I did two dives while on a cruise in January and the group was a mixed bag. 3/4s of the divers were experienced, 1/4 were recently certified. 1/2 --2/3 brought own equipment and the rest rented. Cruise diving works well for me since my wife doesn't dive. This way we get to vacation together and I still get to blow bubbles.
Face it, the cost of an occasional cruise is far less than the cost one might incur by trying to replace the non diving spouse with one who does. If you are married to someone who does not enjoy the sport, or can not dive, it is pretty cool that you can still share a vacation where at least you can get wet, and they are not bored out of their gourd.
NOT that a cruise ship holds any interest for me.
Luckily Colleen enjoys diving too, even if she is not as avid or dedicated to the sport as I am.
---------- Post added at 12:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:35 AM ----------
What's rental gear go to do with it? Biggest differences a diver will usually find in different rental gear is an integrated weight system versus a weight belt, maybe a snap in a different location. Other than that, inflator hose on the left, push button on end to deflate, push button on side to inflate, pull to dump, reach around back to dump...
---------- Post added at 07:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:18 AM ----------
Let's face the unpopular reality here - there are a large number of people diving, especially in the caribbean who are over-weight, out of shape, medically questionable, old aged, too feeble to pull themselves up a ladder with full gear on... etc... people who dive once every 3 years and do so buying a ride on the cheapest dive op they can find, people who don't treat the sport as a potentially dangerous one - adds way more to the risk level then rental equipment.
For example - How many posts have I read in the Bonaire section about descriptions of people who do shore diving with bad knees, backs, week upper body strength, you fill in the blank and they describe their personal trimuphant method of dealing with surf or unstable ground. It's wonderful that they have a love for diving and want to do anything they can to keep at it, but face it, all it's going to take is some sh*t to hit the fan unexpectantly and they are going to have a ton of trouble dealing with the situation due to their medical issues and the work arounds that got them into the water and now are in trouble. This sport is taken way too lightly by way too many involved in it and all it takes is one new element or risk to be introduced and they are now task overloaded and at great risk.
How many times have any of us been on a night dive and discover a diver with only 10 dives under his/her belt going on their first night dive? They've barely figured anything out and now they are adding darkness to the mix? It's crazy.
How many deaths in the accident forum are reported with the common denominator of the question asked "Where was the buddy?" I feel there is way too quick a tendency for people to look to the dive op or the DM for blame when 100% of it rests solidly with the victim and their dive buddy. Nobody wants to face it, it seems harsh, its too easy to blame the DM, he should of done this or that, he could have done this or that, the horrible truth is the diver shouldn't need the DM for anything other than as a tour guide. If you can't do the dive yourself without any DM with you, you have a lot of room for improvement and need gains of experience and those are all things that the buck stops with the diver.
For many years I did rent mostly, as I was traveling and just returning to diving, and only occasionally at that. I was not prepared to invest a lot in new gear, until I had some idea which way I wanted to go.
It seems that my horse collar buoyancy, J valve, and single regulator were no longer acceptable on the dive boats, for some odd reason.
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And Mike, I still feel that there is an expected level of caution, oversight and care of the divers under the care of a DM, in the type of diving scenarios such as we see in Coz.
I am
not a DM, but I believe that any time I am leading any other divers, buddied directly with me or not, I have placed myself in a responsible position. I feel it is inherently a part of being in any group of divers, to watch over all the divers in your group, and that if I
were being paid to shepherd a group of divers, especially those I knew to be less experienced, I would feel much more responsible.
In many cases I believe the law would see a similar responsibility by a paid group leader leading a group of less experience people in a hazardous enterprise. I am not a lawyer either, so I could be wrong.
Is the buddy responsible? Certainly we all are, but not every diver is as well trained in safety as we would like, or as experienced or is going to be really able to do what it takes to rescue a struggling diver! Hopefully a paid DM is both rescue trained and able to spot problem before it becomes real serious issue.
In the end you are correct in believing that it is each of us divers, ourselves, who in the must understand and assume the risks of our sport, and hopefully find buddies who feel the same.