Disturbing trend in diving?

[Eric Sedletzky]

So, lately I've seen some things posted that have me raising my eyebrows a bit.
There have been a few stories posted about people relying completely on the divemasters or guides for their bottom times, NDL status, basic dive profiles. This seems to be in Mexico from what I gather but it might include some other locations.
The trend seems to be that these divers in question don't have computers or depth gauges/any kind of timing device and rely 100% on the divemasters to take care of them and keep them safe.
Is this a thing?

 

[MB NZ]

Yes, this is very common worldwide, mainly in tropical holiday-type diving destinations and has been for at least as long as I've been diving (1999).

 

[johndiver999]

I'm not sure, but if a dive operator knows the maximum depth and dictates the time and requires everyone to ascend with (or before) the divemaster, it may not be that big of a deal if customers simply play "follow the leader" - as long as they watch their own air supply.

I've done many, many dives where two 60 foot dives were scheduled with a 30 minute bottom time. As long as everyone follows the guidelines, they really don't need a computer to remain out of deco.

Personally, I don't dive without a computer unless it is super shallow and I might not turn it on just to save batteries.

 

[Subcooled]

For many people diving is nothing but a fun day trip.
They pay for it and they expect to be taken care of.
Diving as a hobby or as a profession is much different.

 

[Knockneed Man]

I don’t think that’s true of depth gauges at least… most rentals have an spg with a basic one. And computers have only become so commonplace within the last 10-15 years - at least for vacation divers.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Pardon me, but I'm a little flabbergasted.
I haven't been diving that long, I only got certified in 1998, but we did learn tables and they hammered them into our heads. Granted it was a local course intended for local diving so they prepped us to be 100% self sufficient divers that could plan and execute a dive on our own with another OW diver without any guidance. Of course tables have been replaced by computers now, but the rest is still the same.
I'm just curious, is this part of OW training now at these locales to not need any personal data where you guys claim this is commonplace? Are they teaching "Just follow the guide"?
Or are these people just blowing off their training and not buying computers because they don't want to waste money on something they don't use anyway?

 

[MB NZ]

I'm just curious, is this part of OW training now at these locales to not need any personal data where you guys claim this is commonplace? Are they teaching "Just follow the guide"?
Or are these people just blowing off their training and not buying computers because they don't want to waste money on something they don't use anyway?

I don't have answers to all your questions, just reporting what I've seen on my travels, but I believe there is an option to opt out of teaching tables in PADI OW and they "teach" you how to use a computer instead. If you don't own a computer as a supposedly independent diver, there is an obvious problem.

 

[TMHeimer]

Yes, this is very common worldwide, mainly in tropical holiday-type diving destinations and has been for at least as long as I've been diving (1999).

That's what I figured too. I've been reading stuff like this since I joined SB in 2007.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I don't have answers to all your questions, just reporting what I've seen on my travels, but I believe there is an option to opt out of teaching tables in PADI OW and they "teach" you how to use a computer instead. If you don't own a computer as a supposedly independent diver, there is an obvious problem.

l don't want this to turn into a tables vs computer debate. I guess the only reason I mentioned getting trained on tables was because they tended to hammer the information into your brain by making you do problems forwards and backwards. We took this stuff very seriously and we were told this is serious stuff. My class was taught by an ex Navy diver and someone who worked in diving not only as an instructor but as an underwater stunt man for movies plus anything to do with underwater work for TV commercials.
I'm relating these teachings into a deep understanding of the physics of depth and time. So for me, I would never place myself into a position where I would trust someone entirely and go with no instrumentation at all except for maybe an SPG. I would never do a dive without my own computer set to my preferences and on my body tracking my dive. Shallow or not, trusting somebody else completely is nuts!

 

[rhwestfall]

I've been somewhat taken back by the amount of hand holding offered in past warm water trips....