What do you expect from other Divers?

[Diver0001]

What do you expect of other divers?

I presume you mean random strangers diving from the same boat or whatever....

What I expect from random strangers diving in a group is that they respect each other. Some divers are not very experienced and some are. If the group is mixed then I would expect the least experienced divers to not overextend themselves due to peer pressure and I would expect the experienced divers to respect the limitations of their less experienced dive partners.

Unfortunately, what I see is that experienced divers often in subtle and in overt ways tend to treat beginners as second class divers. This is often counterproductive as well since it takes away the fun for everyone.

If someone is diving directly with me then my expectations go a little further but mostly revolve around good communication especially before and during the dive, and that they follow the dive plan and stick together.

R..

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Debbie and I are great cheerleaders for newer divers, for all divers, really. Where we encounter the most unpleasantness is with divers who have been around but dive infrequently, divers who act like they are the only ones on the boat, and crowd others, hog the lunch (if there is one) or who are loud and/or profane, and create distractions when a briefing is taking place. I suppose these are the same people who act out the same way wherever they go, but it's usually a surprise when we see this conduct in divers, because as a group, divers, with our shared love of diving and shared experience, usually get along. Earlier in this thread the word respect was used a few times as to what the poster expects. I really like that: respect and common courtesy, would be nice, above the water and beneath the surface as well.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Diver0001]

it's usually a surprise when we see this conduct in divers, because as a group, divers, with our shared love of diving and shared experience, usually get along.

Yeah. but on the same token, diving is an activity that appeals to individualists and individualists are sometimes people who feel that their dollars are more important than someone else's dollars. What THEY came for should be delivered... What THEY want is the most important thing.... What THEY need is the only thing needed.....regardless of the consequences to others.

We've all seen them.

I'll relay two stories to illustrate. In Mexico about ... mmmm ... 10 years ago I went diving with a buddy of mine. At the place where we went diving there was only one dive shop and it was closed because the owner had to go out of town. We managed to talk the shop owner into giving us a key so we could use his compressor and we arranged transport via local fishermen. One morning we were at the shop and this guy arrives (I won't tell you what country he was from). He wanted to go diving. I explained that the shop was closed and we were doing a private number but he insisted..... to the point where I said, "ok, ok.... you can come".

What happened next amazed me. He refused to carry his gear to the boat. He went and sat in the boat and when I got down to the water side he was sitting there and I said, "we're leaving in 10 min, you need to go get your gear". He said, literally, to me, "you organized this dive, i'm not carrying my gear".

Of course, initially, I told him to get out of the boat because we needed to leave but his gear, which came from the shop, was laying on the beach and I couldn't just leave it there. So we decided it was quicker to get the gear than to kick him out and deal with that....

That was the start of the day. The rest of the day he continued to be disrespectful to us, to the animals under water and the fisherman who was so very kind and willing to take us where ever we wanted to go.

By the end of the day I could have wrung his neck. When we got back to the shop late in the afternoon I unpacked his gear and found a paper pad of "invoices" in the shop and wrote him an invoice for $100 American for the day and presented it to him. He could have dove for free, it wouldn't have mattered to me, but I thought, "I'm going to bill the btich"

Amazingly, he paid me LOL. And I gave 1/2 to our our fisherman friend for putting up with him with a smile.

Where this attitude comes from, I don't know, but there are some divers out there who are self centered and arrogant.... I don't get it either, but it's a fact.

The second story is about an English guy I met in Turkey. I booked 2 days of diving and so did his diving club (a BSAC club) and for some reason he was the most inexperienced diver on the boat AND the odd man out.... On the day before the dives started I talked to the guy leading the dives and agreed to take this guy with me. I was travelling alone so it was an obvious choice.

Now really... I don't mind at ALL diving with new divers and I hit it off with my buddy so I was all set for a some great dives. What happened next surprised me. He asked me about my experience level.... and I should have lied to him because he cramped up and started apologizing for his inexperience before we ever hit the water..... And he spent the rest of the 1st day apologizing over and over again for his air consumption, for his tempo, for his buoyancy control... all of it.

I spoke to the club leader of his club and it turns out that a diver at that level is "required" to dive with a diver of a higher level..... and while on the surface of it, that sounds like a good idea, it appears to having an undermining effect on the self-confidence of some divers. Fortunately I was able to arrange a larger tank for my buddy for day 2 and I we went and drank beer and talked after the first day of diving (works every time with English guys) and on the 2nd day he relaxed and had a great time.

That's what I had in the back of my head when I wrote that some experienced divers treat beginners as 2nd class divers..... Sure they can't do everything yet... but I see no reason to let that stand in the way of having fun together.

R..

 

[CuNanoTube]

I expect a ride to the site, my dive payed for and breakfast.... well, I only have dove with my father thus-far, so based on past experience.

When I eventually expand my diving horizons (though at this point I really have no reasons to) I would expect my insta-buddy to be courteous, to contribute to a dive plan and follow it, and to respect the environment around them.

As for all other divers on the boat I expect there to be no smoking, for people to always be aware of who is around them (get a weight belt to the ribs and you learn fast), and people to try to take up an appropriate amount of space.

 

[DaleC]

I'll relate an incident that taught me the frustration of having unreal expectations...

I was diving at a local lake and after suiting up and entering the water, I noticed another diver on the surface some distance from me. Curious and seeking a little companionship I decided to approach, The diver saw me but each time I drew near, they would move further away. Then, without warning or signaling, the diver left me on the surface and descended.

Well, after this I decided to go it alone anyways. At about 30' I was quietly watching some fish when this same diver dove straight down to the bottom and started chasing the fish. WTF??? To add to that, the diver was doing repetitive bounce dives, from the surface to depth and back up again, over and over. I couldn't beleive what I was seeing.

I watched, totally mystified, but the diver never acknowledged me or came over to check if I was ok.
Not what I was expecting when I entered the water that day but what could I say...

The diver was a duck.

 

[scuba nube]

I expect people to follow the basic rules of scuba. Have a plan, stick to the plan, if you lose your buddy surface and regroup. Had two bad dives yesterday with two guys I will never dive with again who didn't follow those basic rules!

 

[inked59]

I recently took a trip with two newly certified divers and was highly disappointed in their skills and their ethics. Their buddy skills lacked severely as one or the other would either swim away or lag behind the group. Quick ascents were also a problem that could have turned serious but luckily didn't. The most annoying thing that happened was on the return to the boat, they did not secure their tanks or stow their gear and it would be rolling and blowing all over the boat. I guess my expectations are for people to follow the rules of safe diving and have common courtesy and respect for the people they are diving with and their equipment (theirs was rented).

 

[The Chairman]

I have only two requirements for people who dive with me: HAVE FUN AND DO NO HARM. There are a lot of implications to this that most will miss that.

 

[postgate]

Reading these posts confirms my decision to buy my own boat. Does anyone dive for enjoyment anymore?

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Diver0001, you have eloquently stated a history that explains why Debbie and I wrote the book, "The Scuba Snobs Guide to Diving Etiquette." Thanks for sharing your story. I am sure you handled the Mexico situation better than most of us would, and charging him AND splitting the money with the local boat guy was the PERFECT resolution to the matter. You are my hero!
DivemasterDennis