Trip Report Why I Won't Be Returning to Cozumel-Part 1,2&3

[yle]

A man my mom knew once remarked that Cozumel would be a great place if it weren't for all the Mexicans there, and he was not joking. Whenever he went to Cozumel he always ate at KFC, Domino's, McDonald's, etc. It made me wonder why he bothered to go there.

I could definitely see this as the opinion of an average cruise ship passenger, just on the island for 8 hours and in that "American-centric" mental cocoon that is fostered by the cruise ship atmosphere. Also would explain why they went to Coz: they like going on cruises and Coz is a stop for a lot of them.

 

[Snoweman]

Just checked my Zoop in "plan mode" for both 21% nitrox and air. For 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130 feet I got times of:

Set to 21% nitrox: 69, 50, 36, 28, 22, 17, 13, 10, 9 minutes NDL

In normal air mode: 69, 50, 36, 28, 22, 17, 13, 10, 9 minutes NDL

My Zoop doesn't seem to think there's a difference.

I have experienced this kind of behavior on occasion from dive op employees, i.e. making up nonsense in an effort to impress the customers with their superior knowledge of all things related to diving. I'll make an effort to chat with the nonsenser, swap IDC stories, try to find out how long they've been working as a dive pro.

My research suggests a strong inverse correlation between the time the person has been working and the amount of nonsense they're willing to generate and share with unsuspecting customers.

It was Nat, the owner of InDepth Watersports. He seemed to be pretty knowledgeable, and set up my Perdix which hadn't been out on the market very long.

 

[Dan G]

Just checked my Zoop in "plan mode" for both 21% nitrox and air. For 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130 feet I got times of:

Set to 21% nitrox: 69, 50, 36, 28, 22, 17, 13, 10, 9 minutes NDL

In normal air mode: 69, 50, 36, 28, 22, 17, 13, 10, 9 minutes NDL

My Zoop doesn't seem to think there's a difference.

I have experienced this kind of behavior on occasion from dive op employees, i.e. making up nonsense in an effort to impress the customers with their superior knowledge of all things related to diving. I'll make an effort to chat with the nonsenser, swap IDC stories, try to find out how long they've been working as a dive pro.

My research suggests a strong inverse correlation between the time the person has been working and the amount of nonsense they're willing to generate and share with unsuspecting customers.

It was Nat, the owner of InDepth Watersports. He seemed to be pretty knowledgeable, and set up my Perdix which hadn't been out on the market very long.

An "inverse correlation" of yrs exp:nonsense generated would mean the more years of experience the less nonsense someone wishes to generate. Is that what you meant? If not, I think you meant "direct correlation?"

Regardless, thanks for going through the trouble to run the different settings in planning mode for the rest of us. It's cool to debunk things we hear.

 

[ReefHound]

An "inverse correlation" of yrs exp:nonsense generated would mean the more years of experience the less nonsense someone wishes to generate. Is that what you meant? If not, I think you meant "direct correlation?"

Regardless, thanks for going through the trouble to run the different settings in planning mode for the rest of us. It's cool to debunk things we hear.

I think he meant what he said - that those who know the least tend to spout off the most.

 

[DeltaWardog]

I think he meant what he said - that those who know the least tend to spout off the most.

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt when I see this, if they are new to an activity. It often comes from enthusiasm and wanting to share what they've recently learned. And it can be helpful to them if they are actually willing to learn, because when they spout off something that's really wrong they can get gently corrected by a veteran of the activity. I've seen it (and been guilty of it at times) in many hobbies besides diving, especially when I was younger and knew everything.

It crosses the line when they put people in danger with incorrect information, or are just plan obnoxious. And then you have the people who just make **** up to sound smart because they have insecurities. At that point a nice clean shutdown of their ******** is in order.

 

[yle]

An "inverse correlation" of yrs exp:nonsense generated would mean the more years of experience the less nonsense someone wishes to generate. Is that what you meant? If not, I think you meant "direct correlation?"

Regardless, thanks for going through the trouble to run the different settings in planning mode for the rest of us. It's cool to debunk things we hear.

Yes, exactly. I understand what an inverse correlation is.

The classic example was the customer that my son (an instructor, managing a scuba shop) got to deal with some years ago. The guy had his AOW and had completed nine open water dives (all in warm, tropical water... all with his instructor: 4 for OW and 5 for AOW), but was determined to educate my son on everything related to scuba. It was equal parts comical and disturbing.

But new instructors working at scuba shops are also human, and also susceptible to the same phenomenon.

So yes, that's exactly what I mean. The people that know the least tend to be those most willing to offer unsolicited and unwarranted advice. I think there's a name for this... DK Effect?

 

[yle]

It was Nat, the owner of InDepth Watersports. He seemed to be pretty knowledgeable, and set up my Perdix which hadn't been out on the market very long.

All right. Well maybe someday Nat can explain what he meant. Considering that Suunto designed the Zoop so that air mode and nitrox 21% are the same, I'm sure they would be very grateful to Nat if he could explain how the computers are doing something they are not programmed to do.

We do have to be wary of these computers... because it's how the great takeover (i.e. computers vs humans) begins: we program them to do one thing, but they become sentient and make decisions on their own. Perhaps before Skynet, there was Zoop.

 

[DeltaWardog]

“Those with limited knowledge in a domain suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach mistaken conclusions and make regrettable errors, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it."

 

[yle]

It crosses the line when they put people in danger with incorrect information, or are just plan obnoxious. And then you have the people who just make **** up to sound smart because they have insecurities. At that point a nice clean shutdown of their ******** is in order.

I always add a section to my OW class, explain to students that scuba is the kind of sport that has plenty of people willing to offer unsolicited advice. I talk to them about how to recognize the kind of people they should listen to and those they shouldn't. Because you're right: bad advice in scuba could have tragic consequences.

 

[ggunn]

All right. Well maybe someday Nat can explain what he meant. Considering that Suunto designed the Zoop so that air mode and nitrox 21% are the same, I'm sure they would be very grateful to Nat if he could explain how the computers are doing something they are not programmed to do.

Maybe it's that pesky 0.93% argon in air that's throwing it off.