Missed stops & peer pressure

[Garf]

Originally Posted by TerryH

TBH it would be very easy to say what was wrong and what you could have
done better, but not sure that would be helpful.

You say yourself you are an inexperinced diver, so shouldnt have been
put in that position in the first place. That in my book, puts any blame
squarely with those that should know better - the dive guide.

He alone chose the site and he was the one that had already apraised
your suitabilty for it. You an inexperinced diver put your trust in
professionals and sadly it was found wanting. Remember that often
financial constraints tend to blur safety when margins are at stake.

My advice is to forget anything that happend on the dive and look at
the choice to do the site in the first place.

YOU are the paying customer and YOU can always say no.

So next time when you have a doubt about a site, ask to go elsewhere
or dive in the afternoon instead. There is always another dive and
another day.

Eventually you will pick up enough experience to be objective, but until
then, there is no shame in erring on the side of caution.

I think that's absolutely spot on.

[purple vonny]

Originally Posted by TriggerFish

Should I have ignored this guy’s signal and stayed down with the other DM to complete my stop?

Yes, if you had 45 bar left

Should DM #1 have not asked one of us to share air with him so we could have all completed the stop or do you feel this was a macho thing with me being female & only AOW level?

DM 1 sounds like a bit of a numpty not worthy of the qualification, incapable of gas planning and monitoring. Don't put yourself down, you sound very sensible!I think he should have signalled "I'm going up, you stay and do your stops"

Did the guy that stayed under do the right thing, he said later he knew what the ‘up’ signal was but knew we all had stop commitments so was surprised as to why his mate wanted to surface hence the confusion and the reason he stayed under knowing neither of us were hurt.

yes.



What do you feel I should have done in this situation?
stayed and finished your stops because you had enough air.

Just shows you can have a DM badge and not be able to look after yourself or give much thought to others. He should have apologised sincerely for being a plonker.

[Garf]

Originally Posted by purple vonny

Just shows you can have a DM badge and not be able to look after yourself or give much thought to others.

you're shitting me?

/shattereddream

[Snapper]

Originally Posted by Janos

Missing a minute or two of stops is bad, but not as bad as drowning. Bent is fixable. Drowned is not.

I think this is the bottom line - you all reached the surface safely ...

However like all diving incidents, we can learn and asking the questions you are is good as it will help your diving improve (and we can all learn along side you!!)
Snapper

[scuboo]

Were these DM's on holiday, or were they working for the dive school?

Just a thought, because if they were on holiday, were they aware of your experience level?

[SoggyFox]

i would of done my own thing and waved goodbye to the others and finished any stops that i had to do. Its my body and its my body that'll get bent, what others choose to do to theirs isn't my responsibility. I'd never be inclined to follow someone if i thought for a moment i was putting myself in danger.

45bar at 5m will last you ages. Any way the 50bar reserve is there for use in emergencies and when its required, its not mandatory to always return to the surface with 50 bar, if you need to use it use it.

[Crobsonrobson]

Firstly let me say, well done for getting to the surface safely.........



There comes a point in everyone’s diving career when they stop following the guides and become almost self sufficient (diving with buddies off course, but you know what I mean). It happened to me after a dive guide left me at 8 meters (after a terrible profile) on the seaward side of a reef when he did a real life CESA and I had 80 Bar in my tank - At this point I thought screw you - I'm gonna send up my SMB and sit out my stop and a few mins for good measure.



It is amazing how much we defer to those with more experience in our early stages of our diving careers and it certainly makes you question any DM that can not manage their gas to finish off safety stopping.



I think that if you didn't have your own SMB then you did the right thing surfacing with the group - cos Bent is bad however Bent and adrift has to be worse. If you had your own SMB then 45 Bar at 5 meter is loads of air. A lot of it is confidence to weigh up the situation at the time.

[bottlefish]

First of all, thanks for sharing the story, as has been said, the main thing is that you got back safely, flustered perhaps, but not hurt.

Beyond what TerryH said, I would suggest a good thing to take from this dive is the importance of being empowered enough to dive your own dive, and question what other people are asking you to do if you think they are wrong and putting you at risk, regardless of how qualified you think they are in comparison. The end decision of what you do lies entirely with you, it's your dive, your enjoyment and most importantly your health.

[TriggerFish]

Originally Posted by bottlefish

First of all, thanks for sharing the story, as has been said, the main thing is that you got back safely, flustered perhaps, but not hurt.

Beyond what TerryH said, I would suggest a good thing to take from this dive is the importance of being empowered enough to dive your own dive, and question what other people are asking you to do if you think they are wrong and putting you at risk, regardless of how qualified you think they are in comparison. The end decision of what you do lies entirely with you, it's your dive, your enjoyment and most importantly your health.

Thanks for your replies and the advice, it's much appreciated, I realise to surface was OK but everyone who's been in a situation like this especially with more experience will feel all will be OK but then you start imagining signs & symptoms over the next few hours and we're supposed to be 'chilling' on holiday not stressing.

I think being empowered with the confidence as stated must be reassuring and must surely only come with time & experience.

Yes I do live to dive another day and feel stronger for the experience.

[infernalzen]

i would have stayed at the stop, but after communicating my intention to stay +buddy up? with the dm remaining @5mr.

i find diving with the same buddy, helps alot
as we've already discussed what we would do in alot of situations, with "actions on".
+ dont think you can beat applying the good old
stop, assess, plan, action plan.
not always easy to do, with some rushing everything about dives.