Best Dive you've thumbed before doing

[Cacia]

The latest was a couple weeks ago. The boat owner had been a bit skittish in our previous get together attempts.

I was skittish because you were diving a heavy weight harness you had not dived before, older, from out of town, would have to doff your gear in the water, was unsure I could lift your doubles,...and I was afraid you might just sink. (you had expressed to me that you were not a strong swimmer), we were having high winds and big seas, and climbing back on the boat can be very physical in these conditions. Most of my cohorts were not on vacation, i.e. at work, so in order to take you diving, I needed the support of others in case we had a problem. I am pretty practical.

I confess "safety diver" for me means air filling station if I were to blow an o-ring at 107 ft. I can do the dive solo, but prefer to have a buddy. I had your safety in mind as well, and I thought two strong twenty-somethings would add to the mix, should you need help.

You called off the dive the night before, and I slept better for it. I would say we mutually agreed we were not an optimal mix. That is okay, people can agree to disagree about how to execute a dive.

Since I am a DM and it was my private boat, the liability of a diver who seemed to have plenty of complaints about others when dives don't go well is a red flag.

No hard feelings on my part, just wanted you to try and see it from my side, as well.

 

[ArcticDiver]

I was skittish because you were diving a heavy weight harness you had not dived before, older, from out of town, would have to doff your gear in the water, was unsure I could lift your doubles,...and I was afraid you might just sink. (you had expressed to me that you were not a strong swimmer), we were having high winds and big seas, and climbing back on the boat can be very physical in these conditions. Most of my cohorts were not on vacation, i.e. at work, so in order to take you diving, I needed the support of others in case we had a problem. I am pretty practical.

I confess "safety diver" for me means air filling station if I were to blow an o-ring at 107 ft. I can do the dive solo, but prefer to have a buddy. I had your safety in mind as well, and I thought two strong twenty-somethings would add to the mix, should you need help.

You called off the dive the night before, and I slept better for it. I would say we mutually agreed we were not an optimal mix. That is okay, people can agree to disagree about how to execute a dive.

Since I am a DM and it was my private boat, the liability of a diver who seemed to have plenty of complaints about others when dives don't go well is a red flag.

No hard feelings on my part, just wanted you to try and see it from my side, as well.

Let it go Catherine.

You are allowing gossip and presumptions based on that gossip to affect your behaviour. You additionally are displaying a blatant age bias that does not become anyone in today's society.

As I said; let it go. The event is history. That is why I didn't mention your name. What was important to this thread was the event; not the participants.

 

[ZzzKing]

I'm thinking about thumbing a dive before even getting there. What do you all think?

Headed to Cozumel soon. Devil's Throat (110-130') is on the itinerary. I looked at the profile and did the math and came up short on an AL80 if buddy plus I need to breathe on one tank on ascent at the end of the dive. I need some questions answered like availability of larger tanks or ponies before I commit to that one.

 

[Cacia]

Let it go Catherine.

You are allowing gossip and presumptions based on that gossip to affect your behaviour. You additionally are displaying a blatant age bias that does not become anyone in today's society.

No, I am not. I based my thoughts on direct interaction.

Let it Go? I did not bring it up...you did. You don't get to say your side and have me not want to pipe up with my reasoning. I think I did my best to put together a dive that included enough people to handle a possible problem. You did not "know" the people. Hey, you live in Alaska---next time bring your own dive buddies and charter a commercial captain that meets your requirements.

You are probably a nice man but you need to practice putting yourself in other's position. I have only been taking the boat out to dive sites by myself a couple of months. It involves a GPS and freediving down to grab a subsurface bouy. I just cannot do everything by myself. The freedivers have experience on my boat, on those sites, and can dock, grab the bouy, etc.

I just dive for fun, you know. Divers that always find fault with others, but not themselves do make me skittish, because I don't want to get my pants sued off.

okay, NOW, I can let it go.

