Observing an unsafe act

[JahJahwarrior]

Our instructor was the first one in the water and I dont think he would have let us go past the main line tie off if we didnt have our trim and bouyancy in some kind of functioning order. He definantly would not have let us penetrate the cave in a head up position. A good Instructor is worth his weight in Gold IMO..

So instructors who could stand to lose a few pounds are really just maximizing their net worth?


Everyone has stories about terrible divers and terrible instructors. I love when I get to suggest to someone which instructors they should consider, and hate to see poor instructors getting away with it.

[JerseyJersey]

Forrest..... someone else put ... in the heading and now we cant see the second page.

[Sludge]

Forrest..... someone else put ... in the heading and now we cant see the second page.

I removed them. People, don't put ellipses in the thread title (you know, three periods). It messes with the software.

[Caver95]

We as a community are getting way too PC. If I had been in this situation I would have called my dive and had a direct and frank discussion with the divers as well as find out their actual cert. levels. I was at EN when I encountered two Intro divers preparing to do an air dive to a planned depth of 200 feet. I could tell by their gear and discussion between the two of them that they were not qualified or experienced for the dive they had planned. I scrubbed my dive and convinced them to allow me to buy them lunch at Hooters. I will never know for sure but I believe that at the end of the day they were convinced to seek more training and stay within their personal limits. At the least I know that they did not perform the dive that day or the next as I returned the next day to do my dive.

I have also escorted OW divers out of the Devils system and flooded two divers lights once after finding them in the cave repeatedly. They or anyone else can call me an **** if they want. I have put the time and effort into getting training and experience. I don't want to see others loose their lives because they don't know that they need it and I don't want to loose access either.

It is all a judgment call and I often see things that I don't say a thing about. When it gets blatantly out of the limits then I will speak up.

Bobby

But you are the Nitrox Nazi!

[OneBrightGator]

Thanks for posting this MedCop, very disturbing situation indeed. Goodonya to you and your buddy for your situational awareness and rendering aid. I would hope an experience like this encouraged the individual to take whatever corrective action is necessary.

[Xenia]

But you are the Nitrox Nazi!

No, actually he has a new nick name now. He is "the grand inquisitor of cave diving". If you dare act against the faith (cave diving rules) he will burn you with his flaming mouth on the forums (like they used to burn the witches, but more modern technology).

BTW when are you coming back from the Euro-trip to stop being a forum diver and actually do some real diving?

[mstueven]

We witnessed the event as well. The diver discussed her cavern class the week before on the surface, at one point asked if she could take intro in sidemount, and a few sentences later they were discussing their dive plan and letting her know where they would be placing the jump reels.

James is there any chance you may have overheard Tracy (PinkArrows) joking with me about making her first jump since she was now "cavern" certified?

Since it was a running joke amongst several people that weekend, I just want to be sure no one is putting the wrong face on the diver. For the record, Tracy had actually just completed her full cave the week before and was NOT the diver who apparently ended up turtled.

[adam0321]

It was not pink arrow.

Sent from my Eris

[Caver95]

No, actually he has a new nick name now. He is "the grand inquisitor of cave diving". If you dare act against the faith (cave diving rules) he will burn you with his flaming mouth on the forums (like they used to burn the witches, but more modern technology).

BTW when are you coming back from the Euro-trip to stop being a forum diver and actually do some real diving?

I am hoping to do some real diving in the next couple of weeks in Croatia. We fly back to the states July 14th

[pink arrows]

James is there any chance you may have overheard Tracy (PinkArrows) joking with me about making her first jump since she was now "cavern" certified?

It was not pink arrow.

Thanks guys, it couldn't possibly be me though, I am Advanced Full Cavern, and you simply can't confuse that with just regular cavern.

But seriously, if the person we're talking about is the girl who Mike and I are thinking of, the buddy is an OW instructor, which means he had even less business having her in there.

*Let's face it... It takes a TON of training to become a cave instructor. You can't just stay at a Holiday Inn one night and all of a sudden be prepared to train divers in the overhead... Unless of course you're Chuck Norris.*

Serious again, another point that should probably be discussed (although I have heard it many times in conversation, but haven't seen it on the forum (in my 4 months of being here)); Cave diving is not for everyone, and just because you love your wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend/partner/whoever, does not mean you should try to push them into such a dangerous sport just so you can do it together. A buddy once told me he loved that his wife was open water certified and they could share that, but she had no intentions of ever diving in a cave, and he had no intentions of ever coaxing her to do so. And I respect him immensely for that. I think that there may have been some of this type of "pushing" at play in this scenario. And maybe not, but its still a valid point.

(*This comment is dedicated to one of my favorite dive buddies, who shall remain nameless, as he didn't want to compromise the rightfully serious nature of this discussion.*)