How about the People we meet on the dive boats?

[Bubblesong]

Does poll-dancer have something to do with politics?

Honestly, people seem to get waaaay more excited about politics than poll-dancers these days, but maybe it's just the crowd I run with!

 

[MMM]

Honestly, people seem to get waaaay more excited about politics than poll-dancers these days, but maybe it's just the crowd I run with!

Just a hunch, but I'm guessing they get excited about pole dancers...

 

[deepsea21]

I think it's safe to say regardless of what anyone does for a living... They'd rather be diving. Even if my full time job was running a printing press in my basement cranking out US $100 bills at the rate of $100K per day, I'd rather be diving than running that press. Think I'd spend a few days running it and the rest of the year diving.

 

[Erich S]

When I was 19 I was on a dive boat in the Keys and was sitting next to a guy in his 40s who had the best equipment money could buy and was showing off for some girls telling about his many diving exploits. When the time came to dive, he decided that he had a problem with his regulator. The DM on the boat checked it out and it was fine. The guy then said that his belly hurt when his regulator was found to be in good condition. The guy was all flash and he never got wet. Needless to say, the girls were laughing and the rest of us just shook our heads.

 

[deepsea21]

When I was 19 I was on a dive boat in the Keys and was sitting next to a guy in his 40s who had the best equipment money could buy and was showing off for some girls telling about his many diving exploits. When the time came to dive, he decided that he had a problem with his regulator. The DM on the boat checked it out and it was fine. The guy then said that his belly hurt when his regulator was found to be in good condition. The guy was all flash and he never got wet. Needless to say, the girls were laughing and the rest of us just shook our heads.

Sounds like he could have saved a lot of money buying a $10 T-shirt with a dive flag on it and hanging out at the local bar. What is up with some of these people?

I've said it several times on TA having been diving with some groups who stay at AI's (AI's just aren't my style and I know there are great divers who enjoy the AI experience) as they are a different bunch for the most part and the Cozumel Palace sticks in my head as I found myself on a boat long ago with a hoard of Palace Divers running at the mouth all out to impress each other. The BS flowed like a river. I wondered how any of them needed any weight as the amount gold they were wearing would certainly send them straight to the bottom. So, just for fun I mentioned to one couple wearing enough watches, chains, bracelets, anklets, earrings, rings on fingers and toes to light up Candlestick Park that their jewelry is going to look just like shimmering lures to the Barracuda on the reef and at least the earrings should be taken off so an ear isn't lost. I then watched word quietly spread and the entire group spent the next 10 minutes stripping themselves of all that jewelry trying to figure out how to bag it, wrap it, hide it and stow it. Yeah, I know, maybe a little mean but hey, they were asking for it.

 

[Erich S]

My father once told me that there are more horses asses than there are horses. This saying also seems to apply to some folks on dive boats!

 

[MMM]

Boy, some of you folks sure seem to have bad luck on boats. I think I can count on one or two fingers the number of people I've not enjoyed diving with in the past 20 years or so...

 

[Altamira]

I am not telling a bunch of scuba diving, world traveling, macho bad-@$$E$ that I am a stay at home mom. There won't be a second question. Before anyone suggests I make up something more interesting, like poll-dancer, i find the boat engine noise drowns out conversation anyway, so I just smile and nod at other people's moving lips.

If we were on the same dive boat, and you told me you were a stay at home mom, you would instantly become my favorite person on the boat. That is a more important job, with lifelong positive consequences, than 99% of the jobs various macho BA divers might hold. Good for you!

 

[morecowbells]

Several years ago I was on a dive vacation with a group of friends. One of them is an MD. He made it a point to avoid discussing his profession, using the rationale that people may solicit advice and by providing it, you may be unknowingly establishing a MD/patient relationship and may be liable for your advise. Personally I thought that was an over reaction. Last year while on a dive, our DM was complaining of a headache. Once on the surface he took his mask off and rubbed his eyes. The next day the area around his left eye was pinked up and puffy without discharge or fever. As a nurse I was convinced that he got into contact with a some hydroid or nematocyst. I advised him to rinse affected area with warm water, use a warm compress and take some Benedryl. It turns out he was in the early stages of developing a nasty case of the shingles. Until this day I feel awful about dispensing incorrect advise. A couple days after, blisters started appearing which he visited the doctors office and began treatment. While the shingles would have developed with or without my advice, I felt that my lack of urgency delayed treatment which could abbreviated the illness. Since then, I decided to keep mum about my profession.

 

[scubadada]

Several years ago I was on a dive vacation with a group of friends. One of them is an MD. He made it a point to avoid discussing his profession, using the rationale that people may solicit advice and by providing it, you may be unknowingly establishing a MD/patient relationship and may be liable for your advise. Personally I thought that was an over reaction. Last year while on a dive, our DM was complaining of a headache. Once on the surface he took his mask off and rubbed his eyes. The next day the area around his left eye was pinked up and puffy without discharge or fever. As a nurse I was convinced that he got into contact with a some hydroid or nematocyst. I advised him to rinse affected area with warm water, use a warm compress and take some Benedryl. It turns out he was in the early stages of developing a nasty case of the shingles. Until this day I feel awful about dispensing incorrect advise. A couple days after, blisters started appearing which he visited the doctors office and began treatment. While the shingles would have developed with or without my advice, I felt that my lack of urgency delayed treatment which could abbreviated the illness. Since then, I decided to keep mum about my profession.

Who would know? I'm a specialist in Infectious Diseases, doubt I would have done better than you. I wouldn't second guess your advice. I also tend to keep the diving nonprofessional, for a variety of reasons.