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Mike,
I just called Olympus dive shop and got their side of the story. It
seems that the reason they wanted a sticker on each tank is for
identification on a vessel full of divers of all kinds - an insurance
requirement implemented after an accident involving a tank mix-up. They
said that they would have topped off your tanks as you liked if you would
have just put a sticker on each one. I know this is a pain in the butt but
I think I would have just slapped a sticker on the other tank and carried on.
The reason Discovery Diving could not top off the tanks was because they
are not a blender and their compressor is not cleaned for O2 applications.
Adding air on top of a high O2 mix requires the same cautions as partial
pressure filling, maybe more since any oily substances would be atomized as
they entered the tank. They have no way of knowing what the mix in the tank
is but it is reasonable to assume it's high if you are topping something on
the order of 500 to 1000 psi with air to get a nitrox mix.
Sounds to me like they did the reasonable thing and you should be more
pleased with their diligence than irritated by the inconvenience and
redundant labeling in this case.
As to the isolator valve screw up, only you are to blame for not
supervising the filling of your own tanks. You know these things happen !
NEVER leave your tanks to be filled by anyone - it introduces another
unknown into an already shaky and complicated formula. By the way, do you
have and maintain your own O2 analyzer or do you trust others with that too.
There is a lot more to safe technical diving than knowing how to use the
equipment and planning and executing the dive itself. Dealing with dive
shops and boat captains is a soft science far more difficult to get a handle
on than the technical aspects of diving itself yet every bit as important
where safety and success is concerned.
Thank your lucky stars for shops that err on the side of safety. There
is nothing more dangerous to the uninitiated diver, defensless by virtue of
his ignorance, than dependancy on inept service personnel.
I understand your frustration, God knows I've suffered through my share,
but technical diving is something you must be able to afford, both monetarily
and emotionally.
I have nothing to do with these shops and have never dove in NC. I do
not teach diving and have never made a dime on it. This comes straight from
the heart and soul !
Chuck
----------------------------
In a message dated 97-08-01 09:12:46 EDT, you write:
<< Just got back from North Carolina where we dove the wrecks off of
Morehead City from the dive boat Pelican. If you plan on diving there,
this is the boat to take. No hassles on profiles or checking your gauges
when you get on the boat. Warm water (80F) and over 100 feet of vis.
The hassles came when we tried to get our tanks filled. The Olympus dive
center would not fill doubles with nitrox unless both tanks had a nitrox
wrap, although one visual sticker would do for both tanks. Nitrox wraps
could be on the tank boots for all they care as long as you have them.
(A nitrox fill is $12.00 per tank for premix 30%). My duals were marked
with a IANTD sticker that read: "Caution, breathing gas other than air".
Since I use my doubles for mix and nitrox this seemed the proper wording
for them. But not for these inbreeds.
So totally pissed off, we went to Discovery diving for a top off of air
so that the nitrox in our doubles would be diluted, but still have a mix.
We came back when they told us to and they were draining our tanks.
Olympus called them and notified them that our tanks had nitrox and since
they were not certified blenders they could not add air on top of our
nitrox. One set of duals had absolutelty no stickers or indication that
they contained nitrox. They also took the liberty of removing my sticker
that read "Caution, Breathing gas other than air" from my duals. In the
filling process, they also managed to close the isolator valve to fill
each tank separately with air and never re-opened it. (Still trying to
figure out the reasoning behind that!)
The diving is great, but if you plan a trip, beware that the dive shop
operators (ALL 3 OF THEM THAT WE WERE AWARE OF) are working together to
make you comply with <bold><italic><underline>THEIR
</underline></italic></bold>set of rules, regardless of standards.
By the way, thinking about staying at Discovery's fine accommodations?
Think again, our group killed 6 extra-large cockroaches and we found the
skeletal remains of two more in a 24 hour period.
>>
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