Divers Down watch out!

[gypsyjim]

Without looking back I think I recall this thread was initially started by a Pod Person ..er I mean cruise ship passenger, diver. Is there some reason the Pod People are seen as difficult, demanding customers who are endangering the reef where ever they go? Just a random thought that came to me as I revisited this thread.

 

[gypsyjim]

Earlier today I ran across a link on the internet to another thread by a drive by whiner here on SB from '05, asking to blacklist a local LDS . This LDS is an operator I have come to hold in high regard threw personal experience.

That incident and this thread got me thinking how easily the internet can be used as a weapon to punish someone who has done wrong, or at least wrong in the mind of one critic. One critic can develope tremendous power over the net, even if they are crackpots (or especially crackpots, as they are more willing to devote time and energy to their hatereds?). It is a useful tool, but one with very few checks and ballances, and I hate to see it used to attempt to destroy reputations, where often the target is unaware, so unable to protect themselves form unwarrented and/or unsubstantiated claims.

 

[Docc]

THERE WERE MANY NOVICE DIVERS IN THE GROUP SHE NEVER ASKED ANY OF US OUR EXPERIENCE LEVEL, NEVER ASKED OR PAIRED US UP, (WE PAIRED OURSELVES UP) HER DIVE BRIEF WAS.... WELL BRIEF. WE ALL WENT DOWN AND WAITED FOREVER FOR HER TO GET DOWN THERE USING UP VALUABLE AIR. WHEN SHE GOT DOWN SHE NEVER CHECKED ON US BUT JUST TOOK OFF. I COULD NOT FIND MY BUDDY AND WAS TRYING YO GET HER ATTENTION. FINALLY GOT HER ATTENTION AND JENNY HAD TAKEN HER BACK TO THE SURFACE DUE TO A CLEARING PROBLEM. MY BUDDY TOLD JENNY TO BE SURE AND TELL ME SHE WAS OK AND TO BUDDY ME UP WITH HER OR SOMEONE ELSE, WHICH SHE DIDN'T. WE STARTED THE DIVE AND JENNY WAS SO FAR OUT IN FRONT OF US THAT I COULD HARDLY SEE HER. ME AND MY SISTER WERE DESPERATELY TRYING TO KEEP UP WITH HER AND COULDN'T ENJOY THE DIVE. WE GOT BACK UP ON THE SHELF AND I CHECKED MY AIR AND WAS ALMOST AT 0 PSI I GRABBED MY SISTER INDICATED I WAS LOW AND WE ASCENDED.
!

Welcome to the board.

A dive briefing is a two way street. You were already whining about running late so perhaps the briefing was abbreviated to save time? You also had the oppurtunity to ask questions or make comments during the briefing but you apparently did not.

You state that you couldn't find your buddy. I was taught that buddies kept up with each other. You and your buddy should have decided on procedures and communications prior to descent.

You "checked your air and was almost at 0 psi." That's just plain ignorant. Gas management is your responsibility (and to some extent also a concern of your buddy's if you have a good buddy). You said you "grabbed your sister". Had your sister suddenly become your buddy? I thought your buddy had ascended. If your sister was somebody else's buddy, did you communicate to her buddy that you were ascending?

Did you have enough air for a safety stop? Again, your well being is the primary responsibility of you and your buddy.

Island time is much more laid back, and to me, more enjoyable. People who are demanding, pushy, judgemental, needy and whiny should relax a little. Like the the boat captain told me in Negril earlier this week "all is good...yea, mon?"








.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Sometimes there are people who will maliciously join a board such as SB with intentions of doing nothing more than "stir the pot" by posting an ordeal (real or fantasy it does not matter). As you have seen, it does not take long for people to criticize either the poster OR the dive op if something was done wrong. Almost every time, somebody will send an email to the company otifying them of the thread and offering them the oppotunity to share their side of the story. It really is true - there is three sides to a story (yours, mine and the truth).

I will not pass judgement on the OP here but was very quick to point out that not everything in their "story" was the fault of the dive OP. In fact, IMO much of it was clearly their own fault. That does not mean the dive op did nothing wrong but the way it was described it was not the dive op's fault.

I am all for using the internet to warn others etc., but you better be able to back up and support your arguments where you post it. This is where most
Pot Stirrers get found out because they join, say stuff and never come back to defend their actions. So far, this is looking like one of those situations.

I still hope that the company comes on here to provide their 2 cents but who knows if they will.

 

[Thalassamania]

Maybe C-cards should have "I was dumb" boxes printed on them. Every time someone does something really bone-headed, the dive op would punch out one of the boxes. If you use up all the boxes, you have to take OW again.

Now there's an idea I could really get behind.

