In defense of Casual Divers

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HowieDean

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Messages
153
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0
Location
Seabrook, Texas
I’ve been on this board for a couple of years now and it seems to me everybody’s getting a little carried away.

I work for a Resort in Roatan a couple of months out of the year and these folks make up about 75% of our customers. Most of these people only dive once a year while on vacation.

They want to relax and see the pretty fish and the beautiful reef. The don’t want to join a CULT or in-list in the WUAFEN SS. They expect me to be a DIVE MASTER not a REICH MARSHAL.

As I said the people are my CUSTOMERS and they expect to be CATERIED to, as they should. After all they are PAYING us.

We pride our selves in running a very SAFE professional Dive operation.

We dive in 80 deg plus water with visibility of 90 feet or more. We use a 2 dive master team with one as a guide and the other in the rear to keep an eye on every one. Our dive groups are usually 4 to 6 and never more then 10.

Our primary focus is to eliminate PANICK. We talk with our guests the night they check in, before we dive the next morning. I’ve been doing this a while and it’s not hard to pick out the people who are full of ****. We talk with people on the dive boat both on the way out and back in. We go out of our way to give advice with out PREACHING. If you want to be a better diver we will go out of our way to teach you. If you are happy with where you are we will take extra care to be sure you stay safe.

We dive very conservative profiles and observer our divers not only under water but on the boat and in the lodge. Buy the end of the Second day I can assure you we have folks sorted out buy their ABILITIES. The better divers are then allowed a lot longer leash. And the really good ones are invited out for additional dives in the evening to do the neat stuff…………

But back to the point.

Now just how uncomfortable do these folks need to feel cause they don't know the proper procedure for rigging their stage bottles or what their Po2 is after everydive.
I only need these people to be comfortable knowing that they can handle the problems that might occor in the enviorment they are diving in THIS DIVE.

I would grately perfer my divers to have a solid understanding of the BARE BASICS then a little bit about allot of things that have no impact on their safety during the dive they are doing.

The most dangerous thing our quests do is ride in the van from the Resort to the Airport and back.

These folks aren’t going to dive the DORA, they aren’t going to buy a dry suit, they just want to RELAX and have FUN.

If we want our sport to GROW we need to stop trying to SCARE people away.

It’s called CUSTMER SERVICE you can lead people to be better divers while they are having a good time. Our you can treat them like idiots and beat diving out of them.

I know this is not congruent with the opinions of most of you on this board but it works for me. Any time I can get some time off from work I just jump on plane to Roatan, get reimbursed for the ticket and work for a few weeks.

That's just my opion I could be wrong
 
HowieDean:
If we want our sport to GROW we need to stop trying to SCARE people away.

This sport is different from something like snowboarding, though, in that that the hazards are not as unconsciously well understood as gravity and momentum are -- and diving involves a little bit more than swimming around and watching the pretty fishes, even if that is what most people's goals are. If you don't recognize that and risk scaring a few people away, then you dumb the sport down to the point where people don't know how to manage their gas, don't know how to do an air share, don't know when to thumb a dive as being over their head, and they can wind up hurt or dead.
 
HowieDean:
As I said the people are my CUSTOMERS and they expect to be CATERIED to, as they should. After all they are PAYING us.

We pride our selves in running a very SAFE professional Dive operation.

HowieDean:
That's just my opion I could be wrong
I don't believe that you are wrong at all. Many of the folks that I dive with take the sport as truly a recreational activity. They do dive during the year, but don't want to take any significant challenges. What they really enjoy is the opportunity to get away for a week and dive in the winter. On top of this is the social aspect.

They understand the basics, they practice skills, they know their limits and stay within them.

I don't believe you are wrong in any way.
 
Thank you for your thoughts. I'd surmise the great majority of people on this board are people like your customers. And believe it or not, even divers who dive with stage bottles, and other gear, are there for the same reason. FUN!

Fun means different things to different people. For me, planning dives that push my limits where I learn in safe environment is fun. Going out on a dive where I need a DM to ensure my safety would not be fun. But that's just *me*. I probably wouldn't enjoy golf if I had someone walking behind me to make sure I chose the right club every shot, and I wouldn't enjoy biking if I had someone along making sure I had my water bottle, and making sure I chose the correct gear. However, other people may feel pampered with those same things.

