How to piss off a Divemaster?

[flots am]

I have to agree. Not as a DM, but as a fellow boat passenger. These types of divers creep me out. A disproportionate number of the incidents/accidents I've seen on boat dives have been perpetrated by these silent, withdrawn, incommunicative types.

Be an introvert, fine. But beyond a certain point, your lack of communication can affect everyone's safety.

All the incidents I've seen have involved people who won't shut up or people who are silent and freaked out. They're both pretty easy to spot. "Leave me the hell alone." looks quite different than "I hope nobody notices me."

The diver who isn't bothering anybody and is quietly setting up his gear with no problems, no searching for stuff, equipment not scattered all over the deck, nothing forgotten, nothing lost and everything quietly going to it's proper place has never caused me any problems.

flots.

 

[nimoh]

I have to agree. Not as a DM, but as a fellow boat passenger. These types of divers creep me out. A disproportionate number of the incidents/accidents I've seen on boat dives have been perpetrated by these silent, withdrawn, incommunicative types.

Be an introvert, fine. But beyond a certain point, your lack of communication can affect everyone's safety.

how many incidents/accidents have you seen on boat dives?

In more than 200 dives, I have not seen one, although it is possible that our definitions of these terms differ.

Also, not sure what you mean by "perpetrated". I could be mistaken, but to me that implies that they deliberately caused the incidents/accidents.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

some cute diver thats probably impressed by the whole Dive Master thing.

This reminds me of watching clueless junior associates and bankers trying to pull tail at some relatively upscale bar by casually name-dropping their respective employers.

 

[Tigerman]

Ive seen 4 divers panicking (3 of them aforementioned "braggers" the last one peer pressured into an uncomfortable dive), blown HP hoses at depth (minor issue but the sound is horrendous), blown tank valve o-ring at depth (NASTY), OOG due to a faulty gauge (something the diver should have picked up on tbh), stuck inflator that wasnt fixed fast enough with a following runaway ascent..
All of them Id call "incidents" some of them "rescues" as they did infact DEPEND on help to get safely back on the boat (one of them almost ascended into a prop due to the panic, but was stopped before he got there), none of them having bad outcome thanks to the other divers there.
Ive also seen a couple of incidents where EFR and S&R was involved that fortunately turned out good. Medical issues at depth is a bitch...

 

[SanDiegoSidemount]

how many incidents/accidents have you seen on boat dives?

Thinking hard and counting, I've seen five in ~30 days of boat diving.

In more than 200 dives, I have not seen one, although it is possible that our definitions of these terms differ.

Probably so. This incident I would consider the worst, because it put the most people at risk. The mildest was an OOA where the DM had to donate his octo to the guy who sucked his tank dry. Others had to do with navigation, current, buddy separation, and a minor spear gun stabbing. Perhaps you wouldn't even consider these to be incidents? I'm very concerned about safety, so I consider anything that causes injury or puts a diver unexpectedly at risk an "incident".

Of the five I've seen, four incidents involved people I would consider on the introverted end of the boat diver spectrum. (They were quieter than me, and I'm relatively anti-social myself.) The spear gun incident was caused by a blow-hard.

Also, not sure what you mean by "perpetrated". I could be mistaken, but to me that implies that they deliberately caused the incidents/accidents.

Thanks for correcting my choice of words.

 

[Akimbo]

… Next trip down, the attentive DM no longer works the boat (not saying it is necessarily related) and the "cool" DM is engaged to her...just saying.

Sadly for testosterone-fueled young males, trying to gain the affections of a lady often has nothing to do with receiving them.

 

[nimoh]

Thinking hard and counting, I've seen five in ~30 days of boat diving.

Probably so. This incident I would consider the worst, because it put the most people at risk. The mildest was an OOA where the DM had to donate his octo to the guy who sucked his tank dry. Others had to do with navigation, current, buddy separation, and a minor spear gun stabbing. Perhaps you wouldn't even consider these to be incidents? I'm very concerned about safety, so I consider anything that causes injury or puts a diver unexpectedly at risk an "incident".

Of the five I've seen, four incidents involved people I would consider on the introverted end of the boat diver spectrum. (They were quieter than me, and I'm relatively anti-social myself.) The spear gun incident was caused by a blow-hard.

thanks for clarifying. The statistical analyst in me doesn't want to make the correlation between introvert and "accident waiting to happen" based on 4/5 incidents, but I can definitely see how your experience would lead you to that, especially if it was very peculiar how introverted the divers were prior to the incidents. In other words, I see a difference in being on a boat and consciously thinking "wow, what is this guy's deal being so quiet?" and then having an incident as opposed to an incident occurring and then thinking "oh, that was that quiet guy"

 

[Hickdive]

I think we may be talking at cross purposes. The whole 'raison d'etre' for a Divemaster/ dive guide is to facilitate the enjoyment of guests who sign up for diving with a Divemaster.

Call me presumptuous however communicating a bit about what dives you have done, what you hope to see, anything you'd rather not etc. is a win-win in my book. However there remain people who believe their tortured-soul eyes to silently communicate their desires of finding nudibranchs.

Here's a tip; ask them.

Seriously, if you're that butt-hurt that they're not grinning and babbling away like excited schoolchildren on their way to Disneyworld and telling you every last detail of what they want to see you could always try just asking them. You know, that communication thing is a two-way street and you're employed, as a DM, to get that communication going.

Anyway you're wasted as a DM, if you're so good at telling how people feel just by looking at them you really need to open some kind Lightman Group.

 

[thez_yo]

Honestly I don't understand how people stand around chatting about any old thing underway to a dive site when there's more important stuff to do like check tank pressure, CO content, O2% if you've got something other than air, make sure your gear all works, put all your gear on, discuss dive plan with your buddy, discuss emergency procedures with your buddy, discuss hand-signals with your buddy, listen to the DM's dive conditions/site brief, and check your buddy's gear too to make sure you both have the appropriate gear and you both know how to use each other's gear.

 

[nimoh]

Honestly I don't understand how people stand around chatting about any old thing underway to a dive site when there's more important stuff to do like check tank pressure, CO content, O2% if you've got something other than air, make sure your gear all works, put all your gear on, discuss dive plan with your buddy, discuss emergency procedures with your buddy, discuss hand-signals with your buddy, listen to the DM's dive conditions/site brief, and check your buddy's gear too to make sure you both have the appropriate gear and you both know how to use each other's gear.

some good points, although it is a little late to be checking CO, O2, pressure and making sure your gear works once on the boat going to the dive site. What if something is wrong? would you turn the boat around or sit out the dive?