Do not ever say you are a rescue diver

[Searcaigh]

I don't generally question how much weight is on my buddy's belt or in their weight pockets, I expect them to know how much they need, plus how do you estimate what's in a weight pocket these days if you can't see it!

A young lady I was diving with just over a week ago, who was doing her 14th dive with me, removed half of her weights from the weight pockets before the dive and I probably won't need these as we're not wearing wetsuits on this dive and I had a 5mm on my last dive, which IMHO was a sensible thing to do in front of me.

While I thought she might still be a bit overweighted at 8lbs as I dive with a 6lb plate, I didn't ask her to remove more and she was fine. Over time I'm sure she'll work it out.

 

[Tippytoes12]

I did a buddy check with my wife, not with the other buddy. He just said that everything was in order before we jumped. I know we should have. However, I might have asked him to inflate his BCD (as we read on this thread, some never do) but I would have been unable to know for sure that he was overweighted.

Fair point, instabuddies can be hard, especially three of you. I do a solo dive trip every year, and a couple more with my husband.On solo trips in the low season, am very often buddied with the guide. But have met some very nice instabuddies over the years, like the charming @chillyinCanada , a moderator on this board.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Fair point, instabuddies can be hard, especially three of you. I do a solo dive trip every year, and a couple more with my husband.On solo trips in the low season, am very often buddied with the guide. But have met some very nice instabuddie over the years, like the charming @chillyinCanada , a moderator on this board.

My experience has been the same. Tippytoes is a great companion and perfect dive buddy.

I hope to find her again!

 

[rmssetc]

If there is anything I have learned over the years, it is to scout ahead and avoid to the greatest degree possible dive operators who either do not or cannot differentiate groups by ability. I will describe two examples to show what I mean.

1. I booked two days of diving with an operator because of the enthusiastic recommendation of a ScubaBoard veteran, despite my reservations because he had only one boat. The first day was wonderful. There was only one other diver, and he was good. We had a great day. The second day, we were joined by another couple, and the wife was one of the worst divers I have ever seen. The DM/operator spent the first 5-10 minutes of the first dive giving her a buoyancy lesson, and he spent the entirety of both dives holding her hand. We did two dives at her level. I will never dive with that operator again.

Hmmmm....

Making a vain attempt to get somewhat back towards the original intent of this thread, I wonder if the op asked about each diver's level of certification & experience and I wonder what was reported by the poor diver you describe. It's entirely possible she's got, say, AOW and 50 dives...of course, 49 of those dives were during college spring-breaks 20+ years ago.

How much of your bad experience during a dive where the DM gave superior service to someone else was really the responsibility of the operator who you liked just the day earlier, rather than the mix of people on the boat?

Did the operator even have any options that would have given you a better experience, given the different levels of ability and a single boat, that they failed to give to you? It doesn't seem like they've got many choices, maybe just:

• letting you dive solo, if you showed that qualification, if they allow that, if the site allows that
• letting you partner with her husband, if you both agreed, instead of diving as a group of 4, if the site allows diving w/o a DM/guide

2. I dived this past June with another operator, and before we arrived, they asked for our certification and experience. On the first day, my friends and I were on a boat with very experienced divers, and we had a week of great dives.

As someone with 1/10 your experience, I'd almost always welcome the opportunity to dive with people with more experience and hope that I don't make their dive miserable. Perhaps the poor diver has spent the time since raving about what a great day she had with better divers and a very attentive DM. Maybe that'd be some consolation to you.

 

[boulderjohn]

Hmmmm....

Making a vain attempt to get somewhat back towards the original intent of this thread, I wonder if the op asked about each diver's level of certification & experience and I wonder what was reported by the poor diver you describe. It's entirely possible she's got, say, AOW and 50 dives...of course, 49 of those dives were during college spring-breaks 20+ years ago.

How much of your bad experience during a dive where the DM gave superior service to someone else was really the responsibility of the operator who you liked just the day earlier, rather than the mix of people on the boat?

Did the operator even have any options that would have given you a better experience, given the different levels of ability and a single boat, that they failed to give to you? It doesn't seem like they've got many choices, maybe just:

• letting you dive solo, if you showed that qualification, if they allow that, if the site allows that
• letting you partner with her husband, if you both agreed, instead of diving as a group of 4, if the site allows diving w/o a DM/guide

As someone with 1/10 your experience, I'd almost always welcome the opportunity to dive with people with more experience and hope that I don't make their dive miserable. Perhaps the poor diver has spent the time since raving about what a great day she had with better divers and a very attentive DM. Maybe that'd be some consolation to you.

The poor diver and her husband did, infact, rave about the great service they got from the DM.

THe problem did not come from the DM. HE had a bad situation, and he did his best with it. It was just not a great situation for the rest of us. If I am spending my hard-earned money, for plane flights, hotel rooms, restaurant meals, and dive fees, I want the best experience I can find.

This was in Cozumel. The DM there is required by law there to lead the dive and keep everyone together.

 

[Pipehorse]

This was in Cozumel. The DM there is required by law there to lead the dive and keep everyone together.

A perfect reason not to dive Cozumel.

 

[boulderjohn]

A perfect reason not to dive Cozumel.

That's probably why no one dives there.

Cozumel is one of the most popular dive sites in the world. FOr some reason, people are willing to put up with something you seem to find intolerable.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

A perfect reason not to dive Cozumel.

Perfect reason to hire my own DM.

That has solved a lot of problems associated with group diving. It is a small extra expense that is worth it in the grand scheme of things.

 

[drrich2]

A perfect reason not to dive Cozumel.

In fairness, it's an understandable result of the diving situation. Drift diving lends itself to diver separation, and we're talking boat diving in an often fairly busy area. The practical realities are that the boat captain may need the divers together in one group in can follow and keep track of, though there's room for some spread. If a boat goes out with 8 divers, and one buddy pair wants to head off on their own, another wants to kick against the current and hang back composing macro shots, and the other 4 divers want the usual, moderate speed, follow-the-guide 'reef tour,' it's not hard to see how a couple could get lost, the boat have to abort the trip plan searching and calling in help, etc...

I'm not a fan of over-reaching regulation, but Cozumel doesn't sound like a 'free for all' conducive place.

 

[NorCalDM]

A perfect reason not to dive Cozumel.

It is also common in many other parts of the world as well and have marine park fees.