June 2009    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 24, No. 6   What's this?

Indonesia, St. Lucia, Vietnam, Hawaii . . .

blah Caribbean and Nam dives, great ones with sharks and seals

from the June, 2009 issue of Undercurrent  

Subscriber Content Preview
Only active subscribers can view the whole article

This month we’ve got a couple of short reviews from our regular reviewers, plus some travel tips from a lot of readers including this first item, a caution to every diver who visits resorts that do it all for you.

Wakatobi Resort, Sulawesi. One of our readers visited Wakatobi before Christmas and while he thought the diving, food and accommodations were superb, he noted that the tendency of the staff to do everything for the diver was a bit annoying and, in one case, problematic. It’s the sort of problem that can occur at any busy resort.

“My wife and I used air-integrated Suunto Cobra computers but with different color identification to avoid confusing them. After surfacing from one dive, I noticed my wife’s computer and regulator had been installed on my rig and mine on hers. Just as this was coming to light, one of the crew began moving my wife’s gear to a fresh tank. When he was about to do the same with my gear, he was called away to help bring in divers who had surfaced. I decided to move my gear to the new tank myself, but became distracted and neglected to turn on the new tank and read the pressure.

“Consequently, on the next dive, preoccupied with the video image on the camcorder monitor and losing sight of my partner, my computer suddenly showed zero air pressure, and I could not pull another breath. I made an emergency ascent from 45 feet. According to my computer, the tank pressure had been 460 psi at the start of the dive and 68 psi at the end. I had been down 11 minutes. I subsequently learned that when tanks on the boat are rotated 45 degrees, that means they are empty. None of the valves had caps and no one had mentioned the tank rotation custom. After that we did not leave our regulators in the equipment shed to be managed by the boat crew.

“It is every diver’s responsibility to check tank pressure when setting up gear. However, the Wakatobi commitment to service is strong. They want to do everything for you, a practice that is contrary to both our dive training and good common sense. My dive buddy and I are accustomed to setting up our gear ourselves together. That way we watch each other and make sure no steps are left out. It is noteworthy that during the first few days of our trip, two other divers experienced out-of-air emergencies, one being our dive guide. She said it was because there was a lot of confusion on the boat and breaking in of new people. Whatever the reason(s), no boat crews will be setting up our equipment in the future.”

Good points. However, I’m not so sure the problem comes with the crew setting up gear. In this case, if the diver carefully checked his own equipment after the crew set it up, turned on his tank, then checked his air and functioning computer, there would be no problem. If the crew sets up your gear, carefully check it before you strap it on.

Anse Chastenet, St. Lucia. Even before receiving a room key, S.P., one of our regular travel reviewers, reports that he got a butler while checking in to this upscale resort. ...