Well, I think the people I was talking to either thought I'd find them wanting or felt like I was too "exalted" to want to dive with them . . . but shoot, on my bad days, I still have buoyancy control issues (although they aren't measured in meters any more, but just in feet). And I just nearly lost it in midwater because of vertigo . . . why would anybody think I was intimidating? I don't get it.
They're probably worried you'll steal their gas or spirit them off for medical experiments.