Our dive plan is to follow you...

[Ian T]

Just thought I'd post this little story..there are a few things to be learned here - maybe?

This past weekend, my wife, I and a friend of us went diving at a site that has quickly become a new favorite (and of course it will be gone in about 6 months or so, due to harbor development)..
On the boat to the site, we planned the dive, decided on times, depths, turnaround air, signals, what compass heading to use to get to a shallower area to stay out of deco and to extend the dive etc. (cert lvls are AOW, DM-trainee and instructor).. On the boat were some Discover Scuba Divers, a pair of AOW (though no one told us so before...) divers who had fiddled with their equipment throughout the boatride, boatdriver cum instructor and a crew member. We had also dropped a number of snorklers just prior to reaching our destination.
The boatdriver/instructor knows us well and knows that we know the site and we had ok:ed it with him to drop in as soon as we reached the site.
We donned the equipment and dropped in. Just as we were about to descend, we hear two splashes behind us. It's the AOW-couple, they swim up to us and signal that they are ready to descend...
Marty (my friend) and I both yell at them at the same time (remember they had been introduced to us as DSDs),
"what are you doing?"
"Diving with you", they replied.
and here the scuba police many people have wondered about brought out their badges:
"Do you have computers?" "No"
"Do you have a compass?" "No"
"Do you have a watch?" "No"
"Do you know how deep it is here?" "No"
"Do you know what you are doing?" "No"
"Do you have a dive plan?" "We follow you..."
The boatdriver started yelling and probably cursing - the guys had just dropped in without any clues as to what they were doing. They swam back and, probably, got back on the boat. We had just looked at eachother and then quickly descended so that they wouldn't be able to follow us.
We then spent about 45 minutes swimming from one coral/sea grass patch to another, looking for sea horses. Dang they are elusive...we didn't see any - this time either. (we have done so a few times before...not seen them that is...)
When we reached our agreed turnaround limit, we took off towards the shallower area and after an hour or so underwater, we surfaced near the designated pick-up area..
The AOW-couple had still not surfaced and we went looking to see if they had overshot their pick-up area (around this island there are a few of these - lots of nets in the water, so depending on where you drop in, there are only a few pick-up areas you can end up in...) All the pick-up areas are easily supervised from one or two vantage points.
Then the boatdriver mumbles, "I bet they misunderstood the dive brief..." apparently they only had basic understanding of English...
We went to the other side of the island which you can only reach if you listen to the dive bried and then do the opposite...
Woe and behold, there they were ...
As they climbed aboard, one guy's tank was hanging from the safety catch on the BC and the other's shoulder strap wasn't fastened. They said they had been waiting for the boat for approx 30 minutes and had had problems with their equipment the whole time. As for turning up on the wrong side of the island - well they had had currents pushing them that way, and well...we had been there and we didn't have them.

Adds a whole new dimension to 'Trust me!'
There ya go...

 

[BabyDuck]

all i can say is, those are two lucky muthers...

 

[Rick Inman]

You dive a few boats, you see enough of this stuff that many experienced divers won't dive a public boat unless they charter the whole thing or already know the divers. People come out of BOW class and are told they are ready to dive, but IMHO they are ready to learn to dive by hooking up with experienced mentors who are willing to share their knowledge and skills.
The mentors are getting harder and harder to find.
I am blessed to have still have some (although I don't get to dive with them as often as I'd like).

 

[divenut2001]

It is often said, and I'm a firm believer, that an OW cert card is more of a learners permit and having an AOW cert card does "not" make you an advanced diver, only experience can do that.

Ian,

Where exactly is Sohar, Oman and what type of conditions do you typically have there, ie.... water temp, viz, currents?

Also what marine life is common out there?

Thanks

You dive a few boats, you see enough of this stuff that many experienced divers won't dive a public boat unless they charter the whole thing or already know the divers. People come out of BOW class and are told they are ready to dive, but IMHO they are ready to learn to dive by hooking up with experienced mentors who are willing to share their knowledge and skills.
The mentors are getting harder and harder to find.
I am blessed to have still have some (although I don't get to dive with them as often as I'd like).

 

[EuphoriaII]

It is often said, and I'm a firm believer, that an OW cert card is more of a learners permit and having an AOW cert card does "not" make you an advanced diver, only experience can do that.

I buy into that philosophy 100% and I was only certified yesterday (literally). IMO, I've been cleared to go out and get some more experience but I know I'm not prepared to do an advanced dive. I plan on AOW for the latter part of the summer but I realize that experience goes hand in hand with additional training. Meanwhile, it's time to work on better bouyancy control, navigation skills, get comfortable with the computer. My dive buddy (son) and I agreed we are going to continue to practice OOA situations and keep building our skills.
I've read enough stories on this board from experienced divers making simple mistakes. I figure the more training and experience (in safer environments) I get, I can lessen the probablity of those simple mistakes.
I'll work my way up to more advanced dives in time.

 

[derwoodwithasherwood]

"Do you have a dive plan?" "We follow you..."

:rofl: Well, it's a plan. Maybe not a good plan or a responsible plan, but it's a plan... :rofl:

 

[GrierHPharmD]

Congrats on your cert, EuphoriaII, and the same to your son. Sounds like you guys have the right attitude!

As to the others, I hope they either wise up or give up the sport. We don't need any more statistics. We've got enough as it is...

Oh well, like the song says, "If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough..." :dazzler1:

-G

 

[Ian T]

I really don't mind diving with new divers at all - I kind of like it - but then again, I would like to have a little advance notice...

Rick...
Not that I would go so far as to call myself a mentor, but I do more often than not dive with newly certified people or somewhat rusty divers (must be the salt water) and try to give a few hints and tricks..

Euphoria...
congrats on the certification... experience is the key word...dive dive dive..

Divenut...
Oman is on the Arabian peninsula, on the Indian Ocean side of it...My regular dive site is a group of islands about 40 min off the northeastern coast of Oman proper (the tip off the peninsula also belongs to Oman but there's a whole 'nuther country in between..) All dives are coral dives, it's a marine reserve, no wrecks there yet, but there are plans....
conditions? very friendly...deepest dive we have there is about 32m - most of the dives (altogether 21 of them) is down to about 22-24 meters, usually a mild surface current between the islands... Visibility..from 3 - 40m (though that's fairly rare) Temp...a freezing 23C in the winter to a nice 30C in summer - at about 18m depth that is..
surface temp is between 28-37C...Air temp...well..from 24 - 60C
Fish is abundant...loads of 'em..some dives you do, if you don't see a couple of thousand fish in 45 min - it's a disappointing one...some dives you can't see the corals 'cuz of the fish...(not kidding...)
Zebra sharks, stingray, eaglerays, green turtles, reef fish, trevallies, tuna, barracuda, kingfish, dolphinfish, cuttlefish, lobsters that make your mouth water etc etc
if you are a lucky diver we also have dolphins, whales, whale sharks, mantas (doing somersaults in the air) and marlin
i have the dolphins and the mantas on my list, still waiting for the others

Oman is spending time and money on eco-tourism (not enough though, but then again- what country does? The coral is in fantastic condition...6-12 foot table corals, gorgonians..lots of 'em...

Wanna come?