Hey?! Was I rude here....?

[Mawg]

Just put yourself in his shoes and see for yourself.....the answer to your question will become obvious.

Nothing rude about Dons' reply at all. Gave him a lot of valuable and expensive information. He told the guy the truth. Everything else is just cheap whiskey.

 

[CRC]

I think it is an honest straightforward answer to an honest straightforward question. I see no problem.

As an answer another of his questions/concerns, if he is worried about not making the early ferry to Coz, he can book dives with one of several good dive shops in Playa. There are several good local dives around playa, and the shop I have used in the past, Tank Ha, has gone accross the channel and dove the coz reefs. It's worth looking into, because he will only have to take one boat ride as opposed to two. He should also let the divemaster know that he is newly certified and needs a buddy.

Chris

 

[splicer]

Hey coldsmoke, how are you liking the new (used) Slushmans lift. I'm the guy that spliced the rope together.

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks for the feedback y'all, both ways. Diving with newbies can certainly be fun; indeed, some I've dived with in my last hundred dives were yet fine buddies and group divers, even helping me out a time or two; but the overall situation here was really more of a need to give the fellow good, alternate suggestions. Thanks for helping on some of those.

As far as whether I am too blunt at times or sure, oh hell - we knew that already. :blush:

 

[Miller64]

Sounded good to me,wasn't rude,just honest.As a new diver myself,I never would have asked,but would have appreciated the honest answer and information.I think quiet a few would have been more blunt.Being nice never hurt anyone.

 

[RonFrank]

Hey Don,

Going to 148' to get a photo! If I was your DM, I'd not be too thrilled to see a diver down that deep unless it was planned.

You also posted his first name!

No, I don't think you would make a good buddy for this diver, and he likely would not make a good buddy for anyone. However we were all new once. I'd suggest he just stick to the DM like glue. DM's generally find cool stuff anyway.

I'll see you in a week!

 

[Mawg]

As a newbie, my first dive post OW/Cert. in Lake Travis was in Cozumel. 1992 I believe. I was staying at the Presidente and diving with Scuba Du. Departure from the Hotels' dock was 8:00 a.m. I got there at a quarter til of course and chatted with the other divers. They were a group of six and I was buddied up with a woman who I was told was an experienced diver. We all got into the boat, typical 6pack with outboards, and awaited my " buddys'" arrival. She finally showed up at 8:20 dragging a BC,looked at me and said" What time is it?" I told her 8:20 and she said " Oh good,I'm not late. *#*k! I'm still drunk.What time did you say it was?"

We got her into the boat and headed out. She then proceeded to tell me not to worry, she was a very experienced diver and did I know that you could puke through your regulator. I said no but inquired if she had ever puked through her own octopus. She said she couldnt remember.I made a mental note even though I was certain I would head to the surface the moment I hit 700. And this being my first deep ocean dive, I hit 700 after about 35 minutes and signaled the dive master. He instructed me to head up and do a safety stop. We both looked around and finally spotted Little Miss Sunshine ahead and way below the both of us. He took out after her and I went up to 20 feet by myself where I hung around for about 15 minutes enjoying the view.It was my first dive on Palancar Caves and I will never forget it. It is still one of my favorite sites to dive in cozumel.

 

[morecowbells]

Okay I 'll put in my two cents. I appreciate honesty and at times I can be rather blunt and to the point. However I was confused at to why you even posted this exchange. Dennis probably feels like a total dork now and will probably avoid any posting in the future. I have almost 50 dives which puts me in the newbeeishnovicesorta catagory. My interpretation of your message is that a newbie is a nuiscance that you would rather not deal with. I can understand that logic when paying big bucks and traveling great lengths for a dive trip. Your initial statement that you would be a poor dive buddy because you are focused on photography etc. would of sufficed. Also your suggestion of hiring a private DM was also good. Anybody with reasonable intelligence would have got the message. Sometimes less is more.

When my husband and I went to the Cayman Islands we were on a boat with a bunch of 'dive jocks'. They are the one who would rather have a fire hot pocker in their eye than dive on the same boat as a newbie. While my air consumption is not great I was one of the last to get back on the boat. Near the end we were exploring the area near the anchor line. One of the 'dive jocks' always had to make sure he was LAST on the boat(made a rather big production of it as well). He kept eye balling us to see when we would do our saftey stop. He could not handle a newbie boarding after him. It became a stand off. Yes he won but not without gettiing a verbal B!tch slap from the DM for only having 50 psi left. It was a vindicating experience that not all newbies are going to be PITA.

 

[geokr]

Okay I 'll put in my two cents. I appreciate honesty and at times I can be rather blunt and to the point. However I was confused at to why you even posted this exchange. Dennis probably feels like a total dork now and will probably avoid any posting in the future.

I agree. He asked you in private and you elected to very publicly tell him No. Forget about all the alpha diver stuff about you that followed that might seem honest to some, your whole response seems pretty tacky to me.

 

[DandyDon]

Hehe I chose this title to get atteniotn - don't ya hate it when someone posts with a title of "Got a question" - but maybe I still screwed up. I wanted to get more, all around feedback for a new member who seems a little shy about posting, which he could read anonymously if he'd like. I did screw up leaving a first name in, but you'll still never know who it was.

Looks like the focus is turning out to be direct responses to the title question. How objective. You don't see that every time. Too bad I didn't make it a poll.

It could have gone badly, of course - but it's been a long time since we had a Dog Pile On Don Day! Well, apologies to all for my mishandling anywhere here - and I hope we learn some things, about diving, traveling, posting, and all.

thanks again!