Uraluni
Registered
My wife an I were in Jamaica recently (not a serious dive destination, but since we were in the area of warm water, we thought we'd get some dive time in).
We're generally colder water divers in the Jersey and sort of colder water of NC (we use the same gear in both zones).
However, I must say that both of us are often annoyed that Caribbean boat mates often check tank valves and twist them around prior to someone entering the water.
During our dive in Jamaica we experienced a problem with a boat mate closing my wife's tank valve. The valve wasn't closed all of the way, but it was enough to cause problems about 20 minutes into a shallow dive (approx 40 ft.). Initially, her computer was showing some wacky info, but we both shrugged it off to possible a battery problem. We both carry two computers, but only one of each of ours is tank integrated.
As we've done a couple of times in the past, if one of our tank integrated computers goes wonky, we'll rely on the others computer (she also still continues to use a mechanical tank pressure gauge as well).
Shortly after her computer issues, her mechanical gauge started pegging 0-2000, and she indicated to me she was out of air. I popped my octo into her mouth and we both surfaced. It took about 15 minutes of us shouting to the guy on the boat for him to finally turn around and notice us (I can say I was truly pissed off). If there were any kind of real current, we'd have been long gone.
I should have noticed the signs that a pegging mechanical pressure gauge was an indication of a closed valve, but when my wife is in front of me, nearly on the edge of panic, telling me she's out of air, my first thought is to put my octo in her mouth and surface.
There was also a "divemaster" with the two of us during our time on the island. I don't like having some local dive guy driven down my throat when I don't really want one. He wasn't really watching what was going on with the two of us anyways. However, at some point he realizes that we're on the surface and surfaces himself. I give him a brief description of what happened, and the first thing he does is move behind my wife and starts fiddling with her tank valve. I immediately told him to NOT touch that valve, but the damage was already done.
When we got back to the boat, we figured out she still had 2000 lbs of gas in her tank. I know her valve was open, because I checked it for her before she jumped in the water. The boat mate "checked" it additionally before she jumped in, but I'm guessing that he just moved it in the direction with most movement. I don't really know for sure what was in his head, but given that we were bobbing on the surface 50-75 yards away from him screaming ours heads off for around 15 minutes before he noticed anything...I'd leave it up to anyone's imagination what a Jamaican small boat operator has on his mind.
We're generally colder water divers in the Jersey and sort of colder water of NC (we use the same gear in both zones).
However, I must say that both of us are often annoyed that Caribbean boat mates often check tank valves and twist them around prior to someone entering the water.
During our dive in Jamaica we experienced a problem with a boat mate closing my wife's tank valve. The valve wasn't closed all of the way, but it was enough to cause problems about 20 minutes into a shallow dive (approx 40 ft.). Initially, her computer was showing some wacky info, but we both shrugged it off to possible a battery problem. We both carry two computers, but only one of each of ours is tank integrated.
As we've done a couple of times in the past, if one of our tank integrated computers goes wonky, we'll rely on the others computer (she also still continues to use a mechanical tank pressure gauge as well).
Shortly after her computer issues, her mechanical gauge started pegging 0-2000, and she indicated to me she was out of air. I popped my octo into her mouth and we both surfaced. It took about 15 minutes of us shouting to the guy on the boat for him to finally turn around and notice us (I can say I was truly pissed off). If there were any kind of real current, we'd have been long gone.
I should have noticed the signs that a pegging mechanical pressure gauge was an indication of a closed valve, but when my wife is in front of me, nearly on the edge of panic, telling me she's out of air, my first thought is to put my octo in her mouth and surface.
There was also a "divemaster" with the two of us during our time on the island. I don't like having some local dive guy driven down my throat when I don't really want one. He wasn't really watching what was going on with the two of us anyways. However, at some point he realizes that we're on the surface and surfaces himself. I give him a brief description of what happened, and the first thing he does is move behind my wife and starts fiddling with her tank valve. I immediately told him to NOT touch that valve, but the damage was already done.
When we got back to the boat, we figured out she still had 2000 lbs of gas in her tank. I know her valve was open, because I checked it for her before she jumped in the water. The boat mate "checked" it additionally before she jumped in, but I'm guessing that he just moved it in the direction with most movement. I don't really know for sure what was in his head, but given that we were bobbing on the surface 50-75 yards away from him screaming ours heads off for around 15 minutes before he noticed anything...I'd leave it up to anyone's imagination what a Jamaican small boat operator has on his mind.
