Date: 5-20-06
Time: 1000 hours
Location: Gilboa Quarry, Ottawa OH
Mission: Advanced students doing their deep dive (followed by a wreck survey and a night dive that same day)
Note: When diving deep at this quarry the owner requests that instructors doing deep dives assign no more than one buddy pair per Instructor/DM/AI.
I turned in my deep dive plan and my DM and I took the students to the deep side platform for a pre-dive briefing. I had 8 students so the DM and I would have to do two 90 foot dives.
The Plan: Take one group of 4 students (2 for me, 2 for DM) and descend along the line to platform at 70 feet. The students would get a couple of minutes over the platform to determine if they were comfortable continuing and we would continue to descend on another line until we reached 90 feet if all was well. We would follow the wall, turn where needed and return to the platform for an ascent on the line. I was concerned with minimizing the "wait time" for the next group so the DM and I planned to surface, change our tanks and immediately return to the water for another 90 foot dive (the computers indicated we were well within no-deco limits). Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do when you're teaching.
The students balked at the plan. "That's stupid, you guys need a surface interval. We're going to be here all day, take whatever surface interval you need." I explained that the computers would give us credit for each depth we were at and we wouldn't be spending enough time at 90 feet to violate any no-decompression parameters. "You should take at least an hour SIT to be safe, we don't mind waiting." The students were adamant (and right) and I was incredibly proud of them for standing up to me and making sure the double deep dives for the DM and I were executed in the safest manner possible.
_____________________________________
That made two weekends in a row (we dive 4 weekends) that they didn't like how the dives were planned and they felt comfortable enough to do something about it.
Last week they huddled up after the dive briefing and rearranged the assigned 4-dive navigation exercise into a 3-dive plan; good thing too because after dive 3 a thunderstorm started. They took the initiative, streamlined the exercise and still completed all the parts I assigned.
I'll be proud to sign my name to their cards and set them free, they worked hard to "earn their fins" and now it's time for them to leave the nest.
Ber :lilbunny:
Time: 1000 hours
Location: Gilboa Quarry, Ottawa OH
Mission: Advanced students doing their deep dive (followed by a wreck survey and a night dive that same day)
Note: When diving deep at this quarry the owner requests that instructors doing deep dives assign no more than one buddy pair per Instructor/DM/AI.
I turned in my deep dive plan and my DM and I took the students to the deep side platform for a pre-dive briefing. I had 8 students so the DM and I would have to do two 90 foot dives.
The Plan: Take one group of 4 students (2 for me, 2 for DM) and descend along the line to platform at 70 feet. The students would get a couple of minutes over the platform to determine if they were comfortable continuing and we would continue to descend on another line until we reached 90 feet if all was well. We would follow the wall, turn where needed and return to the platform for an ascent on the line. I was concerned with minimizing the "wait time" for the next group so the DM and I planned to surface, change our tanks and immediately return to the water for another 90 foot dive (the computers indicated we were well within no-deco limits). Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do when you're teaching.
The students balked at the plan. "That's stupid, you guys need a surface interval. We're going to be here all day, take whatever surface interval you need." I explained that the computers would give us credit for each depth we were at and we wouldn't be spending enough time at 90 feet to violate any no-decompression parameters. "You should take at least an hour SIT to be safe, we don't mind waiting." The students were adamant (and right) and I was incredibly proud of them for standing up to me and making sure the double deep dives for the DM and I were executed in the safest manner possible.
_____________________________________
That made two weekends in a row (we dive 4 weekends) that they didn't like how the dives were planned and they felt comfortable enough to do something about it.
Last week they huddled up after the dive briefing and rearranged the assigned 4-dive navigation exercise into a 3-dive plan; good thing too because after dive 3 a thunderstorm started. They took the initiative, streamlined the exercise and still completed all the parts I assigned.
I'll be proud to sign my name to their cards and set them free, they worked hard to "earn their fins" and now it's time for them to leave the nest.
Ber :lilbunny:
