First low-air experience went great!

[doctormike]

Ignore the sniping above.

Do you really think that the OP should "ignore" those points?

Look, I understand that we instinctively don't want to come down hard on a new diver who is brave enough to post here about a problem, etc...

But this is the classic definition of normalization of deviance, and I don't have to tell someone with your experience that that can be deadly. "Hooray! I survived! The take home message is that I am really good at this!"

Sorry, the OP's post was nothing but bragging. No insight at all, no questioning of why this happened, no wondering about how to avoid it in the future. "everything was fine... I handled it just right... I felt pretty proud of that... [it was] a “good emergency” experience".

Just look at the title..!! "First low air experience went GREAT!".

It wasn't "great". And it wasn't "low air", it was OOA. The OP ran OOA. There is NO excuse for that other than a catastrophic gear failure like a blown LP hose.

Congratulations to the OP for staying calm, but a little bit of humility is not a bad thing for a diver to have. Respect the sport.

 

[Hatul]

Let's hope it's not the first but the only one.

 

[jsarche]

Of course not...don't let us naysayers bother you....instead keep thinking that you did a great job managing a problem underwater that could have been avoided in the first place and was perhaps caused by a flawed mentality towards air awareness and management.

You go, cause you got this.

And l will repeat my sentiment expressed earlier...OP, it is definitely commendable that you kept a level head during the situation instead of freaking out; that does count for something.

-Z

I honestly appreciate the conversation here - I spent the entire day traveling so couldn’t keep up.

Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Zef, doctormike and others. I can’t disagree that I let the dive go too long. And I get it that that really was the source of the problem. So I’m not proud about that, but I do feel pride in how I handled it.

Thankfully, it was a cheap lesson.

 

[doctormike]

I honestly appreciate the conversation here - I spent the entire day traveling so couldn’t keep up.

Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Zef, doctormike and others. I can’t disagree that I let the dive go too long. And I get it that that really was the source of the problem. So I’m not proud about that, but I do feel pride in how I handled it.

Thankfully, it was a cheap lesson.

EXCELLENT! Now THIS is the lesson to learn. I’m glad that you didn’t just assume that those of us giving you negative feedback are nasty Internet trolls beating up on a newbie, as was implied by some other posters.

You should be proud on the way you responded to the emergency, but you should be REALLY proud of the way that you responded to criticism. A lesser diver would just have figured that his critics were jerks, and would have written us off.

[EDIT NOTE - this was originally two responses to two different people that were merged. The second half wasn't directed at the OP]

The problem that I had with the first post is not just going OOA. It’s the fact that the OP's instinctive conclusion was nothing but positive, happy, prideful thoughts about how GREAT everything went. Seriously, read the first post again. This is classic normalization of deviance. Everybody criticizing those of us who aren’t cheerleaders are contributing to that problem.

Suppose every reply he got was positive feedback. He (and other new divers reading this) would just conclude that as long as you are a naturally skilled diver, you don’t need to be that compulsive about planning or situational awareness. And the secondary attack on us would just confirm to many new divers that they were right and that the critical statements were just trolling. Fortunately, the OP has figured out that this is not the case.

People being hard on him actually have his best interests in mind and are trying to save his life by NOT congratulating him. We’re not “arrogant know-it-alls”, we are members of this community who are contributing to the discussion (Zef and I did actually compliment him on keeping calm). Just because it’s a green zone doesn’t mean that we can’t be appropriately critical. Where else would a new diver get this kind of feedback if this is the only place that he can post?

I’m glad that the OP now seems to be understanding that.

 

[jsarche]

Again, I want to thank the community for all the input. Yes, ALL the input. I should have known better, and it should have occurred to me that the tone of my post was all wrong.

I'm happy to share some answers to these questions; it will help me learn, and hopefully will help others as well. On this dive, I was alone with the divemaster, who spoke limited English. The operation was based at a resort, and to be completely honest, I don't think they were totally professional overall. There were some other concerns I had that I'd rather not get into, but there was an almost total lack of planning on the points mentioned above. I placed complete trust in the DM and worked to give him regular updates on my air supply throughout each of four dives I did with him.

