Who do you trust with your gear?

[lazyturtle]

I set up my own gear, but would have no problem with the guide doing it. If the guide did it I’d check it afterwards.
Working as a guide I set up between 6-30 sets of gear a day, more in a week than some of my divers will ever do. I'd like to see the guide who cannot 'figure out' someone’s gear.....unless it's something really weird (even then how weird can it be?) I can't see how that could be.
Personally I demand that everyone whose gear I set up checks it themselves.
I must say that I prefer divers set up their own gear: it shows me that they have an interest in maintain their skills, that they are (relatively) active divers and are concerned about their safety.

 

[Mossman]

wow...did you post about that?

Not much to post about. Picked up some survivors off Koh Tachai and dropped them off on some sort of military craft that was evacuating people off the Similans. Spent the night in deep water off Phuket in case of an aftershock, drinking Burmese whisky to keep sane even though we had suffered the extreme hardship of running out of ice. Hotel in Krabi was out of commission, or so I thought, and the airport was full of too many people with bloody bandaged foreheads trying to fly out, so we drove up to Bangkok instead, 10 hours of driving foreign roads on the left side, seated on the right, and somehow shifting with my injured left arm, dodging so many head-ons in the dark against scooters blinding me with their headlights, never really sure if we were on the correct side of the road or not, subsisting on some strange food we bought at the roadside, and then navigating through the congested streets of Bangkok trying to find our safe haven hotel.

Just another dive trip.

 

[GrandpaScuba]

I've read so many trip reports from people who dive with All Inclusive or Live Aboards where their gear is setup for them that I have to ask - what do the rest of you feel about this?

I've always been a "pack your own parachute" kind of guy. So, when I went to the Divi Tiara in 2004 and found out that they were going to set my gear up for me. I decided that, to be cooperative, that I'd let them set it up. But, then inspect it and if I didn't like what they did that I'd just quitely re-do it.

But when I inspected it, I discovered that they'd done a great job of setting it up. Setting it up exactly the way I like it. So, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and let them do it all. And I have to admit, it was really nice to have someone else doing all the gear hauling, cleaning and such. All I had to do was stand at the back of the boat and they'd bring my gear to me and put it on me. And, then they did a very competant "buddy check" so I was sure everything was ready to go.

Were I to go somewhere else where they set up your gear for you, I'd keep an eye on them, but as long as they seemed to be doing a competant job, I'd let them do it.

 

[fire_diver]

At that point, do you trust the sharks not to eat you, or do you have that under control as well?

I see you ignored the entire meat of my post. I don't fear sharks. Thier behavior is predictable, humans are not.

I sleep far better, at least on a dive vacation, by adopting a more Eastern view on life and realizing that if it's my time, it's my time. On a liveaboard in Thailand once, I made a DM lose face by refusing to dive with him, after he had merely almost gotten my wife killed by trying to get her to follow him well below her MOD. I grabbed her, to save her life, she got pissed at me, and when I made my point clear and loud back on the boat to the guy in charge, the poor now faceless DM was almost in tears. I felt horrible.

First, he deserved to lose face for trying to take a diver below thier MOD. Secondly though, you should feel bad. You could have had a chat with the offending DM to see if there was a mis-comunication somewhere BEFORE disgracing him to his boss and co-workers. GREAT JOB BEING A #$%^ IN ANOTHER CULTURE!

But my pangs of guilt weren't enough. The gods further punished me by inflicting a tsunami upon our boat, making us miss an entire day of diving at the end of our trip and killing hundreds of thousands of people. How do you think I felt then?

So nowadays, if they do something wrong, I'll silently fix it, or let them know in a friendlier manner. After all, even if I have everything under control and trust no one, there's no guarantee something won't get me.

What an ego! you think *YOU* were the cause of numerous deaths and millions in damage? Frued? Paging doctor Frued.

Comrade Stroke

 

[Mossman]

I see you ignored the entire meat of my post. I don't fear sharks. Thier behavior is predictable, humans are not.

Au contraire. Humans are very predictable. Sharks attack at whim.

For instance, I can predict exactly how a DM might screw up setting up my gear and plan for every contingency. If I jump in and the shark bites my head off, all that planning is for naught.

First, he deserved to lose face for trying to take a diver below thier MOD. Secondly though, you should feel bad. You could have had a chat with the offending DM to see if there was a mis-comunication somewhere BEFORE disgracing him to his boss and co-workers. GREAT JOB BEING A #$%^ IN ANOTHER CULTURE!

Thanks for the yelling and profanities. I do that a lot too. It really impresses the foreigners.

Fortunately life is cheap in those countries, so if the guy were so shamed that he decided to off himself, doubtful anyone would give a hoot. A simple act of contrition, like adding some extra $$ for the tip, makes my karma balanced again.

What an ego! you think *YOU* were the cause of numerous deaths and millions in damage? Frued? Paging doctor Frued.

I don't "think", I know. It's a hard burden to bear, but I can handle it. I doubt your doctor Frued will be necessary, but thanks for the offer. You might want to talk to him about a slight paranoid personality disorder that I noticed in your previous post, but maybe it was just the cocaine talking.

 

[Meng_Tze]

A simple act of contrition, like adding some extra $$ for the tip, makes my karma balanced again...

Sorry, no can do... what is set in motion can not be bought off.
:menani:

 

[Mossman]

Sorry, no can do... what is set in motion can not be bought off.

What are offerings then, if not bribes to the gods? Everything has its price.

 

[Meng_Tze]

What are offerings then, if not bribes to the gods? Everything has its price.

Not everything has a (monetary) price

 

[Thalassamania]

Most people truly on "life support" probably can't. Personally I can't even watch when they stick an IV in my arm.

But scuba gear ain't life support unless it's tech diving (i.e. an overhead, real or imaginary). Until then, there's always the surface.

"Life support" makes it all sound so darn important, doesn't it?

Not everything has a (monetary) price

Some things have no kind of price, can one bring even an ant back to life?

 

[GulfDiver77]

I don't let anyone setup my gear.I do it my self that way if something goes wrong no one is to blame but me.