Here's a post I put up not long ago on the same topic...
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Am I being unreasonable to believe that if you cannot hover motionless (or reasonably so) while trying to take a photo underwater you have NO BUSINESS DIVING WITH A CAMERA?
I just returned from two weeks on the Truk Odyssey where I have to say I was absolutely appalled by the complete lack of bouyancy control, crappy finning technique, and overall poor dive awareness exhibited by several of my fellow passengers.
Seems though that the main thing these people had in common was they were all carrying cameras and committed to getting as many pictures of everything as possible in as short a period of time as possible.
In order to accomplish this mission these folks would...
- Stand on whatever deck, gun, propeller, rudder, etc was handy
- Lay directly on coral, artifacts, torpedos, tanks etc
- Fin constantly in a vertical position in engine rooms and cargo holds resulting in a complete silt-out
- Race around the wreck at top speed with fins, consoles, lights, etc dragging
- Dodge between other divers and their photographic subjects
On most dives these folks rendered each dive site absolutely un-divable within minutes of descent. Certainly reducing the enjoyment of others who paid thousands of dollars to travel to Truk Lagoon to see these wrecks, but frequently creating real safety hazards for other divers, especially in engine rooms, inner passageways, etc.
Now, I'm often accused of being a bouyancy, trim, and finning n*zi, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect someone to have at least rudimentary skills in these areas before diving on/in 65yr old WWII wrecks. Honest to god, it looked like a bunch of "Operation Hailstorm Re-enactors" attacking the Japanese fleet for a second time!
/rant
