Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dive guides

[sea_ledford]

Even a catastrophic failure would provide some gas for at least a few breaths.

Probably, but not always. I have taken 10's of thousands of divers in the water. I have had exactly one full out of air situation (client, not me). It was in the first five minutes of the dive, and their first stage failed closed. SPG still read full, but zero gas was coming out of either second stage. One breath was fine, next breath was nothing. They fortunately were 3 feet behind someone that had their octopus hanging free behind them, so just switched to that before I even got to the diver.

 

[Blackcrusader]

And then come the other spots like drift dives (think Maldives) where if one doesn't know the site by heart, they can easily spend some 20 min on the surface until boat comes to pick them up. This scenario is realistic even when following the guide, if you were not able to catch the boat line.

I was diving in the Maldives in May 2025 at Fuvamullah Island. On one of the dive sites the guide saw me a little behind but heading off in anoother direction. I signal shark sign at him and he turns the whole group aound who are now 50 - 70m behind me. I go get my shark video.... unfortunately for the other divers they missed the hammerhead at depth.

I then looked at my compass in my Perdix and headed for the pickup point near a wall across the channel which does have washing machine currents. The boat due to swells did a few turns to pick up separated divers as there was not enough space on the boat line. When you have 18 divers in the water this can happen.

It was only my third dive at that site on that trip. Guide asked me how I knew where the pickup point was I showed him I had marked the heading on my Perdix. He wore a Garmin. I can tell you though 20 mins on the surface when you have 15 Tiger sharks circling around is fun though. Gives you more time for photos and video lol

 

[Blackcrusader]

If you go below me and create a bubble curtain because you don't care, I might break your heart. Why respecting others and being considerate is so hard? Why can't you dive in that big ocean so, that others are not disturbed?

So what you mean I should stay above you and avoid your bubble trail. I get it now. No one is allowed to dive deeper than where you are lol

Breaky Breaky heart... oh dear... other divers bubbles are a part of diving when they are not on closed circuit. Why do other divers have to follow my bubbles? I don't follow theirs.
Plenty of bubbles in this video

 

[Blackcrusader]

I've been to island spots with very strong current around the corner that may be difficult to spot and would drag you into open sea. Have a look around you how many rec divers have SMB with them and then how many can use it, and even then, surfacing in the middle of nowhere is extremely risky with some boat traffic above.

My 5 cents to the topic.

My 1 cent. I go to South Lombok for extreme current diving. On one of the dives the cleaning station with hammerheads is at 50m depth. On the way to the surface doing our deco obligation the currents take you out to sea and you end up easily 1km or more away from the boat. Boat captain knows the currents so knows which direction to look. I bring my 2m and 3m dsmbs and PLB in case I really do get lost lol.


When you are in the middle of nowhere you are unlikey to be in boat traffice. Unlike Malta where there is a lot of boat traffic near some dive sites.

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

The DM is unhappy with the distance you are separated from your buddy.

If the OP and I were buddies here is how I would think…

Did we have a conversation during/after the dive briefing? Are you paying attention to me in the water and where I am and what I am doing? Have you asked me about my air/gas pressure remaining?

I look at my dive buddy and make a guess as to who will most likely have the higher air/gas consumption? I am a 6 foot tall male weighing 200 lbs. If my dive buddy is a 120 lb female - then who will have the higher consumption?

Why am I telling you this?

When I’m diving I check my gas pressure based on time. At the 5 minute mark and make a calculation in my head as to what it will be at the 10 minute mark. I will ask my buddy at the 10 minute mark also. Why? Because I want to know the difference between my gas pressure and my buddies.
That gives me the ability to predict your gas pressure at the 20 minute mark. 20 minutes could be the time we are nearing the time we turn the dive and head back to our exit. I can easily watch your breathing rate by watching your bubbles.

Are you looking for me on the dive? Seeing where I am?

