Do not ever say you are a rescue diver

[Searcaigh]

It would have been a great idea if I'd had one at the time...

You can never have enough boltsnaps!

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

You can never have enough boltsnaps!

so true. especially those xdeep ones with the large thumb tab thingy. Piranha is selling similar ones now for half the price.

 

[hedonist222]

You can never have enough boltsnaps!

true!
I carry 3.
One on my waist band D ring for quick access and 2 in my dive pouch.

Comes in handy!
Once my dive buddy's fin strap broke during the dive.
She signaled ok to continue (last fifteen minutes of an easy dive and we were going with the current).
I offered her my fin. Because I had a rigid pair and one and was enough to propel me.
She tried my one but it was too big (the fin!)

So I attached her broken fin to my bolt snap and attached it to my back D ring.

 

[Dody]

No, you can ask, well before it is time to jump. If the individual says "I don't know", that is a good sign you might have to watch for a Lawn Dart. If they say double your weight and they are similar in size, you can at least open the discussion. If the person has 5-6 lbs too much, it probably won't be terrible, but I have seen people being way, way off. In general, with an aluminum tank, 3 mm suit and "normal" body, somewhere around 12 lbs is reasonable. You start seeing 20 or more, you may be smart to ask some more questions.

Some people really do require more lead than seems necessary, but in general, if that is true for the individual, they probably know that and will be able to comment to that effect. Women generally are less dense than men and carry fat better, so they often use a little more than you might expect if you never paid attention in the past.

If you approach it somewhat as being curious, and you act like you are unsure how much lead to use "for this first dive", they might be more forthcoming in what they use.

You probably want to avoid a situation, which devolves into" "hey fat bastard, just how much lead do you have there". As long as the person knows how much they have and seem to be able to talk about it in some reasonable manner, you have done more than your part.

I probably had my first 100 dives with steel cylinders. When I started to use aluminium, I felt like I had become Superman climbing the ladder. In terms of lead, I did not have to change a lot bit I also had a thinner wetsuit. I think that only experience will teach me better. Line 1 000 dives in different conditions.

 

[Dody]

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.

I never asked anyone for his/ her cert on a boat. I don’t give me either unless we are becoming very friendly. And once again, the DS asked me my certs even before I landed in the country.

 

[Dody]

@Dody

You are on a dive boat. First dive of the day. Wall dive. You jump with your buddy.

You see a member of another buddy group, a man you met on the boat earlier in the trip. He’s in his 80’s. Now he is over the wall and still descending. He has his inflator hose up like he is trying to inflate but just keeps descending. Bottom is at about 1000 feet. The older diver’s buddy hasn’t reacted.

What do you do? He isn’t your buddy. You have ear issues. Your buddy wife is there with you. What do you do with that rescue card? Do you go to help?

Tricky question. All the answers are bad ones. Will I try to rescue the other guy and leave my buddy? If the conditions are good, I think that I will go down to 40 m. my wife might follow. She is certified and made a dozen of dives at this depth. Maybe my answer is wrong. But if my ears are hurting, I will not help until I clear them. But if it is my wife, I can tell you that I will burst my ears and risk Narcosis and O2 toxicity to try get her out of it. Not rational, is it?

 

[Searcaigh]

the DS asked me my certs

Okay I know we use lots of acronyms in diving, please explain what a DS is? I think I know, but in English it doesn't make sense.

 

[Dody]

Okay I know we use lots of acronyms in diving, please explain what a DS is? I think I know, but in English it doesn't make sense.

Dive shop

 

[Searcaigh]

Dive shop

Ah ok, thanks.

Normally I would use the term Dive Op(erator).

 

[Dody]

Dive shop

I often go diving in places I don’t know. I select a DS based on the community comments. Email starts like that: « I will be in XXX from Y to Z . I plan to dive with you. Are some dives planned and what kind?». Then, they reply with « yes, blabla. Can you tell us what is your highest level of certification, when did you dive last? »