Anyway, back to the topic...I had another thought on the "have I been a snob"? question. I think I probably HAVE acted a bit snobby a couple times, when I've done advanced dives that beginner divers shouldn't have signed up for. Example: I did the Blue Hole in Belize, which is a bounce dive to 130 and really shouldn't be done by beginners. Well, sure 'nuff, the boat had several beginners on it - which I realize is the fault of the dive op, but I was told later that the divers overstated their skills and number of dives so they could do the famous Blue Hole. As it turned out, a couple of them panicked at depth, another one started flailing near me and almost kicked my mask off, forcing me to drop down beneath 130 to avoid her, which ended up screwing up my profile so that my computer showed an 8 minute deco obligation at the end of the dive, which really pissed off the DM's (maybe they shouldn't have brought beginners with less than 10 dives down to 130 fsw!). I was probably a bit cold to the newbies on the boat afterwards...because I was ticked.
A similar thing happened at the Tiputa Pass in Rangiroa. The dive was clearly listed as an advanced dive, but several people signed up for it who were newly certified, and, again, overstated their experience so they could do the famous pass. Sure 'nuff a couple of them couldn't even remain at depth, doing uncontrolled ascents in the pass, with the potential of boats hitting them, which messed up the dive for the rest of us as the DMs had to divert all their attention to dealing with them. These are once-in-a-lifetime dives, and I just think it's really inconsiderate for new divers to lie about their experience level to do an advanced dive with a group, thereby screwing it up for the rest of us. I'm sure I snubbed them too. And rightfully so, if you ask me!
...similiar things just happened to me on my recent 1-week Cozumel trip (just back tonight)......I ended up mentoring some newbie divers, 1st 'mentoring' session was a young cruise ship couple, BF had a few dives in the ocean, GF...well, this was her VERY 1st ocean dive (with no pre dive salt water weight checks) but they were telling me about the very through 7 week scuba class/quarry dives they'd done......1st dive was a fairly respectable speed (although shallowish 60' depth where the wall began) drift dive....and they had to return to the boat after the rest of us had already begun the dive so she could get more weights, then they jumped back off the boat to rejoin us mid dive....and she had so many 'issues' there was essentially no trace of the "7 week class" they took having made any real impact! Her goal that 1st dive was to not die....deer-in-the-headlights mode the whole dive....clusterf*ck! Soooo, on the 2nd dive I visit with the couple, tell them about what I think would be a MUCH more suitable dive (Las Palmas, very light current, and a beautiful reef too!) Then I visit with the DM, and ask to change our 2nd dive spot to 'Las Palmas'......he says "OK" and jokingly tells the captain that we're doing 'Las Palmas' and it will be my fault if the newbies don't like it!
With that settled, we all discussed her weighting, and the DM asked for my opinion on what weight I'd recommend for her, and it was decided to 'go' with my estimate....so now it's all on me! Well folks, the 2nd dive was just as awesome for the newbies as I'd promised....weighting was spot on......I was cruising the wall @ 70', just above the reef (illustrating expert level bouyancy and fin maneuvering finesse, arms stretched out in front like Superman....
...and the next thing I know the young couple is imitating me big time, following just behind and above me.......it was like night-and-day, couldn't believe I was watching the same divers...WOW! They were like super-sponges, absorbing proper form/techniques in real time......they apparently just hadn't been exposed decent role models......I honestly feel by making sure the young couple had a nice 2nd dive, it might have made the difference between staying in the sport and abandoning it......and it felt good that the DM had already seen me do enough diving such that he valued my input/opinion.......it appears showing up in custom made/mil spec gear and SHOWING that I really did have a 'clue' carries more weight than 75 PADI-mill C-cards!
The young couple was profoundly thankful for my help!
....had another group of newbies show up Friday.......and I 'took one for the team' (actually several) as our group was forced to do some throwaway dives over shallow sandy wastelands with the interest level rating of 'comatose'! Even had one very promising deep wall dive (Columbia) completely ruined from the very start when our group got mixed in with another group, and immediately pulled off the wall over more shallow sandy wastelands (there was a videographer for some shooting custom video for some divers and they seemed interested in shallow photo ops, hunting for nursesharks I think)....and our newbies blindly hitched onto that group, and our DM's gave up in frustration, never succeeding in separating the groups......so that was one of several dives that pretty much completely sucked!!!
But I never took anything out on the 'newbies' (sh*t happens). It was 'slow season', so all the divers were on one boat, regardless of skill level.......so those were 'lost dives'......and what's worse I'd paid the upcharge for NITROX AL 100's !!! I did have some very nice dives Tue-Thur, especially the 6 afternoon 'solo' dives I did (meaning they sent the boat out 3 afternoons X 2 dives with just me and the DM)......so I was able to 'train' the DM's about how I 'roll', just hang back, stay out of the way, and let me dive....don't bother showing me anything, I'll find my own stuff and dive at my own speed/depth....and they were good with that, as I'd successfully demonstrated I knew how to dive......so they cut me some slack and let me run my deep wall dives...my fav!
