Posted by Wood on August 07, 2001 at 20:26:34:
In Reply to: To MHK posted by Cygal on August 07, 2001 at 16:37:18:
"How does one learn how to dive? On supervised dives. ....unfortunate enough to attempt to LEARN the sport with this DM..."
Why would you expect to learn from a DM? You learn in classes with an instructor. While you can learn from the experience of diving with a DM and observing and questioning one, they are not there to teach you. Nothing in their training prepares them to teach you. Should the DM have stopped his tour to give you a Buoyancy Class?
I'm really not trying to slam you, I just don't see the logic in your premise. Somewhere you got the idea of what a DM's role is and it was wrong. A DM is a guide and supervisor. The only thing he did that was negligent was not put you back on the boat with your first buoyancy problem. You may very well have caused a life-threatening problem for yourself or another diver.
He put an extra 3 lbs on your belt, that is a screw up. But unless you weigh less than 120 lbs, even with just a swimsuit on that should not cause a major buoyancy problem. It may have affected your trim quite a bit, but should not have caused the problems you had and is far from gross negligence. You had problems with being on the TOP of the cavern, the gross negligence is yours.
You are getting slammed on this board because many of the people that responded are dive-pros or very, very experienced divers. You problems to us are very obviously yours. You were over your head.