Safe diving or just an ***hole of an instructor?

[watersprite]

OK, I have a question here... This is about a dive of almost 1,5 year ago. It still kind of bothers me what happened then and I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

I was diving the wreck 'Rainbow Warrior' in New Zealand which is about 26 metres deep. I had just been certified for "Beginner Open Water Diver" and had only 7 logged dives (my open water beginner course included). Because I was still a beginner and hadn't done any "deep dives" before, we (we = I with one guy as my buddy and another buddy pair) went to dive the wreck with an instructor. We had talked quite a bit before we jumped into the water (discussed the PADI theory we needed to know for the deep dive etc.) and had said to each other we would wait until EVERYONE of us was in the water before we were going down. Another thing we discussed was that we would ascend when anyone of us had 50 bar left.

I was the first one to jump off the boat so I waited at the line of the boat to wait for the other 4 guys. I saw my buddy jumping in too and had contact with him. We still waited for the rest. I couldn't believe how long I had to wait... these guys were so slow!

After 5 minutes or so, the instructor came up to me asking me why the heck I wasn't going down yet!!! Well, I never got any signal of anybody they were going!!! There were so many divers in the water, I hadn't seen the other buddy pair and our instructor in the water so I thought they were still on the boat!! The instructor told me they had been going down with only the 4 of them to 17 metres (!!!) already before they finally found out I wasn't even there!!

To cut a long story short, I went down with this instructor, feeling sorry about those other 3 guys using their precious air while waiting for me at 17 metres but also being pissed off they had gone without me. We finally checked out the wreck (which was awesome btw!). After a while my buddy and the two other guys didn't have much air left. My bottle was still quite full so I stayed down with the instructor while my buddy went back to the boat again.

When I had only 50 bar left, I signaled my instructor to tell him about that. I was bloody sure he knew exactly what I meant. He gave me the sign "OK". I pointed to the line where we had to ascend and signaled him I wanted to go there because my air was running out. He just nodded his head, looked at my gauges and signaled me to go inside the wreck to have another look around.

I gave him some BIG eyes (LOL... I even have a picture of that!), pointed at my gauges again, signaled I had only 50 bar left and pointed to the line again. I was still a very inexperienced diver, so perhaps I was "exaggerating" that I REALLY wanted to start going up with 50 bar in my bottle? I thought this is what we had promised each other though?

Anyhow... this guy signaled me again like he was saying "chill out and look at all those fishes!".... he explained to me we could have another look around at the wreck and that we could SHARE AIR while ascending!!! I had never shared air before (besides in the pool at my beginner's diving course, but not in the ocean at such a depth!!) and I was so inexperienced. I was saying to myself all the time: "OK, relax and don't ever start to panic!!!" I think he knew I was nervous, because he finally took my hand trying to calm me down I guess.

While we were still at the wreck he gave me his spare regulator and from there we started swimming to the line together. We ascended all these 26 metres on his air. My bottle was totally empty.

My question is here:

Is this normal? I don't think this is something you should do with a beginner.... and I personally see "sharing air" as something you would do in emergencies only. What do you think?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

Watersprite

Ps. If my English sounds funny, it’s because I’m not a native speaker

 

[Big-t-2538]

watersprite once bubbled...

Is this normal? I don't think this is something you should do with a beginner.... and I personally see "sharing air" as something you would do in emergencies only. What do you think?


Ps. If my English sounds funny, it’s because I’m not a native speaker

Well, this might be normal procedure for some, but not me or anyone I dive / teach with...it is downright un-intelligent to be forcing yourself into an air-sharing situation.....

I can'tr hear your english...I can only read it.

 

[metridium]

watersprite wrote...
Is this normal? I don't think this is something you should do with a beginner.... and I personally see "sharing air" as something you would do in emergencies only. What do you think?

I've seen this done by DMs in Cozumel, back in my early days of diving. I thought it was unusual, but I assumed the DMs knew what they were doing. I wasn't comfortable with the idea and always elected to ascend rather than share air.

Now that I'm no longer a trusting newbie, I view it as extremely unsafe, whether in OW with a group of inexperienced divers or only one below the depth from which a controlled swimming ascent is practical.

watersprite wrote...
Ps. If my English sounds funny, it’s because I’m not a native speaker.

It doesn't at all. In fact, you could give some of us lessons. Since you're Dutch, that's not surprising, though.

 

[ckharlan66]

There was several things wrong.

First your buddy should not have gone down until he was sure you were with him.

Second if the plan was to accend with 50 bar then everyone should have accended.

Third you only should be sharing air either as practice or in an emergency. Air sharing should never be used as a tool for extended bottom time.

The instructor was wrong.

Chad

 

[MikeFerrara]

It's not too late report the instructor. If I knew who it was I would do everything in my power to see to it he never teaches or divemasters again. You had no business entering an overhead environment at all and certainly not when low on gas. There's a very good chance that the instructor isn't even qualified to teach in an overhead especially given his conduct.

I can't use strong enough language on this board to describe the absolute stupidity and recklessness of the instructor.

Go after him!. If you want help contact me and we'll see what we can do. I want to get at least one of these peices of garbage busted before I leave this business.

Those of you who regularly withness this type of crap in places like Cozumel and don't do anything about it and continue to spend money with those outfits. SHAME ON YOU!

 

[mars2u]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
Those of you who regularly withness this type of crap in places like Cozumel and don't do anything about it and continue to spend money with those outfits. SHAME ON YOU!

Tell us how you really feel Mike
Let's give the benefit of the doubt to the folks. They freely admitted they were inexperienced and thus didn't know any better. I'm sure after reading an experience such as watersprite has described is a learning experience for everyone.

I think the real issue is that most (myself included), just take for granted that a divemaster/instructor knows what the heck they're doing, yet our own logic dictates that something might be wrong. I think that the thing to take fromthis is that just because someone has a C-card doesn't necessarily mean they are an authority on scuba.

I think the lesson is to question everything.

BTW...I agree Mike, the guy should by reprimanded. Definitely an unsafe practice.

Watersprite...you did everything correctly IMHO. EXCEPT...you should have ascended once you were low on air and then gave the DM a piece of your mind if he had said anything to you for ascending without him.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Actually this points out another big problem in training these days. I make certain that my student don't leave class with the idea that they can trust their safety to a DM. Especially when that DM is wanting to lead them into an environment that they're not trained or equipmed for. hehe I teach student the correct hand/finger signal to use in situations like this.

 

[mars2u]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
...hehe I teach student the correct hand/finger signal to use in situations like this.

LOL

Good one Mike...but I'd just get below them and do a Warhammer maneuver.

 

[Big-t-2538]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...

Those of you who regularly withness this type of crap in places like Cozumel and don't do anything about it and continue to spend money with those outfits. SHAME ON YOU!

This is the sugar coated version of mike's anger

 

[metridium]

MikeFerrara wrote...
Those of you who regularly withness this type of crap in places like Cozumel and don't do anything about it and continue to spend money with those outfits. SHAME ON YOU!

As I said, it was back in the day, Mike. Today I wouldn't hesitate to lodge a complaint with the agency.

BTW, I just reread the original post and saw that this was inside the wreck. Good God! That raises it from the unforgivably stupid level to that of criminally negligent. This guy should have all his accreditation stripped away.