Stuck with beginner diver who runs out of air in 20 mins?

[Doctorfish]

Refund? For a ruined holiday and lost opportunity costs while you were away?
I would want the problem fixed after the first dive.

 

[dmaziuk]

Unusual but not unheard of. I've seen a few divers in my time that could empty a tank in no time. I was buddied up with one in Australia but he told me ahead of the dive that he used his air up quickly and apologized after my dive was cut about 50% short. I told him no apology necessary since he had warned me before the dive.

Now if I were diving on a liveaboard that had the same policy as the one the OP was on, I'd certainly be politely requesting that they find a solution.

Our second day of this spring's trip they took us on a deeper-ish dive with fairly sharp thermoclines that we weren't dressed for, my buddy and I came up some 10-15 minutes earlier than the rest of the group. So that may happen even to people who normally don't burn air at twice the regular rate. However, a) we came up, the rest of the group did not, and b) we didn't do that on every dive. So yeah, that liveaboard sounds rather unreasonable.

 

[ange2014]

Hey, thanks everyone for your great advice, I really appreciate it.

No animosity towards anyone from that trip; I posted this question just so it would help me - and other divers like myself with little liveaboard experience - know what my options are in similar situations in the future, or better yet, prevent being caught in one again.

 

[elbig]

If you truly appreciate the great advice then please tell us the name of the liveaboard. You would be doing us all a favor.

 

[RayfromTX]

It's all about expectations set in advance. I just dived with Stuart's Cove in Nassau. I knew going in that it was going to be a schedule driven dive that had us back on the boat long before we were limited by our gas supply. I knew that we were going to be doing everything for ourselves(which I prefer but my wife does not). I knew that the op was going to push us through like cattle at times. I was prepared for this based on what I had learned and based on the schedule that they were diving to get in 4 dives between 9am and 4 pm including a boat change. My wife wasn't prepared for it so she thought we should complain about short dives, lack of service etc.

I think it is best when shopping for dive ops or instructors to spend time up front spelling out what is expected so that there is a base line to use in deciding if you received value for your dollar. After that it is up to you if and how you approach the management to address your disappointments. Of course all this has to be weighed against the fact that you are on vacation and time spent complaining while on vacation has it's own costs.

The OP seems to have a good attitude. Btw, our solution on our recent trip was tailored to the circumstance but we simply got geared up, found out what time we needed to be on the boat, and as soon as we heard the words "the pool is open" we splashed and left. We got 55 minute dives after that. If we had waited for the group and surfaced with the group we would have been in the 40-45 minute range. These cattle were mavericks.

 

[ReefGuy]

Not sure why people are so keen on having the dive operation identified. I'm sure they aren't the only ones doing this, or other practices that some may find less than desirable. The takeaway of this thread, to me, is to know what you're getting into up front. Ask questions beforehand.

The specific operation is just not that important. The lesson learned is.

 

[Damselfish]

The OP seems to have a good attitude. Btw, our solution on our recent trip was tailored to the circumstance but we simply got geared up, found out what time we needed to be on the boat, and as soon as we heard the words "the pool is open" we splashed and left. We got 55 minute dives after that. If we had waited for the group and surfaced with the group we would have been in the 40-45 minute range. These cattle were mavericks.

Even 40 is in a whole different ballpark from 20.

I'm guessing even if asked in advance, this op wouldn't have said dives are 20 minutes. Trick is asking the right questions, which in this case may have been about guided vs independent diving, and is following a DM required? Does a group surface when first diver is low (which is not unheard of), or what happens then? How many DMs are in water - having 2 allows one to surface earlier, which is pretty common - allows for the heavy breathers, and gets another person on board to help people getting out. Most ops don't provide details like this on their websites, and it's especially hard for a newer diver to know what to ask. But I actually doubt most divers contact an op and grill them on this kind of stuff, relying instead on reputation and reviews. (Which is why it would be nice to know what liveaboard this was.)

If an op doesn't require diving with the group, and the DM goes up, continuing on with your dive yourself should be a good option and is common. (One reason you should always be paying attention to your location and doing your own navigation and not blindly following. Heading back to the boat and having some people surface while the rest continue diving in the general vicinity of the boat is also common. We typically let them know even if we do follow along for a bit, usually to find some specific critter or something, we will be heading off on our own at some point.

 

[Bob DBF]

Refund? For a ruined holiday and lost opportunity costs while you were away?
I would want the problem fixed after the first dive.

I have found that with any business, after a polite request falls on deaf ears, a discussion of a refund will get all manner of problems solved, as a business endeavors to make money, not hand it back.


Bob

 

[ange2014]

On hindsight, our lack of experience with liveaboards was as much a factor (i.e. not asking questions beforehand, not knowing our options, etc etc etc).

Plus, I didn't/don't think the dive operator was so bad that I had to call them out and warn everyone about it. Short dives aside, it was overall a rather enjoyable trip.

 

[Saniflush]

On hindsight, our lack of experience with liveaboards was as much a factor (i.e. not asking questions beforehand, not knowing our options, etc etc etc).

Plus, I didn't/don't think the dive operator was so bad that I had to call them out and warn everyone about it.

Then might I suggest you going here Liveaboards and Charter Boats and write a trip report?