And don't forget to tell us all where the dive site is that you had the worst experience.
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And don't forget to tell us all where the dive site is that you had the worst experience.
In the Biminis. For our first dive, the liveaboard Captain droppped us off on top of a 20ft reef plateau with ripping current that went down a wall with specific instructions to stay around the boat (& on the plateau). Everyone was basically holding on to the reef to stop themselves (& their gear) from being pulled away while waiting for their buddy. Finally, someone surfaced (& while being carried down current), yelled at the Captain and we were given the signal to get out of the water. We were punished for being stupid inept "holiday" divers and "punished" for the rest of the trip by only being dropped off in only <50ft reefs.
The first dive is where you check out your gear etc. So not only was this a bad choice of site, it seemed that we were punished for saying so. We were also lectured that "there will be consequences" if they have to pick us up, or if they see an SMB.
& BTW 12 of the 18 in the group were IANTD, TDI, PADI DSAT Instructors. Rest of us were experienced divers.
And did you say before you were with Blackbeards in the Biminis?
We enjoyed all our subsequent dives although the first dive was awful. It was quite humourous seeing all that OMS gear on a 40ft reef dive :p I think we lit the reef up so much during our night dives that we confused the fish.
I recently got back from Florida and the Keys. My wife really wanted to go to Key West for the non dive activities. I really wanted to go to Key Largo for the wreck diving. Guess who won??
Anyway our dive out of Key West was the worst dive either of us have ever done. We paid a lot of money for the boat captain to drop us off on a dead reef. It was a pile of rocks, dead coral, and mostly small fish. We did see a few lobster, but that was it.
I will post the complete dive report later today.
A wall in the Exumas that is called a dive site! Well it is so so over grown with Algae it is dead! It is a waste of gas! It is boring and dead with bad viz over the wall and as far down as you can see! It is not worth a mooring line yet one is there and they take you to it as if it were a beautiful dive! The best thing I have seen there is Salips on the way back to the boat, A current would at least make it exciting! I have done this site a couple of times trying to give it a chance and I bring back 1800psi each time wondering why I keep getting sucked in? Something must be done in the Exumas or we will lose it all to Algae in a short time!
It was nne of my first dives, less than 30 dives at the time, and the weather was pretty crappy. As we were going out, I asked the dive operator, captain, owner if we would dive if the thunder around us continued. He seemed to think that was pretty funny and proceeded to let the rest of the boat in on the joke. There was a strong current on the dive and I had trouble equalizing so I easily got separated from the group. Visibility was crappy and I aborted the dive and surfaced. The boat was not in sight and thunder was all around. Eventually, the boat did pick me up. I declined to do the second dive of the day. My next pruchase was a safety sausage and whistle. Now with over 300 dives, I have not and will not dive with Abernathy.
Haven't had a 'worst' dive yet , hope to never have one.
My wife, however, did have a bad dive in 2005 when we were in Dumagete, Philippines; We were both to go on a dive, but I developed a corneal abrasion and couldn't dive. My wife did go, she was very new to diving, with her 4 OW dives, and three dives with me. When she got in the water, the 'divemaster' submerged and because my wife was new she was slower submerging, so he grabed hold of her leg and started pulling her down. NOT! a good idea for anyone!:eek:
She did finally get down, and loved it. But we will never go back to that dive shop again. She refused to pay full price for her two dives which used less than one tank, so they may not want her back.
My biggest fear!! My first purchase other than my fins,and mask was a safety sausge, and a Dive Alert. SEEN and HEARD!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigd2722
Other things you might want to try,Quote:
Originally Posted by h2odragon1
A Mirror or other reflective surface,- an old CD is a good one-, in a pocket. the flash can be seen many miles away.
Flares, stored in a waterproof container.
A flag, broken down into two,( or more), sections and held on the cylinder with Bungee cord. The higher you can hold anything in the air, the better the odds of being seen.
A brightly coloured hood. Black is not the best colour to see on the surface. Of course, those of us who may be 'follically challenged' can get away with just rolling their hood down. ( A good idea if approached by a helicopter in limited viz as your head will show up better on Infra Red cameras).
A whistle. Dive Alerts are very good but what happens if you are out of air ?
An idea I heard in the UK is to open the safety sausage and glue strips of 'Space Blanket' on the inside before resealing. Tested by the RNLI in the UK and this showed up on Radar several miles away.
PLB's can be stored in watertight containers and carried during a dive.
Anybody got any other ideas ?