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Ive just had a brilliant set of dives in south florida, but maybe we went to places that werent cheap and understood that what we asked for was what we wanted, Don`t be vague tell the world who it was and then leave it up to us whether we bother with them!! >minded him I asked for *air*. He said no problem and he offered to cross >out!! the "32%" on the tape; not even to remove it. > Did you ask to analyse it? >I said to hold on. I asked for air, I don't know about these kind of tanks, >what might have been in them, how they are maintained, or anything. He said >"We don't have to do that ... our agency doesn't use dedicated cylinders." > Oh you didn`t have an analyser. >I should have left then But you didn`t. >, but instead I asked again for two plain air >cylinders. After he spent a few minutes showing no effort to hide his >annoyance, he pulled two more cylinders from the same rack. These cylinders >looked like the others minus the tape on the neck. > When you did your courses did you understand that if you accept a fill then that is it. were you not told that only you breathe for you etc etc? >While this was going on, my wife whispered to me something about their air >quality. Why did she whisper? > I told her to look for a gas analysis report. She found it tacked >to the wall by the fill panel. It was dated 1994. > Did you still dive? >As we knew where we were diving, I kept much of this in perspective. Of >course *he* didn't know anything about where we were diving. > Bollocks >It seems to me the implications are severe: What was actually in the first >set of cylinders? 32%? 21%? Something else? Whatever it was, how did he >know for sure? And what was he doing giving them to me? Was he sure at all? > your problem nobody elses. >As he had no knowledge of our EAN training, how did he expect *me* to verify >that a cylinder with markings I had never been exposed to before in fact had >air in it? I'm not trained in this area, remember? Was I just supposed to >just take his word cause he's the expert? > I rest my case. >There are a lot of divers in this world unfamiliar with the concepts of >alternate breathing gases. People have been trained for years who never come >in contact with it. Even for recently certified divers, exposure to EAN >theory in open water training is still more or less optional, and unless the >instructor is well-versed or well-trained, inaccurate by many standards. > People generally do not know what it is they don't know. > what do you suggest? Maybe you should of followed your training and when in doubt , don`t! > >Think of the impression on the mainstream, unsuspecting, and unexposed >public. He sees tank markings he's never seen before. He doesn't know what >they are supposed to mean. He reads it and immediately sees an obvious >conflict. He doesn't know how to resolve it. He is not trained to know an >analysis or test is even possible so he doesn't know to ask. > It sounds like you accepted it. >Whether or not he buys from the store, he concludes there is no control. No >rules, no procedures, no clarity. Nothing special with regard to that >technical stuff he might have heard something about. "Our agency doesn't >require it" is like saying I got a note from home. Laxity, it doesn't apply >to us. Imagine if a doctor, lawyer, or accountant, stock broker said >something like that to you or your family. > As above >Based on what I went through, customers, "air" divers can inadvertently >receive EAN without ever knowing it. The air had no noticeable odor, taste, >or other obvious objection. I will, however, not visit that chain again. > >After everything I've been reading about for the last few years, where the >experts are, who the experts are, where it all began, and on and on, all I >can say is: > >Nice Job, really well done, South Florida. > If you dived then you accepted the gas, that`s your problem nobody elses!! > >RatDiver @AOL >-- >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. >Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- John Thornton Owner/skipper Scapa Flow Technical & M.V.Karin Polrudden House tel/fax 01856 874761 Peerie Sea Loan Kirkwall Orkney Scotland KW15 1UH -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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