Grateful or Ungrateful.

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miketsp

Contributor
Messages
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Location
São Paulo, Brazil
# of dives
500 - 999
I wasn't sure whether this was more appropriate for the Wine & Cheeze Forum or not.

This long holiday weekend we went diving and I'm still a little irritated by one incident.
One of the high points of the weekend was a fairly large wreck, sunk a couple of years ago and although we had had travelled there before, conditions were never adequate for this dive.
Anyway, on the boat the DM says that there is an instructor on board that knows the wreck well and he would be willing to serve as guide to show us (myself and my wife)some of the main features as vis was expected to be nothing fantastic, about 2 - 3m.
This was to give us more flexibility operating in a small group as conditions were difficult, fast surface current running and the boat would not tie on to the wreck.
Anyway we sat down with this (PDIC) instructor to plan the dive and worked out our route which would allow us some time at the prop & rudder at 34m.
When we came to the deco planning, he produced a table which was far more conservative than my CMAS table and for that matter any other table I'd ever seen.
So using his table we planned stops at 14m, 12m, 9m and 6m and since it called for more deco than my table, OK. We established some rock bottom values and turn-around criteria.
Anyway the route down went as planned until we got to about 28m, everything routine, when he signalled that he was aborting the deep part and skipping straight to the spiral route back. I tried insisting but he was adamant and I didn't want to break up the group as we would be doing a drifting recovery. So back up we went.
Anyway even though we had come nowhere near going into deco (either by tables or computer) he still insisted on doing all the stops we had planned.
When we got to the surface I questioned him why we didn't complete the plan and his answer was that vis wasn't very good so it wasn't worth wasting time.
I pointed out that maybe this was true for him, diving there every weekend, but that certainly wasn't true for us as our opportunities to dive this wreck were few and far between.
His answer was that he had no obligation to serve as a guide, he was doing us a favour!
So I swallowed my tongue and kept quiet.
However when we got the next dive site (shallower) I realised that he still had 2 dives to do with 2 newbies (that sat out the first dive) and it became obvious that his main worry was to end the dive with us with as little N2 loading as possible, which would have been impossible if we had followed our original planning.
I felt somewhat cheated.
I can assure you we gave him no motive to abort. Our air consumption was as good as his, our buoyancy was good and we maintained a tight group within easy sight of each other. The vis was as expected around 2-3m and no worse at depth.

What do you guys think, should I have been grateful or not?
 
considering that your dives "but that certainly wasn't true for us as our opportunities to dive this wreck were few and far between" , the answer to gratefullness is NO.

The group should have been split up into two groups, one deep one shallow. The DM and Instructor should have hanlded their own group seperately with the necessary safety equipment considering the planned exit. in this case several dive Balloons and reels at the end of the dive.

Though his tables as mentioned are conservative, he therefore is on the safe side, that is good though, and you may be ready for CONED to the next level or two.
 
A very wise instructor once told me that 99% of all dive problems begin before you hit the water. This seems like a big mis-communication and a conflict of mission goals. The instructor thinks he's doing you a favour and you feel you missed a great dive. I think a bit of both happened and if the instructor had communicated that he was ready to abort if vis was bad (which it sounds like you already expected) you probably would have gone without him.
I would chalk it up to experience and maybe include abort criteria in your next pre-dive brief.
Sorry you missed a great wreck dive though.
 
I agree with Dave, that the different objectives between the instructor and you resulted in you missing a great wreak dive. I dont think you should be grateful, you didn't get your money worth of diving. I would think that you shld have a backup plan if your primary objective has been hampered so that you can at least make your money worth something instead of aborting the dive with an almost full tank of air. Just my 2cents worth
 
dive_lover88:
I agree with Dave, that the different objectives between the instructor and you resulted in you missing a great wreak dive. I dont think you should be grateful, you didn't get your money worth of diving. I would think that you shld have a backup plan if your primary objective has been hampered so that you can at least make your money worth something instead of aborting the dive with an almost full tank of air. Just my 2cents worth

Yes as Dave said, this is one to chalk up to experience and try to avoid in the future by better pre-dive briefing.
But I'm still frustrated getting back on board with well over 100bar when we were so close.
And this is an especially nice wreck. Recently sunk, top of structure at 14m and partially embedded into the sand at 34m. Victory 8B at Guarapari, Brazil.
 
miketsp:
What do you guys think, should I have been grateful or not?

Mike,

You're speculating about his motives for aborting the dive, which I personally don't think is good form, even if you happen to be right about it.

The only thing that is obvious is that he aborted the dive for a reason that wasn't clear to you but you'll have to accept that it was clear to him. It's on you, as an experienced, safety conscious diver to accept this without question.

You know this one, right:
"Anyone can abort any dive at any time for any reason -- no questions asked".

If you believe in this principle, which I believe you do, then the answer to your question is in there.

I can understand you really wanting to make the dive and I can understand your feeling of disappointment about it but this just gives you a reason to go back again.

R..
 
Diver0001:
..snip..
You know this one, right:
"Anyone can abort any dive at any time for any reason -- no questions asked".
..snip..

Deep down, of course I know you're right but I would have been less frustrated if he had given any reason except the vis, which was exactly what we expected.
Even if he had just said, "Sorry it doesn't feel right.", that I would have accepted easier with no discussion and less frustration. It can happen to anyone.
 
miketsp:
Deep down, of course I know you're right but I would have been less frustrated if he had given any reason except the vis, which was exactly what we expected.
Even if he had just said, "Sorry it doesn't feel right.", that I would have accepted easier with no discussion and less frustration. It can happen to anyone.
For what it's worth, I'm with you. Anybody can abort a dive for any reason, but I don't take that to mean that a discussion about the reason(s) for aborting is off limits.
 
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