I am a very new diver. I've logged only about 16 non-training dives. I feel I am beginning to gain a much greater understanding that there is so very much I don't know. I didn't ask the right questions before these dives, and was so excited about getting back into the water that I wasn't bothered by the lack of planning and just decided staying close to the DM and keeping up communication with him throughout each dive would be enough. Obviously, it wasn't.

There was a great post by @uncfnp earlier in this thread that really set out for me some of the main lessons to be learned by this experience. And @Diver0001 brings up another great one, which is planning is key and must not be glossed over.

I don't know when I'll be able to dive again, but I will dive again, and these lessons will be top-of-mind for me.

 

[Zef]

Again, I want to thank the community for all the input. Yes, ALL the input. I should have known better, and it should have occurred to me that the tone of my post was all wrong.

I'm happy to share some answers to these questions; it will help me learn, and hopefully will help others as well. On this dive, I was alone with the divemaster, who spoke limited English. The operation was based at a resort, and to be completely honest, I don't think they were totally professional overall. There were some other concerns I had that I'd rather not get into, but there was an almost total lack of planning on the points mentioned above. I placed complete trust in the DM and worked to give him regular updates on my air supply throughout each of four dives I did with him.

I am a very new diver. I've logged only about 16 non-training dives. I feel I am beginning to gain a much greater understanding that there is so very much I don't know. I didn't ask the right questions before these dives, and was so excited about getting back into the water that I wasn't bothered by the lack of planning and just decided staying close to the DM and keeping up communication with him throughout each dive would be enough. Obviously, it wasn't.

There was a great post by @uncfnp earlier in this thread that really set out for me some of the main lessons to be learned by this experience. And @Diver0001 brings up another great one, which is planning is key and must not be glossed over.

I don't know when I'll be able to dive again, but I will dive again, and these lessons will be top-of-mind for me.

You are not the first new diver that something like this has happened to. There are many new divers that are deluded into thinking that their certification card equates to preparedness and or experience. many go on happily with their lives, others have experiences like yours where they put themself in a dangerous situation and they often don't realize the gravity of it. I have seen so so many people blindly follow a DM/dive guide expecting them to keep them safe only to find out that ultimately it is the individual diver's job to get back to the surface safely. Some of those divers get pissed about that notion and others learn from it. You, the OP, seem to be in the latter category. All divers should pause and reflect often that diving is an inherently dangerous activity, we are playing in an environment that we cannot naturally survive in. Proper planning, management, precaution, forethought is necessary at a minimum, fun should be had but not at the expense of personal safety or the safety of those around one's self.

Glad you survived this experience and again commend you for keeping a level head as things went south....that is half the battle won right there.

Cheers,
-Z

 

[RayfromTX]

If you think you have been moderated unfairly, please use the report function rather than complaining in the thread. Thanks.

 

[mdax]

Running out of gas is a really bad thing, it should never happen.
This is why people drown at the surface or drift down into lost forever.

You are way too calm in your post regarding this incident. The fact your instructors didn't message you back immediately, concerned about this dive and your attitude speaks volumes. Find new instructors.

 

[The Chairman]

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[RayfromTX]

Naughty, naughty for running OOG but what an invaluable learning experience!

1) You learned that you can not depend on 100% accuracy on a SPG, especially a rental but I am also aware that this can happen even with my own gear.

2) You learned that 600 psi is not the best choice to begin an ascent.

3) You learned what a tank feels like when running out of gas. Not everyone agrees that you can feel a change in the work of breathing on a modern reg but from my personal experience this is possible in an alert diver.

4) You learned that you are situationally aware enough to detect the change in breathing.

5) You learned that for at least this challenge you did not panic. That is huge.

6) You learned how NOT to let this happen again.

Congrats!

Great post!