Boat Diving Questions - impatient crew and new divers

[TexasKaren68]

Diver1 and her buddy, Diver2, are on a boat dive. Diver1 is newly certified and the crew knows this. The boat crew are hurrying to get everyone off the boat to begin their dives. Diver1 is taking a long time to get ready, although there are still another 10 divers or so on the boat. A crew member comes up to Diver1 and Diver2 and says "lets get you in the water". Diver2 points out that Diver1's SPG and octo are still not clipped off and are dangling behind her. Diver1 and Diver2 are told, "don't worry about it - you can figure it out in the water"

Diver2 gets in the water followed by Diver1 and because of heavy chop on the surface they descend to the bottom (20 feet) and get everything all clipped off and set off to explore.

So, my obvious question is, should the boat crew be pressuring people to get in the water when they are not completely ready, and what should Diver1 and/or Diver2 do in this situation?

 

[lowviz]

Diver1 and her buddy, Diver2, are on a boat dive. Diver1 is newly certified and the crew knows this. The boat crew are hurrying to get everyone off the boat to begin their dives. Diver1 is taking a long time to get ready, although there are still another 10 divers or so on the boat. A crew member comes up to Diver1 and Diver2 and says "lets get you in the water". Diver2 points out that Diver1's SPG and octo are still not clipped off and are dangling behind her. Diver1 and Diver2 are told, "don't worry about it - you can figure it out in the water"

Diver2 gets in the water followed by Diver1 and because of heavy chop on the surface they descend to the bottom (20 feet) and get everything all clipped off and set off to explore.

So, my obvious question is, should the boat crew be pressuring people to get in the water when they are not completely ready, and what should Diver1 and/or Diver2 do in this situation?

From a thousand miles away, my view is:

If it was an inshore or "intro" dive then the behavior is inexcusable.

What to do: Go to the end of the line and make your concerns known.

Couple miles out or you are tagging along with experienced divers, well, maybe.

Offshore or highly experienced, what did you expect???

..............they descend to the bottom (20 feet) and get everything all clipped off and set off to explore..............

Oops, I'm going with inexcusable. Was this a "cattle drive"?


What to do: Go to the end of the line while making your concerns heard.

 

[Kitty_Kat]

That's actually a good question and I would be interested in hearing others opinions as well...

I recently spent some time working on a boat that serviced a pretty wide range of divers experience wise (all dive sites were in 60+ feet of cold Pacific water). I would definitely say that the behavior was inexcusable. That does sound like a cattle drive... As much as I totally understand the keeping things moving along/on schedule, I don't know why a boat crew would be pushing unprepared divers in the water. Whenever we had newer divers on the boat they always seemed to get checked over more times (especially with bad surface conditions) than more experienced (usually tech) divers. I really prefer to not have to jump in after anyone... For a member of the crew, rushing less experienced divers is a great way to ensure that you get wet

What to do: Be firm about telling the crew that you're aren't ready. Any smart diver/crew will not throw someone in the water. If there is an initial rush to start gearing up upon reaching the dive site, try to hang back (especially if the boat is smaller and not everyone can comfortably get settled at once) and let those who want to jump in the water get there first. You also could politely point out that the person next to/behind you is ready and that they can go in ahead of you. That would have gotten the point across to me

 

[TexasKaren68]

This was about a 20 minute boat trip from shore. The majority of divers on the boat seemed to be experienced, although some were in the 25-50 dive range. There were also a couple taking their OW course, but they were being "looked after" by their instructor and not the boat crew. It would have been difficult (although not impossible) to clip things off at the surface because of the surface chop. It was much much calmer below the surface and it was a really shallow dive so standing on a sandy patch to get squared away seemed like the best option since Diver1 and Diver2 were hurried into the water before being 100% ready and other divers were jumping in right after.

 

[lowviz]

This was about a 20 minute boat trip from shore...........

