Disturbing trend in diving?

[MB NZ]

I’m a Jersey diver and I’m guessing with your BSAC cert, we’ve both dove those conditions before. But totally agree it’s not what you would expect in Florida or the Caribbean. Up here, that’s a lot of our diving, except the part about Cuba.

No briefing is definitely not okay, but there are many ops in Florida that don't provide a guide in the water and basically serve as a taxi to the dive site.

It made for a memorable dive. We still talk about it and it was 2010! No hard feelings, but as johndiver999 said in his post, if they'd dropped a bunch of newbies in to this mess, it likely would have had a bad outcome.

 

[Altamira]

I don't know why we are surprised and frustrated that most divers in our sport do not live up to the standards some of us attempt to achieve. Life has taught me that the majority of participants in any activity, whether it be high risk or just playing a card game, are there just to have fun and not be bothered with the mechanics, in-depth knowledge, or developing skills. Unfortunately, this is the world we live in, and I do not see attitudes changing anytime soon.

 

[MB NZ]

I don't know why we are surprised and frustrated that most divers in our sport do not live up to the standards some of us attempt to achieve. Life has taught me that the majority of participants in any activity, whether it be high risk or just playing a card game, are there just to have fun and not be bothered with the mechanics, in-depth knowledge, or developing skills. Unfortunately, this is the world we live in, and I do not see attitudes changing anytime soon.

You're correct and it will get worse if anything. Instant gratification and short attention spans mean that few want to do a deep dive in to a subject.

 

[Leatherboot69]

But why does it matter how other people dive? Surely what matters is that they enjoy themselves?

 

[Pressurehead]

few want to do a deep dive in to a subject.

No pun intended, Right?

 

[Wants2divemore]

It made for a memorable dive. We still talk about it and it was 2010! No hard feelings, but as johndiver999 said in his post, if they'd dropped a bunch of newbies in to this mess, it likely would have had a bad outcome.

Glad you have a good perspective on it and it sounds like you and your buddies are knowledgeable enough to handle yourself in any condition. It is inexcusable however, that the op you used didn't have any safety briefing.

I agree that a bunch of newbies being dropped into rough currents without a guide most likely wouldn't be good for the newbies. But I'm of the opinion that people need to know what they're getting into, be prepared and understand the risks _BEFORE_ they get there.

I understand if you're a new diver and make the effort to find a dive op that basically holds your hand throughout the entire process because that's what you want (assembles/disassembles your gear, provides a great guide, ensures they take you to a dive site where the conditions and viz are great, etc.). I'm glad those dive ops exist because it gets more people involved in the sport and hopefully they develop into competent divers.

But if you just go somewhere as a newbie and just assume that you'll be okay without checking things out first, then that's not okay. I think of it like those people who go mountaineering without adequate equipment and training, then expect someone to come save them the moment they get into a little trouble. People need to be responsible for themselves.

 

[The Chairman]

We could of course have made the decision to can the dive ourselves, but didn't.

No one forces you to dive, so why did you? I've dove in some huge seas: 10-12 feet. That was my decision. My son and I were the only ones to splash, and we had a great, great time. No one else did, and it was our choice to splash the second time. Everyone else on the boat was puking, so we had mercy and called it. I've been on the other side too, where everyone else went in, and I stayed on board. Unlike my son and I, they did not have a good time. I knew they wouldn't, and I was right. I was the only one to tip the crew that day.

I hope I'm not too harsh, but the boat's job is to be a cab, not your safety officer. If you want to dive in crap, well, that's on you. My second rule of diving is that you can call a dive at any time, for any reason, with no questions asked. I've called dives before I've gotten out of bed. I've called dives while on the boat. I've called dives because I didn't like my buddy.

 

[MB NZ]

No one forces you to dive, so why did you? I've dove in some huge seas: 10-12 feet. That was my decision. My son and I were the only ones to splash, and we had a great, great time. No one else did, and it was our choice to splash the second time. Everyone else on the boat was puking, so we had mercy and called it. I've been on the other side too, where everyone else went in, and I stayed on board. Unlike my son and I, they did not have a good time. I knew they wouldn't, and I was right. I was the only one to tip the crew that day.

I hope I'm not too harsh, but the boat's job is to be a cab, not your safety officer. If you want to dive in crap, well, that's on you. My second rule of diving is that you can call a dive at any time, for any reason, with no questions asked. I've called dives before I've gotten out of bed. I've called dives while on the boat. I've called dives because I didn't like my buddy.

You're right. Why? Because we paid the money, there was pressure to dive (real or imagined), we went through the hassle of sorting kit and suffered the bumpy boat ride, we wanted to dive, we were on holiday in Florida, so what could go wrong?

I'm older and wiser now. I'd still do the dive, but not with my wife.

 

[jseyfert3]

I charted a very small boat for myself and a few members of the family in the lower keys a long time ago. Conditions were marginal with visibility, and the only crew was the captain.

The water looked really milky and I was not comfortable putting everyone in, so I suggested that he drop me solo and I would bounce down and check out conditions. He agreed and said he would put me over a reef in like 90 feet or something. So he set me up and I dropped in, swam like hell straight down with no reference or guideline or marker etc. I could see the vis was bad and I could barely see the end of my pole spear, but I just kept powering down (kicking hard in a vertical position, and I kept expecting the bottom to come into view. It is really hard to judge your descent rate or depth like that, especially in dirty water. Finally I knew I HAD to be pretty deep, so I stopped kicking and looked at my computer for the first time, I was at like 140 ft or something with no bottom in sight!. It was a long time ago, it could have actually been 160 or something, but I hate to exaggerate when my recollection is fuzzy.

We could have definitely got somebody killed that day if we had all jumped in and got separated and some less experienced divers just went to the bottom- where ever the hell that was.

I was super pissed when I got up. I am like, WTF don't you have a depth recorder? How do you screw up that bad and dump me in deep water and way off the reef. I didn't know the area at all and never even considered the water could be that deep in the area where he took us. THAT was a pretty big error for a dive operator in the keys. I think I demanded and got all our money back on that one.

That was one of my worst (at least from a safety perspective) situation with a dive operator in the keys.

Sounds like you did the same thing the boat captain did: Didn't use your depth gauge.

 

[johndiver999]

Sounds like you did the same thing the boat captain did: Didn't use your depth gauge.

yeah I should have checked it sooner, good thing I had a reasonable feel for my descent rate and depth.

However, if the captain tells me he is dropping me in x feet of water, I am not going to verify during the descent unless I have a good cause to suspect he has missed the drop. Typically once I reach the bottom/target depth, I will take a glance at the computer and make sure the depth seems reasonable and it is working and I usually also double check the air pressure. I just don't mess with that stuff in 60-90 seconds that a descent might take.