Ok. Let me put in my two cents. I personally have a beef with DM's who put everyone in the water, tell them to meet them at the anchor, and then wait ten minutes before they get in. It is an obvious ploy to burn air and shorten the dive. I've seen it happen and it makes me angry every time. I usually make us oif the time to putter around the mooring anchor and critter hunt but it really does suck. Second beef is DM's who go deep, stay deep, and move fast out in front. Once again, my experience is thats an obvious ploy to burn the clients air as fast as possible and get out of the water. IMHO he had something to complain about on those two points.

Last note is about Caribbean time. It usually takes me at least a day to adjust from New York time to "soon come" Caribbean time. Sounds like the diver never made that adjustment.

OH AND I HATE PEOPLE WHO TYPE THEIR ENTIRE POST IN CAPS!!! ELECTRONIC SHOUTING!!!

My general impression of Cayman (and that's from many trips, many years ago) was that the operators were either great or poor, very little in between.

Without looking back I think I recall this thread was initially started by a Pod Person ..er I mean cruise ship passenger, diver. Is there some reason the Pod People are seen as difficult, demanding customers who are endangering the reef where ever they go? Just a random thought that came to me as I revisited this thread.

Cruisers do not go somewhere to dive, making a dive is naught but a momentary diversion from whatever it was that got them on the ship to begin with, and they never decompress to local time on the ship.

Sometimes there are people who will maliciously join a board such as SB with intentions of doing nothing more than "stir the pot" by posting an ordeal (real or fantasy it does not matter). As you have seen, it does not take long for people to criticize either the poster OR the dive op if something was done wrong. Almost every time, somebody will send an email to the company otifying them of the thread and offering them the oppotunity to share their side of the story. It really is true - there is three sides to a story (yours, mine and the truth).

I will not pass judgement on the OP here but was very quick to point out that not everything in their "story" was the fault of the dive OP. In fact, IMO much of it was clearly their own fault. That does not mean the dive op did nothing wrong but the way it was described it was not the dive op's fault.

I am all for using the internet to warn others etc., but you better be able to back up and support your arguments where you post it. This is where most
Pot Stirrers get found out because they join, say stuff and never come back to defend their actions. So far, this is looking like one of those situations.

I still hope that the company comes on here to provide their 2 cents but who knows if they will.

Much of it was the diver's fault.

 

[--tom--]

Maybe it's just me, but I seem to find a time corelation to these two statements:

WE ALL WENT DOWN AND WAITED FOREVER FOR HER TO GET DOWN THERE USING UP VALUABLE AIR

I COULD NOT FIND MY BUDDY AND WAS TRYING YO GET HER ATTENTION. FINALLY GOT HER ATTENTION AND JENNY HAD TAKEN HER BACK TO THE SURFACE DUE TO A CLEARING PROBLEM.

I wonder.

So let me tell you the problems I had in GC when arranging a dive from a cruise ship.

I contacted Renee Knight @ Grand Cayman Diving School. When I got there, her boat didn't have enough divers to go out. So she arranged for another operation come and pick me up at the meet location to go out with them, but the next operation wasn't going out for the same reason, so they drove me to the harbor to dive with another group. There was the boat captain, the deck hand, me & one other divers. Dove Eagle Ray Pass and Haunted House. It's only a problem if you want it to be a problem.

So, three operations worked to get me to do two dives. So what did I do? I tipped well.

I will be in GC for 10 days in April.

 

[deeper thoughts]

The incredible shrinking disappearing "first time" original poster strikes again

 

[Web Monkey]

So let me tell you the problems I had in GC when arranging a dive from a cruise ship.

I contacted Renee Knight @ Grand Cayman Diving School. When I got there, her boat didn't have enough divers to go out. So she arranged for another operation come and pick me up at the meet location to go out with them, but the next operation wasn't going out for the same reason, so they drove me to the harbor to dive with another group. There was the boat captain, the deck hand, me & one other divers. Dove Eagle Ray Pass and Haunted House. It's only a problem if you want it to be a problem.

So, three operations worked to get me to do two dives. So what did I do? I tipped well.

Yep. My buddies and I dive from cruise ships all over the Caribbean every year because we dive and our wives don't, but like to cruise. It's not a big deal, you just have to realize that the islands aren't Burger King and that you might not get everything "your way".

We arrange for boats, get our butts to the dive shop a little early and assume that eventually we'll get to dive. If it's 11am instead of 9am, it's not a huge deal. If we don't get back to the ship on time (never happened, BTW), we'll meet it at the next stop, or worst case stay and get a few extra days of diving and fly home.

We also leave big tips. It means that when we come back next year, they're happy to see us.

Terry

 

[Doubler]

If you don't like the speed (as a group) that the DM is rocketing down the reef..slow down, she'll wait or come back.

 

[RonFrank]

Looks like another hit and run poster! And a pod person at that!

I doubt we will hear from the OP, or the DiveOp, but my money is on the DiveOp if anything.

The fact the DM had to take someone to the surface sums things up a bit... Newbie divers, no gear, likely little experience. I'm guessing the DM did not have such a good dive, and it sounds like a big tip was not going to happen either! :shocked2: