Conflicting Guidance from the “Experts” and Insta-buddies

[--tom--]

Clarification: These ARE from different people, different places. My point is that new divers are lambasted with these . . . How is it that this happens?

My opinion is that they are so enamored with your stunning good looks and insightful intelligence that the people are willing to say anything to talk to you

As an observation, the advise givers don't know what they don't know. Many newish divers have not advanced to notice the subtleties of diving well.

I dive in some challenging, green, cold waters, but that doesn't necessarily prepare me for clear tropical waters. Where I dive doesn't normally prepare me for current diving. Each environment has its own primary skill set necessary for eloquent diving. I have some of the basic skills down, and I am improving, but there is clearly a difference between me and a truly talented diver. It amazes me to watch (and listen to) people with good intentions expressing opinions--opinions that are (or may be) correct for themselves & their home environment--without noting the nuances of the new dive locations or the other people.

 

[Jax]

My opinion is that they are so enamored with your stunning good looks and insightful intelligence that the people are willing to say anything to talk to you

Aww. :blush: :kiss2:

 

[wadedeeper]

I feel that a majority of diver 'tude stems from the belief that once they have their Cert cards, they know all and don't need anyone telling them what to do...kinda like teenagers.

 

[Jax]

I still find it freaking amazing that a diver wouldn't want the DM and divebudy to know that the 12 lbs were zipped in pockets instead of the quick-release pockets. Did she think she'd never have to be rescued?

 

[Puffer Fish]

Jax, you need to relax, take some deep breaths and let it go.

I dive with a lot of insta-buddies. Some are very nice, some suck. I don't tell them how to dive unless they are doing something that endangers me or damages the environment.

If they ask, will advise.

If someone want to put weights in the BC... they obviously don't want any help if something goes bad, so I have a nice pleasant conversation about how content I will be to watch them.

Don't want to go thru a predive check, some simple dive planning, I am perfectly fine with it, I just make it clear they are not my buddy, so don't expect anything from me.

Want to flit back and forth above the reef, knock yourself out, I will be perfectly happy when you run out of air to point out where the anchor is, so you can go back to the boat.

On the other hand, act even slightly like a reasonable buddy, and I will treat them like a real buddy.

I know great divers with only OW, terrible ones with lots of cards.

Buddies, I will go down with, dive with and come back to the surface with. Others, not so much.

Nitrox... all my tanks are O2 cleaned and have Nitrox in them (well, except for the ones with Trimix). I dive air when using rental tanks and Nitrox is not available, which is only on trips.

Dove this weekend with a diver that ran out of air on the first dive and got lost on the second...sure hope he enjoyed that 300 yard swim back to the boat. Had he been a buddy, I would have prevented both of those events, but as I was just diving with him...he seemed to survive just fine.

My goal in starting this thread is not to have a lot of people give me advice, but to glean an understanding of the wide spread of attitudes the new diver experiences when diving. Please ‘trust me’ that I am capable of assimilating a lot of information and making my own decision.

Why do various people express this kind of attitude and make these statements to new divers? For the purpose of this discussion, I am saying “new” for 100 or so dives, or AOW and below training. I don’t dive any ‘one’ place, but more likely a vacation rec diver of four trips a year. This conflicting information creates some strange divers, methinks.

DM says, Stop thinking so much and just enjoy the dive. “I’ll take care of you.”

Insta-buddy claims “I have several hundred dives. I don’t need buddy checks.” When I expressed interest in her training, she was AOW only. She didn’t think it necessary that others know she drops her weights in her BC pockets, and the quick-pull weight pockets are empty. (Scares me in a rescue scenario.)

“Just go out and dive. Don’t worry about more education, get a few hundred dives under your belt before you move on.” When recounted, this was countered by the following:

“Why wait and assimilate bad habits your instructor will have to break.”

Why do you need to practice skills? Don’t you think you were trained well enough?

You don’t need <enter equipment here – SMB, air whistle, etc.>.

Why is all your equipment (SPG, etc.) clipped to your BC?

When expressing a desire for Nitrox, “You don’t need Nitrox; all of our dives are 70 fsw and less.” (I am one of those that ‘feels less tired’ after Nitrox.)

Observed: Some divers seem to dive not for the pleasure of diving, but to do nothing but conserve their air. That way, when they came to the surface, they could brag about how much air they had left. One woman that did this had the gall to ask me about everything I saw so she could put it in her logbook, when she was nowhere near enough to see what I saw (like 15' above).

 

[Mike Boswell]

I would much rather listen than talk, so I listen to other people a lot. It's been my experience that people don't always say exactly what they meant to say, and you have to ask them to explain, to clarify, and to draw them out a little bit. Chances are, once you understand what they are saying from their perspective, you will likely understand and agree with them.

 

[Darnold9999]

Advice is worth exactly what you pay for it. opinions are like back ends everyone has one.

my favorite piece of advice was from my dad, he said "you cant get in trouble diving one tank of air." this is of course only true if your sac rate is above about .8 (I did not calc just guessing) and of course your tank is at most an AL80.

Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies.

dive free and often.

Got the same advice from a very - and I mean very - experienced diver. However the qualifier was - on a steel 72 - do the math yourself.

For a single dive on a single 72 you really have to work at getting into trouble - and if you have that kind of sac you probably know enough to avoid the trouble anyway.

 

[lulubelle]

Back to the original point . . . why would people SAY these things?

Except for one line in the example, they are all bad advice / attitudes. I cannot fathom why people would say them? And what is a good way for a noob to counter them? (Without being a dork, of course.)

I think it is God's way of making sure that new divers know that THEY, and only THEY, are responsible for their safety and their choices when diving, up to an including who they choose to dive with.

I credit my AOW instructor (who was full of advice, bad diving, and is no longer an instructor) and his newly minted DM (who was full of advice and had completely uncontrolled buoyancy at 120 feet) with teaching me this valuable lesson. I'm thankful for it.

 

[crd_kats]

I would much rather listen than talk, so I listen to other people a lot. It's been my experience that people don't always say exactly what they meant to say, and you have to ask them to explain, to clarify, and to draw them out a little bit. Chances are, once you understand what they are saying from their perspective, you will likely understand and agree with them.

And you could very well likely understand and disagree with them. Their perspective isn't usually what you may want to do.

 

[Walter]

I was actually chastised for not moving out because I was just standing there -- mentalling going through my self checks! and I was told I 'worry too much'.

What was the situation? Where you in the way of someone who was ready to go? I go over all my checks before I leave my seat. If I leave my seat, I'm ready to splash. On the other hand, it sounds like someone was rude to you. That's never the right behavior. Communication should be polite.

Did she think she'd never have to be rescued?

That's exactly what she thought. I can relate, I was there once myself. None of us is bullet proof. Any one of us could be in a position in which we need to be rescued.