Miss Scuba Manners....What's your unwritten dive etiquette rule?

[vincent54]

Are there really that many underwater confrontations? Time to find a new dive site.

 

[gcarter]

All this talk about lashing out against anyone that touches your equipment has gotten me a little scared!

Last October in Cayman Brac we were diving on a day when the water was pretty rough. The divemasters had put out a line and advised us to hold onto the line while removing our fins to expedite getting back on the boat. The conditions had worsened during the dive and the waves had gotten bigger as I was heading toward the line. Then I saw a guy struggling to free himself because the line had gotten tangled around his tank valve. I came up behind him to unwind the line and free him. He couldn't see me at first but he immediately relaxed and stopped struggling and let me get on with it, and he thanked me later when we were back on the boat.

But now I might be afraid to touch him or his gear without first receiving written permission! And don't tell me that I should have asked first. The winds were high and the water was very rough. It was hard enough just to stay with him and try to help him.

So you might want to think first before lashing out at someone with anger or violence. They might be trying to help you - and you might need help and not know it; like if your tank strap has slipped and you are about to lose your tank.

That's a silly-bugger comparison. There is a huge difference between freeing an entangled tank valve and the mucking about you previously described.

I particularly like how you went from the smug bravado of "I messed with their gear because I didn't like their behaviour. I showed them!" to the meek victimized quiver of "Oh, you people are way too unpredictable and violent for me!"

 

[drrich2]

Most people won't lash out at you. Some will chew your butt out on the dive boat, a loud, angry verbal confrontation making a public scene on the dive boat, perhaps. It's a minority, but even if it's one time in 20, when it blows up in your face, that's one time too many.

I don't think most of us on the thread want to come off as threatening anybody. I'm an introvert and not spontaneous. If you accost me, I'll freeze up in surprise and by the time I finish thinking things through, the situation will be over. So I'm not apt to lash out at anybody.

My parents taught me there are nuts out there. There is a wide variety of people in this world, and some of them are powder kegs waiting to go off. Mean, perverts, high on something, you name it. Most people aren't like that. But do you really want to play a game of nut job roulette picking conflicts with random strangers?

Think carefully about the cause at hand, whether you want to intervene, and how. I'm just suggesting you don't put your hands on people, and be as non-confrontative as possible.

Richard.

 

[Keith.M]

My pet peeve are people who inherently cannot be positive. They will always find something that would upset them.

Ahhh, I see you have met my ex.

 

[gcarter]

I must confess that even after 55 years I am always still surprised that there are people out there who think that it is ok for them to lay their hands on me, but it is somehow not ok for me to react to that. OK for them to get physical with me, but not ok for me to get physical back.

Make no mistake, mucking with my gear while underwater IS getting physical.

 

[PfcAJ]

thou shalt not give unsolicited advice

 

[Patoux01]

thou shalt not give unsolicited advice

That's one I have issues with. Especially when dangerous manners are involved, I can only think of so many spools and octopus (octopi?) that were hanging around ready to kill (or not be available when needed, which is more or less the same thing)
Edit: However, I don't go and see people out of my group.

Considering the one that was posted just before "people that are never happy", I am incredibly annoyed by people who think you have to be happy and enthusiastic about everything you see.
"-wow man, you saw that eel, it was crazy!
-Yeah I saw it, it was nice.
-no man, seriously, CRAZY an EEL. Just imagine how my friends will react when I tell them!"
We don't feel the need to yell and go crazy about everything we see, it doesn't mean we're bored or negative. We also don't feel the need to share every single thing we see on facebook, especially since most people doing that do it for fame, and aren't actually sharing what they see, instead just a random picture of themselves.
If most of the things we say seem to be negative, it's simply because we can have the "happy moments" in silence underwater, and will point the negatives so we can improve and strive for that perfect dive we all want.

 

[dmoore19]

On my first dive trip I was with someone who kept telling me how great another destination was. I still remember how wonderful my first experience in warm salt water was. If you have something better I really don't care. To this day I still don't think I will ever go to that destination.
No reasn to show exuberance but no reason to be a buzzkill either. I really live for the moment and couldn't care less about your totally excellent adventure in exotic where ever.

did I mention that I really hate those who consider themselves dive Gods?

 

[PfcAJ]

That's one I have issues with. Especially when dangerous manners are involved, I can only think of so many spools and octopus (octopi?) that were hanging around ready to kill (or not be available when needed, which is more or less the same thing)
Edit: However, I don't go and see people out of my group.

Considering the one that was posted just before "people that are never happy", I am incredibly annoyed by people who think you have to be happy and enthusiastic about everything you see.
"-wow man, you saw that eel, it was crazy!
-Yeah I saw it, it was nice.
-no man, seriously, CRAZY an EEL. Just imagine how my friends will react when I tell them!"
We don't feel the need to yell and go crazy about everything we see, it doesn't mean we're bored or negative. We also don't feel the need to share every single thing we see on facebook, especially since most people doing that do it for fame, and aren't actually sharing what they see, instead just a random picture of themselves.
If most of the things we say seem to be negative, it's simply because we can have the "happy moments" in silence underwater, and will point the negatives so we can improve and strive for that perfect dive we all want.

Not my circus, not my monkeys.

 

[Hatul]

I've been thankful the few times someone found something fouled up or not properly lying in my gear, when underwater. We all try to help each other.