what would you have done?

[Phish-phood]

My concern would be that if he could blow off your ascent signal would he do the same if he were a working DM looking after a group of divers.

In this case it worked out okay for both of them because both were experienced divers. How did the DM know that you weren't having a problem and needed to ascend rather than just wanted to for safety reasons and more to the point how did he not recognise the safety issues here? Is he going to say to novice diver who isn't comfortable on a dive - I'm not taking you up because I have loads of air?

If as you think he continued with the dive in an effort to salvage his pride after having messed around at the surface and causing you to miss the wreck as a result is he likely to do the same in similar situations and with divers of less experience?

Personally as a novice diver I would not want to dive with a DM who was going to break the most fundamental 'rule' of diving because of his stupid pride. Pride is a dangerous thing and should be kept in check when diving. As a DM he is supposed to be a professional but nothing you've said about him indicates any sort of professional attitude!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Totally true ... anyone who's reached the level of DM candidate, regardless of certifying agency, should have had it hammered into their head through several levels of training that pride can get you killed. Leave it on the beach ... especially since at this level he is training for the purpose of leading a bunch of less-experienced divers around ... he's supposed to be the one who's got the judgement and skills to keep them out of trouble, not the other way around ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Charlie99]

A DM that doesn't abort a dive when signalled, and doesn't carry any surface signalling devices on what was obviously a bad weather day. A Captain that let divers into the water without a good way to spot and retrieve them, and who missed the fact that the DM was blown off the line almost immediately.

This sounds like a good boat to avoid.

 

[diverbrian]

I agree totally. This is a classic case of "pride can get you killed". It could have been far worse if he had drifted off with no surface marker.

This doesn't sound like an operation that I would want to do business with and why is the second DM that I have read about recently to ignore a "thumb's up" (the other one to ignore it when his charge was hypothermic in another thread)? That is pathetic behavior out of a dive leader.

 

[newdiverAZ]

I thought the operators in that area did drift dives with a live boat. At least that is the way I dove it. Why didn't the buddy pair have a float to tow? It sounded as if this was the only pair of divers on the boat, would have been no problem to do live boat. I would have never entered the water. once I saw some idiot throwing a cinder block over the side. Woulda stayed put and demanded a refund. The other point I think is the conditions sounded pretty terrible, maybe another point for calling the dive before it began. I also agree with everyone else, once the thumb goes up it's over, period, no questions asked.What operation was that so I can avoid them when I'm down there?

 

[ScottyK]

I had a similar situation happen to me some years back, on my very first boat dive. I was with an "experienced" diver on a night dive with the seas running about 6'. Without getting too far into the details, I got into a situation about 60' down where I knew the guy was screwing up. I reacted much the same way you did. I stuck with him, kept my cool, and managed to finally (due to some luck) get him to realize his mistake. We managed to finish the dive safely.

I have two comments for you. First, I can really sympathize with your situation. Mine happened six years ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday. Also, if you take nothing else out of this remember two things. Never do a dive that you're not comfortable with, and never do a dive that you don't feel like you can finish by yourself when your buddy fails you.

I'm glad you came out of it happy, healthy, and still ready to dive

Scott

 

[dc4bs]

Knavey once bubbled...
So you have the sausage for when you are on the surface, and the bag for when you are submerged. The predive brief would cover the fact that the dive boat should know to come get you if they see either deployed on the surface.

Thanks for the enlightenment.

My usual buddy and I each carry 2 bags and 2 reels. Since all 4 bags are the 6 foot 50 Lb 'sausages' they are used both for drift hangs and large surface markers interchangeably depending on situation.

We each carry a wreck reel clipped off on the right side bottom D-ring and a small backup reel in the left side pocket.

This way, in a real CF, we have 4 chances between us to get at least one big, bright orange marker to the surface in an emergency...

One of our instructorsliked to say "two is one, one is none" cause it's easy to mess up shooting a bag untill you've practiced a bunch of times.

So far, I've never had a tangle problem on a 'real' dive but I did tangle up lines/reels in practice several times before I started getting reasonably good at it.

For shallow shore dives and such we'll usualy only bring one sausage each (depending on conditions).

 

[joed]

I think you did a heroic thing. Never leaving your buddy. I have been shafted so many times by buddies I think I would have ascended up the line and boarded the boat. Than told the captain to go get the other guy. He deserved this kind of treatement because he was no buddy to you.

 

[gkwaldee]

First of all, " get to the line and down before the block is swept off the site" would have made me wonder why a drift wasnt a better idea.

Ok, after a second thought.........the block bouy would have spirned the first bit of doubt.

Can I have the DM's name? I NEVER wanna dive with him/her

Can I have the Captians name? I NEVER wanna be on any boat hes driving.

Lastly, 5 ft seas........ripping current........people I dont know or can trust......nah, ill have another drink with some kinda umbrella in it please.


All that said, you did the right thing stayin with ur "buddy"

tiny bubbles

 

[AquaDog]

What dive op was it?

I'm familiar with many of the Pompano area dive ops and was very curious about that. I didn't see it mentioned in any previous posts. I think thats important to share that so that some of us can avoid that op in the future.
Thanx for sharing your experience and ya done good.