I will begin by saying I have a cursory knowledge of DIR. I recently had exposure to some local DIR divers in a quarry situation and I came away scratching my head and wondering if what happened is part of the DIR way or an example of individual application gone wrong. Her are the details.
My Buddy and I dive CCR. I am eCCR and my buddy is mCCR. We were gearing up for a early evening dive at the local quarry (something we do almost weekly to keep our skills sharp and practise failure modes). This particular dive our plan was to simply go down to 90ft look around for about 20 minutes and then simulate an bail out ascent. This dive was mid summer and ambient light was good at depth. My buddy and I typically swim with one lead and the other to the right and slightly behind (max 2-3 ft). When we entered the water we saw a group of 3 DIR divers going thru their dive plan and checks. We submerged and made our way down to depth and were swimming around when all of a sudden the 3 DIR diver whom were side by side swam between us without warning. Since we have very little seperation between us the 3 DIR divers could not fit and we were surprized because they approached on a 45 degree diagonal course from our left rear. I was pushed aside in order to avoid the diver that suddenly appeared in front of me and my buddy was pushed up by the DIR diver trying to squeeze underneath him. Esentially, it appeared to us the these 3 DIR diver had their path set and dam anyone whom might be in the way. They did nothing to avoid us even though we had no knowledge of their approach and afterwards on the surface they made no mention or apology.
Hence, my question if this is normal DIR procedure and mode of operation when other non DIR divers are in their path or simply bad manners that might have resulted in a dangerous situation if inexperience divers were involved?
My Buddy and I dive CCR. I am eCCR and my buddy is mCCR. We were gearing up for a early evening dive at the local quarry (something we do almost weekly to keep our skills sharp and practise failure modes). This particular dive our plan was to simply go down to 90ft look around for about 20 minutes and then simulate an bail out ascent. This dive was mid summer and ambient light was good at depth. My buddy and I typically swim with one lead and the other to the right and slightly behind (max 2-3 ft). When we entered the water we saw a group of 3 DIR divers going thru their dive plan and checks. We submerged and made our way down to depth and were swimming around when all of a sudden the 3 DIR diver whom were side by side swam between us without warning. Since we have very little seperation between us the 3 DIR divers could not fit and we were surprized because they approached on a 45 degree diagonal course from our left rear. I was pushed aside in order to avoid the diver that suddenly appeared in front of me and my buddy was pushed up by the DIR diver trying to squeeze underneath him. Esentially, it appeared to us the these 3 DIR diver had their path set and dam anyone whom might be in the way. They did nothing to avoid us even though we had no knowledge of their approach and afterwards on the surface they made no mention or apology.
Hence, my question if this is normal DIR procedure and mode of operation when other non DIR divers are in their path or simply bad manners that might have resulted in a dangerous situation if inexperience divers were involved?
