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

[chillyinCanada]

You chould have just switched his tank with yours.


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Love this answer!!

Scubajay, lots of divers, especially newer divers have certain expectations of a dm. It's fairly normal until those divers get to Scubaboard and learn differently.

If you have your AOW certificate, take the Rescue course.

I'm in the camp that says dm responsibilities are dependant upon their county, their country's tour guide or scuba regulations, or their employers set out. None of this says that any dm is going to be what and where you need the dm to be at any given time. Dm's are human though, for the most part they're more attentive to the diver they like than the one they might not. But even then, you could end up with a complete ass as your dive guide.

 

[Iralub]

I have about the same experience level as the OP and am a vacation diver with no regular buddy. I think when you are inexperienced and diving with an instabuddy, you have different needs and expectations of a DM than if you are experienced in independent diving with a regular buddy.

That is particularly so if you choose the dive op on the basis that they promise small groups, experienced dms etc (which is what I do).

Personally, I don't expect the DM to set up my gear (although as a new diver I did ask for a check that I set up correctly, which was provided). I don't expect the DM to check my air (although most seem to do so), to tell me how to do a buddy check (but also to not rush me into the water without one), to wash my gear or to serve me tea

I do expect the DM or the dive op to give a proper briefing of the dive site, including any particularly challenging aspects of the dive, so I can decide if the dive is within my comfort zone. In the OP 's situation I would expect the DM to tell me that the dive involved entering an extended overhead system at 40m depth, so I could call the dive. They know the sites, I don't.

If the rules are that we are diving as a group, with everyone following the DM, I expect them to check that everyone is ok with entering a challenging environment, such as confined swimthrough, especially if it is not part of the briefing. And to not swim at breakneck speed.

I confess that I do see the DM as an extra safety blanket in the circumstances where I don't have a guarantee that my dive buddy is competent (or sane!). I don't necessarily expect that the DM could rescue me if a problem occurs, but I do expect them to not lead me into a dangerous situation that I haven't been briefed on.

 

[Vicko]

In the Dive Center I am working at the dive master is the person responsible for the enjoyment and safety of the customers. We have a land crew that handles all rented equipment.
We have a few wrecks and none of them end under 30 meters, and the only real OWD dive spost are right in front of the center, where we have a cave at 8 meters, and a wall dive at 25, none of witch are a good choice for OWD divers, especialy if they got their certificat at Egypt, Thailand and places like those where it's much simpler to dive.
So thats why at most of our spots dive we dive on our backs, looking at customers trying to predict any mistakes they make, while peting conger eels, avoiding hiting the wreck and making sure we only go trough the thermocline only 2-3 times.

When I read here that the DM-s usualy don't really do that much, and get paid very little I was really suprised. Here during the sasson you get a 24/7 work hours and a nice fat pay check.

 

[george_austin]

I just did last weekend a very unusual deal here at Catalina Island. I DM'd for a family of 4 newly certified divers. I very much enjoyed it. I just helped them with tank straps and stuff topside. Helped them figure out weighting - ( the Cliff Notes version) Gave them a brief. Assembled on surface and met up on the bottom. Then escorted them on the carefully planned dive. Dive 1 was a little hectic but by Dive 3 they were pretty much sorted and naturally, the 16 year old girl was like Mike Nelson underwater - a natural. Boy, I was thinking to myself during the dives - - " I'd like them to get a partial refund from whomever taught them OW ". I've seen much much worse though. They were really nice people too, so that counts for a lot. Nothing wrong with them that a few dozen dives wouldn't fix. Basically I considered my job - 1. Safety for all of us. 2. Fun 3. No training that an instructor should do. 4. Helpful suggestions. 5. No attitude 6. Safety 7. Safety 8. Limits.

 

[Searcaigh]

Where I normally dive the boats do not have DMs although some dive ops will provide one at an extra charge if you request one.

When I travel to SE Asia, all I am looking for a is a competent guide to help find critters for me to photograph and have an equal or better air consumption than me

 

[Dhboner]

I remember once doing a bull shark dive with a large group and expressed privately to the DM that it had been a while since I last dove and was about to ask if he could give me an extra once over before we back rolled and he nearly rolled his eyes out of his head. He didn't give me the help I asked for and acted completely annoyed at me for the rest of the day! I remember sort of equating his actions with a time I had to do CPR on someone as a heart surgeon stood by scoffing at my technique while refusing to touch the dying man.

