Aow=bs

[seaducer]

That's why when people complain about how lousy their trainers were or how there is such a lack of good ones...again, I just can't relate. I didn't have any problems at all in finding quality instruction.

Mee too, but I am sure there are some real winners out there. I do think many people who complain about their instructors, it was the student who was the problem. Some people feel the need to be pampered or catered to and that is not always possible.

 

[cornep]

I have to agree with what SPECTRUM mentioned...We, as divers are sometimes very quick to judge other divers. It's like playing golf...I find myself sometimes looking at anoter 4 ball ahead of us and there might be a guy that has just started playing golf and he plays an awfull game. You get upset because he is holding you up, only to remember that I also once started playing golf and I also played like an ass. Safety in diving is paramount and I think people sometimes tend to forget that. I generally don't lead dives because I dive for enjoyment and photography, but being an experienced divemaster, while we are kitting up and I notice someone struggling with kitting up, or the person seems nervous, I make conversation and try and put the guy at ease...Some people hadnt been in the water for a while and they just need that bit of re-assurance. New divers also need the same, especially diving in a new place. That is also why your dive briefing needs to be done so well, even if you have a bunch of regulars on the dive...I understand you frustration, especially if he was your insta-buddy Garrobo, but thinking about it, you probably may handle a similar situation slightly better after reading some of the comments in this post..

 

[String]

The only way??? Really???

Guess we just dont have it figured out here in Florida.

Im guessing not but conditions there are often far better than elsewhere.

Completely helpless? With my fins on my wrists I completely helpless. You mean I just cant slip them back on?

And by the time you've done that you've either been hit by the bouncing boat or you've drifted away from it with the current and cant swim back. Yep - great idea.

Why would the boat be backing on me? Either the cab driver...errrr...captain lost his hook/mooring line or he is positioning himself up current which would equate to a bad cab driver.

Or because of the wind across the current and that fact the boat doesnt anchor in rough conditions the window for getting to it is over and suddenly its heading towards you. It happens. Rough weather, wind and current in different directions and a live boat you have to be sharp as a diver to get on the boat. Its not always possible to station keep for very long.

There is a bunch of ways to deal with big current, seas, and wind. Why not come over here to Key largo for a few? We can dive the Speigel Grove (big current and chop), evaluate some of the cracked out ways we climb aboard, and then go drink some beers at Sharkey's. Heck, you can even ask some of the skippers down here how they like being compared to some guy driving a cab down US1.

Have dived key largo. Won't be going back in a hurry though as was exceedingly disappointed with the diving. Saw lots of smashed up and dead coral and a couple of fake wrecks. Not the red sea and while the diving was "OK" it certainly wasnt worth a 7000 mile round trip and 5x the cost of the red sea.

And whether skippers like the comparison or not thats what they are. Im a diver and i want a boat to get me safely TO the site and back safely FROM the site. The bit in the middle is my concern.

 

[The_DivePirate]

Joe,

That's not a bad idea. This poor guy was trying to learn and when we got on the boat, he wasn't even sure how to put the regulator on the tank.

And then he had the instructor bitching at him about the low pressure/power inflator hoses. The guy had them both velcroed. The instructor looked at him and goes, "No no no. That's not right. You've got to have this one velcroed, and this one out." Proceeding to velcro the LP hose and leave the power inflator tube outside the velcro.

Now I know that's really a personal preference but come on - yelling at him and barking some ridiculous half-cocked nonsense?

I guess I was spoiled. My instructor for OW was very good, and very patient. And my AOW instructor (the shops owner) has over 10,000 dives in his career. So I felt very safe and very confident in my skills.

I think you're right - a detailed survey of some kind about the instructors should be mandatory prior to issuing your c cards. It might change the environment some and put the instructors in a position to really have to make sure people are comfortable in their skills.

Robert

Thanks for the vote. I'm not sure that it should be necesary for the student too get their c-card, because if that were the case the students would put good marks so as too get their card. It also could not be given by the LDS/instuctor or the unfavorable
surveys may not make it to HQ. If it were sent by HQ it would make it to the student and they would have the option too fill it out or possibly go online and fill out the survey there, where they could put in their cert# which would correspond with the instructor and LDS or private instructor if that were the case. If continous low marks were recorded with a certian instructor/LDS they could be put on probation and if the problem persists they could be pulled from membership status. If good marks were given on a regular basis the instructor/LDS could get price breaks on merchandise(ie: curriculem and stuff) This would give the LDS's an incentive for giving quality classes rather than just running students through too get the price break. Seems too me it would work and would be the most truthful means of aquiring pertinent information about their instructors and course structure. Yeah, they could ask what the students would have liked too recieve during the class. Seems feasible don't it?

Joe

 

[bfw]

I can not put my fins on my wrists (cant, spring straps too short to do so)

Fold/swivel them down under the foot pocket or up above it. Your hand then goes through with the blade of the fin pointed back along your elbow.

 

[bfw]

Dont those boats have proper christmas tree ladders designed to be climbed by fully kitted divers?

Sometimes, no.

Even if i wanted to do the unthinkable and remove my fins i couldnt fit them over my dryglove rings anyway so would be impossible.

They go over my wrists just fine and rest distal to the rings.

 

[bfw]

You apparently operate under a very different set of liability laws than Americans do .

That's what I was thinking. I read several legal blogs that deal with overlitigation problems and the impression I get from their international coverage is that it's worse in other countries, not better.

 

[bfw]

and some of those are not conducive to keeping your fins on your wrists, even if you can, because the manner in which you ascend the ladder requires you to have your hands free

With my fins on my wrists, my hands ARE free to do anything I need. Yes, conceivably, there are times they might get in the way, but I don't plan on performing an Ensign Pulver style appendectomy on a dive boat.

 

[divermatt]

Wow....I haven't taken AOW (yet) but it makes me thankfull for such a great instructor in OW and EANx (Kidspot). That diver kinda sounds like my brother......

Are they doing EANx in Open Water training now????????:no

 

[bfw]

And by the time you've done that you've either been hit by the bouncing boat or you've drifted away from it with the current and cant swim back.

Flag current - fins back on before drifting ten feet, and that was with hands that barely functioned.

Guess you've never been required to do a timed bailout or skin diving doff and don.