My bitch about dive guides is when they go deep and swim against the current. Anything to shorten the time they need to be underwater with “those” tourists
Dive Guide too Fast?
- Thread starter baidanbi
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CWK
Contributor
You should be able to keep up with other guests. If not, you are in the wrong group and should ask to be moved to a more sedentary group.
If there is no one else diving as slow as you, then get a private guide because you are an outlier who has special needs and will be an impediment to whichever group that you are placed in.
Also, there is no need to keep up with a guide. Get solo certified and dive at your own pace.
Age is not an excuse. I’m 67 and I cannot keep up with guides when the guide goes flat out. This is only to be expected as guides are professional divers and are extremely fit. However. I can keep up with probably about 95% of other guests. I’d go as far as to say that I can keep up with 100% of other guest over 50. And I am quite happy to go solo.
If there is no one else diving as slow as you, then get a private guide because you are an outlier who has special needs and will be an impediment to whichever group that you are placed in.
Also, there is no need to keep up with a guide. Get solo certified and dive at your own pace.
Age is not an excuse. I’m 67 and I cannot keep up with guides when the guide goes flat out. This is only to be expected as guides are professional divers and are extremely fit. However. I can keep up with probably about 95% of other guests. I’d go as far as to say that I can keep up with 100% of other guest over 50. And I am quite happy to go solo.
Kendall Raine
Contributor
A conversation with the guide is in order. You are the customer, but the guide might have a legitimate (versus specious) reason for going at that pace. For example, if the current is picking up mid dive, the guide might want to hustle to get to a more protected area of the reef-very possible at Rangi. The big attraction at Rangi is the sharks. If the guide feels the sharks are someplace else, they might try to move quickly in that direction to maximize face time with the sharks. A polite conversation should smoke that out. Besides, it gives the guide the benefit of the doubt. They may not realize you're not happy with the pace. If after that point you're not comfortable with the answers/attitude, switching guides/groups (or a private guide) is a smart move. It's your money and your vacation. You should get what you paid for, within reason.
As to what's reasonable, it depends on what you mean by your question about "inherently faster" sites. I doubt one can legitimately generalize about the attitude/pace of guides in different locations. Currents/conditions; however, can make sites a lot faster and more challenging. In my opinion the dive tourism industry is all too happy to sell trips without consideration of whether a location is appropriate for the client (in terms of skills and preferences). Dive guides try to plan around currents with the skills of the group in mind, but the ocean doesn't care about dive plans. Some divers like currents and pick their trips with that in mind. Rangi can have very strong currents-particularly Tiputa or other passes. Be an educated consumer and do your homework before booking, or go with a reputable group/shop which has experience taking tourists to different places and be open with them about what you like/dislike. It blows me away when I see posts on SB from novices all strung out about currents in various places (Komodo, Peleliu, Cozumel). If currents worry you go elsewhere first and work up to it. Diving is supposed to be fun/thrilling, not scary/exhausting.
Bottom line: I've encountered very few jerk guides and usually polite communication solves any problems. I think the vast majority want you to have a good time and feel comfortable. You might also speak with the other members of your group. Some may feel as you but are afraid to speak up.
As to what's reasonable, it depends on what you mean by your question about "inherently faster" sites. I doubt one can legitimately generalize about the attitude/pace of guides in different locations. Currents/conditions; however, can make sites a lot faster and more challenging. In my opinion the dive tourism industry is all too happy to sell trips without consideration of whether a location is appropriate for the client (in terms of skills and preferences). Dive guides try to plan around currents with the skills of the group in mind, but the ocean doesn't care about dive plans. Some divers like currents and pick their trips with that in mind. Rangi can have very strong currents-particularly Tiputa or other passes. Be an educated consumer and do your homework before booking, or go with a reputable group/shop which has experience taking tourists to different places and be open with them about what you like/dislike. It blows me away when I see posts on SB from novices all strung out about currents in various places (Komodo, Peleliu, Cozumel). If currents worry you go elsewhere first and work up to it. Diving is supposed to be fun/thrilling, not scary/exhausting.
Bottom line: I've encountered very few jerk guides and usually polite communication solves any problems. I think the vast majority want you to have a good time and feel comfortable. You might also speak with the other members of your group. Some may feel as you but are afraid to speak up.
i usually agree with CWK (we've been on a liveaboard together) but I'll have to disagree on this one. This is not a question of "keeping up with" the faster swimmers. The guide needs to match the entire group, not just the fastest swimmers. Inexperienced divers often go much too fast; they are not there to see things, but rather to swim and cover a lot of ground. The more experience you have, the more you see, and want to see, and the slower you tend to go. CWK says let the slow person hire a private guide. Why not the fast people hire a private guide? Better yet, the fast people can just swim around a lot, and just circle a slowly moving guide. CWK is a photographer, and happy to go solo. Other photographers may not want to go solo. Also, solo is not an option on all liveaboards/countries.
CWK
Contributor
I had this experience in Komodo when I was put in a group of 3. The other 2 were a doctor and lawyer couple who were probably in their 50s. The wife (doctor) had suffered skin bends before and dived on nitrox with her computer set on air and as a rule refused to dive below 20m. The husband was an air hog who would run out of air if he dived deeper than 20m.
There was one other group of 3 divers on the boat but they were on air, not nitrox so they were diving a different profile from me as I was on nitrox. (It was a small boat called the Adelaar.)
I ended up diving mostly solo since the dive guide stuck with the other 2 divers in my group. But I was happy to go solo.
To me, the other 2 divers were outliers who were sufficiently wealthy enough to hire private guides. There are people with special needs. They should engage private guides to attend to their special needs.
If the OP does not have special needs, she should be able to find a group that dives at her speed. Age is not an excuse.
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