If there is something that is going to go REALLY wrong then it is most likely a diver running it of gas

Now back to the question of - are we too far apart? I will know where you are. I will have a good idea of your gas pressure remaining. At 10 meters apart (as originally reported) that is only 5 of my body lengths away from me.

 

[Blackcrusader]

The DM sounds like he is a control freak. Either that is his natural personality or he has issues personally underwater. Cant take the pressure of ANYTHING going wrong.

I've been with recently certifified DM's that live in fear of losing a customer. They themselves are anxious divers and often end up finishing dives as they had higher gas consumption. This year in Philippines the dive op manager told my guide that he would lead two divers by me and my buddy would do the dive site at an island on our own and meet back the boat before 60 mins. It was the first time the guide had two divers go off and do their own thing. We have done the site many times and the Dive Op Manager has known us for a decade.

Guides need to understand that many customers are not the once a year vacation divers who do 5 - 10 dives a year. This year in Maldives we had a fantiastic guide with Rajjie Divers. Was myself my regular dive buddy and the guide. The guide could totally relax as he had two experienced divers and he took us to sites he does not take those once a year vacation divers due to currents.

 

[Centrals]

LOLZ So divers above me cannot avoid my bubbles in the big wide ocean? There will always be divers above other divers. As for following guides.... I prefer it when the guides just follow me so I can go at my own pace and the guides can enjoy going slow and looking at things.

LOL.
Only in your dream.
I have seen on many occasions when the dm signal the diver to slow down and follow him/her. Some of them made it very clear in the pre dive briefing. Of course there are always some idiots who believe he/she/it knows everything and pay no notice to what the dive guide had said.
Go on your own pace? You need to hire a private dm.

 

[Blackcrusader]

I look at my dive buddy and make a guess as to who will most likely have the higher air/gas consumption? I am a 6 foot tall male weighing 200 lbs. If my dive buddy is a 120 lb female - then who will have the higher consumption?

I do not assume who would use more gas. I weigh 125kg 183cm tall. Dove with a tiny swiss woman in Maldives. She was a vacation diver doing 10 dives a year. I am a regular diver doing maybe 200 dives a year. She would be at 50 bar when I had 110 bar. She felt cold in 29c water with a 3mm wetsuit. I dive in shorts and t shirt.

Here's a dive I did this year in Philipppines. 19m average depth Gas Consumption 0.61 bar per minute. The dive op Manager who is the IDC course director... tiny waif of a woman, better on gas than I am she uses a 10l tank. Yet none of her guides are better on gas consumption than I am.

In the Maldives this year a French lass doing her DM comes to check my air She has 120 bar I have 160 bar. She looked at me with a very this does not compute look. Back on the boat she is shaking her head and asking me how is it so?

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

I make that assumption on the surface and ask and calculate gas consumption under water.
You would be a great dive buddy!!

 

[kdlv]

@Blackcrusader, you are pointing out an isolated scenario. But you have the experience and you have demonstrated to the dive guide that they don't need to worry and given him/her the opportunity to have a fun dive with experienced divers.
But they need to see you at least once underwater to make sure you are not some egocentric freak that will likely put them into trouble + I am sure you've agreed beforehand with the guide what you plan to do during the dive. It's not like you just disappear and start doing whatever you want without them expecting it.

Experienced DM or not, they have the right to worry and I've never seen a DM worry without a reason. In fact I've seen more often completely reckless and ignorant guides that have no clue what's happening in their group than overly worried new-DMs without a valid reason.
I've seen a young DM with much less dive experience than most of the folks in our group, but she was a great dive guide. Guess whom she was shouting at underwater (and afterwards above water)... the most egocentric guy who did what he wanted, vanished out of sight several times in 10m visibility and then ran low on air early in the dive because he was staying much deeper than everyone else. None of the rest had any problem with her guiding whatsoever.

Shouting above water was provoked by the same person who's brain just couldn't comprehend what he did wrong despite everyone trying to explain him what was wrong, and who then started accusing her of being incompetent (nope, she wasn't at all).