Diving Etiquette from non-photographic divers

[Benzonar]

I know us photographers sometimes get a bad name regarding our conduct underwater, but I know from myself I am respectful to the environment and especially other divers.

However sometimes the conduct of non-photographic divers leaves a lot to be desired. Here is a fine example from a little excursion the others week. I was shooting macro with my Olympus set up looking for critters. I had just found a lovely little squat lobster hiding in a crinoid when the following happened. This is shot with a GoPro HD Hero on the forehead so excuse the jerky movements (I take it on the offchance of seeing bigger stuff like whalesharks).

http://youtu.be/oq9SX7fTV2c

 

[Warhammer]

I love the Star Wars theme song! Was you doing your flounder impression, as they must not have saw you? It never ceases to amaze how stupid some people get under water and just trample right on top of others. But the biggest problem is those guys/gals are probably new divers and just weren't taught better by their teacher.

 

[Thiad]

I do like the fish running for it's life at the end. That's good....

 

[TSandM]

This video is actually very sad. We have three divers there who are not in balance, who have poor propulsion technique, and poor situational awareness. We don't know who trained them or how much experience they have, but they are not good divers. Maybe it's because they don't care, but I'd be willing to be that they weren't taught any different.

Sorry your dive was impacted. I have very little patience with silters, and I hate being kicked, myself.

 

[pixelpixie]

Very frustrating. Nothing worse than a diver being so oblivious they kick you or scuba swimming and knock the reg out of your mouth with their flailing arms, but silting up the bottom is definitely annoying whether you're taking pictures or not.

 

[Larry C]

These guys were non divers. They were typical first open water dive bottom crawlers with no bouyancy skills. They might have been on a scuba excursion, following a dive leader who obviously didn't consider others when leading his human sandstorm.
They might have been an open water class. I've had the unfortunate experience of leading an open water tour on the day of the Monterey shoot out. We completely ruined the day of a photographer who was carefully setting up a shot of a nudibranch you almost never see on the sand. My little group came along and basically walked through the area creating backscatter for the next 5-10 minutes. There was nothing whatsoever I could do about it. It happens.

 

[ElChe]

I don't like to read articles about divers who ruin underwater life but sadly I've seen similar scenes for many times. It's a really nicely made video but as the others this time I'm not happy when I see a good short movie.

 

[tangfish]

Yep, classic underwater snowplows. You don't usually run into three of them shoulder to shoulder though. Sorry for your loss (the would be photos). After a dive like that I usually ask the operator to put me on a different boat. They typically do, since everyone knows how miserable it is to dive with people like that. Love the music in your video!

 

[Warren_L]

That's really nothing new, especially so if you take your chances on a charter with a large group of unfamiliar divers. In an ideal world, everyone would be mindful and respectful of the environment and other divers by being as careful as possible so as not to ruin anyone's dive, photographer or not. But likely many just don't know any better and likely were not taught so.

In my early days of wreck photography here in the Great Lakes I was constantly dealing with silted out wrecks as I was diving a lot of walk-on charters during the busy times. It was always a race to be the first one in the water to get some decent visibility before it got trashed. Over the years I've developed a good group of regular dive buddies who are skilled divers and know what it is like to dive with photographers. And as well, I've been lucky enough to have access to diving without using charters anymore, so we optimize our dives by going when no-one else is around. And in general I try to do dive vacations with people that I am comfortable diving with and have confidence in their skills. While I know this situation may be difficult to achieve, there really isn't a realistic solution if there are constantly divers that are not getting proficient enough in their buoyancy control and finning techniques for these issues not to happen (either by lack of proper instruction, lack of practise, or lack of caring).

 

[irishsquid]

Wow! Look at 1:03 min. in the film. The guy in the middle has his hands clasped in front of him so he isn't hand sculling, but; he's kicking off the bottom like he's in the starting blocks of a sprint race. Hopefully he'll get better.

..You don't usually run into three of them shoulder to shoulder though...

During Vortoberfest a couple weeks ago, a few of us did a dive at Morrison Springs and were in the lower cavern. DeniseGG and I were the last 2 to exit. There were 2 OW divers just standing side by side in the opening. We were still good on gas and had a good bit of time left before having to exit so did another circuit of the cavern. Ready to leave and guess who is still standing in the exit? Yep, just lolly gagging with no concern that the 2 divers behind and beside want to leave. We had to edge up and squeeze through as they made no effort to move aside. Coming out of the cavern, there was a literal avalanche of debris coming down. It looked like a group of underwater skiers all over the basin. I actually had to chase one guy down who had 2 kids in his hands heading over the basin. The little boy in his right hand had his head turned all the way around as the reg clenched in his teeth was the only thing supporting the tank that had slipped through the cam band and was dragging the bottom. Unbelievable! :shocked2: