Why is becoming a DM considered not worth it?

[rongoodman]

At least a cavern course, for the precise positioning kicks and trim.

 

[lostsheep]

In the 10 months I've worked as DM I barely got enough money for rent and food, sometimes not even.

But would you do it again?

 

[MB NZ]

I am really enjoying teaching so far. But also, I've decided to become an instructor because it's way easier to find work anywhere and as a DM you barely survive. In the 10 months I've worked as DM I barely got enough money for rent and food, sometimes not even.

It's not a career, just a way to do a lot of diving.

 

[elgringoperdido]

@rongoodman: IANTD sidemount is good for that. At least for me it was good training in frogging and trim. The challenge was not to bruise my legs with the edges of the cylinders at the outer mid thigh. Took me a while to figure it out and I had serious bruises at first. They also have one called No Mount or something like that, where you just carry the cylinder and pass it along through the holes that you swim through, but you have to take their advanced cavern course first to do that.

 

[Searcaigh]

They also have one called No Mount or something like that, where you just carry the cylinder and pass it along through the holes that you swim through, but you have to take their advanced cavern course first to do that.

Monkey diving

 

[happy-diver]

I wonder how many terrific prospective divers, are put off completely with their confidence sucked out
brainwashed by the brainwashed, that courses are required to enjoy precise positioning kicks and trim

 

[rongoodman]

I did my cave and sidemount training with Protec a number of years ago, using IANTD materials. Have they cleaned up the chakra stuff since then?

 

[elgringoperdido]

I did my cave and sidemount training with Protec a number of years ago, using IANTD materials. Have they cleaned up the chakra stuff since then?

Haha. They have a new logo and new materials, but the Tao of Survival Underwater still advises divers to balance the chakras before descending. My impression is that Tom Mount came up with most of that stuff. He was into martial arts and eastern religion. Whatever else you want to say about him he had an impressive diving and educational career. He died about three years ago at the age of 82.

I'm actually more familiar with the Qi. My wife is from China and I have visited Daoist temples in China as well as traditional clinics reeking of herbs and flowers. She thinks I lost some of my original Qi in a dive accident. Luckily it was 2.5 weeks into a 3-week vacation so I didn't lose much.

I was in a small boat in the straits of cozumel and had donned all my recreational gear and knelt on the side and was turning, full weight on my right knee, to rinse the mask in the sea, just as a big wave hit the boat. A searing pain shot up my leg, but I bit my lip to keep from being detected and prevented from diving. One of the deck hands must have sensed something. "¿Todo bien amigo?" he asked. I said "Sí, claro, todo está bien" and jumped in. We visited La Mama Viña, a sunken tugboat. I kept going in circles because I could only fin with one leg, but I got some good photos of the wreck.

I was limping back to the condo at Playa del Carmen and my wife immediately noticed something wrong. "You're hurt!" she said. She insisted that I visit a clinic the next morning. There was a dive clinic about two blocks from the condo, as luck would have it. She helped me hobble over to it and we went inside and the nurse/receptionist asked me if she could help. I said, "Quisiera ver al médico" and she said "El médico no está aquí". Serious dive emergency last night. Hyperbaric chamber, whole nine yards. He was up till 3 or 4 in the morning and would not be in till around noon. But maybe she could advise me, what was the problem? I then told her that I had a great sadness in my little squirrel. She looked at me with a shocked expression. ¿Perdón? I then immediately recognized my error and told her that I had a great pain in my knee. (I was so embarrassed that I never again confused ardilla with rodilla.) I explained the incident and she gave me some recommendations.

Eventually we got back to the US and I saw an orthopedic specialist. Apparently I tore something called a medial meniscus. They had to remove about 20% of it. Amazing, too. They made two tiny holes in my leg and stuck in a camera, a crowbar, scissors, and sewing kit, did the deed, and pulled out, all while I was knocked out on propyphol, the stuff that killed Michael Jackson. They put a single suture on each of the holes and you can't even see them anymore. Impressive work. The orthopedist even emailed me some jpg files, photos taken of the torn meniscus before and after the repair. A couple of weeks of physical therapy and I was back to 100%, running and jumping. I seemed to have regained my Qi along the way as well.

 

[rongoodman]

I partially tore mine boarding the skiff on a liveaboard at Palau a few years ago. Hurt like the the devil going up and down stairs but I still managed to do every dive. Luckily enough, I didn't need surgery and it healed on its own, although I can still feel a little weakness there from time to time.