Safety in training

[TheRedHead]

Let me get this right...you're saying that a consumate professional takes divers down who are crashing into the reef and can't manage or plan their own gas while they themselves are diving overweighted?

The problem with diving in Cozumel is that the "easy" dive sites are subject to current changes and rapid currents. The Caribbean is full of divers who can't manage their gas consumption. They usually get the weights worked out after the first dive, but a lot of them coming from cold climates are overweighted initially. The DMs teach them how not to crash a reef in the current. Most of them don't know how to handle the current, including instructors and DMs from other areas. I was settling my bill at the dive shop in Cozumel last trip and an SSI instructor was checking in. He brought his Spare Air in for a fill. They put him on the easy "checkout" boat. It was all I could do to keep from giggling.

If they have witnessed every underwater problem as you say, might I suggest that it's because of their willing participation in what could only be defined as very questionable practices in the first place?...Do what you've always did and you'll get what you always got.

That is the reality of the situation in the Caribbean. It is almost ALL "trust me" diving in every sense of the word. If you can prove to the DMs that you are a good and trustworthy diver, then you can go to the advanced sites and not have to worry about showing the DM your SPG every 5 minutes. Personally, I think their strategy of well-trained DMs (and almost all of them are instructors) is better than the shops in Florida dumping divers on deep wrecks because they have an AOW card. Cards don't mean very much to these guys.

By and large the professional Caribbean DMs are not training these awful divers. They learn that at home. They are protecting the divers and reefs and hopefully teaching the divers the skills they lack. I would call that professional.

 

[waterbearer]

A DM or instructor, for that matter, should be proficient diving in whatever environment and climate they choose to work in. That usually goes without saying.

Underwater bumper cars? Sounds interesting.

 

[TheRedHead]

Underwater bumper cars, sand literally blowing down the reef, extreme depth in places, walls, downcurrents, upcurrents, caves and crevices, new divers, rusty divers, over confident divers, frightened divers hoovering their tanks. All kinds of ways to get in trouble and DMs pulling their hair out trying to keep them alive and off the reef.

 

[MikeFerrara]

The problem with diving in Cozumel is that the "easy" dive sites are subject to current changes and rapid currents. The Caribbean is full of divers who can't manage their gas consumption. They usually get the weights worked out after the first dive, but a lot of them coming from cold climates are overweighted initially. The DMs teach them how not to crash a reef in the current. Most of them don't know how to handle the current, including instructors and DMs from other areas. I was settling my bill at the dive shop in Cozumel last trip and an SSI instructor was checking in. He brought his Spare Air in for a fill. They put him on the easy "checkout" boat. It was all I could do to keep from giggling.

You bring up some good points. While even a good diver might be inexperienced with local conditions like currents you'd think that divers should be able to manage their gas and instructors shouldn't need to be put on the "easy checkout boat".

That is the reality of the situation in the Caribbean. It is almost ALL "trust me" diving in every sense of the word. If you can prove to the DMs that you are a good and trustworthy diver, then you can go to the advanced sites and not have to worry about showing the DM your SPG every 5 minutes. Personally, I think their strategy of well-trained DMs (and almost all of them are instructors) is better than the shops in Florida dumping divers on deep wrecks because they have an AOW card. Cards don't mean very much to these guys.

That's sort of sad. It's true that cards don't mean much. The should mean something and they certainly should but they don't.

By and large the professional Caribbean DMs are not training these awful divers. They learn that at home. They are protecting the divers and reefs and hopefully teaching the divers the skills they lack. I would call that professional.

I see a bit of a parodox in what you say here. In the first sentance you say they aren't training these awful divers. Then you go on to say that they are teaching them the skills that they lack. I, of course, understand what you're saying but it kind of makes a point about the effectiveness of training in the industry.

Overall your post seems to say that cards don't mean anything, the divers who have them are awful divers, the shops at home are certifying divers and sending them out unprepared, and professional DM's are picking up the slack and taking them diving anyway and trying to teach as they go.

I wonder what would happen if the DM's administered a simple skill evaluation and just sent the divers back to their home shop to ask for another class or their money back.

 

[TheRedHead]

You bring up some good points. While even a good diver might be inexperienced with local conditions like currents you'd think that divers should be able to manage their gas and instructors shouldn't need to be put on the "easy checkout boat".

I assume they have their reasons borne out of experience. As you know, most divers learn nothing about gas management in OW. It was touched upon briefly in the Deep Diver speciality, but I wasn't formally taught the nuts and bolts of it until Advanced Nitrox. Fortunately, I had picked up the princples long before on my own.

Overall your post seems to say that cards don't mean anything, the divers who have them are awful divers, the shops at home are certifying divers and sending them out unprepared, and professional DM's are picking up the slack and taking them diving anyway and trying to teach as they go.

That's the gist of it, yes. And going back to the original point, I don't think a 60-dive DM on the fast track could be an effective working DM in these conditions.

I wonder what would happen if the DM's administered a simple skill evaluation and just sent the divers back to their home shop to ask for another class or their money back.

I think the tourists would get very angry and never come back. They would find a another island where they could dive without additional training.

 

[Walter]

What I would like to know is how does training compare in the USA, Canada etc. to Europe.

For the most part, it depends greatly on the agency. While instructors can make a difference, few do. Divers in Europe are not trained under a single agency and neither are the divers in the US.

BSAC is one of the better agencies anywhere.