u/mikoalpha

▲ 24 r/scuba

Someone close to me probably got DCS, here is why. (For educative purposes)

I think it was completely preventable but it is a good example on why you should read your dive computer manual.

They were doing a cenote dive, but he stopped looking at his dive computer because he couldnt read it due to low light. If you press the only button it i lights up, but he didn't knew it, so they decide to follow the local guide profile. Also he didn't change the settings from salt water to fresh water, so the computer was also working with a little less depth than the one they actually were diving at. Something preventable if you read your dive computer manual. At the end of the dive the guide surfaced without doing a safety stop so they skipped the safety stop too.

At night they start feeling bad, dizzy and vomiting and I ask them to text me their data from their dive computer. They surfaced with a gf of 85. Their default computer config was gf 85/85. Adding the margin of error of not changing their computer from saltwater to freshwater they probably should have done a deco stop or at the very least the safety stop.

In summary, READ YOUR DIVE COMPUTER MANUAL. Only YOU are responsible for your safety, follow your computer and do your safety stop even if the guide don't do it.

Edit: It was also their first time diving on freshwater and had a couple of rapid ascents due to not being able to controll their buoyancy as good as saltwater. The dive computer says the biggest one was from 5 meters to 2,75 meters, this could also be a factor

Sorry for the rant, Im equally worried and angry and english is not my first language.

reddit.com
u/mikoalpha — 24 hours ago