enigmata
Contributor
Went with Lahaina Divers on their Molokini Backwall trip. Good pair of dives, saw two white-tip reef sharks, a frogfish, and several lobsters. No complaints as to what I saw on the dives, but I did want to bring up a point of discussion about the dive op.
During the briefing the DM tells us that the first person to run low on air (800psi) will need to buddy up with another in the group and return to the boat. I was told the reason for this is so the DM isn't allowed to leave a diver alone by him or herself.
There are two buddy pairs in the group of divers I'm assigned to, a solo diver, and the DM. We start the dive without event. About 30 minutes into the dive, solo diver reaches 800psi and the DM pairs me with him to exit. I signal OK, and start heading out towards the solo diver who's about 50 feet away from me at that point. My buddy who's an instructor I arranged the trip with sees this and starts to follow. DM tries to get my buddy to stay with the rest of the group, but he signals he's going to go with me.
About 30 feet away from the solo diver, I stop to observe the diver do his safety stop, and the DM comes over to me with a slate written "please go with him." I signal OK, and approach the diver while the DM returns to the group.
I reach the solo diver, check to see if he's OK, and we ascend to 15 ft. He then shows me his computer isn't counting a safety stop timer. I start my stop. By the time the three minutes are up, he has 100 psi left, glances at his gauge, and stares at me. I signal to go up. We wait on the surface for about five minutes while he fumbles for his safety sausage that he's never inflated before (I tell him no, the boat sees us), struggles with the swell (3-4 ft, I tell him to remain calm and slowly kick to stay from getting further from the boat), and says he can't believe how fast he blew through his air. The boat picks us up without event, solo diver's OOA, I'm at 1200 and my buddy's at 1500. I find out on the boat that the solo diver was given 20 pounds of lead in a 3mil fullsuit as well as a larger tank than the regular AL80.
We brought this up to the DM and got placed in another more "experienced" group (somehow they didn't know he was an instructor) and had a good second dive.
My question still remains: were they trying to pass off the responsibility of supervising a diver to a paying customer? In this case, no harm was done, and three divers ended their dive when only one had to, but if I hadn't known what to do, I wouldn't have been able to help this guy out. Anyone else have similar experiences?
During the briefing the DM tells us that the first person to run low on air (800psi) will need to buddy up with another in the group and return to the boat. I was told the reason for this is so the DM isn't allowed to leave a diver alone by him or herself.
There are two buddy pairs in the group of divers I'm assigned to, a solo diver, and the DM. We start the dive without event. About 30 minutes into the dive, solo diver reaches 800psi and the DM pairs me with him to exit. I signal OK, and start heading out towards the solo diver who's about 50 feet away from me at that point. My buddy who's an instructor I arranged the trip with sees this and starts to follow. DM tries to get my buddy to stay with the rest of the group, but he signals he's going to go with me.
About 30 feet away from the solo diver, I stop to observe the diver do his safety stop, and the DM comes over to me with a slate written "please go with him." I signal OK, and approach the diver while the DM returns to the group.
I reach the solo diver, check to see if he's OK, and we ascend to 15 ft. He then shows me his computer isn't counting a safety stop timer. I start my stop. By the time the three minutes are up, he has 100 psi left, glances at his gauge, and stares at me. I signal to go up. We wait on the surface for about five minutes while he fumbles for his safety sausage that he's never inflated before (I tell him no, the boat sees us), struggles with the swell (3-4 ft, I tell him to remain calm and slowly kick to stay from getting further from the boat), and says he can't believe how fast he blew through his air. The boat picks us up without event, solo diver's OOA, I'm at 1200 and my buddy's at 1500. I find out on the boat that the solo diver was given 20 pounds of lead in a 3mil fullsuit as well as a larger tank than the regular AL80.
We brought this up to the DM and got placed in another more "experienced" group (somehow they didn't know he was an instructor) and had a good second dive.
My question still remains: were they trying to pass off the responsibility of supervising a diver to a paying customer? In this case, no harm was done, and three divers ended their dive when only one had to, but if I hadn't known what to do, I wouldn't have been able to help this guy out. Anyone else have similar experiences?