Arrogance and humility among divers

[Jack Hammer]

I must admit, I am envious of someone with a sac low enough to even consider bragging about. This one's particularly prevalent on scubaboard where some divers like to tell everyone how they can dive to 120' and stay for a week on a spare air and still have gas for deco and a safety stop on top. Seriously though, I am a little jealous of divers with super low SAC's.

Don't forget the guy who talked about his dive to 200'+ on the Jodrey breathing only an al80 and with a sac rate of 0.16...

 

[Adam Grose]

I've enjoyed almost everything about diving since I started. I liked the classes, the novelty and newness of it all, and find an enduring enjoyment and sense of wonder in the underwater experience. There have been minor setbacks -- mistakes, dives that weren't fun, gear that didn't work out, times I felt I'd been ripped off -- but nothing serious or enduring.

Except the arrogance.

It was worst when I was considering diving and had just started. I ran into it at one of the LDSs, where the employee was not taking seriously my questions about gear since I had not completed my certification. I've run into it on boats and other groups of divers. So many divers want to talk about how deep they've dived, how little air they use, and other things that they perceive as accomplishments. Dealing with people in the dive industry, I've encountered egos so large they are incapable of entertaining the idea that, perhaps, they may have made a mistake at some point. I encounter technical divers, cave divers, and rebreather divers who seem to think that people curious about their specialty should be seen not heard.

I've always aspired to the sort of quiet competence demonstrated by airmen like Chesley Sullenberger, who was initially dismissive of his personal role in the safety of all on board when he was at the controls of the flight that had to ditch in the Hudson River.

What is it about the diving culture that leads to this sort of hubris?

GREAT post!! To be fair, *most* of the divers that I have run into have been pretty good about listening to my questions/concerns and addressing them fairly. Although, if you get a diver talking about something they are passionate about (diving, ocean conservation, etc.), you may be hard pressed to get a word in edgewise!! That being said, I have encountered divers and dive shop staff with big egos. Usually the best thing to do is just take them with a big grain of salt. In the case of the shops, I take my money elsewhere. Hopefully this will help a bit.

Adam

 

[Hoag]

The very first LOB that I was on started off with the usual safety & dive procedures briefing and then the the Captain went one by one to each of the pax and asked us what we hoped to see and what we hoped to achieve during the week. For most of us it was things like "I'd like to see the Great Blue Hole." or "I'd like to see lots of fish.", or similar comments. There was one "gentleman" however who had an answer that I will never forget. He responded with "Well, I have dove all over the world, so I really don't think that this trip will have much to offer." My jaw dropped. He maintained that attitude the entire week. At the end of the week, I recall him making a comment something to the effect of "You know, on most LOBs, you have that one guy who is an arrogant SOB, but on this trip everyone was pretty good."

 

[gypsyjim]

I am all for goal setting. I work in an academic setting and at this point have had conversations about goals etc with hundreds and probably thousands of students at both the graduate and undergraduate level. Often they are unsure of what might happen. I always tell them to go for their dream. The worst thing that can happen to a person is to spend the last quarter of their life wondering what if. If you try you either succeed, in some sense, or get rid of the risk of the "what if" fate. Premed is a challenging curriculum, not the most challenging in my opinion, at our school I would choose maybe chem eng (I am not in chem eng.). In the particular conversation I was mentioning, the student was implying that their choice was better and that they had more status than the other student but they in fact had not done any of the program. Just checked a box on a form.

That does describe either ignorance or arrogance, and possibly both.

You just reminded me of a speech I heard part of recently.
It was a great recollection of what a father told his school age children, although I can't quote it exactly, it went something like:

" it's going to be okay if you aim high and miss, but I'm going to be really pissed if you aim low and hit your target"

 

[xmass-Eve]

The most arrogant divers I meet, are the photographers with big expensive cameras. Always looking down on people that just have a normal one, thinking they are new divers, that they will be in their way, stir up the sand, make it impossible for them to make the money shot. Sometimes I feel like going and just do that then... Be in their way the whole time...

 

[Steve_C]

The most arrogant divers I meet, are the photographers with big expensive cameras. Always looking down on people that just have a normal one, thinking they are new divers, that they will be in their way, stir up the sand, make it impossible for them to make the money shot. Sometimes I feel like going and just do that then... Be in their way the whole time...

One of the nicest most considerate divers I know has several big expensive cameras. Also very encouraging of folks with small cameras.

Another, who solo dives so she is shooting by herself, is nice enough to let others know of a good find after she got her money shot.

Hopefully you will not go hassle somebody with a big camera. That would be one of the most arrogant things I have seen.

But then I don't do group led dives. Everybody/Buddyteam goes and does their own thing.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I worked at a dive shop for many years and also as a DM on a couple of dive boats. I met some really nice people through that work. It was extremely rare that I met anyone who thought they were God's Gift to diving. It wasn't until dive boards appeared on the internet that I saw how ugly divers can get. It was still a tiny number of them, but they were the vocal minority.

One woman who had recently taken the GUE Fundamentals course posted an invitation on Scubaboard for divers who wanted to improve their skills during Thursday night dives. The invitation sounded great until she ended it with "only like minded divers are allowed".

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

The most arrogant divers I meet, are the photographers with big expensive cameras. Always looking down on people that just have a normal one, thinking they are new divers, that they will be in their way, stir up the sand, make it impossible for them to make the money shot. Sometimes I feel like going and just do that then... Be in their way the whole time...

I'm sure there are some who act like assholes, but I've done plenty of diving with professional photographers ... those with equipment that makes my rig look like a toy and skills that I will never have ... and they've always been genuinely nice people (not to mention exceptionally skilled divers).

Most of us who carry big photo rigs started out with something much less expensive ... I got my first rig just prior to the 2005 ScubaBoard trip to Bonaire, and basically learned how to use it down there. It took some fine pics for me on that trip, as it did subsequent ones. Over the ensuing years I worked my way up through a succession of better quality point-n-shoot rigs, adding accessories like strobes and focus light ... to the rig I have now, which as I said isn't much when compared to what the pros use. What I've found over the years is that most pros are like me ... preferring to go off on their own whenever possible so as not to bother other folks with our peculiar habits of not moving much over the course of a dive. My guess is that those folks you are describing aren't photographers at all ... they're posers with enough money to buy an expensive rig.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Wookie]

The invitation sounded great until she ended it with "only like minded divers are allowed".

Some GUE divers are quite funny that way. "Improving skills" means "Dive more like me". But I gotta say, they do have their skills nailed.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Some GUE divers are quite funny that way. "Improving skills" means "Dive more like me". But I gotta say, they do have their skills nailed.

The only time in my life I've ever been told that my diving "isn't up to our standards" was by members of the local GUE dive club. Oddly, they were recruiting my students to come join their club at the time. To be fair, the club was subsequently taken over by a different set of members who apologized and told me I'd be welcomed anytime. But by then my interests were in other directions (they wouldn't have understood my love for solo diving) ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)