As a DM I expect to lead a dive not to baby-sit one (unless I am specifically asked to do so... and that has occured. I have a LOT of respect for a diver who says, "My skills aren't vary good... would you dive with me and make sure I'm doing OK.).
So as a DM being followed by a bunch of divers, you're okay with leading them into a cavern having never asked any of them if they were comfortable, let alone qualified, to enter this situation? Yes, the people following you should all just give you the finger and abort the dive at that point: but why put them in the situation to begin with?
And this isn't even a professional/divemaster situation in itself. If you're leading a group of divers, whatever your qualification; or even if you're just leading you and your buddy, I think it's irresponsible to start doing things like entering caverns without having discussed it ahead of time in the dive plan.
I'm not saying anything new here... we've all heard it before. In short, you plan YOUR dive and YOU dive YOU'RE PLAN.
Actually in the context of this topic it's the divemaster's or the resort or whoever's plan. Ideally, the divemaster will have discussed this plan with everyone ahead of time, but go to the topic here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...lly-all-four-divers-came-back-out-hole-2.html,
sure doesn't sound like the divers were ever "let in" on the fact that they'd be entering a cavern.
... another 'bridge' to jump off of? In case nobody has point this out to you before, diving is a potentially dangerous activity regardless of depth or environment or "leadership"... YOU are responsible for your own dive AT ALL TIMES... you are also responsible for the consequences.
Yes and that's why we have rules to keep us safe. Staying within yoru depth range and not entering wrecks and caverns are a couple of the big ones: But, as someone posted before with an excellent example, the Milgram experiement, people tend to do what the authority figure tells them, even if their own brain tells them it's wrong. In theory when that divemaster from the topic I posted the link to entered the cavern, everyone should have stopped and just let him go by himself, yet in reality 3 of 4 divers went with him. Especially among new divers, that is simply going to be the case most of the time. We can ignore reality if we really want and talk about what people should do in a perfect world, but in reality the divemaster will be treated as an authority figure and the Milgrim experiment results come into effect, especially by new divers.
If you want to blast a SPECIFIC DM or resport for poor operations ... that's one thing... but to start a thread that, by inuendo if not blaitant statement challenges the competence and professionalism of DMs in general... I'm afraid I have to take a bit of issue with that... specifically if you choose to do so by starting as an appologist for divers who won't take personal responsibility for their dives
a.) I didn't start the topic
b.) no one ever questioned DMs in general, at the very most the topic questioned resort DMs in general (which I understand is controversial since you can't paint all resort DMs with the same brush, however, if there are questions of safety, I think there is legitimacy in bringing them up: kind of like the constant news articles in Canada asking "are Mexican resorts safe to go to". Sure, we probably shouldn't paint all Mexican resorts with the same brush, but when there seem to be systematic safety issues, they get disscussed. As a Canadian who's never left Canada beyond the US, I'm ignorant to these places but interested in going there in the future. A topic about the safety while there is relevant to me.)
c.) This statement seems to ignore a lot of the topic, such as me saying that every DM I've dealt with has been incredibly competent, trustworthy and great overall.
