Disturbing trend in diving?

[Lu Y]

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).

Agreed, I've seen most dive centres not giving guests five computers egypt, Zanzibar, Oman, Chile. What comes with this is usually poor equipment rental too.

So after a few holidays we decided to buy our own equipment.

 

[Nemrod]

I like the concierge services that are becoming common. I do not mind at all. I handle my camera checks, they do my gear. I then check it all over. The deck hands usually watch me check and adjust and by the second day they have me figured out. I am particular and do not like things dragged, banged, scratched and they see that and act accordingly and help me with my camera and have always been good about it, especially Cozumel. Heck, they wind up doing a better job than me!

I am particular but as I get older I find somethings helpful letting the crew assemble and take my gear back down and bag it, nice! And I have come to not mind a dive guide as long as they give me latitude to go about my business which is usually photography.

But I will do my own figuring thank you .

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Unfortunately, it does seem to be a thing. Goes against everything I’ve ever been taught. I was always taught to rely on my own gauges (later computers) and not to assume my profile matched that of a buddy or DM to keep me safe.

I really can’t wrap my head around blindly trusting someone I just met like that.

That said, for some of these divers, it may be the best option. I’m talking about people who only dive on a vacation/cruise excursion. They probably don’t have their own gear or computers. So, even if they have a rental computer in their console, they likely don’t know how to use it.

Thank you for confirming that I'm not the crazy one here.
I can't wrap my head around the ignorance either and that's why I posted this thread.

 

[DCN]

Reading through this, we can understand why we've been told in no uncertain terms that as beginners, we're totally going to kill ourselves, that it's unsafe to dive without a guide until you have at least 100 dives, that we have no business diving a drysuit in cold water et cetera, et cetera.

We don't feel unsafe doing what we do, we take it pretty seriously. The learning curve has been steep, and we still have much to learn. Would it be easier to be towed around by a DM on a holiday dive once a year? Most definitely. Would we feel that we got something out of it? Not at all.

 

[lexvil]

You mean by loaning them computers?
It sounds like they didn't own one and therefore probably didn't know how to use one either.
The boat should have done a better job of screening this couple and told them to either hire a guide or learn to be self sufficient between the time of sign up and the first dive.
I don't know what they're teaching these days but that's a pretty big thing to leave out.

So this is why (IMO opinion) someone who learned on tables would have a clue about depth and time, even though it would have been square profiles. The way they hammered the info just by default meant that the concept was ingrained because you had to put pencil to paper.
So if those two had originally been taught tables they would have thought differently about what they were doing in the context of personal empowerment.
Even if they didn't have computers at least they would have had a depth gauge and timing device and they could have at least gotten wet.
If they didn't have computers, what makes you think they would have depth/timing devices you ask? Because when you learned tables you were also taught how important depth and time is and never to forget that stuff.
Yes I know computers are the way things are now, I have one too. I'm just sayin that maybe the old way of knowing a table isn't the most worthless thing ever. It developed a "core understanding". Using a computer on top of that understanding is just gravy, a cherry on top!

No by saying follow me

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

No by saying follow me

Here's the problem with that.
All those other local divers paid their money and got on that boat to do their own thing. 75% of them dive solo for a reason; probably to bug hunt.
For a paying local diver with their own plans to suddenly find themselves in a position to have to lead two completely unknown, clueless to cold water, with no clue about personal responsibility, divers around is unreasonable at best. I certainly wouldn't volunteer. What about liability? They were going to sue the boat because they didn't provide a guide. Do you want to become that target?
It sucks for them but they should have done their homework beforehand. Now they know, and our CA dive boats will probably never see them again.

 

[lexvil]

Here's the problem with that.
All those other local divers paid their money and got on that boat to do their own thing. 75% of them dive solo for a reason; probably to bug hunt.
For a paying local diver with their own plans to suddenly find themselves in a position to have to lead two completely unknown, clueless to cold water, with no clue about personal responsibility, divers around is unreasonable at best. I certainly wouldn't volunteer. What about liability? They were going to sue the boat because they didn't provide a guide. Do you want to become that target?
It sucks for them but they should have done their homework beforehand. Now they know, and our CA dive boats will probably never see them again.

Sometimes doing the right thing is hard.

 

[jseyfert3]

Yes I know computers are the way things are now, I have one too. I'm just sayin that maybe the old way of knowing a table isn't the most worthless thing ever. It developed a "core understanding". Using a computer on top of that understanding is just gravy, a cherry on top!

As someone who's still very much new to diving, I feel that you could be trained in a computer and have an excellent "core understanding" of time and depth. I don't see any reason why proper learning about dive computers would give a different core understanding than that of tables.

The key, I believe, is you have to have a desire to learn. If you don't have that, then you'll never have a core understanding.

 

[pauldw]

Sometimes doing the right thing is hard.

Indeed. Telling people they're too incompetent to dive, and that they need to stay behind rather than impressing you into being their divemaster, is a toughie. Tough love.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

As someone who's still very much new to diving, I feel that you could be trained in a computer and have an excellent "core understanding" of time and depth. I don't see any reason why proper learning about dive computers would give a different core understanding than that of tables.

The key, I believe, is you have to have a desire to learn. If you don't have that, then you'll never have a core understanding.

good on you man!
this is great.
Yes, you can get a core understanding of depth and time learning computers. In a way you still are learning a table, it's just a virtual fluid version, but none the less it is still a digital version of a table.
But yes, you have to take an interest and want to learn it.