I had to stop watching

[Talc]

Am I crazy or did she go down to 133 feet with Nitrox 32? Pretty sure that's well passed MOD.

 

[D_Fresh]

You seem to suggest they just have a fun vs somber approach, with some technique issues. I finally watched the full video.

Bad:
- left a diver 2 minutes behind descending
- settle out by kneeling, standing, or sitting
- pull down to descend while negative
- ignore a PO2 and UP warning (4:46), signaling ok
- faff about for 2 minutes with an UP warning (6:37)
- kick the sand bottom swimming about and off.
- swim about for a bit with their tank hanging by the hose
- do not seem to have good buoyancy. Most are kicking up to hold depth.
- all seem to go vertical when still

Good:
- seem to have a planned 60 stop (10:50), maybe a safety deep stop (good ish, but it's a 2013 video)
- stop for two minutes+ (12:50-13:50 or -15:00?)
- one of them has their eyes glued to their dive comp
- level off again (16:47) presumably for safety stop
- seem fine removing regs (mid water) and clearing a mask (kneeling)

I think the tendency for all that bad, which they are strong at, should get sorted out above say 60', 30', or in the pool, not at the recreational limit of 130'. They did not belong at that depth. It has nothing to do with survey, clean-up, or goof off style of dives. Just my 2 cents.

Admittedly, I was not paying any attention to their computers in the video. But we really know nothing more about this group other than what we see in the video. And yes, they have a lot of learning to do.

If you want complete muppetry

These clowns in Palau, which isn't a cheap destination, not the sort of place I would expect newly certified divers to go too

I'm sure @Landlocked123 will love this one

I particularly love the dude launching his smb - all the gear, not a clue...

This group probably do think they're proficient divers.

Now this one is something special This is pretty bad. That guy has wayyy too much stuff going on while trying to deploy his smb, getting all tangled .

The scary thing is that you're probably right, that they think they're proficient divers. I think that's what makes this one way worse than the OP's video.

 

[D_Fresh]

Am I crazy or did she go down to 133 feet with Nitrox 32? Pretty sure that's well passed MOD.

You're not crazy, they're at 132~133 fsw?

PADI lists 130fsw on the EAN32 chart as contingency depth only, max time 18mins.

NAUI lists 130fsw on the EAN32 chart as contingency depth only, max time 20mins.

At 133fsw on EAN32 they have a pO2 of 1.61

 

[rongoodman]

If you want complete muppetry

These clowns in Palau, which isn't a cheap destination, not the sort of place I would expect newly certified divers to go too

They actually remind me of a couple of groups I saw when I was there in September.

 

[Stoo]

If this is common practice I have no interest in diving in the Caribbean again.

No offense, but planning your future based on some dude's terrible video on YouTube seems a little short-sighted. The location doesn't determine a diver's skill, proper training and mentorship does.

The reality is that pretty much anyone can dive in warm water. It's not like diving in a guided situation requires much skill. If it did, places like Cozumel would be littered with corpses washing up on the beach.

You'll likely find Lake Erie divers more skilled. Diving in the Great Lakes requires a good bit more effort or several reasons. The temperature alone is enough to weed out a huge percentage of divers. Having said that, Tobermory is as close to a diving-tourism hot spot as you'll find in northern latitudes. There are often shop groups that invade town and those groups are a broad mix of skilled and not so skilled divers.

If you're planning a tropical dive trip, research the location and the dive operator carefully. Send them emails and ask questions. Not to pick on Cozumel, but most operators there are cattle boat operations and because it's dirt-cheap, its flooded with new divers and divers who care as much about Happy Hour as diving. By contrast, our favorite place in Belize caters to more advanced divers, and the entire resort only holds eight people. Dives are guided or not, as you wish. Mrs Stoo and I typically spend 70 minutes or so on a dive and barely see anyone else during the dive.

 

[Kimela]

@Landlocked123 - please don't let that video sour you on diving Mexico. I've seen far worse in Key Largo than I've seen in Cozumel. For some reason (maybe it's the cattle boats) many of my Largo dives seemed to be jam packed with noobs and rude people who stayed too close, kicked everything (including me) in sight and simply did not pay attention to dive briefings. Cozumel drift diving seems to make it easy to separate yourself - and stay within a safe distance - from the group so it almost doesn't matter what they're doing. So please, continue to give it consideration as a possible destination. Also, you can get some great deals with ScubaClub Cozumel.

 

[Landlocked123]

I am at a loss for words. I guess I have spent too much time in the local quarries diving with a handful of dive buddies over the last 9 or so years. All are either instructors, pubic safety divers on FD dive teams, both or tec divers practicing for deep ocean dives. I had no idea the state of the sport was in this much disrepair. Yes i see new divers at the quarry each weekend but they are new divers and we all started there. But I had no idea that this was the state of diving in general. I will say at least they had good attitudes that i can tell and did not go exposing themselves.

 

[Roger Hobden]

Just love all these videos !

Keep on posting.

 

[Scuba-74]

Just horrid, really endlessly depressing, hard to watch it all, it is just all the same... and no bouncy music.... It runs just fine at 2x speed and will be over faster.

Lovin it. This will go into my favorites under the name of "The Dancing Faun".

 

[Teredge]

I am at a loss for words. I guess I have spent too much time in the local quarries diving with a handful of dive buddies over the last 9 or so years. All are either instructors, pubic safety divers on FD dive teams, both or tec divers practicing for deep ocean dives. I had no idea the state of the sport was in this much disrepair. Yes i see new divers at the quarry each weekend but they are new divers and we all started there. But I had no idea that this was the state of diving in general. I will say at least they had good attitudes that i can tell and did not go exposing themselves.

I didn't watch much, but the loose tank made me laugh.

Your comparison is apples to oranges. Your friends are all Pro level highest achievement scuba divers and you're watching a video of a tourist operation with what looks like newbies, as someone else pointed out that happens thousands of times without incident.

They're not very squared away but as we all can see just about anyone can successfully do a recreational dive in a warm tropic place with good visibility.