Belize's wonderland

[masterofthedeep]

When I am not comfortable with DM's dive planned dive profile, I will tell him in advance that he can expect to see me and my dive buddy following him at a depth I am comfortable with. I have never had a DM have a problem with that. I am not prepared to risk injury and ruin my entire trip. Besides, there is usually much more to see at shallower depths.

 

[Netsvan]

Well it is a very interesting discussion on this thread ....
my two cents .... every diver takes their own life into their own hands. In my humble opinion a divemaster is a guide, not there to hold your hand and tell you what you ARE or ARE NOT capable of ... that is best determined by one's self. Knowing your own experience, training, skill, and personality (ie. you may have claustrophobia, or afraid of the dark ... don't do cave diving) that no other person would have insight into.
PADI, TEC etc. - are great training tools (for one's self), and lay out a standardization for divers to reference .... but I agree with others they are not the be all end all and are set to a conservative standard (in the hopes that if followed NO ONE would have ANY problems). Like snowboarding, kiteboarding, sailing, etc. if I chose to take on nature and push my personal limits I do not want someone telling me what I am and am not capable of.
Blue eyes: I commend you on following your own instincts, and agree ALL DIVERS no matter skill, training or otherwise must dive within their own comfort levels and never be forced in or out of any situations.

Cheers all

 

[peterbj7]

That's fine, but just "doing your own thing" on a guided dive without first telling the guide is thoughtless and can lead to considerable problems for the guide.