Untrained cave diving in the Dominican Republic

[philliplehman]

Neptuno dive center in Juan Dolio is taking unsuspecting OW divers past the warning sign as if it was not even there and onto the mainline of Cueva Taina, this is insane, it is a full on, silty maze like breakdown room, very silty and is about 250mtrs form the entrance in the full cave zone this "guide" is in doubles so I am assuming he is cave trained which really makes this even worse because he should know better.
I spoke to the owner of the dive shop and he does not care at all not even a bit, I was trying to explain how dangerous it is etc.. basically he said ok are you done? and hung up, this stuff really really pisses me off, the divers in the video have absolutely no idea how dangerous this is, it is 100% misleading innocent people.

Untrained cave diving at Cueva Taina - YouTube

 

[soltari675]

Had a dive guide in Florida do the same thing. I joined up with a shop to check out some local inland dive sites while I was there last year. At one site, the guide went right past the cave warning sign (the ones with the grim reapers on them) and expected us to follow. I refused and motioned for the other two divers not to go, as they were new and were unsure, but were trusting the guide. He tried to get us to go a few times, each time with me stopping and shaking my head. Finally he led us elsewhere around the cavern, and at one point came up beside the sign, slightly behind it and tried to go past, as if we would not see the sign. I was not happy and ended the dive at that point. Found some good people here on SB for dives afterwards.

Spotted the same guide later leading a group down to 100+ ft inside a cave. It was stupid and dangerous. Seems there are some shops who perceive the training as just optional. I'll never go back to that shop again.

 

[Scuba-dan]

If this was reported to PADI could they not do anything about this? I agree this is scary and plain stupid. But then again you are in DR and not a lot of rules down there.

 

[Dr Dog]

I did not see an issue with the dive until the sign at about 4:14. Then it is quite noticeable the fact he is diving doubles with everyone else rocking a single tank.

Crazy stuff, that is not cool, going to be a few stories of bad news coming out of the DR soon

 

[Scuba_Noob]

From my perspective this is idiotic and unsafe. I've seen a few cave diving videos and I have massive amounts of respect for the amount of training they go through in order to make the dive as safe as possible. Cave divers should have a ton of experience and should be excellent divers.

Taking new open water divers to 100ft is reckless; taking unsuspecting open water (or AOW) divers into the overhead environment of cave diving is beyond asinine, especially when it's dark like that and there's an actual warning sign.

Depending on which agency the dive shop "works" under, you could probably get their license revoked or suspended. You should check it out. It could potentially save lives.

Looks like it's a PADI Five Star center and it teaches SSI courses as well.

 

[philliplehman]

If this was reported to PADI could they not do anything about this? I agree this is scary and plain stupid. But then again you are in DR and not a lot of rules down there.

PADI Sent out a major safety warning letter last summer, Neptuno also got the letter but bottom line they really do not care, I tried to speak to the owner about ho dangerous this was and he told me to F off, I reported this to PADI and to SSI so hopefully they will get a call from them and listen.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

If everyone is so upset about this why are you not naming names? The shop, guide, instructor, etc that you does this that you do not name will kill someone and how will you deal with that. Knowing you might have been able to prevent it. Name em here, the deco stop, and for chrissakes put it on Facebook!

---------- Post added May 1st, 2012 at 07:20 PM ----------

Nice music to die to though. And seriously though, if someone is stupid enough to pass the sign maybe the gene pool is just thinning itself. Obviously these divers were never told about being responsible for themselves. And if an agency does not take some kind of action they will have blood on their hands as well.

 

[coldwatercanada]

Neptuno dive center in Juan Dolio

ummm thats a name ha ha and the instructors nam is in the video!

 

[boulderjohn]

I think the people to contact are the Dominican Republic Speleological Society. According to their web site, they are dedicated to stopping this sort of activity, which apparently happens quite a bit on the island.

 

[Doc]

PADI Sent out a major safety warning letter last summer, Neptuno also got the letter but bottom line they really do not care, I tried to speak to the owner about ho dangerous this was and he told me to F off, I reported this to PADI and to SSI so hopefully they will get a call from them and listen.

The only reference to any training agency on their website is CMAS.