While I certainly can't speak for others, I am not all that interested in seeing SCUBA grow. It's more than big enough already for my tastes. But I don't make a living from it like yo do. When I put my tanks on, it's purely for recreational purpose.

And I prefer to think of myself as part of the Luftwaffe and not the SS, thanks.
 
HowieDean:
If you want to be a better diver we will go out of our way to teach you. If you are happy with where you are we will take extra care to be sure you stay safe.
Sounds like he's defending "trust me" dives as part of the business model.
 
HowieDean:
I’ve been on this board for a couple of years now and it seems to me everybody’s getting a little carried away.

I work for a Resort in Roatan a couple of months out of the year and these folks make up about 75% of our customers. Most of these people only dive once a year while on vacation.

They want to relax and see the pretty fish and the beautiful reef. The don’t want to join a CULT or in-list in the WUAFEN SS. They expect me to be a DIVE MASTER not a REICH MARSHAL.

As I said the people are my CUSTOMERS and they expect to be CATERIED to, as they should. After all they are PAYING us.

We pride our selves in running a very SAFE professional Dive operation.

We dive in 80 deg plus water with visibility of 90 feet or more. We use a 2 dive master team with one as a guide and the other in the rear to keep an eye on every one. Our dive groups are usually 4 to 6 and never more then 10.

Our primary focus is to eliminate PANICK. We talk with our guests the night they check in, before we dive the next morning. I’ve been doing this a while and it’s not hard to pick out the people who are full of ****. We talk with people on the dive boat both on the way out and back in. We go out of our way to give advice with out PREACHING. If you want to be a better diver we will go out of our way to teach you. If you are happy with where you are we will take extra care to be sure you stay safe.

We dive very conservative profiles and observer our divers not only under water but on the boat and in the lodge. Buy the end of the Second day I can assure you we have folks sorted out buy their ABILITIES. The better divers are then allowed a lot longer leash. And the really good ones are invited out for additional dives in the evening to do the neat stuff…………

But back to the point.

Now just how uncomfortable do these folks need to feel cause they don't know the proper procedure for rigging their stage bottles or what their Po2 is after everydive.
I only need these people to be comfortable knowing that they can handle the problems that might occor in the enviorment they are diving in THIS DIVE.

I would grately perfer my divers to have a solid understanding of the BARE BASICS then a little bit about allot of things that have no impact on their safety during the dive they are doing.

The most dangerous thing our quests do is ride in the van from the Resort to the Airport and back.

These folks aren’t going to dive the DORA, they aren’t going to buy a dry suit, they just want to RELAX and have FUN.

If we want our sport to GROW we need to stop trying to SCARE people away.

It’s called CUSTMER SERVICE you can lead people to be better divers while they are having a good time. Our you can treat them like idiots and beat diving out of them.

I know this is not congruent with the opinions of most of you on this board but it works for me. Any time I can get some time off from work I just jump on plane to Roatan, get reimbursed for the ticket and work for a few weeks.

That's just my opion I could be wrong
I really don't understand what you're trying to say here. Is it that we should all confine ourselves to only discussing vacation dives?

Why should casual divers need defending?

We all dive the way we want to ... and enjoy talking about it with like-minded individuals.

Personally, it doesn't matter to me how people dive ... as long as they follow basic safety protocols and don't damage the reefs or endanger other people ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
" ow just how uncomfortable do these folks need to feel cause they don't know the proper procedure for rigging their stage bottles or what their Po2 is after everydive.
I only need these people to be comfortable knowing that they can handle the problems that might occor in the enviorment they are diving in THIS DIVE."

Well, providing you did not have to put them on O2 after the dive, their ppO2 is the same after the dive as before the dive.

Seriosly, do your divers use nitrox?
 
NWGratefulDiver:
as long as they follow basic safety protocols and don't damage the reefs or endanger other people ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bingo. As far as resort divers go, I don't care past the above. But how good can the buoyancy of a once-a-year diver really be?

HowieDean:
Now just how uncomfortable do these folks need to feel cause they don't... what their Po2 is after everydive.


I've not been to Honduras yet, but I'm guessing that their post-dive PO2 is something along the lines of 0.21.

Unless Honduras is weird.
 
I couldn't go to that resort. All that being watched would make me feel like I was being watched and give me the jitters.

A DM in front and one in back...sounds cozy. I wonder what those folks would do if they try diving without a herd of divemasters to herd them around.
 

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