Was I completely insane? (Blue Hole as first dive)

[Ukalliq]

Greetings. I recently got back from a vacation in Belize. Things I have heard and read since then lead me to believe I may have done something perhaps dangerous and, well, completely insane. Namely, a friend and I went diving to 130ft in the Blue Hole as our first non-training dive. Yep. Very first dive.

Some background: In preparation for our trip, a friend, J, and I decide to get open water certified. We do our classroom and pool training here in Fairbanks, then get a referral to a shop in Belize. The plan is to finish our certification early in the week, then plan some dives for later in the week. Also diving with us in Belize will be a friend from Fairbanks, S, who is AOW certified and a couple from California (wife, A, is AOW and husband, M, is just OW, I think.)

While corresponding trying to plan our dives for later in the week, S mentions that he had not had the change to dive Blue Hole when he was in Belize years ago and would love to do it on this trip. We all agree that this sounds fun so we reserve spots on a boat to the Blue Hole and pay our deposits. This was all completed online so at no time did anyone ask about our certification or experience level. This trip was not booked through the dive shop where we plan to complete our certification - they suggested larger shop in the same town that had a big boat for long trips such as this.

We get to Belize, J and I complete our certification dives and get certified. Yay. This is on Monday. Blue Hole trip is planned for Thursday. In the meantime, M starts going on about ooh, this dive is dangerous, it's really deep, he's nervous, are we scared?...etc. Frankly it had never occurred for us to be scared because we are complete and utter newbies.

After hearing this from M over and over, we call the shop taking us on the Blue Hole dive and let them know that we are newly-certified beginners and is this dive really appropriate for us? They tell us basically not to go if we are uncomfortable, but beginners go on this dive all the time and the dive is heavily chaperoned. So we shrug and decide to go for it.

Thursday rolls around and the diving is awesome! Blue Hole in the morning and two shallower dives after that. True to their word, the Blue Hold dive was very chaperoned. There were three divemasters for a group of about 10 - one in front, one in back, and one floating around as needed. At no time did we feel unsafe or scared but again - we are rank amateurs who aren't even sure what we ought to be afraid of!

Later on in the trip and upon returning home, we ran in to lots of people who were SHOCKED and APPALLED that we went on that dive as beginners. Even more so that it was literally our first dive after certification. Even A, who has been diving since she was a teenager (we are all mid-late 30s) said that dive was the deepest she had ever been and was a little apprehensive.

So, tell me....did we do something very stupid?

 

[pelagic_by_nature]

The reason you weren't scared is because you don't know what you don't know. Now go out and buy a lottery ticket before your luck wears off.

 

[Scott L]

100ft max maybe. 130ft? Too deep IMO...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

You didn't do something stupid ... the dive operators who allowed you to go did ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Karibelle]

I went to the Blue Hole last year, just to see what all the hoopla was about. The end result was that I thought it was okay, but would have much preferred if the group had all been qualified to be there. As an instructor it is difficult to "turn off" your eyes and stop watching all of the new divers who are, at that site, an accident waiting to happen. Getting to 130 feet and watching the eyes of one DM widen as he checks the air of a new diver and frantically signals to another DM to take this person up, he's low on air is NOT how I wanted to spend my dive. We were about six minutes in at that point. And after that, how does one relax? How does one enjoy the dive knowing that now there are 2 DMs left with the group, and eight other divers who could turn into a gong show at any moment?

So yeah, I think that was not the best move you could have made. I do, however, think that the shop should have told you that when you asked, instead of just taking your money and hoping everything would work out okay. Because it did work out okay, and as pelagic_by_nature indicated, that was lucky. I'm a firm believer that when it comes to scuba stuff, I'd rather be good than lucky.

And furthermore, if it had never occurred to you to be scared, and to think that going to 130 feet on your first dive after certification was a good idea, your OW instructor failed you also.

Those are my two cents. YMMV.

Edit: Note that my beef in the first paragraph is with the shop that took your money, and really the one that took mine. I paid a lot for what turned out to be an incredibly average dive, because they paid no heed to whether the group as a whole was qualified to dive at that site or not, and that had a huge negative impact on my experience. I don't suppose that is YOUR fault.

 

[Scottri]

Not smart. I think your instructor should have stressed the importance of diving within your limits and training a little more.

 

[Sea Lioness]

It is not a good idea to do such an advanced dive right after OW. Your OW instructor should have emphasized diving within your certification limits (most OW courses certify you to 60 feet max depth.)

I think you showed good instincts by calling the dive shop running the trip and telling them that you were inexperienced and asking if it was really appropriate for you to go on that dive. Unfortunately, the shop did not discourage you from doing the dive. Obviously, they have a financial interest in having you go on the trip. The fact that they did have 3 DMs present for a group of 10 divers is a good sign, however, so I don't think they were trying to be completely cavalier about safety. I think that they were probably telling the truth when they said that many new divers have done that dive and been fine. You are now included in that history.

However, the fact that you were well-supervised and did not encounter problems does not mean it was appropriate for you to be there. Deep diving is inherently more risky than shallow diving. Problems encountered in deep water can be more frightening and more difficult to solve than they would have been in shallow water, due to the effects of nitrogen narcosis. Never having been in such deep water before means you (and the DMs) had no idea of your vulnerability to narcosis....Nitrogen narcosis affects everyone, but it affects different divers to different degrees.

When assessing whether you are ready for a particular dive, you need to consider whether you are skilled and experienced enough to deal with unexpected difficulties, including if you were separated accidentally from your DM, on that dive. Many divers have survived dives that they were not ready for because nothing went wrong. It's when unforseen problems arise in an environment for which the diver has not received adequate training that it becomes most dangerous.

Keep diving, keep getting more training and experience, and continue to develop your knowledge and skills. Over time, with proper instruction, you can expand the types of dives you can do. But in the meantime, you should keep within your training and certification limits. There are LOTS of great dives to do at 60 feet or less!

 

[under water]

Did you plan that dive? Were you aware of how much air you would use at that depth?
If it was my first dive and I had gone with the group, I probably would have been the one running out of air after 6 minutes in Karibelle's example.
Yep, there are a few places where some dive operators take newly forged divers that I don't think they should. This sounds like one of them.
However, your life is your responsibility and I would use this as a realization that nobody is looking out for you but yourself.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

FWIW - I recently posted about a similar experience that happened 10 years ago ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[fdog]

You just encountered a classic "trust me" dive.

A "trust me" dive is where one person has the skills and knowledge to do a particular dive safely, and the other one does not. Usually the one without the correct training has no inkling of the magnitude of the dive they will do, or it's consequences (if something goes worng).

Although most commonly associated with an inexperienced diver being taken deep, as you were, it is also applicable with experienced technical divers. For example, a open ocean trimix diver, with no cave training, being taken deep into a cave system by an experienced caver.

As most have chimed in here, there are so many things that could have gone awry that you didn't have the tools to deal with. Look at this as a learning experience, and it will improve your judgement for future dives.

All the best, James