I now have 50+ total dives, which makes me a complete expert...

[Web Monkey]

On my very first ocean dive, I saw someone with the sort of skill level people here call 'vacation divers' get herself into air trouble and then have difficulty ascending. The DM with that group had to leave the rest of them and escort her to the surface ... then she had a fit about being too tired to swim the fifty yards back to the boat in a flat calm. It turned out to be just an inconvenience, but I could easily see where she could have been hurt and she was clearly on the edge of panic. This particularly struck me since if Sabbath hadn't been with me, this woman would have been my instabuddy.

That's actually pretty common. Some paniced or nearly paniced divers turn into inert lumps once someone competent takes over. This isn't really an issue, since if someone needs assistance/rescuing, I'm not letting go until they're back on the boat and a slow "tired buddy" tow in calm water isn't much more work than swimming alone.

This is just a personal rule and isn't in any of the OW books I've seen, but I don't give anybody a chance to kill themselves (or me) twice on one dive.

Terry

 

[Robert Phillips]

For goodness sakes, don't turn yourself into a frustrated golfer in neoprene. Diving should be enjoyable regardless of your ability level. When you refer to the skills you have identified in need of improvement as having a specific level of suckage you may as well put on ugly looking pants and complain that your putter is defective.

Will there always be something to improve upon? Absolutely! But you gear is already in the water so just strap it on and keep at it.

People rarely die from a bad round of golf...

 

[sabbath999]

People rarely die from a bad round of golf...

This.

Or kill somebody else trying to help them from a bad round of golf.

In my limited ocean diving experience (10+) I've seen people pick up coral and move it around to make their pictures better, I have seen people standing or and sitting on hard coral posing for picture, I have seen boat captains give out bags of cheezypoofs to complete NOOBS to feed to the fish, I've seen people finning across the bottom banging everything in sight with their fins, I've seen people grab onto corals with both hands, I have seen people bounce off the top and bottom of wide swim throughs, I have seen somebody caught in an uncontrolled rapid ascent... one day we were down was like a freakshow of just about everything that a dive group could do go wrong happening... I saw a DM from another boat sharing air with two different divers on a simply 35 foot bottom dive... he took one to the surface, went back down and had to get another... and they were only down about 35 minutes.

Tearing up our reefs, uncontrolled ascents and the other "Vacation Diver Silly Pet Tricks" are a bit more serious (to me) than missing a put.

Having said all that, BioLogic nailed the intent of my post.

On a side note, wouldn't it be fun to be able to find a wet suit that is styled like a bad golf outfit?

 

[Robert Phillips]

I did my first ever "warm water' dive on Cayman; booked through the cruise ship I was on. While I did not see anything near as bad as you have seen, I did have to stop one individual who was playing soccer with some coral. I simply tapped him on the leg, pointed out what he was doing and motioned for him to ascend a little to stop killing the reef. He did and I don't believe I saw him beating up the reef anymore on that dive. For the most part, the people with major issues stayed far enough away from the reef to not do much damage that I witnessed.

 

[CJM]

I enjoyed this thread. Actually very educating and good to see some level headed people out there. I personally feel every time I step into a body of water I've never been in, I'm a beginner.

 

[sabbath999]

I'm not sure if that was a typo or a pun, but either way: zing!

Around our house, PADI is ALWAYS spelled PAID.

 

[DevonDiver]

Shock...horror...

Paying for services?

Whatever next?!?!

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Remeber the 60th time you got behind the wheel of a car? Probably not but, most people where scary!! I know when I was 16 and had 60 drives under my belt the brain was still that of a teenage boy. Somehow I lived through it.

Great attitude sounds like you really enjoy diving.

 

[sabbath999]

Shock...horror...

Paying for services?

Whatever next?!?!

I chose to take the classes, I wrote the checks... not trying to blame anybody else...

 

[SeahorseDeb]

I love your honesty. I keep getting asked "when are you going to take your advanced." I laugh silently to myself and think "I am doing it on every dive, when I change conditions, water type and location." I have buddies who log tons of dives in the same dreary spot and brag about having "over 50 dives." Sheesh. They'd be better off not focusing on the number and rather, vary the dive location. I also learn alot in general conversation with a potential dive buddy, and I am not shy about asking to see their log book. Interesting that some people don't keep them, hmmmm. I too learn alot from listenng to my peers discuss their dive experiences. I also read voraciously, and I watch some YouTube stuff. I still don't know alot, and I don't want to. I don't want the learning to end. It is an appetite I cannot satisfy nor do I wish too!