in a lake with very poor visibility no greater than 5 feet"


I do not understand why people would want to train or to be trained in such an environment. If I read correctly, there were 3 students for one instructor. This is a situation where the "sh*** can hit teh fan", pretty fast. A clear NO NO for me.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

A lot of people are reluctant to thumb a dive (not wanting to spoil other peoples dives, on holiday so don't want to waste a days diving they have paid for etc) but it is something we should all be willing to do as soon as that little voice in our heads says "something is not right". I think it is also worth mentioning that if you get in to trouble in the water there are at now least two people in trouble - you and your buddy.

We dealt with the problems of diving while congested on my OW course and kind of treated it as "won't happen to me" but knowing someone that did that reinforces the point. I think I would now sit a dive out instead of blowing my eardrums.

Exactly I was on a 3 month trip to Australia (when I still lived in Canada) and I didn't want to "miss out on the dive" turned out I "missed out" on a LOT of dives. The smartest thing the OP did was to thumb that dive

 

[racerrex9727]

Wow I just logged in tonight and just learned this thread is still going on. I think there is possibility to all the above. But yes I was sick. I just don't like acknowledging it or making a big deal out of it. And yeah I was very well aware of the training material and colds, but I really wanted that certification and did not want to wait for Spring to take it again. But I was sick before that second weekend fighting a cold, tinnitus, and vertigo and recovered just enough to finish OW training. It caught up to me badly at that final incident and I was sick for another week. Come to think of it, I probably was just in denial of my condition and blaming myself for not finishing that PPB class.

And yes, wetsuit was uncomfortably tight and so was BCD. I was not fond of the regulator either. I need to lose 10-15 lbs and catch up on weight training, but I'm not overweight. The visibility really worked me up too because it felt so claustrophobic. So yeah I will grant that it may be all the above.

---------- Post added October 25th, 2015 at 08:06 PM ----------

The ratio was not exactly like that. We had several instructors and about six people. But 1-2 instructors were with us underwater while the other two were at the surface to help strugglers like me who came up.

 

[edwants2dive]

I am new here and new to diving but want to ad my 2 cents.
I was on vacation in Jamaica for my wedding and had the opportunity to get my OW cert before the big day. I had little issue with the confined water portion and OW dive 1 went off easy OW 2 however was more difficult during the mask remove and replace skill I inhaled a sinus cavity full of seawater because I was so worried about opening my eyes UW and losing a pair of contact lenses. Our instructor had me calm down and do it over and I was successful. OW dives 3&4 were awesome i was so excited to have the cert I couldn't wait to dive again but alas the next 2 days were filled with wedding stuff. I was able to sign up for a dive on the day before we were due to head home (morning dive only so I would have 24 hrs prior to flying). I got up that morning and had a bit of a congestion and remembered the training so I canceled my spot on the boat because I didn't want to have problems. I say all that to illustrate that you should never be afraid to call a dive even when you want so badly to do it. Safety must come first do not succumb to your desires or peer pressure better to have a little disappointment than to have bad things happen on a dive.

 

[GoIllini]

"The dives took place in a lake with very poor visibility no greater than 5 feet"


I do not understand why people would want to train or to be trained in such an environment. If I read correctly, there were 3 students for one instructor. This is a situation where the "sh*** can hit teh fan", pretty fast. A clear NO NO for me.

I've dove in five foot vis. You are constantly losing buddies, and the only way to truly navigate is via wreck reel. God help you trying to find it back if you lose a fin.

Given that you are at high risk of losing people, I don't think five foot vis is an appropriate place to take someone diving if you have a legal or moral responsibility for their well-being. To be fair, however, it might have been tough to determine visibility from the surface.

I'm not saying any one instance of what happened here merits a phone call to PADI, but as a whole, there are some big issues with how this lesson was conducted.