Wth?

[stuartv]

All these posts about DMs really riding hardcore herd on people is weirding me out. I've done boat dive in the Outer Banks (North Carolina), Riviera Maya (Mexico), and Oahu (Hawaii). In the Outer Banks, they don't even put anyone in the water with you (unless you request and pay extra). In MX and HI, I always had a DM/Guide to follow, but the most number of divers my DM ever had following him was 4. And on those boats, it definitely seemed to me like anyone who didn't care to be led be a guide was free to just do their own dive.

Y'all make it sound like it's pretty common to have dive boats where you aren't just being led around by a DM, but you are actually more like you're in a tour group at a museum, where you have a stay with the group and do what the tour guide says. That sounds lame.

 

[FinnMom]

On a DM led boat dive recently I was hovering about 15 feet above the group of 5 divers on the bottom exploring the reef. I was by myself and wanted to enjoy a "birds-eye" view before joining the group. All of a sudden I saw the DM coming up to me and before I could react he dumped some air out of my wing. I thought to myself OK I guess I'll join the group now. When I got back on the boat the DM said that I had too much air in the wing and that can be a problem with wings in general. Before I could say anything he immediately appologized if my intention was to stay higher than the group. In retrospect I understood why he thought I had trouble but I wished he could have asked me first or signed that I should join the group. But, that brings up another issue: underwater communication or the lack thereof.

For the DM to have done that, esp after making no attempt to first communicate with you was an incredibly amatuer and foolish move. You might have been having any number of problems or concerns (mine usually being an ear that is clearing very slowly). You were safely below the surface but obvoiusly stopped for some reason. Most troubled divers are not going to be better off/calmer/happier if you make them start sinking.

 

[Storker]

Y'all make it sound like it's pretty common to have dive boats where you aren't just being led around by a DM, but you are actually more like you're in a tour group at a museum, where you have a stay with the group and do what the tour guide says. That sounds lame.

It all depends on where you dive. This side of the pond (at least in the Northern part), you're on your (and your buddy's) own. There's no DM around to hand-hold you or herd you. You pay for, and get, a taxi ride out, a site briefing and a taxi ride back.

 

[Freewillow]

How does the weight of your tank know that you are at the end of your dive? Am I supposed to drain my tank underwater until I'm at 500 psi just so I don't need air in my BC?

I do not know about you but I try to stay as much as I can under water. This is the goal of diving, after all. So yes, at the end of all my dives I am very close to the reserve "40 bars or 300 psi". And yes I empty my BCD from most of the air before I launch my smb and then I make my deco stops hanging slightly negativelly under my smb..

Of course, as adivingbell is smartly saying, most divers - especially occasional or new - carry way too much weight. these are the guys that will have problems at shallow depth and will sink if the BCD are totally deflated. But this is Darwin law at work: they should learn the lesson or quit..............................- this last one is a troll, be careful

 

[markmud]

Hello Iralub,

The DM should not have dumped your BC air.

I usually have an empty BC throughout a warm water dive. However, I do load-up on sinkers when using a different tank or other gear that I think is more positive than my last set-up. I prefer to use my BC in those situations rather than being buoyant at the safety stop while having to breath at the lowest volume of my lungs.

One DM turned off my gas after I had checked it. I jumped in the water and was on the down elevator as I had exhaled. NO Air. NO inflator. I quickly unbuckled my rig spun it and opened the valve. After a big drag off the now functioning reg, I was able to become neutral.

Another DM insisted that my kit was FU. She adjusted my tank all the way down my BC so that the tank valve was halfway down my back. I let her finish and then fixed it myself. She frowned at me while I smiled back.

markm

PS: FreeWillow, my wife and I will be in Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany in about two weeks-- I can't wait to visit your part of the world!

---------- Post added September 29th, 2015 at 06:50 PM ----------

StuartV stated: "That sounds lame.[/QUOTE]

Hi StuartV,

It can be lame. When you get a good DM and boat crew, it can be a lots of fun.

markm

 

[Storker]

way over weighted

You don't say

When I go from a 5 mil WS to a DS with winter undergarments I add 10 kg, and I'm still kinda shrink-wrapped on my SS if I've breathed down my tank. That should mean that I've got about 10L air trapped in my undergarments (but I stay toasty warm for more than three-quarters of an hour at least down to 4C water :cool2: ). Those persons must've been quite seriously overweighted.

lots of air in BC to hold SS, forgets to dump and starts swimming to the surface after SS, last 20 ft. with all that air in the BC, liftoff...seen it happen many times vacation diving.

I'm impressed. And not in a positive way. I guess it's a little like the old saying that if you make something foolproof, someone will soon invent a better fool...

 

[Freewillow]

@ markmud.

You may be surprised to see the temperature fall quite a bit in Western Europe, coming from Sunny California.

I have read your story about going down fast with no air. I got once a diver - lady - that was not happy when I took most of her weight off. She was diving for a week on my sailboat. A few days later, her BCD inflator "exploded" while jumping into the wter. With no BC to help her, she stayed luckily at the surface. Would have been very different with too much weight. ............It was not a big deal - for me - because she had plenty of air but she got scared and did not take her regulator in her month but screemed help like hell

 

[AdivingBel]

I'm impressed. And not in a positive way. I guess it's a little like the old saying that if you make something foolproof, someone will soon invent a better fool...

Well...fool might be a bit harsh. There are a lot of warm water, vacation divers out there that aren't terribly experienced and they don't get to dive often. It's amazing how much lead they hang on themselves in order to feel confident they can get down. A little nervousness, a little altered breathing, a little unconscious finning at the surface...they just want to get under and dive, not dorkle around on the surface for 10 min. trying to calm down. They usually figure it out after the first couple of dives if they aren't cruise pod diving or just doing a couple dives as a lark while on a "surface vacation" with the family. I don't begrudge them their entertainment. I just worry about them as they surface like flying fish. There's a reason the 1st rule of diving is "don't hold your breath." It's also the 1st rule of trying to convince some people they are carrying WAY (not just little picky amounts, but WAY) too much lead...

 

[jasonb751]

I have a DM story for you guys. I was on a boat to do a tech dive with a buddy. We both had our double 108's on our backs, and our stage bottles clipped on our sides. I took a hit off my primary, then secondary, and all was good. Stood up, went to side of the boat to then rolled. My buddy did the same. Bam, rolled slightly negative and got neutral about 15 fsw. My buddy and I did our s drill and we both hit all our regs to verify proper operation. Somehow, someway, in the 5 seconds it took for us to get to the side of the boat, the DM had shut off both of our left posts.

Needless to say, we did the dive, and went to the DM to give him our piece of mind afterwards on the boat.

This particular DM had never experienced anyone diving with doubles and had no clue that the left post is reversed.

The scary part of the whole thing, if I had been diving my 95's that I unbanded and use for rec dives, the one tank has a reverse valve. I always roll negative on rec dives and would be super pissed if he had turned off my tank because "he didn't know"

Moral of this story... Always double check everything right before rolling off. It was my fault for not checking one last time, but I still cannot figure out how he shut both of our left posts off without us knowing in a matter of seconds.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

[erisch]

I do not know about you but I try to stay as much as I can under water. This is the goal of diving, after all. So yes, at the end of all my dives I am very close to the reserve "40 bars or 300 psi". And yes I empty my BCD from most of the air before I launch my smb and then I make my deco stops hanging slightly negativelly under my smb..

I don't dive solo and I don't do private charter boats just for me.

Edit: Just for clarification: just because there was still air in the BC of the OP while she was doing her SS doesn't necessarily mean that she was overweighted.