"I refuse to dive with him!"

[ArcticDiver]

Came back to see what others had posted later. Absolutely amazed at the judgemental tone of several posts. Diving is supposed to be fun, fun, fun. Doesn't matter if you are in 5 feet of water exploring a reef or in 200 feet taking a look at a wreck or a cave. Diving is supposed to be fun.

If a diver can't have fun unless they have a companion who is socially and physically acceptable that is pretty sad. Insecurity? Self-esteem off the charts high? Irrational opinion of the risks involved? Just a grouch? I don't know.

But from these posts there are a lot of divers who are taking life way too seriously and not having fun while they are living it.

 

[TheSignGuy]

"typically i won't dive with anyone not equal to, or higher than my experience level. my regular dive buddies are rescue up to instructor level divers. i don't like babysitting ow, aow, or similar classification divers, with fewer than say 50 dives. ............... i have enough trouble dealing with newbies stumbling and bumbling and always under foot on the surface, let alone underwater on life support equipment."

First off let me congratulate you on being born a perfect diver who has never done any of what you discribed.

Second off read your first sentence. It is okay for you to dive with someone with more experence but us newbie noobs are not allowed to?? I wouldn't dive with you either.
:~(

 

[Corigan]

Where you might think it is.....Not Cool. I wasn't there and maybe there was more to it than you are letting on here but if there wasn't.....not cool. By no means should you put yourself in danger so if that was the case I apologise but there still should be a clear communication between the 2 of you that this was happening.

I signaled him and got his attention. I then did the swirl finger over the head for turnaround. Then I took out my spg, pointed to it, and gave the thumb. After doing all that, the guy turns around and starts taking macro shots again. Not sure how much more I could do except stay down there and have an OOA situation. I don't think it's cool at all. I headed back to the mooring line since it was time to go, and he apparently could care less. When he came up he told me he wanted to finish shooting what was left of his roll of film.. :/

Matt

 

[AlaskaDiver]

I understand your question well. Here is the way a typical boat dive goes. You are visiting an area, anywhere USA or some exotic locale. You go to the dive shop and ask about diving and they tell you it is great and they have a boat going out in the morning. You sign up and give a deposit. Sure enough, next morning a boat is at the dock as promised and is rapidly filling with divers, most are excited and talking and chattering, a few are quiet and reserved sipping some coffee, others are knocking stuff over, fins and masks are everywhere, the National Geographic wannabee photo guy is hogging all the deck space with his camera gear and complaining people are stepping on it so I help him out and step on it some more. Then you got the guys with the big spear guns and the captain is arguing with them about no spearing allowed. Somehow you get your gear on the boat and yourself and the lines are cast off and veroooooooom, away you go. You are alone, you look around, soon the captain ask for buddy teams, you ask to dive solo and they freakout and quote the stupid PadI Bible to you and claim gravity will cease if they allow solo diving and they team you or you team with some guy you have never seen. It is a two tank dive and two different locations. there is current and once anchored you must descend and go down the anchor line. You don't get to say "Hold Everyhting" into your Dick Tracy watch and go dive a quarry with your new buddy. Amongst all the chatter and chaos and drum of the diesels and the camera guy fussing with the spear guys and the lady changing cloths in the front of the boat and the guy changing his cloths in the back of the boat and you figure they are an excellent match and the three divers vomiting off the side you figure you are on a ride to Hell.

So what do you do, do you not dive? Do you dive and if the buddy is a dweeb do you dump him and take the wrath of the captian when you return or do you just decide to babysit the dweeb or do you luck out and get a good buddy or what--it is pretty much wild card. What if you ask to dive with the "squared away guy" and he and his "squared away" buddy say no because they only dive with a "squared away" "team". This is the real world of tourist diving. There is no get to know, there is only go or no. N

Oh man that was funny

 

[AZLAR]

My wife and I like to "cruise", But she would rather shop, so I usually book my own dives in whatever port we are in. I had the "opportunity" to be on a boat with a family of five fresh from the quarry checkout dive! Mom and Dad, 2 tenage sons and a 12 yr. old daughter AND a brand new divemaster on the boat! Their first dive was a "trainwreck" (or would it be a "shipwreck"?). Everything went poorly from descent to reboarding. The little girl was in tears, because the family wasn't helping her much and she was ready to stay on the boat. I volunteered to take her on the second dive and she did great! We took our time and she loved it. I'd like to think I "sacrificed" a dive, but created a new diver for years to come...a small price to pay!

