Could someone tell me?

[MikeFerrara]

Could someone tell me…what is so darned hard about keeping your feet out of the bottom? I am not the subtle philosopher type that Uncle Pug is so I thought I would just blurt it out.

This year has been the worst. Everyplace we dive and teach has totally blown out vis if there are any other divers present. It is my observation that the dive sites are becoming more crowded and the skill level of those divers has gone straight through the floor.

We were teaching a class at Haigh Quarry this weekend and every single diver I saw on Saturday was leaving a trail of silty destruction behind them. I am not exaggerating I mean 100% as in every single one. I realize that new divers will occasionally come too close and a puff of silt may be the result, but I’m talking about divers leaving a continuous trail. However, these were not new divers. They were divers sporting dry suites and all manner of expensive equipment including double tanks.

I did a night dive with someone that I certified several weeks ago. This was his first weekend out diving since his class. His first comment after surfacing was to ask what was wrong with all those divers.

As soon as we started the diver we were passé by three other divers on the reverse heading we were on. They had left a trail 15 ft wide and 5 - 7 feet high. Two divers completely dusted us out later as they passed us. I was happy to discuss this with him in front of some of the other divers who were leaving the water at the same time we were.

For those of you who dive the Caribbean, realize that if there were a silty bottom you would have zero vis.

Two weeks ago I was at Gilboa. I saw divers stand on the bottom to look at their gauges.

As slopped up as these sites are I do not feel I can teach there. I don’t even want to dive there unless it’s during the week or in the winter when the novice recreational divers are not there.

This is not just due to inexperience, as my OW students don’t make a mess.

Please look behind yourself once in a while. You should be able to see as well behind as in front. If you can’t please take steps to correct it.

I have hovered next to those making a mess of things and folks standing on the bottom and pointed them out to my students (who also hover there watching). If they notice we are there, which they usually don’t, I motion for them to get off the bottom. From now on, I will not be as subtle. These divers are ruining things for all of us. I will, from now on, do whatever I can to give them a real wake up call including public humiliation (especially to instructors whose classes make a mess). When I see instructors who have students with dangling equipment I will call them on it in front of their class. The little rubber things you can use to tie them up cost only pennies. I will donate them to any shop or instructor who can’t afford them.

If any of the tillers who were at Haigh Quarry this weekend are on the board, I am available for flame, argument or to give free advice.

 

[PA/NJdiver]

Mike,

I understand completely what you are saying. We spent the weekend diving at Dutch Springs watching exactly the same things you described. I am thoroughly convinced that the majority of people do not understand what proper trim and good buoyancy control are. They think they do, but they really don't have a clue. We had 60 foot of viz that was trashed by rototillers.

And you are correct. It's not always the OW students. We love to watch the instructors and students on the platforms. The instructors are really funny because they have poor buoyancy control and trim. So, if the instructors don't have these skills, what are the students supposed to do? I know two instructors personally that leave a dust trail behind them everywhere they go, but they refuse to change the way they do things.

I admit, it is very frustrating.

Stacey

 

[JT2]

Ahh, come on Mike, what's really bothering you??? hahaha.
I feel your pain man, but please don't humiliate the newly certified diver who may have had an idiot instructor, instead, maybe a little private constructive criticism would be better.

 

[notabob]

I think it might be a good idea to share some tips on how to prevent stirring up the bottom (alternate kick methods, keeping your kicks shallow, bending your legs away from the bottom when kicking, etc.). I won't deny that I've done my share of silting things up over time, although I do try to limit it as much as possible whenever I dive. Improving my bouyancy skills did wonders to help with this. Proper trimming also appeared to help, especially making sure that your feet don't sink to the bottom when you stop. I'm sure any other suggestions from the more experienced divers on this board would be more than welcome. I don't think people do it intentionally, and most would like to learn the techniques to safeguard against it. Not everyone necessarily had instructors teach them the proper techniques, and those that did may have forgotten the nuances over the years.

-Roman.

 

[AquaTec]

I don't think it is totaly due to the instructor, all be it the time spent on teaching trim, kicks, and profile must be minimul by some instructors.

I truely think the problem is a result of diversification of individuals

it used to be that you generaly picked one sport and pusued it, now you probable do several.
rock climbing, skiing, skydiving, scuba, kyaking, etc.

so the time spent on each sport is much less. therefore your skills deminish. all scuba skills are perishable and if not practice will be lost

also people are much to busy these days to dive offten.

the moral is that divers are loosing their skills over time as skills are perishable. and they are not diving enough. with this in mind there is some good in the marketing of so many courses by some agencies, as it can act as a reffresher for your skills.

all of this doesn't excuse poor diving. it is simply my version as to the reason so many divers are stirring up the bottom. it is not poor instruction, just not enough emphasis on it.

 

[art.chick]

Aquatec is being nice when he says we don't have time to dive often enough to get the buoyancy tricks down. I think we DO have time but are not organized & connected with enough other local divers to get out in thos niches of time when we CAN squeeze in a dive.

I have a buddy who has a whole e-mail list of buddies he e-mails when he wants to do a before-work dive, an after-work dive, a long-lunch dive, etc. We give each other a couple day's notice & see who wants to buddy. As a result, we are not waiting for some LDS to set up a junket to Grand Cayman to practice. We get a lot of dives in, get a system down, some even have regular appointments to dive with a group or a buddy.

I have been at sites so crowded that I am getting clocked in the head by flailing students while I narrowly swerve around the ones I can see. I believe that it is good for diving communities to keep adding new members, but some places have too few really good sites for beginners. It would benefit kayakers & divers alike if local park districts could agree to put some cash into making some other areas accessible to us.

 

[jbd]

observation that some people quite simply could care less.

Some are just simply oblivious to whats going on around them and could never conceive of the concept that their diving skills were at all lacking.

I guess many divers are fortunate that they get to dive in the ocean with no silt problems. Of course it would be nice if they would at least realize that they have just kicked another diver 2 or 3 times when they went blazing by.

 

[detroit diver]

Okay, I'll take the less "politically correct" and cynical approach.

The agencies are shoving people thru for the almighty buck. $99.00 dollar classes, weekend certifications-what the heck do you expect? If someone happens to get LUCKY and get an instructor that actually cares, or even knows the difference between good technique and bad, then they should count their blessings. I was one of them.

The last trip to Gilboa was exactly what Mike described. My buddies and myself just looked at each other in awe. For those of you that have never been diving there, they sunk a Grumman jet airplane for divers to swim in and around. This is a very large plane. By noon, you could not see the plane if you were more than 15 feet away. Normal viz there is 40-60 feet on weekdays/nites.

Divers were swimming the crawl stroke like they were in the Olympics! I saw at least 3 of them stand up on the bottom-lord knows what they were doing.

If you think it's going to get better, think again. As the volume increases, the quality of instructors gets diluted.

And people wonder why the coral in Cayman/Cozumel/wherever looks like crap....

 

[Aquamaniac]

I think alot comes from where you are trained as well.
Where I grew up and did most of my diving, you could do "snow" angels on the bottom and it wouldnt do anything to the viz. It is all coarse white sand and shell grit.
As a result, very few divers in the area had decent trim and bouyancy skills.
Only us divers that got into wrecks really cared about it.

As a result of this "lazy" instruction, the reef suffered.

In all of the classes I ever saw, the first thing the students do is go over the blunt end and kneel on the bottom, where the instructor begins his drills. Its a sorry sight, hell they even had a hand signal for it (two knuckles on the palm)

Dave

 

[detroit diver]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a standard PADI signal????