 

[MSilvia]

My buddy and I were together on one of our first dive trips, on a liveaboard on Flower Garden Bank. We were both relatively new divers, though both AOW certified, and we were diving air on tables... no EANx, no computers, on dives to about 80 feet average. We had been pushing the limits of the tables on repetitive dives, and after a beautiful but strenuous dive in a ripping current, we decided it would be best to give ourselves some time to rest up and have an extended surface interval before we pushed it to far. While everyone else geared up for the dive, we prepared to nap on the upper deck.

As it happens, our naps were interrupted when one of the divers was surfaced unconscious. He didn't survive, and we both agreed that we had definately done the right thing. I signed up for a rescue diver course as soon as I got home.

I find it interesting that several of the called dives have been due to the weird/strong currents at Flower Garden Bank. Good calls everyone.

 

[underachiever]

We called the second dive of a double dip on the SG in Key Largo. We both got a little queezy early during the SI. My dive buddy (wife) worse than I (she fed the fish a little). There was a pretty good current during the first dive and we were diving nitrox for the first time and this was only our 2nd trip out to the Speigel. We also had a guide with us and we swam through one of the sections,did our SS and felt fine when we surfaced.
The first visit to the SG was our AOW checkout dives and the conditions were great that day. On this day the boat was rocking a bit but not terrible. We had never been seasick before and had been out in similar conditions on shallower dives. We both decided to sit out the second dive. Once we hit land everything was OK. We were back in the water the next day on the reefs. Still not sure what happened. Can nitrox make you sick?

 

[Guba]

MSilvia,
What year was that and were you on a DUOY voyage? I'd like to know.

 

[MSilvia]

MSilvia,
What year was that and were you on a DUOY voyage? I'd like to know.

I'm pretty sure we were on M/V Fling in 2000, in May if I recall correctly.

 

[Jon C]

My criteria for cancelling a dive is pretty strict when I am solo diving (shore dives). Basically, if conditions are not perfect, I'll hang out and for a while and watch the dolphins go by (or the high surf crashing on the sand) and go get breakfast. I usually check several sources for surf conditions prior to driving to the beach and I can usually get in...but many times it is a "no-go".

With a dive buddy, the surf can be a bit higher, but above 2 feet, it just kicks up the sand and the vis isn't worth it anyway.

I cancelled a trip to La Paz several years ago due to a hurricane...probably the best location I had to pass on.

 

[ArcticDiver]

No, I am not. I based my thoughts on direct interaction.

Let it Go? I did not bring it up...you did. You don't get to say your side and have me not want to pipe up with my reasoning. I think I did my best to put together a dive that included enough people to handle a possible problem. You did not "know" the people. Hey, you live in Alaska---next time bring your own dive buddies and charter a commercial captain that meets your requirements.

You are probably a nice man but you need to practice putting yourself in other's position. I have only been taking the boat out to dive sites by myself a couple of months. It involves a GPS and freediving down to grab a subsurface bouy. I just cannot do everything by myself. The freedivers have experience on my boat, on those sites, and can dock, grab the bouy, etc.

I just dive for fun, you know. Divers that always find fault with others, but not themselves do make me skittish, because I don't want to get my pants sued off.

okay, NOW, I can let it go.

Just to set the record straight for anyone who might stumble on this series of posts.

You post as though we had dove together; that you had provided some sort of diving experience; that we had at least gotten together; maybe even had a spat of some sort. Your adversarial tone would certainly imply that.

In fact we have never met. I don't even know where your boat is as you didn't tell me. I have never criticicized your operation because other than the invitation to be a Safety Diver I know very little about it. In fact, while I publicly cricicized one dive operator on Oahu I praised two others.

In fact, the only things you can possibly know about me, or me about you are what others have said; in short gossip. From your comments that has apparently been negative gossip and that you have chosen to believe without further checking.

I don't believe in making judgements about people until I have met them and known them long enough to have some understanding about them. That means diving with them multiple times if they are divers; or at least socializing with them for awhile. We have done neither.

Your attitude and actions are a mystery to me. I wish you had taken me up on my offer to meet and have coffee together. Then maybe we could have discussed your apparent age bias and the gossip and at least come to a better understanding. We've got reservations for next year and I may be back in the Islands in July. Perhaps, if you want to, we can get together then. In the meantime I suggest we call this to a halt.