Unexpected acts of responsibility

[Ber Rabbit]

Ok, the number of posts about bad divers seems to be outnumbering the ones about good divers. I want to know if you have ever been surprised by unexpected competence/insight in a diver, especially a novice diver.

My story:
My buddy and I were going to DM the AOW course on their second weekend of diving. We were camping at Gilboa and had decided to do a night dive since diving during the class might not be an option. It was my buddy's first dive of the year and he was joking about it being a night dive, it was also dive #400 for him which I thought was a cool coincidence. I told him if he wanted to abort that was cool but he said we'd just take it easy. We geared up and the other AOW students and one diver who was already AOW certified said "Just yell if you need help." They were close and getting help if needed wouldn't be a problem. We started walking down the gravel ramp and one of the AOW students said he'd tag along.

The student helped us get in the water and waved before we descended. Bruce and I did our dive then went to one of the trampolines where we previously decided to stop and turn off our lights to see if there was any bioluminescence in the water. We turned the lights off and entertained ourselves for a couple minutes then finished our dive. I was shocked to see the student still sitting by the water. Out of curiosity I asked why he hadn't gone back up where it was warm (this was the second weekend in May and a bit chilly). He said, "I didn't think you guys should be out there without someone close enough to see if you had any problems. It was cool, I could follow your whole dive by watching your lights! I got scared when the lights went out but I figured you knew what you were doing and everything was ok."

We never thought to tell him about our plan to turn the lights off because we didn't expect him to watch the dive. The student is a very nice kid, early 20's but if you look at him without talking to him you'd think he was a bit of an irresponsible punk. He's got a couple of tattoos and I did have to tighten the stud through his tongue before one of his dives the following weekend. Might have even had an eyebrow pierced at the time, I just remember the tongue.

The concern/responsibility this guy with 8-12 dives under his belt felt for the well being of my buddy and myself really impressed me, hopefully he comes back for his DM because he'd make a good one.
Ber

 

[-=>Larry<=-]

We should remember that to some extent most of the people we dive with, and ALL of the people I dive the 2nd time with - count close to this quality.

Then I strain to think of a similar story - - For me, the closest was to watch my 2 teenage sons interacting in a markedly adult and DM-like manner with strangers in our diveboat this Xmastime. They were both helping some of the more inexperienced types with equipment & good suggestions - and even were able to quite classily instruct/steer/rebuke a reef-crusher who had forgotten his boyancy training - in much the same words as the DM did moments later - and so that he was helped while firmly told he did wrong
[I was, at that time, biting my tongue - as I'd be taking his head off about then if I let it loose!]

 

[Uncle Pug]

Now that was a great story Ber!!! Very encouraging.

One of the best acts of responsibility I seen was a guest diver on our boat who had done the first dive with us on a wall and really enjoyed himself.

The second dive was to be on a wreck and one that he had wanted to do. After hooking it we found the surface current really ripping along and had a tag line from the stern to the bow to pull ourselves forward in the water to the anchor line (as it happens in this spot the surface and the bottom are often much different and at times the currents are even opposite.) I wasn't particularly concerned and neither were my other buddies but this fellow felt that it was beyond him.

I really appreciated him for that. He missed out on a great dive but he didn't put himself or us at risk in attempting something he felt uncomfortable with.

 

[DivingGal]

Always great hearing "good" stories. We all tend to pass along the - watch out this might happen to you.... it's nice to hear something that puts a bit more of your faith back for your fellow man.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Rooster1]

I have kind of always thought that most divers seem to be a certain kind of good people irregardless of how they look.
You just read this board and you get the feeling the folks here are alright.

 

[trymixdiver]

i couldnt agree more

its good to see new students with such great attitudes.

Andy

imagine if he carried your gear to the car and cracked open a cold one for you while he huffed your stuff to the car double time

 

[Manogr]

It is always nice to read such stories....

I am sure that the majority of divers are responsible but, as in everything in life, the bad stories and attitudes are written and discussed...

I hope to read more stories like that...

I don't have a similar example to mention but up to now all my dives have been done with responsible and cool buddies or fellow divers...i guess i am lucky...

Manogr

 

[O-ring]

My girlfriend and I were diving with a resort in the Bahamas and we were lamenting about how short our second dive was going to be because my tank was only at 1900 psi (the compressor was at the dive shop and this particular resort didn't have any extra air on the boat). One of the other divers came over and said he wasn't feeling very good about the second dive, asked me if I wanted his tank (at 3000), and helped me switch my gear over to his tank. Needless to say, we were very appreciative.

 

[ebbtide]

hello people ,
hey Rabbit great story ,
i guess you might say that first impressions are what people see most the outside .
the reason i say this is beacuse i too have tattoos , and they arnt visable when i wear a t-shirt but this one dive after OW we were diving as a groupe agin and an older lady (50 ish) was with us and dident have a buddie , i offered to be her buddie for the dive , she was a bit aprensive to say the least to trust a tattooed
man 5 10 and a 1/2 and almost 3 times her size .
but she did and i am glad she did beacuse after that dive she was alot more comfortable with me , i try not to come off as some one i am not , and am not the daring know it all . but it was the tattoos that kinda made her nervous , i did every thing i could to comfort her in the water i showed her a lumb fish and scallops and sea urchants also small flounders (my faveorite) she enjoyed the dive so mutch she wanted to do annother with me at some time .