An interesting dive

[phyrekat]

I just returned from a week of diving in Mexico. During one dive (the group was the DM, another diver, my wife and myself), I looked over & noticed the DM sharing air with the other diver AS THEY CONTINUED THE DIVE. I signalled to ask if he was ok, and he returned the "OK" signal. I then "thumbed" the dive myself.
On surfacing, the other diver explained that he uses a lot of air & was running low. The DM explained that he was sharing air so that we wouldn't have to cut our dive short. Needless to say, I was stunned, and I was wondering if this was an isolated incident or if this is common DM practice.

 

[fppf]

Sadly, No
My wife and I saw the same type of activity on the Spiegel Grove in Key largo. We where not part of the group, we dive as a team on our own. While hanging our stop we saw the DM with one person on there pony. Asked if OK, got an ok, kept an eye just to be safe.

Second dive, same thing. Talked to the capt. and he said, Yep they do that sometimes, we tell them not to, but have no way of seeing it. If they get enough reports they wont let the DM on there boats anymore.

 

[ladycute1]

In my experience, this is an occasional to somewhat common practice.... depending on the situation. I've done it to allow a customer (and the group) finish a dive more comfortably and safely by avoiding a long and rough surface swim. In the situations that I'm familiar with, the person receiving air isn't absolutely 'out' of air... the point is to extend their time while still allowing them an adequate reserve to manage surface situations at exit.

Sure, in a perfect situation everyone would have adequate air for the dive and no one would run low early... real life is rarely perfect.

 

[wedivebc]

Provided the "OOA" diver was not really OOA and was just using this as a technique to extend their dive, I don't see the big deal.

 

[DeepDiver36]

I can be an airhog. I am not sure if my wife breaths at all underwater as she always has at least a 1000 psi at the end of a dive. Knowing this, on occation we will swim together and I suck on her octo for short period of time. (3-5 min). I am never out of air just looking at extending our dive time. Nowadays, I just get a 100 tank rather then an 80 but not all shops have a 100 available.

Besides this possibly being alarming to others (thats why I get the 100 tanks) is their are reason why we should not do that? I have seen and heard of people doing that often.

NOTE: if I am EVER at or below our designated turn pressure on my tank, the dive is over. I will never buddy share at that point as my safety net is gone.

Thoughts?

 

[Tanked]

I wouldn't call this common pratice. I would call this dangerous practice. If another diver needs your air, or you need anothers air, the dive is over, no matter how good of a time your having. No questions asked. I can't speak for any boats in the warmer water of the carribean, but up here in the northeast, if a catipan found out about this you can bet your fins that would be the last time you would be on that boat.

 

[matjo1]

To continue the dive while sharing air is just plain dumb. On the other hand, letting a low on air diver breath of someone's pony at the safety stop I think is no big deal. In fact, I do this sometimes in my advanced course. I don't treat my divers like babies and expect them to plan and monitor their own air consumption. If during a deep dive I see that they dangerously pass their minimum ascent pressure I will call the dive, but If they only pass it by a little bit, I will say nothing and once they are at their safety stop with 300psi with 2 minutes left before ascent, I will donate my pony reg so they can safely finish their stop, and they will switch back to theirs to surface. They will then have to endure my "What do you think would have happened if I wasn't there" speech, and my "don't you think it would be a good idea for you to have your own pony" speech. I don't believe that this is putting anybody in danger, and I guaranty that they have learned a valuable lesson.

 

[Tanked]

I do this sometimes in my advanced course. I don't treat my divers like babies and expect them to plan and monitor their own air consumption.

If they're taking the "advanced" class, shouldnt they be able to monitor their own air?

 

[DeepDiver36]

Thanks for the feedback. Just as I suspected.

While it is obviously frowned upon and I will not be doing it again as it causes other anxiety, I want to clarify that I never did nor would I continue to dive in an OOA situation. This was done with two full tanks.

While I can see how you would not want to do this because almost all divers would expect to only see this in an OOA situation and we do not want to skew the line of normal and OOA status.

However, help me understand how this is dangerous? Since both parties still have plenty of air and we practice this all the time in training. Unwise as it's alarming to others, yes, but dangerous might be a harsh word.

 

[james croft]

I am good with air but dive with someone with gills. We do a lot of shore dives in shallow water, usually less than 25 feet. I will usually swipe air from my buddy's octo so we finish up at the same time. Not a big deal under those conditions.