sportxlh
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Dr Lecter: just curious if your tag is a play on words related the biblical reference (in Psalm 107)
Miss Scuba Manners....What's your unwritten dive etiquette rule?
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Dr Lecter: just curious if your tag is a play on words related the biblical reference (in Psalm 107)
bilsant
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Please, please, please don't fool with my gear or put your hands on me...either above or below water.
Those who know me here know I'm the big funny easy going guy - usually cheerful and good for a joke or story....but I once accidentally / reflexively hurt someone when they startled me as a prank....it happened very quickly and they ended up with some broken bones in their wrist, arm, and collar bone, a disocated shoulder, and some cracked ribs...I still feel terrible about it even though it was years ago. There have been other close calls, but that was the worst.
On my first cavern dive at Blue Springs, a total stranger grabbed me from behind because my kick was unintentionally silting...a newbe stunt on my part...which frightened me badly not because of the grab, but because I again almost hurt someone who didn't deserve it. When we met on the surface, it became apparent that it wasn't an attack, but because he was an instructor, he felt it was his right to grab and correct me. His point was that he made a living teaching classes there and I was making viz less pleasant for the class he would be teaching later.
I'm not sure he ever really understood the points I was trying to make, which seem simple because most of us learned them on the playground...
"Be nice to others, don't touch other people or their stuff without permission, use the words please and thank you, wait your turn, leave critters that doesn't want to play with you alone, respect each other's space, and apologize when you're wrong."
Funny how the stuff that was so easy to understand at 5 seems difficult now for folks.
Those who know me here know I'm the big funny easy going guy - usually cheerful and good for a joke or story....but I once accidentally / reflexively hurt someone when they startled me as a prank....it happened very quickly and they ended up with some broken bones in their wrist, arm, and collar bone, a disocated shoulder, and some cracked ribs...I still feel terrible about it even though it was years ago. There have been other close calls, but that was the worst.
On my first cavern dive at Blue Springs, a total stranger grabbed me from behind because my kick was unintentionally silting...a newbe stunt on my part...which frightened me badly not because of the grab, but because I again almost hurt someone who didn't deserve it. When we met on the surface, it became apparent that it wasn't an attack, but because he was an instructor, he felt it was his right to grab and correct me. His point was that he made a living teaching classes there and I was making viz less pleasant for the class he would be teaching later.
I'm not sure he ever really understood the points I was trying to make, which seem simple because most of us learned them on the playground...
"Be nice to others, don't touch other people or their stuff without permission, use the words please and thank you, wait your turn, leave critters that doesn't want to play with you alone, respect each other's space, and apologize when you're wrong."
Funny how the stuff that was so easy to understand at 5 seems difficult now for folks.
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Dr. Lecter
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If the dive brief says "Get in.. Get down" be prepared to do it or GET OUT of the way of those who are!
Sort out your gear, weights and tank far enough ahead that you don't block or delay others getting in.
If you are doing a dive under protest.. keep your protest between you and whoever is pushing you into diving. I don't want to hear about how you might break a nail or mess your makeup. If those are your priorities
Don't fuss over me, touch my gear or camera unless I ask for your help I don't need it and won't appreciate the implication that you don't think I am a competent and self sufficient diver.
When you splash move as quickly as possible from the entry point. When you are exiting move as quickly as possible to clear water around the exit point and the ladder.
I don't care to be lectured about how many dives you have done, where you have dived or how you can paper the wall of your office with certificates. Your in water skills are the only way to impress me.
If you are my buddy... BE A BUDDY! Follow the dive plan and keep in contact. If you want to dive Solo that is your right but NOT if you have agreed to a buddy dive.
If I found the critter and want to take pics don't silt things up, don't push in and don't scare the thing away. I'll give you a turn when I am done and I will be done faster if you don't annoy me or the critter
Do and honest self appraisal and let your buddy know what to expect. Don't bite off more than you can safely chew.
Good situational awareness doesn't just involve fins/silting or bumping into people it also involves thinking about where your bubbles are going.
Sort out your gear, weights and tank far enough ahead that you don't block or delay others getting in.