Short trip. "Inexcusable" and holding. Tell the captain about your experience and ask for a re-take, ask if you can get an "intro" trip. The crew only loses a tip, the captain loses a customer. I'm betting that he doesn't even know...

Bottom line: If the captain doesn't care, find a new boat.

 

[TMHeimer]

On my first few charter dives I felt kind of the same way. Seemed like all was calm and relaxed on the way out then the big commotion started so everybody could rush into the water. Part of that I'm sure was that it takes a fair number of dives for the new OW diver to gear up quickly --by rote so to speak. After many charters this whole scene becomes easier and "normal". Though I still try to have all my stuff lined up for when the big CHARGE begins!

 

[jupitermermaid]

I'd like to know more about the circumstances of this experience. Was this a drift dive? If so, it's important to get everyone in the water as quickly as possible so that upon decending the group ends up on the reef, not 100' away in 90' of sand with a strong current to kick against in order to get back to the reef. Was there a 10 minute warning before the drop off? Most dive boats I've been on let the divers know 10 minutes before they are to be dropped in order for them to get completely ready to jump in the water. Most always, also, they ask if anyone needs more time. I've seen cases where no one will speak up saying they need more time to get their gear together and try to rush, only to be not ready when it's their time to jump in. The crew made have been told diver 1 and diver 2 were new divers, but if there are a lot of people on board it's hard for them to remember who's who; and unless you speak up and say you need help or more time, they can't know you're not ready.

It sounds like the crew knew that the problems diver 1 and diver 2 were having were in a fact a situation that could be handled underwater. Everything seemed to have worked out OK for the divers. Not putting the blame on the divers or the crew, since I don't know the circumstances. But I'm glad it all worked out. As lowvis mentioned, talk to the captain and see what he has to say. Maybe the circumstances dictated that you had to be in the water at a certain time, or the crew screwed up and put you in when you weren't ready. Communication is the key to finding out what went down and how to correct it for the next dive on that boat or any other.

 

[dmoore19]

Taking the Giant Stride before you have it together and have done the buddy check isn't safe. If you aren't ready, don't go. Better safe to dive another day.

If Diver 1 needed extra time Diver 1 should have gotten a head start on things and put on their wetsuit and boots and put antifog on their mask before they get on the boat. Diver 1 could also put things in their bag so they come out in the order needed, that can really help speed things up. There is no excuse for making someone get in the water before getting ready but the diver 1 holds some responsibility too. Diver 1 should not have gotten in the water until ready. It doesn't sound like Diver 1 had time to do a buddy check on Diver 2. Diver 1 and Diver 2 should have gone to the back of the line and gotten things sorted out prior to splashing.

Was it a drift dive? If so maybe they were trying to keep the group together. No excuse for making Diver 1 or 2 get into the water not being ready though. But it is also Diver 1's responsibility not to splash until ready.

Sorry Jupitermermaid, you posted before I got finished.

That's the way I see it, I could be wrong though I've only done it 50 times.

 

[flots am]

. . . and says "lets get you in the water". Diver2 points out that Diver1's SPG and octo are still not clipped off and are dangling behind her. Diver1 and Diver2 are told, "don't worry about it - you can figure it out in the water"

And what else was skipped? If you rush, you'll never know until it's too late.

• Never hit the water until you're certain everything is working properly and it's all where you want it.
• Never let anybody pressure you into getting in the water before you're ready.

Instructors and dive-masters are just people that have more dives than you. In some cases, not many more either. Never let anybody rush you into the water for any reason. This is how accidents happen.

On an hour dive, even if you got in 10 minutes after everybody else, you would still have a 50 minute dive.

FWIW, you learned a valuable lesson. "Just because 'a professional' tells you to do something doesn't mean it's a good idea"

 

[Bratface]

I'm wondering what the crew was thinking about by doing that to an inexperienced diver. I would have told them WE weren't ready yet and needed to complete our buddy check. Divers need to feel safe and prepared before entering the water. I sure hope you didn't give them a tip and I hope you told the captain as well as the shop owner/manager.