Open Water

[sagacity]

Anyone ever see the movie "Open Water"? Creepy. I posted in distant locations, since the movie was based on a true story that happened in Australia. We looked up some stats, and apparently this happens a bit more often than I would have expected - although not to the extreme in the movie.

Has anyone experienced this first hand? Second hand? Any tips so it doesn't happen? Or if it does, how to get out of it? The content of the movie ended up bothering more than I thought it would. Especially the more I thought about it; and relating to my trip to Cozumel, which left me a little unnerved about how these dive charters operate. :o Not related to the movie, but, ONE example was this:

[RANT]
I had about 6 dives in before Coz. My buddy was just certed over New Years'. We explained to the operator that we were BOTH new and inexperienced divers. Lets just say dive 1, was to 100' We were just following the group - and the next thing we knew, 100'. Nothing bad happened, but, we shouldn't have been on that dive.

THEN after diving a couple of days, the dive operator was trying to tell us that we'd be FINE going to Punta Sur!?!?!  :o > ??? That's a dive where you enter a cave at 80', and swim through a tunnel that brings you out at 130' !

After Coz, my confidence in the professionalism and safety of dive operators is shaken.
[/RANT]

I'm being a bit vague in this post, in case someone hasn't seen the movie; or heard of it. I kinda wish I had seen the movie before someone told me what it was about.

Anyway, just wondering...

[DiverQueen]

It sounded good so I bought a DVD copy...Let my husband watch it...He's wondering why, but he still took his dive class. 

Use this movie as a learning tool:  Make sure your dive operator takes names not just tally marks.
Carry a signal device or two..."Subalert" or other air powered signal, safety sausage, whistle.  In a pinch, take off a fin and wave it around, make yourself as visible to passing boats as possible (even if you will owe them a case of beer!)
Make sure others know where you are going and when to expect you back!
Then try your hardest to come back! 
Best Wishes and happy viewing/diving!
Lisa

[MNLakeDiver]

if you keep diving in MN you can usualy swim back and I have yet to see any sharks comming after me (altho Chuck can be a frighting site when he comes out of his camper  > )

[psdiver]

What operator was that in Cozumel?

[sagacity]

Del Mar Aquatics

They were good in most other respects, but I saw the movie AFTER Coz, and don't recall them really taking role :/
It just really bothered me that they didn't take our experience into consideration.

[sagacity]

Heh. Fortunately we each had a whistle, and my buddy had a tall signaling device. I'm thinking, waterproof 2-way radio.

[MNLakeDiver]

there are bad operators in any location and bad leaders in otherwise good operations. I was diving in Cancon after the scuba diver course(different subject) on my first open water dive ever we were in rugh seas and on o boat with 14 other "scuba divers" the first 3 divers freeked out when gitting in to the water so they took me because I was calm. the dive master and I decended to 35 feet where he picked up a line attached to the reef and handed it to me. he signaled "ok" and swam back to the surface. a few minnets later he returned with a wide eyed 16 year old handed him my bc strap and left again. once we were all down the dive went well but I would not trust that dive master again.

[psdiver]

My first dive experience ever was in Puerto Vallerta.  Not certified, we took a resort course and then went on a two tank dive.  On the second dive they sent me down first, no divemaster, by myself and I waited on the bottom at about 60' for the rest of the group for a few minutes.  I'm not sure why they did this since we had only four divers and two divemasters.  At the time I was totally confident but looking back that was not good leadership on their part.  This was after a suface interval where they put us (my wife and I and one other couple) on a small island and left for an hour or more! 

[jasondbaker]

I've done a couple drift dives where I ended up a fair distance from the boat.  In one case I didn't think the captain saw me because he navigated directly away from me.  He was just going to pick up someone else first.  I didn't panic but it certainly got me thinking a bit. I always dive with a safety sausage in the ocean now.  Inexpensive insurance. 

I have to admit that I was cheering for the sharks in the Open Water movie.  >

[wan2Bcaver]

I don't know how great of an idea this is, but when in belize doing a search and recovery dive for AOW cert, the boat captain lost us. My instructor took his regulator off his tank, positioned the tank 4 inches below the water, and opened the valve. The result was a 15 foot water spout that got the attention of our captain. Problem was, the instructor's 1st stage needed to be looked at afterwards because of all the salt water. This might get you yelled at if you are renting a reg, but if it saves your life it is worth it.


Other things to increase your chances of being noticed when missing:
- safety sausage
- signal mirror
- waterproof whistle
- dive light
- call your mom every night and tell her you're safe
- don't dive on a cattle boat