I see most of the reply here aiming to critize Stevediver.
I just want to share my experience, that this kind of diver (similar to the lady that he was talking about) is really a headache for their companions. I can understand why Stevediver did what he did.
I had this friend, he went to OW together with me, before he even touched the sea, he already had full gear. Before he finished OW, he was planning to get his AOW. A week after OW, he went for AOW. By the time I took my AOW, he took his Rescue and already bought his second set of equipment (he felt that his previous equipment was not able to perform now he had higher experience). And mind you, all of his equipment cost arm, leg, and kidney. All of them all top range, including the top range mask, I forget the type which cost 10 times or more than ordinary mask. He told me he was also preparing himself to go technical.
His performances, I have a lot to share with you guys.
- He rode a turtle in his OW dive, so the dive pattern was up and down up and down, ignoring the instructor warning.
- He dives with his hands all over him, grabbing and moving frantically.
- He can't stay at one spot for a long time, because he can control his buoyancy, so he has to keep fining.
- After he was certified Rescue, he was still struggling to do roll-back right.
Every dive we had with him, gave us headache.
- He was always number one when the DM tried to show us something, and gave us no chance to look at the thing/scared the fish away.
During my long trip with him, every dive was a disaster for him.
- He shot up two times from more than 50 ft, because he didn't realized he was out of air. (We were still have at least 1/3 of the tank capacity). Thank God he was OK.
Just for information, he seemed like he doesn't understand about buddy system. He never stayed close to his buddy, and didn't understand hand signal. When one of the buddy asked him to do safety stop when he ran out of air, he nodded ok and finned away to chase a fish. :11:
- He has 60% dives with flooding mask. Yes, that expensive mask. When we told him that his mask might be too big for him, he demonstrated that he did a proper try when he bought it. And guess what, he tried it, he put his mask on, and it didn't drop, because he also put on the strap. (I can wear a D sized bra mask without dropping it if I put the strap on..)
- His equipments failed. His octopus failed, His inflator hose went off, He dropped his camera, and didn't realize it until he was in the boat. Lately I know, he blamed everyone for not taking care of him. (He did his own ascend without telling us that he was going to go up).
This was the second time he dropped his camera. First time, his buddy recovered it, eh, he just snatched it away without thanks.
And every time his equipment failed (almost every dive, we just needed to wait for his story every time we surfaced), he planned to change them. I can see why he would never be comfortable with his equipments.
There was one time, first time he did the back roll correctly, he swam to me and started bragging and asking whether I was ok and needed his help. I guess it boasted his confidence??? (See I also can do back roll, so now, I think you need my help because you have lower certification). Gosh...
We really don't know how to deal with him. We have this group of seven divers + DM. And although we had assigned buddy, usually we are group buddy, we look at everyone closely, unless, of course, they are out of our sight without any communication, like him, and it happened all the time.
Group talk, individual talk, nag, we had tried, but he never really understood and listened to us. From serious talking to making fun of him, we couldn't make him come to senses.
Worst, he felt intimidated, and refused to talk to us when we started to 'nag'. :007:
After that long trip, he told us we are not the suitable companions for him, and he felt he was out of place and 'not welcomed', so he pursued his dream to be dive master and technical diver (I'm scared for anyone involved). A month after the dive trip, I heard he bought his third set of equipments. (We strongly think he printed money) :shakehead
The rest of the group are still close friends and dive together. Right, he is always an entertaining topic. There is a limit when you become a joke. :whack:
P.S : I spent an hour and a half, ten angry fingers writing this post.
