I'm certified! and scared!

[ronbeau]

What was your 'planned' depth for the dive? My OW dives were all at 20-25ft. Are you PADI certified? If so, you probably know that you shouldn't be below 60' until you do a Deep Dive Adventure or Specialty class.

I'm surprise that an instructor or DM didn't get your LP hose connected back up. I could see how not being able to slow your decent would be frightening. Good job on maintaining your cool. Congrats on the accomplishment.

The way I read his posting that the instructor took him to 70 feet as part of his OW certification dives. Did I misinterpret his posting?

 

[Raphyy]

The way I read his posting that the instructor took him to 70 feet as part of his OW certification dives. Did I misinterpret his posting?

Yea, he took us all 70 feet to a wreck diving. Seriously, it was awesome - and I believe I handled REALLY well. I'm going again next week =)

 

[Dive-aholic]

Raphyy, I'm sure the dive was awesome and it sounds like you handled it great. However, your instructor failed to follow several standards. The instructor should have verified that all students were properly equipped and ready to enter the water. Not noticing that your LP hose was not connected was a big mistake and, as you already know, potentially very dangerous. Also, most standards limit the first 2 OW checkout dives to 40 feet and the last 2 checkout dives to 60 feet. There are reasons for this. I would seriously reconsider diving with this instructor again. You need to find someone in your area that is not only familiar with standards but is attentive enough to make sure his/her students are ready to get in the water. What else did your instructor miss?

 

[Walter]

Well, sort of by definition, he didn't panic. He used the word, but his actions clearly indicate that he was thinking logically and taking appropriate action, which is not consistent with panic.

That's an assumption on your part. You may be right, but at this point, judging from his posts, it appears he did panic, took some time to get calmed back down, then handled himself well after his recovery. Of course, his posts are not very clear on exactly what took place. He says:

We went to a 70 foot deep wreck sighting and I don't know what happened buy I panicked. Took a few minutes to get to normal again though.

Then:

My BCD wasn't filling up, turns out i forgot to hook up the pressure hose to the BC...but I did fine to be honest - i inflated it a little and controlled my buoyancy through my breathing...the instructor told me I handled it really well =)

He doesn't say that was immediate, it sounds like something he did after his recovery from panic.

Also, most standards limit the first 2 OW checkout dives to 40 feet and the last 2 checkout dives to 60 feet.

PADI limits the first two dives to 40 ft. Does anyone else? I'm pretty sure no one has a limit deeper than 60 ft.

I think everyone except Raphyy agrees his instructor shouldn't be teaching.

 

[nereas]

60 ft for NAUI as well, to my recollection. Somebody needs to have a talk with this overly enthusiastic instructor.

 

[ligersandtions]

Wow, I'm surprised that your instructor or DM didn't catch that....I understand that your buddy may not catch it because he/she is new as well (although that doesn't excuse your buddy either since the pre-dive check should certainly be done thoroughly each and every time you dive, regardless of being a brand new, not quite certified diver or someone with 1000+ dives).

I'm glad to see that you handled it pretty well, but I am very surprised that the instructor would take you so deep and fail to do a pre-dive check on each student. I'm with all the others who said this instructor should not be teaching....it might have been "fun", but it wasn't safe.

 

[katdiver]

Maybe I've missed something, but it's possible there wasn't any anything wrong with the depth of the dive. The instructor is at liberty to add an adventure dive onto the OW class after OW1-4 are completed without new releases to be signed. Did you go straight out for dive number 5 onto the wreck? Then it's the matter of the missed element of the safety check and not standards. I often put a deep or a wreck dive as dive number 5, just to watch my new divers in this new environment and how they adjust. It's also a great way to get them fired up and ready for more diving.

 

[tschmitt]

Was this your 5th dive? Or part of your 4 OW required dives? If it was part of the 4 dives, that is too deep and you should not be visited a wreck as part of your OW dives. Not to say that you personally aren't capable, but that's a recipe for disaster with a bunch of new divers.

If it was a PADI Adventure Deep & Wreck Dive - which are actually two separate adventure dives, then you should have been briefed on it and the details (risks, hazards, skills, points of interest, etc) of those particular dives.

If you're PADI certified, consider enrolling the Adventure Diver class or start your Advanced OW course. You sound like you've got the 'diver bug', so the additional training will be useful.

Good Luck and thanks for sharing.

Tim

 

[bfw]

It is not unusual to be a bit scared initially, and it is actually a healthy sign in my mind. It means you recognize the potential issues that could arise.

While he later corrected it, at the time you replied, the operative term in use for the incident was "panic." That's never a healthy sign. It may be an unhealthy sign that some preceding decisions were poorly made, but nothing more valuable. Panic means you SHOULD have recognized the potential issues and didn't, or it means you're mentally unsuited for what you were doing when you panicked.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

I see everyone else has already talked about the instructor so I will leave that alone.

Congrats on getting ceritified. Find an experienced but not Arrogant mentor and go get some dives. Join a club or what ever it takes to get into a group of divers in your area.