 

[NadMat]

My wife and I like to "cruise", But she would rather shop, so I usually book my own dives in whatever port we are in. I had the "opportunity" to be on a boat with a family of five fresh from the quarry checkout dive! Mom and Dad, 2 tenage sons and a 12 yr. old daughter AND a brand new divemaster on the boat! Their first dive was a "trainwreck" (or would it be a "shipwreck"?). Everything went poorly from descent to reboarding. The little girl was in tears, because the family wasn't helping her much and she was ready to stay on the boat. I volunteered to take her on the second dive and she did great! We took our time and she loved it. I'd like to think I "sacrificed" a dive, but created a new diver for years to come...a small price to pay!

Great story ...
If only all divers (and all people) could 'do unto others' as well.

 

[Storm]

I have only been diving for a short period of time, and unfortunately I already have one "I woun't dive with" candidate...and he was one of my DI's.

He's a new Di, so I suppose I sould be generous and cut him some slack, but by the time we finished that one certification dive, we, my regular dive buddy (my wife) had to endure a misplanned dive, over reaching dive plan (despite my initial reservations), an "on the line abandonment", all culminating in an OOA. Thank God for a particular DM who was there to keep it all together.

So I guess the only reason I mention it here, is that I've heard a lot of "newbie" thumping, and thought I'd menioned that it's not only newbies who can screw the pooch on a simple dive...it can happen to anyone.

Do I hold a grudge, perhaps, but it's not in my nature...would I dive with that fellow agaoin, perhaps once I've got a few hundred dives under my belt and I'm not there as one of his students, would I attend a course with him as a DI...sure..when Lucifer needs a fur coat to say wamr at home.

But I'm new and prone to being hasty.

Safe dinve.

 

[Belushi]

A very wise person, in this thread, has mentioned that it is not what you see underwater that should concern you, it is the surface behaviour you should watch.
That is the biggest indicator of wether the person will stick to the dive plan or not.

In most of the "fun" diving I have done, the dive guide/DM gave a dive plan and it did not matter who you were allocated, you went down, along then up (in that order, hopefully). I enjoy diving with a small group (4 or less), because the DM will always surface with the person that runs low on air, and then that will leave the rest of us to bimble pleasantly along.
I am happy diving on my own and as long as the dive guide/DM gives me the ok, I will follow the dive plan rigidly on my own.

I actually dont enjoy diving with others. I have discovered the delights of u/w videography and I get in other people's way. I dont want to be the guy with that stoopid camera that is in everyone's face trying to get the best shot.
I am normally allowed to go in first, if moored up, or allowed to be at the back, if on a drift.
But ultimately, I defer to the guy in charge at the front What he says goes. But I will not allow myself to be an unpaid dive guide. I will not take newbies if the dive guide does not go inthe water or decides to buddy himself with the experienced.

 

[Diveral]

I have been a Rescue Diver since 1987 and have frequently been paired up with newer and in-experienced divers. I have rarely encountered anyone who was a nightmare to dive with. Most appreciated diving with a more experienced diver and I enjoyed being the tour guide. I really enjoyed watching and listening to them on the surface intervals when describing the things they saw and did. It often brought a fresh perspective to many things that I took for granted and had become routine for me. Most of them stuck to me like peanut butter on crackers and I rarely had to look for them. If I was stuck with a rapid tank depleter I had usually worked it out with the operation where I would escort them to the ladder and then I would descend and act as a safety diver or observe another team. Occasionally I would go solo at that point. Even the bad dives where I had to catch someone who bolted towards the surface and free ascend with them and then tow them back to the boat were, if not an enjoyable dive, at least made a good story over a beer when we got back to land. If you buy me a beer I will still tell you about some of those dives.

 

[TSandM]

I was the lucky recipient of a lot of patience on the part of a lot of people when I was starting out at this. I was never a hoover, but I had problems descending, I rototilled, and I couldn't hold a stop to save my soul. Thank goodness there were people who were willing to dive with me anyway, and who helped me with tips and suggestions and just the willingness to accompany me while I got the experience I needed to get better. I hope I never forget this generosity, and I am already trying to return it.

I've had a couple of dives with new divers which have not been particularly gratifying dives from the standpoint of what I want to get out of my own fun dives, but they have been very worth while in terms of the gratitude of the new divers who were happy for a patient companion and some help.

I've not been in the position of paying a lot of money for a charter and having to accompany a new diver and limit my own dive in any way, but I hope if it happens, I can remember that I was new once, too.

I'd certainly rather dive with a new diver with a good attitude, than an experienced diver with a rash one!