How about the People we meet on the dive boats?

[waynel]

I've been diving Cozumel for 15 years. Belize, the Keys...you name any place in the carib or atlantic. We all get on these forums and talk about how wonderful the divers were, what we saw, the ops, how great the dive master was...but we never talk about ourselves. And by that I mean...the people we dive with. And that's the beautiful thing about diving. We dive with people of every walk of life, income level, etc. And the only reason I post this on the Cozumel site is because, for all the places I have dived, Cozumel diving, like South Beach in Miami when just laying on a beach is where you will meet the most diverse people. In Cozumel, I have dived with multi-millionares and not know it until the third of fourth day of the dive (on a six-pack, not the cattle boats). I have been on the little boats with journalists, doctors, lawyers, guys who own 200 unit condos in Coz, you name it. But on that little six pack boat? You do five or six SITS with them and you suddenly start talking to them, not as contractors (like me) or doctors, lawyers, government officials from around the world...but as "divers." When you go down 100 ft. on Columbia, or shoot Devil's Throat, your "position" in life doesn't matter. It's all about diving. My latest dive in Coz was with such professionals. It was with Christi's op, and thank you Christi for sending a boat out with just three divers. And we all had different "real world" jobs. But in that boat...we were just divers, and we all had the same skill level. The last dive I ever did with my wife, before she died was with a journalist, Donald Gardner. He videotaped the dive, and we were lucky enough to see pilot whales swimming along he boat on the way in. It's still on You Tube to this day. My point is this...diving a world class site like Cozumel is where we meet divers from all over the world, extremely rich to just us folks. And for all the great ops and wonderful things we see when we dive....meeting people from all over the world, and from all economic and social levels is what now, after 15 years, makes me keep booking my trips to Cozumel. We divers are absolutely in a very, very small club.

 

[Bubblesong]

The last time I went out on a boat with a two hour ride out, I really got to talk to a few other divers, including one guy who said the marks on his wrists and neck were due to "bondage", only to find out, NO, his new dry suit seals were trashing his skin. Yep, we do meet all kinds on these boats.

 

[Streydog]

This Summer I was on a boat with a guy that said "I bet you never dove with a farmer from Indiana". I grew up in Texas but my grandfather was a farmer from Indiana.

 

[The Chairman]

I once met a diver from Nantucket...

Seriously though, diving is the great equalizer and I have met more than my fair share of celebrities, diving and otherwise, on dive boats and as I drive around in the ScubaBoard van.

 

[scrane]

I get mostly Texans.

 

[DjDiverDan]

I get mostly Texans.

Bragging? Or complaining? And be careful which you choose! [HINT: I like my fellow Texans.]

 

[Karloss]

We did a LOB several years back and one guest would not divulge his profession for whatever reason, his choice and I respect that. I cannot recall his name however he sounded a lot like Tom Shane the diamond guy, at least that's the rumor I tried to start.

 

[Hoag]

Before I retired, and even to this day, I can not really discuss what I did for a living with strangers. I would say that I was in the RCAF, and that I work in the Air Defence business as a part of NORAD, but beyond that, I seldom got into any details. Even with people that I know very well, and may have known for years, I tend to talk in generalities not specifics. (Having said that, I did have a really cool job!)

 

[Bubblesong]

I remember personalities more than jobs. Another guy had the body of a penguin, but the courage of a hero. He was scared but he was absolutely going to dive with the sharks, and absolutely going to do it the right way, carefully preparing, suiting up and getting in with sharks while half the boat decided they were not getting in the water after all. Somehow more impressive than the guys in far better shape who take such risks in stride.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I have rarely discovered anyone's personal business on a dive boat. I don't really want to know what my fellow divers do for a living, and I don't generally share such personal details with people I have only known for a few days, either. I'd prefer that on a dive boat, we're all just divers, and leave our daily lives behind. Sure, after a week on a liveaboard, you might have an inkling of who your fellow divers are, but I don't really want to know more or feel pressured to volunteer more. I'll take cultural differences into account, though; for example, in some parts of the world, such as Indonesia, asking about family seems to be just typical polite conversation. More generally, though, and especially among my fellow Americans, I think people who volunteer a lot of personal information before they really know you are often just blowhards who like to hear themselves talk.