Advanced Open Water Disappointment

[tursiops]

ONLY lionfish may hunted in a SPA (Special Protected Area). The class is designed to make the diver aware to not shoot in such a way as to injure the reef. I saw a guy (not on a spa) hit a sponge and really rip it up.

This is why lionfish hunting in Bonaire cannot be done without training, an approved "spear," and a local guide. Yes, they'd kill more lionfish if they just opened it up, but they'd likely lose a lot of reef, too.

 

[L13]

This is why lionfish hunting in Bonaire cannot be done without training, an approved "spear," and a local guide. Yes, they'd kill more lionfish if they just opened it up, but they'd likely lose a lot of reef, too.

On my trip to Guanaja (near Roatan), I saw a nurse shark tearing up a piece of reef trying to get at a lionfish (a hunter had injured the lionfish).

 

[The Chairman]

On my trip to Guanaja (near Roatan), I saw a nurse shark tearing up a piece of reef trying to get at a lionfish (a hunter had injured the lionfish).

I hope you reported it!

 

[L13]

I hope you reported it!

I'm not sure if the nurse shark had a lionfish permit or not

ETA:
The human did. The human finally convince the nurse shark to let him extract the lionfish form the hole and then let the shark have it. One of the other divers on the trip caught it all on video. Lots of fun to watch and re-watch the shark-human interactions, it almost looked like they were having a conversation.

 

[steinbil]

Which standard hindered them?

It wasn't necessarily that any standard hindered them, but that they went much further than the standards required. PADI standard says 8:1 ratio for OW dives, that seems reckless to me. Doing skills on the knees is not prohibited by the standards. Those are just a couple issues off the top of my head. Of course, a lot of good instructors will teach neutrally buoyant and with a more conservative ratio, but it's not required. With the lack of quality control I'm referring to certified divers I've seen that should never have been certified, and tragic accident like what happened to Linnea Mills.

Edit to add:
It's not my intention to single out PADI here, it's just an example from my own training.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

One of the other divers on the trip caught it all on video. Lots of fun to watch and re-watch the shark-human interactions, it almost looked like they were having a conversation.

I would love to see this video. I hope that the diver signaled to the shark "You" "wait", "I" "grab fish", "you" "eat", "okay?"

 

[L13]

I would love to see this video. I hope that the diver signaled to the shark "You" "wait", "I" "grab fish", "you" "eat", "okay?"

I'll try and dig it up. It was in January 2021.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I’m not sure where noobs would go for SCUBA advice. I go here, and there are many many posts expressing bad feelings about this or that, but they don’t name names. There will be many reasons for that I suppose, but it illustrates my concern. I fell like if you won’t name an offender, maybe you shouldn’t say anything in the first place. I know some will have legitimate reasons for silence, but are they really good enough reasons?

Sometimes people just have to vent.

 

[BlueTrin]

I guess I wish I had taken fish ID at some point. This is my current level of fish ID

 

[tarponchik]

How about this analogy as you bring up diving.

Driving public roads, freeways included, is akin to open water.

Driving on a race track wheel to wheel is akin to advanced training.

Driving in a Formula 1 race is akin to even further training (technical?).

The analogy isn't perfect, but there are stages to driving and what is allowed. Same applies to diving if you are going on a chater. Now F1 is super expensive, but Bernie Ecclestone is not letting Bill Gates race regardless of how fast he was driving across the 520 bridge while he lived in Laurelhurst while his house was being built in Medina.

Or how fast he was driving his Porsche back to Seattle when Microsoft was in New Mexico.

You drew the line at the wrong place. Very few people race on tracks but most divers routinely go below 60 ft w/o any special training. Most drivers will crash if they attempted racing w/o proper training but nothing happens when divers go below 60 ft w/o AOW certification.