Wijbrandus
Contributor
Ok, I've got around 30 dives, and I bought a BP&W shortly after certification. I love it, won't ever dive anything else, and take it on all my dive trips. Usually I never get anything more than curiosity from the boat operators at most. This all changed on my last trip...
I went on a cruise last week. Got to dive in the ABCs. One boat was an all-Dutch crew except for one American DM. My wife and I are assigned to the American, no problem, we have a great conversation on the way out to the dive site. When I start setting up my gear though, the conversation quickly drops off. He moves on to talk to other divers. No worries, I'm busy anyway. Did notice I'm the only one with a BP&W here, but I'm quite used to that.
We get to the dive site, and it's beautiful. Except for some swells running across the current, it's perfect diving. Because of the wave conditions, the boat is rolling from side to side a good bit once we moored. Time to hop in, and I start putting on my rig. With the rolling, it's a bit of a challenge, and the DM sees me struggling with a hose. He comes over, helps me get squared away, and then lays into me about how "technical" gear doesn't belong on a recreational dive boat. I'm a bit stunned, and once I'm straightened out he turned to help other divers and I didn't have a chance to respond. After the dive, he's helping everyone else out of their tanks and left me to handle my own. The captain gave me a hand with it, though it wasn't really needed (but highly appreciated).
After the first dive, I talked a minute with the boat captain. I asked him what he thought of my kind of rig on his boat. With typical Dutch aplomb, he says, "Dive whatever you want. I could care less as long as you get back on the boat without hurting yourself." After a bit more conversation, he reassigns me to the other DM, another Dutchman. As we suit up at the second dive site, the new DM is right there to help me into my tank, and is equally helpful afterwards. I had a much better experience.
Has this happened to anyone else? I was under the impression that a BP&W is just as suitable for recreational diving as it is for "tech". I think I caught a DM that for whatever reason has something against anyone he considers part of the "tech" crowd.
By the way I never presented myself as anything other than what I am - a rookie diver. The DM had no reason to assume I was a tech diver of any sort.
Finally, how would you handle the situation? Would you have done anything differently?
I went on a cruise last week. Got to dive in the ABCs. One boat was an all-Dutch crew except for one American DM. My wife and I are assigned to the American, no problem, we have a great conversation on the way out to the dive site. When I start setting up my gear though, the conversation quickly drops off. He moves on to talk to other divers. No worries, I'm busy anyway. Did notice I'm the only one with a BP&W here, but I'm quite used to that.
We get to the dive site, and it's beautiful. Except for some swells running across the current, it's perfect diving. Because of the wave conditions, the boat is rolling from side to side a good bit once we moored. Time to hop in, and I start putting on my rig. With the rolling, it's a bit of a challenge, and the DM sees me struggling with a hose. He comes over, helps me get squared away, and then lays into me about how "technical" gear doesn't belong on a recreational dive boat. I'm a bit stunned, and once I'm straightened out he turned to help other divers and I didn't have a chance to respond. After the dive, he's helping everyone else out of their tanks and left me to handle my own. The captain gave me a hand with it, though it wasn't really needed (but highly appreciated).
After the first dive, I talked a minute with the boat captain. I asked him what he thought of my kind of rig on his boat. With typical Dutch aplomb, he says, "Dive whatever you want. I could care less as long as you get back on the boat without hurting yourself." After a bit more conversation, he reassigns me to the other DM, another Dutchman. As we suit up at the second dive site, the new DM is right there to help me into my tank, and is equally helpful afterwards. I had a much better experience.
Has this happened to anyone else? I was under the impression that a BP&W is just as suitable for recreational diving as it is for "tech". I think I caught a DM that for whatever reason has something against anyone he considers part of the "tech" crowd.
By the way I never presented myself as anything other than what I am - a rookie diver. The DM had no reason to assume I was a tech diver of any sort.
Finally, how would you handle the situation? Would you have done anything differently?