If you are doing a dive under protest.. keep your protest between you and whoever is pushing you into diving. I don't want to hear about how you might break a nail or mess your makeup. If those are your priorities
Don't fuss over me, touch my gear or camera unless I ask for your help I don't need it and won't appreciate the implication that you don't think I am a competent and self sufficient diver.
When you splash move as quickly as possible from the entry point. When you are exiting move as quickly as possible to clear water around the exit point and the ladder.
I don't care to be lectured about how many dives you have done, where you have dived or how you can paper the wall of your office with certificates. Your in water skills are the only way to impress me.
If you are my buddy... BE A BUDDY! Follow the dive plan and keep in contact. If you want to dive Solo that is your right but NOT if you have agreed to a buddy dive.
If I found the critter and want to take pics don't silt things up, don't push in and don't scare the thing away. I'll give you a turn when I am done and I will be done faster if you don't annoy me or the critter
Do and honest self appraisal and let your buddy know what to expect. Don't bite off more than you can safely chew.
Good situational awareness doesn't just involve fins/silting or bumping into people it also involves thinking about where your bubbles are going.
Basking Ridge Diver
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Forget it. He doesn't hear you. He can't read what you're writing. It's like talking to a dog: he understands that you're communicating something, but the actual meaning of the words is completely lost in translation.
So do we beat the dog to make him understand better?
Don't touch that octopus - smack across the head...
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If you're more intelligent than the dog, you don't need to beat him. :cool2:So do we beat the dog to make him understand better?
All this talk about lashing out against anyone that touches your equipment has gotten me a little scared!
Last October in Cayman Brac we were diving on a day when the water was pretty rough. The divemasters had put out a line and advised us to hold onto the line while removing our fins to expedite getting back on the boat. The conditions had worsened during the dive and the waves had gotten bigger as I was heading toward the line. Then I saw a guy struggling to free himself because the line had gotten tangled around his tank valve. I came up behind him to unwind the line and free him. He couldn't see me at first but he immediately relaxed and stopped struggling and let me get on with it, and he thanked me later when we were back on the boat.
But now I might be afraid to touch him or his gear without first receiving written permission! And don't tell me that I should have asked first. The winds were high and the water was very rough. It was hard enough just to stay with him and try to help him.
So you might want to think first before lashing out at someone with anger or violence. They might be trying to help you - and you might need help and not know it; like if your tank strap has slipped and you are about to lose your tank.
Last October in Cayman Brac we were diving on a day when the water was pretty rough. The divemasters had put out a line and advised us to hold onto the line while removing our fins to expedite getting back on the boat. The conditions had worsened during the dive and the waves had gotten bigger as I was heading toward the line. Then I saw a guy struggling to free himself because the line had gotten tangled around his tank valve. I came up behind him to unwind the line and free him. He couldn't see me at first but he immediately relaxed and stopped struggling and let me get on with it, and he thanked me later when we were back on the boat.
But now I might be afraid to touch him or his gear without first receiving written permission! And don't tell me that I should have asked first. The winds were high and the water was very rough. It was hard enough just to stay with him and try to help him.
So you might want to think first before lashing out at someone with anger or violence. They might be trying to help you - and you might need help and not know it; like if your tank strap has slipped and you are about to lose your tank.
There really needs to be a widely understood hand signal for "May I help you?" (If there is one, I never learned it.) This reminds me of Rescue training, where it's taught that if the diver is fully conscious the rescuer needs to ask permission before lending physical aid.
Basking Ridge Diver
Contributor
That was not the intent -
The intent was to say - under the water when you see a "violation of your moral duty and or your code of conduct" do not step in with physical action.
Your helping a person that is clearly in a "bad" way is simply helping a fellow diver. Which most would welcome.
I believe those are two separate and clearly different examples...
That was not the intent -
The intent was to say - under the water when you see a "violation of your moral duty and or your code of conduct" do not step in with physical action. Your helping a person that is clearly in a "bad" way is simply helping a fellow diver. Which most would welcome. I believe those are two separate and clearly different examples...
I'm not sure about that, Bilsant has stated that he reacts as if being attacked if anyone touches him underwater unexpectedly, and a whole bunch of other forum members "liked" and "thanked" his post. The message I am getting is "stay away or I will hurt you!"
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