In your Opinion, what are the responsibilities of a DM?

[highdesert]

DM is responsible to get you to a site to dive. That's it.

I think this is a gross oversimplification, based on your apparently limited variety of dive destinations. The OP's question is legitimate, IMHO, for the type of destination diving he does. Our diving is almost always done halfway around the world, generally on a site we've never seen. We don't pay megabucks (and I'm talking about trying to do it on the cheap), to have someone 'get you to a dive site' and then say 'see ya'.

 

[Macan]

Irregardless of location and/or purpose (eg guide, spotter), a DM's primary responsibility is DUTY OF CARE. Everything else, such as proper briefing, risk assessment, matching training/experience with the dive site/condition, in-water support, in-water diver safety, equipment, sound judgement, all fall under the definition of Duty of Care.

If a Diver cannot accept this or the DM cannot accept his Duty of Care responsibility, they shouldn't be diving together.

 

[rivers]

On a course:
Act as a safety diver for the instructor (ie rescue him if he has an issue), assist the instructor with the students, monitor students, and give them a few tips and tricks, occasionally act as a buddy for students if an odd numbered class or private class, lead the dive on the "tour" portion of OW dives. Most importantly: the paperwork, and get students set up with any kit they may need and return it to the kit room at the end of the course.

On a guided dive at the inland site I work at:
Act as a buddy and guide to whomever has paid for a guided dive. Give them a site briefing, show them on the map where we are going to go (down around the plane and back again), get any kit from the kit room they may need, and of course paperwork.

 

[Steve_C]

It is not a DM's responsibility to read minds. It is each diver's responsibility to carefully check out what a dive entails before they sign up for the dive. Commenting to a DM, I have two dives to 30 ft just before a dive to 100 ft is not good. The DM cannot know how good you are in the water nor your experience level. You have to know that and make decisions appropriately. For your safety and enjoyment and for the safety and enjoyment of the other divers. People who go through air fast should not dive deep in large groups. It is not fair to everybody else.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I understand why this question keeps coming up. There are such different roles the DM plays depending on where you dive. People think the way it is done where they are is the best way.... obviously. One thing that doesn't change is the diver's need to take responsibility for themselves.

Best advice so far IMHO is to find out what the DM's Job is from the dive Op before you book and From the DM before you dive.

 

[dbulmer]

On a course:
Act as a safety diver for the instructor (ie rescue him if he has an issue), assist the instructor with the students, monitor students, and give them a few tips and tricks, occasionally act as a buddy for students if an odd numbered class or private class, lead the dive on the "tour" portion of OW dives. Most importantly: the paperwork, and get students set up with any kit they may need and return it to the kit room at the end of the course.

On a guided dive at the inland site I work at:
Act as a buddy and guide to whomever has paid for a guided dive. Give them a site briefing, show them on the map where we are going to go (down around the plane and back again), get any kit from the kit room they may need, and of course paperwork.

Bring back the buddy alive - less paperwork

 

[rivers]

Bring back the buddy alive - less paperwork

where's the fun in that?

 

[Storker]

Less paperwork = more time for post-dive beverage of choice, ergo more fun.

 

[TMHeimer]

A basic for assisting with courses: Do whatever the instructor wants (unless there is a violation of standards of course). Instructors vary in their approaches and at times can have little quirks about certain things.

 

[boulderjohn]

I understand why this question keeps coming up. There are such different roles the DM plays depending on where you dive. People think the way it is done where they are is the best way.... obviously.

In fact, many people think that what they have experienced is the ONLY way.

I did almost all of my first 30 dives or so in Cozumel. The DMs took my gear from me and set it as the boats traveled to the dive site. They told us what the dive plan would be, and we followed them through the water until they brought us to the surface. Then they broke down our gear for us. Then I did a dive in South Florida. As we headed for the dive site, I kept wondering why the DM was not setting up my gear for me. He was, in fact, ignoring me completely. It eventually dawned on me that I was on my own, and I scrambled to set up my gear (let's see--how does this go again?) before we got in the water. That was a rude awakening about the differences in DM roles in different locations.

Not long ago I taught two different OW classes in which students informed me that their knowledgeable diving friends had assured them they could forget about all the dive planning stuff I was teaching them, because "in the real world," the DM did all of that for you. In some parts of "the real world," that is indeed what happens, a problem that creates a learned dependence on the part of the diver. In other parts of "the real world," nothing like that happens at all.

Eventually you learn to be alert to local protocols when you go to a new site and not expect anything you have experienced before. You also learn that when people start threads about DM responsibility, you will almost invariably get responses explaining what it is like "in the real world," based on their experience in the only place they have ever dived.