When I did a bull shark dive I am pretty sure the depth was around 80 feet to the sand with some current. The other issue is you don't want to hang around mid-water too long with bull sharks swimming nearby so I really can't blame the DM for his reaction. He needs to be sure that everyone on the charter can descend relatively quickly without ear issues and can handle a decent amount of current and still stay together. I think I might have disclosed that to the shop at the time I booked the dive ;-)

 

[fjpatrum]

DM during a class should be there to help monitor students, facilitate better practice/training/drills/whatever, and overall assist the instructor.

DM on a dive boat- assist (if requested/required) with getting my gear on my back. Provide thorough site briefing, help me get back on the boat. Be kind enough to help me with a water bottle/sandwich if that's provided and a really good one (like a couple I had in Florida) will even grab the chum bucket for me when I start hurling. (Extra tip for that though)

DM hired as a "guide" - pay attention to what I want from the dive. Swim at a pace consistent with what I want for the dive, be it photography or "underwater race," and be a good buddy in all aspects of the word with respect to diving etiquette.

 

[boulderjohn]

Thanks! Very interesting how standards vary so greatly depending on what part of the world you are in and what kind of diving you are doing.

There is often a very good reason for different roles in different parts of the world. The kind of diving done in different places calls for those differences. In some places, there is really no need for the DM to do much at all. In other cases, you could count on a lot of lost divers without a DM actively leading the dive. In some places (like Cozumel), a DM actively leading and controlling a dive is a legal requirement.

As RJP said, you can't really be sure what a DM's role is in a certain situation unless you ask ahead.

I agree that is interesting. As I guess you read, in some places, even in the US, there is often no divemaster in the water with you. The boat's divemaster (or crew member) gives the divers a briefing, and then the rest is up to you and your buddy. Once I had a few dives like that under my belt, I came to view the DM's role in ALL places--including resort-like tropical destinations where they DO normally lead divers around--in a new light.

A DM's role in even some of the most hands-off locations might be more than it appears. Let's look at a couple of cases for examples.

1. A couple years ago, a dive club chartered a boat for a 3-tank dive. DMs did little to nothing more than take the roll after each dive. When it turned out they had missed someone after the first dive (and the next two dives as well), they were successfully sued for major chunk of change. (The guy lived, BTW.)

2. A DM who was just supposed to assist on the boat on a southern California dive charter saw a diver struggling in the water while trying to get on the boat. He jumped in to help and got the guy's BCD off, apparently not thinking about the fact that the guy was wearing a heavy weight belt. The DM was not current on his certification, so he did not have any liability insurance. He committed suicide before the lawsuit was even filed.

Summary: Even in the most hands-off operations, the DMs are to a large extent responsible for diver safety. The degree to which that requires them to intervene in diver activity changes with the local diving conditions, local laws, and operator policy.

 

[AdivingBel]

Applying this to just one moment from the Devil's Throat episode that the OP described in the recent post in Incidents and Near Misses: If the DM had taken responsibility for keeping an eye on the OP as his buddy in the Devil's Throat, this could have prevented a lost (separated) diver. Not a criticism, but if the OP as diver had taken responsibility to signal her DM/buddy she needed to turn back--and if it were possible to get the DM's attention--this could have prevented a group separation as well.

If you are diving in a group, one thing the DM is NOT is your dive buddy. You might get away with it for a bimble on a reef, but if the DM/guide actually has to guide the dive due to swim-throughs or heavy current etc., his loyalties are divided and he can't perform the duties of a proper dive buddy. In the DT situation most all of the dangerous aspects of that dive could have been avoided or at least mitigated if SJ hadn't been "buddied up" with the DM but had her own (even insta) buddy. The main thing I would have hung on the DM in that scenario was knowingly agreeing to be a dive buddy to an individual while guiding a group through DT. SJ would have been better off diving as a trio with everybody agreeing to this before the splash. All IMHO. Diver0001 mentioned this in the original DT thread. I'm a bit surprised more hasn't been made of it. Even in SJ's wrap up post of what she learned via the experience, it wasn't stressed. Plenty of talk about SMBs, dive lights, pre-dive briefing expectations etc., but not much about this.

 

[Russoft]

After being taken on some dives I was very uncomfortable with during my previous dive trip, I've started equipping myself with what I need to enjoy a dive with an insane or irresponsible DM: Computer and SMB. This way I can call the dive within NDL and still have the boat pick me up. I've also started going with my buddy/wife on shore dives just the two of us. We plan our dive with the assistance of knowledgeable locals and available online info, then we dive it. We find ourselves diving far more conservatively as a result. But we're learning our true limits rather than false limits. Expecting a DM to babysit you hampers your ability to develop as a diver, in my opinion. I expect the DM to brief me on the dive site and facilitate my getting to the site. After that, I expect nothing, lest the DM fail to deliver.