Time to hang up my wetsuit after near death on NYE

[lowwall]

Again, SE Asia. On my last trip to Thailand, I was greatly surprised to find that most of the DMs on my liveaboard had been diving less than 6 months. This op has a lot of boats and has figured out the cheapest way to fill the DM spots is to offer a class at the beginning of the season that runs straight through from OW to DM on the minimum possible dives and then hire most of those that make it through. I was there at the end of the season so they were actually doing pretty well, but I can only imagine what those first few weeks were like.

Edit - I probably need to add that you can certainly find ops that have excellent staff and cater to advanced divers. But the norm where the OP is diving is minimally skilled divers led around by minimally qualified guides. They manage safety by restricting the difficulty and length of the dives.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Why share air then?.....his last psi reading he stated was 20 bar, that’s enough to surface on your own air, albeit cutting it close

20 bar is 294 psig. Remember that for several decades of diving, we were without submersible pressure gauges (SPGs), and our J-reserve valve, which signaled us to head for the surface activated at 300 psig (or about 20 bar). This diver definitely did not run out of air.

It is also interesting to me that missing a safety stop was considered life-threatening. Us "vintage divers" (I started diving in 1959, and am still diving) never did a safety stop, as that safety procedure hadn't been invented yet. What does this say about today's training? I see a lack of understanding; what we did was to stay away from the "knife edge" of the no-decompression limits. (The "knife edge" is what the no-decompression limits look like on the tables, which we sometimes even took on dives with us--plastic dive tables, and yes, we consulted the tables, and dove with a depth gauge and dive watch too.). And, we virtually never did a decompression dive when sport diving.

One other point, and that is that I consider snorkeling to be potentially more hazardous that scuba diving. Why? No air supply, and the lack of knowledge of shallow water blackout and its prevention. Also, these new full-face snorkel masks are being advertised inappropriately (a snorkeler using them must use deep breathing techniques to prevent carbon dioxide buildup, and some knockoff full-face snorkel masks don't separate the inhalation from the exhalation routes, thereby promoting CO2 buildup.

I also would suggest some more easy dives, just to get more used to being underwater and breathing, seeing the fish and the other marine or aquatic like close up. Pick some dives guaranteed to be enjoyable, then simply enjoy the sport.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Diving isn't for everyone and it's definitely not for anxiety prone individuals who react unpredictably under pressure.

My experience is that anxiety can be overcome by experience and training. I had a diver In the Santiam River who was on one of his first dives after certification. He freaked out twice upon entry. We talked in the water for about five minutes, then went uNderwater in very shallow water, face to face. I tracked crawdads, watched minnows and saw some trout. After about five minutes, we went, hand-in-hand into deeper water, then swam upstream until we were under the rapids coming into the pool we were in. There we found a kayak paddle and a pair of cutoff jeans from someone who had tipped over in the rapids,a no lost some stuff. We then went back downstream, and surfaced where we had entered. This dive was by this time enthusiastic for diving, having overcome his fear and anxiety, relaxed, and enjoyed the discovery of a new world.

SeaRat

 

[Bert van den Berg]

Instead of giving up on yourself I would ask you to question why you ended up in that miserable situation. You didn't do anything wrong! The dive Master was the problem, not you.

Scuba can be a lifelong wonderful experience. You've already done the hard work to get to Advanced. Please reconsider and give it another try with a different reliable and recommended organization.

It would be helpful to others if you could provide enough information to help others from making the same mistake of diving with the organization you did.

Hope to hear back from you in the future with a brighter message.

 

[Zef]

Instead of giving up on yourself I would ask you to question why you ended up in that miserable situation. You didn't do anything wrong! The dive Master was the problem, not you.

Scuba can be a lifelong wonderful experience. You've already done the hard work to get to Advanced. Please reconsider and give it another try with a different reliable and recommended organization.

It would be helpful to others if you could provide enough information to help others from making the same mistake of diving with the organization you did.

Hope to hear back from you in the future with a brighter message.

Could you please expand on your comment as to why you believe the divemaster was the problem?

-Z

 

[Bert van den Berg]

Could you please expand on your comment as to why you believe the divemaster was the problem?

-Z

Hi Zef,

Poster was rather inexperienced with only 20 dives swimming in current and warned DM low on air at 20 minutes. My experience with DM guided dives is that DM kept track of divers air supply and also asked if divers are OK at regular intervals.

I'm not a DM but always check that buddy has enough air to get back when diving with less experienced divers.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Hi Zef,

Poster was rather inexperienced with only 20 dives swimming in current and warned DM low on air at 20 minutes. My experience with DM guided dives is that DM kept track of divers air supply and also asked if divers are OK at regular intervals.

I'm not a DM but always check that buddy has enough air to get back when diving with less experienced divers.

I have to agree. While many will say "your safety is your own responsibility (and yours alone)" (which is true), the sad reality is that many divers are insufficiently trained at the open water level to be considered autonomous divers. In addition, in my experience, DMs had two policies: send people individually back to the boat when they are low on air (not always possible) or the entire group ascends together.

 

[Storker]

the sad reality is that many divers are insufficiently trained at the open water level to be considered autonomous divers

Which is a violation of ISO 24801-2

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Could you please expand on your comment as to why you believe the divemaster was the problem?

-Z

Didn't I read that the divemaster was supervising 20 divers in the water at the same time? That seems a bit much for any one divemaster.

SeaRat

 

[axluba]

I’m at the start of my training and I can also relate... can be scary. Easy to think that we’re better off on land! And honestly after the list of things you witnessed I would probably quit..

I had my little panic moment because I couldn’t control my buoyancy in very cold water with a lot of neoprene and I already thought about giving up!

I second the comments saying that this is your decision alone!

I see a lot of similarities between scuba diving and sport aviation... regarding risks, training, dangers, mistakes, type of instruction, type of crowd.

As pilot I always heard:
“Better be on the ground and wish you were in the air than being in the air and wish you were on the ground..”

I think that this applies to scuba diving in a way.

That being said. This parallels help me to understand than training can help a lot! As an exemple, as it stands now I would much rather be at 2000m up and have a engine failure than being 30m down with my reg failing...

some of you probably think It’s crazy or stupid

It’s simply because I’m fairly well trained to deal with the first situation while I’m not (yet) well trained to deal with the other.

My point here is to show that perspective plays a LOT and I would never fault anybody to think otherwise! as well as to emphasize to the OP the fact that training can really help change perspective