Chasing marine life

[mtbrider]

Well I just got back from Palau, what an awesome experience. But I did have one thing that was not so awesome, and that was getting ripped a new one by the DM for "chasing" a spotted eagle ray.

We spotted it swimming a ways away and I wanted to get a picture. So I swam over to it, never getting closer than 15 ft. I took a few shots and then backed away. At no point did the ray start swimming faster or seem disturbed.

The DM was pissed because she says now the eagle ray will associate divers with danger and won't come around any more. I think that's BS! This is the same DM who came up once with "no air at all", had DCS multiple times in the past four years, and told us to swim through a cave with our lights off, dodging the stalactites.

So is this a case of a crappy DM? Or did I do a bad thing swimming to the ray to get a closer shot?

 

[dougaldiver]

Hi, sorry you got a hard time from the DM.

If you approached the Ray slowly and gently, showed consideration in the use of the strobe and then backed gently away then it is unlikely that the ray would have felt in danger.

If you actually chased it (swimming flat out, breathing hard and making lots of bubbles and noise) then it could well have seen that as a threat.

Having said that, unless you had it cornered somehow, if it wasn't happy with you being there it would have been gone so fast you wouldn'y have been able to get near it.

It sounds like your DM was a bit over the top in giving you a hard time. It also sounds like she is either very unlucky, has a medical problem (i.e. PFO) or adopts some very unsafe diving practices to be bent 'several' times' in four years although it would be unfair to judge her competance without knowing the circumstances.

 

[Damselfish]

Possibly the DM was a little over the top and could have handled it better, I don't know I wasn't there. If it's just you and your buddy and the ray, I don't see a problem with a slow approach to something, as said they'll be gone fast if they don't like it and I don't think that's going to make the ray fear divers.

But if you're near a group of other divers I think it's rude. It bugs me when people swim towards anything like rays, there is a good chance they are going to move away, even if they're not spooked and zooming off. You don't know in advance what the critter will do. So you may deprive others of a chance to see it. Also when you move in towards something, you tend to ruin other peoples view of it. You may be in between, or instead of a nice view of blue water or wall with a ray, now they've got the ray and YOU. (If the ray itself comes close, that's another matter.) I think it's better to stay put in this case. Sometimes they will come back for another pass and you get a better show. If you get lucky you get lucky.

 

[ReefGuy]

It certainly wouldn't be the first time a DM got fanatical. There are those out there that think sea life will drop dead if you look at it wrong. I think the DM's past experiences speak for themselves in this case.

If you didn't disturb the ray, you did nothing wrong.

 

[SmokingMirror]

The DM was pissed because she says now the eagle ray will associate divers with danger and won't come around any more. I think that's BS! This is the same DM who came up once with "no air at all", had DCS multiple times in the past four years, and told us to swim through a cave with our lights off, dodging the stalactites.

That you behaved appropriately would seem, from what you've written, to be obvious. However, I'm a little concerned about this DM. From what you're telling us, this DM seems to have only a superficial understanding of animal behaviour, often lacks the ability to dive in a manner which will allow for safe decompression, and has such an inept approach to the risks inherant to cave diving that she not only turns off her own light, but requires her group to do the same, thus increasing the risk of incident.

Have you considered refusing to dive with her as your DM?

 

[TheRedHead]

In one location on a deep dive, I descended and dropped to the sand in order to adjust my loose BC before adjusting buoyancy. The DM made a motion like he was pulling his hair out. After the dive, he lectured me about disturbing tiny creatures that may live in the sand.

I dove with another operation in the same location where a DM caught a white spotted filefish and was swimming it around to everyone to show us the teeth. Lots of sharp little teeth in a round mouth.

 

[mtbrider]

Thanks for the replies guys. On this dive this was the second time we'd seen the ray, so I don't think I deprived anyone of looking at it. One of the other divers even gave me the OK sign, so I assume they thought the ray was cool and didn't mind me swimming in to get a better shot.

About the DM, I don't know the exact circumstances with her DCS. But while listenening to her speak with another diver she stated she had the "skin bends" three times. She may have a PFO; I'd hope after 3 cases of DCS she would get checked for one, who knows though. Also, she stated she had been diving for four years. However, her ascent rate was appropriate and we always did a nice long safety stop. One time it was for 7 minutes, I think because we "had" to get our planned dive time in.

I think this DM was waaay too casual with safety. The "no air" thing bothered me the most. What if someone ran out and tried to buddy breathe off her octo? The other divers routinely came up with under 300 PSI; luckily I am good on air and was never that low. She was also swearing and being negative; that's not something I consider professional.

I was with a family member on the trip and they didn't want to go so far as to request another DM. So I just kept track of my buddy and had my SMB in case I needed to surface w/o the DM. A different DM with the same outfit had similar safety issues according to some other divers I spoke with. Next time I go there, another dive outfit will get my money.