Best rescue is no rescue

[Ayisha]

When I did the Blue Hole in Jan 2006, one of the divers had finished his o/w the DAY before. The instructor who had been on our boat all week expressed his concern about it to the other instructors (and us), but the client wanted to go and got to go. This new diver had poor buoyancy control and high gas consumption to boot. They strapped a bigger tank on him and he had an instructor to himself in the Blue Hole - essentially bottomless at over 400 feet. In the dive briefing, they said that they would not be going after anyone who went beyond 130 feet. One instructor shadowed him and the other two instructors/DG watched the rest of the group.

The myth that a new diver can always be protected by an instructor, even when going significantly beyond training and experience, is perpetuated by trust me dives like these.

 

[ferris213]

Sounds like a scary dive, he's very lucky you were around and able to help...

Can I ask what the big attraction to this type of site is? Does knowing the site is 400 feet deep make it somehow more exciting to dive? Is there life there that can't be found elsewhere?? I'm trying to understand why the dive shops would be so keen to push this onto newer divers?

 

[JamesK]

When I did the Blue Hole in Jan 2006, one of the divers had finished his o/w the DAY before. The instructor who had been on our boat all week expressed his concern about it to the other instructors (and us), but the client wanted to go and got to go. This new diver had poor buoyancy control and high gas consumption to boot. They strapped a bigger tank on him and he had an instructor to himself in the Blue Hole - essentially bottomless at over 400 feet. In the dive briefing, they said that they would not be going after anyone who went beyond 130 feet. One instructor shadowed him and the other two instructors/DG watched the rest of the group.

The myth that a new diver can always be protected by an instructor, even when going significantly beyond training and experience, is perpetuated by trust me dives like these.

and it's this type of unsafe crap that new divers will go do on their own because some jack ass instructor or dive operation did it with them once.

Sounds like a scary dive, he's very lucky you were around and able to help...

Can I ask what the big attraction to this type of site is? Does knowing the site is 400 feet deep make it somehow more exciting to dive? Is there life there that can't be found elsewhere?? I'm trying to understand why the dive shops would be so keen to push this onto newer divers?

to answer your last question, money.

 

[DandyDon]

Sounds like a scary dive, he's very lucky you were around and able to help...

Can I ask what the big attraction to this type of site is? Does knowing the site is 400 feet deep make it somehow more exciting to dive? Is there life there that can't be found elsewhere?? I'm trying to understand why the dive shops would be so keen to push this onto newer divers?

It is The Blue Hole made famous by J.Cousteau;
There are caverns with stalactites around 140 ft from when the ocean was much lower during the last Ice Age;
Some of the Ops chum for sharks to add to the experience;
Mostly it's a Been-There-Done-That.

I think that was the same day trip we had lunch on the island with the Booby birds and did have a nice wall dive or two after.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

Wow, nice work. You probably saved a life there.

I have to reiterate the point about new divers not using underwater cameras. Buoyancy, comfort, and other pertinent diving skills need to be decent and fluent before a diver can have the additional task of a camera. I didn't start using a camera until around 25-30 dives, but even then I mostly dive without it to work on improving my other abilities.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Can I ask what the big attraction to this type of site is?

... it's a money pit for the dive operations ... the truth is that for the cost of going on this dive, at least from Ambergris Caye where a lot of these divers come from, is about the same as four or five dives on the nearby reef ... which is a far more appropriate place for a newly-certified diver ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[haumana ronin]

OW + 4 days, including deep and nitrox(assuming he didnt do the "diving version" of the class) Wouldn't he also need a couple of days for Adventure diver since you need at least that to do Deep, if he was PADI at least? How did he fit all the class and study time in and still play by the rules?

Since he was essentially "in class" up till this dive, would it be fair to say this could be partially his instructor's/instructors' fault for not scaring the bejezus out of him properly?

:zen:

 

[t4e]

some people are lucky that their guardian angel is around to save them so tehy live to tell and hopefully learn a lesson

you electrix played the guardian angel part very well

so did this guy, i get goosebumps every time i watch this video, the choice of music adds some too

 

[RMAdventure]

Wow, that's quite the video! They're lucky that he was around!

 

[t-mac]

Holy crap! Never seen this before. Amazing video. Even though I knew the ending, I still felt my own anxiety level rising. Interestingly, our two subjects seemed perfectly relaxed at their safety stop with only a breath or two of air left -- probably a good thing for them they didn't know better, but very telling, I think. Thanks for sharing. This should be used for training.