Dive Master Candidate's philosophy

[MDWreckdiver]

I am in the last weeks of finishing my DM cert a year in the making. The instructor that is mentoring me required a 200 hour commitment and additionally seeing 4 classes through from start to finish (OW, AOW, Rescue, and a specialty). I am honestly very thankful this was not a week long program that just earned me a card.

I feel that taking the time to relive all the moments of fear and triumph with the students from the first days in the pool to their first 100 fsw ocean wreck dive were extremely rewarding and worth more than any one week class. If anyone has the opportunity to take the DM class in this way I would highly recommend it.

There are many facets of being a Dm which lend to having tenure. I am not the most experienced diver in the water nor will I ever claim to be an authority. I love to dive and thoroughly enjoy helping others do the same. The great thing about our sport is that there will always be something to learn or explore.

I think the key to helping divers become better divers is leading by example and not just preaching opinion. I have been misinformed before by an “authority”. If I had not looked into the advice it could have put me in a compromised position. If you give an opinion make it clear to the other person that it is just that, your opinion not to be misinterpreted as a fact. Everyone has experienced "that one guy" on the boat who appears to be Neptune/Cousteau reincarnated and knows all. I tend to refer to them as DG’s (dive Gods...legends in their own minds)

Imo these folks are pretty dangerous to a novice diver. A novice diver, not knowing any better, will listen to a Dg and take their opinion as fact. If given bad advice, the novice diver’s life could potentially be put in jeopardy. I guess the reason why I am writing this is that I just want everyone to be mindful of what advice they are giving novice divers. Please just try and remember that many of the folks just coming up are looking to the more experience divers as mentors…do the right thing be a mentor not blow horn to boost your own ego. I apologize if I have offended anyone.

For those reading this and just getting your fins wet…my best advice would be to do the research, read, listen, get a mentor, take on best practices, find out what works best for you, and most importantly don’t forget to go dive and have fun Remember it’s not all about a card or a cert, it’s about being safe, having fun, and exploring the ocean

 

[rameus]

Hello hello!

That is just a great statement! Nothing to add. By the way: I wrote an article of a subspecies of the divegods: about the noisemakers. You'll find it on my website. I absolutely agree with you that in normal scuba diving up to 30m it's not all about authority although I have to say that some people can just be made aware of danger when telling them in clear words so they understand. For example when you have a 60 year old guy inflating his BCD on the second dive of the day on 90" (after the first one which has been to 120" with 1 hour surface interval) and just stopping on the surface (followed by his wife who shoots up from 50" by inflating her BCD and kicking up with her fins to see if her husband is alright)... ;-) THESE people have 1. to be told very clearly that this could just kill them, 2. that they HAVE TO (especially if they just got their brand new equipment and haven't been diving for 15 years) take a scuba tuneup (which they strictly refused to do before the dives and 3. if they will not do the tuneup they would get their money back to do their diving with an other shop ;-) just as a short story I had on a boat once...

Thomas