ben arthur
Registered
On a recent dive trip in the Red Sea, a couple of Australians I was with told me about their liveaboard trip to the Galapagos Islands.
The trip was a successful one, apart from it seems, one aspect.
The liveaboard had 2 zodiac boats, and the 2 aussies and a few non- Americans were often the first to be kitted up and into one of the zodiacs for each dive. However, they would often have to hang about in the zodiac, often for some time, waiting for the American divers on the main boat to kit up and get in the 2nd zodiac.
The reason for this : the operator was fearful that the americans would sue them if they were not the first in the water, as they might miss out on some of the big-fish action if they entered the water 'late'. I understand that some operators have been sued on this basis.
Not surprisingly, the 2 aussies were pretty p*ssed off with this, as would I be. Any intelligent / rational diver knows that nothing is ever guaranteed underwater, and that while some dive locations might potentially have certain fish they cannot be guaranteed - every diver has to accept this.
Does anyone know of any petty / ridiculous instances of divers suing?
I see from one of the earlier threads that some divers have sued their diving buddies on the basis that they had an accident and the buddy had not buddy-checked them, or not sufficiently! Hello ! Whatever happened to taking responsibility for one's self ?!
This post, by the way, is not a dig at Americans (other than perhaps American lawyers!!), but rather I'm disappointed that a sue culture has started to creep into the diving world (I guess I'd be naiive to think that it wouldn't happen).
Any comments / thoughts?
The trip was a successful one, apart from it seems, one aspect.
The liveaboard had 2 zodiac boats, and the 2 aussies and a few non- Americans were often the first to be kitted up and into one of the zodiacs for each dive. However, they would often have to hang about in the zodiac, often for some time, waiting for the American divers on the main boat to kit up and get in the 2nd zodiac.
The reason for this : the operator was fearful that the americans would sue them if they were not the first in the water, as they might miss out on some of the big-fish action if they entered the water 'late'. I understand that some operators have been sued on this basis.
Not surprisingly, the 2 aussies were pretty p*ssed off with this, as would I be. Any intelligent / rational diver knows that nothing is ever guaranteed underwater, and that while some dive locations might potentially have certain fish they cannot be guaranteed - every diver has to accept this.
Does anyone know of any petty / ridiculous instances of divers suing?
I see from one of the earlier threads that some divers have sued their diving buddies on the basis that they had an accident and the buddy had not buddy-checked them, or not sufficiently! Hello ! Whatever happened to taking responsibility for one's self ?!
This post, by the way, is not a dig at Americans (other than perhaps American lawyers!!), but rather I'm disappointed that a sue culture has started to creep into the diving world (I guess I'd be naiive to think that it wouldn't happen).
Any comments / thoughts?