Are all divers friendly and respect fellow divers?

[fire_diver]

OK So should we make a conclusion that photography (like a sprearfishing) should be solo activity? You and maybe your buddy. That is it. No photography in the group swimming behind DM? I am afraid that many resort dive ops won't let you to dive your own profile unless you came with a big group of your friends. So far, the only dive ops who was OK with us diving separate from everyone else were Reef Divers at Little cayman ( awesome operator) and guys at Key Largo

Maybe we should just prohibit DMs from being dive dictators and allow people to plan thier dive and dive thier plan.

 

[Brian Sharpe]

I've never been on a "cattle boat" but I have dived with oblivious divers lacking reasonable buoyancy control and situational awareness.

During my AOW weekend there was a young couple with us who had been through a Caribbean quickie and were clearly unsuited to the somewhat more rigorous conditions diving the St. Lawrence. I had my mask dislodged several times, my reg kicked out once and a fin in my face more times than I care to count, as we were grouped together for the night and deep dives there was no escaping them and their silt bombs. He ended up freaking out during the nav dive (he probably owes his life to an on-the-ball dm that prevented him from bolting to the surface) and did not complete the required dives.

All I can say is a big thanks to my instructors who had us practice basic skills over and over and over and my regular dive buddy who is patient enough to spend a couple of dull dives early in the season to practice these skills & I'll heed the advice here to avoid overcrowded dive boats at resorts.

 

[CamG]

Greetings Scuba Hamster and in a perfect world I would like to say absolutely! But we know better don't we? In my experience most divers are very nice and respectable because if they are not they will politely be spoken to. This has been done before and lead to some very good conversations that were benifical for both parties. I find that people many times are not aware of their perfomance under water. I have seen some very unapropriate things "rude gestures, threatening, crashing, bashing, uncontroled DPV's, etc". In general these incidents are really agrivating but usually not intentionally commited to you personally. One needs to have this in mind when confronting these issues. I try to plan around crowds in stead of in the middle, use smaller boats to dive sites, visit specific destinations on off times, do everthing I can do to optimize dive issues and conditions. When I have to dive around big crowds and I am assisting training I am on point guard position thus like a traffic controler keeping everyone in order. We have a specific training policy of no rude gestures or communication above or below the water! Zero tolerance! I try to fly this way in my own pleasure diving as well. I will not lie there have been times I have had to swallow hard swim or walk away but the high road is the way to go. Treat others like you would want to be treated and usually all will be fine. IF there is a incident where someone is being disrespected look out things can get ugly FAST! That is why a cool head always prevails! Communication is a awesome thing I have the opportunity to speak with people everyday who are happy and some who are very upset. It is a matter of how you speak to people that determine IF THEY LISTEN or not.
Enough of diving edicate and just get out there and dive! Let the troubles work them selves out! No worries was the best thing I learned in Mexico!
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[death_by_bloop]

On silting and courtesy -- I've dived around (not *with*, so far) silt-spewing, lawnmower-style divers who tear across the bottom bicycle- or flutter-kicking their way into low vis for all. On no occasion did I ever see one turn around or seem to realize that he or she might be the cause of the near silt-out. My OW instructor approached my class with "No offense, but since it's your first time down there, you guys are going to be pretty bad silters," then proceeded to stress (in the water, on subsequent dives) the importance of good buoyancy and smart finning practices so as not to ruin our own dives and everyone else's.

On my last dive trip, my buddy and I found ourselves on a dive with a DM and one other diver, whom we quickly dubbed "Hot Dog." He was following the DM and my buddy and I were following him (my buddy being more or less directly behind him), and she kept having to brake abruptly on account of his deciding to stop on a dime and perform somersaults. He kicked her pretty hard during one of these maneuvers, causing her to drift up a bit and struggle with her buoyancy (she was on her sixth or seventh dive, hardly an expert). Back on the dive boat afterwards, he (unprompted) laughed at her and made a snide "having some trouble with your buoyancy there?" comment.

Granted, she was following a bit too close, but he didn't have to cop an attitude about an issue he helped cause. Divers like this just make me shake my head.

 

[DevonDiver]

Diver's who are inexperienced can suffer task loading on even the most rudimentary dives. If someone is task loaded, simply by being underwater on SCUBA, then they will have little capacity to maintain an awareness of other divers and the general situation.

As a more experienced diver, it is our responsibility to understand the situation of our less experienced dive 'buddies' and show a tolerance for that. Assist and educate them where possible, but refrain from being patronizing or dictatorial.

If another diver's behaviour is able to impact upon your comfort, safety and state-of-mind during a dive, then you also have to assess your own comfort zone, experience and ability to maintain awareness.

Make allowances for less experienced divers, and predict/assume how they will react underwater. Be ready to help them...and also ready to 'defend yourself' against those stray fin kicks and flailing arms. Maintain an appropriate distance, by raising your overall awareness of what is happening to your group underwater. Be prepared to re-position yourself within the group if another diver is 'cramping you'.

Whilst I have encountered 'rude' divers underwater... it is rarely the inexperienced ones who display that attribute. Have some empathy for those who are still at the stage of finding their comfort underwater - we were all in their situation once

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

OK So should we make a conclusion that photography (like a sprearfishing) should be solo activity? You and maybe your buddy. That is it. No photography in the group swimming behind DM? I am afraid that many resort dive ops won't let you to dive your own profile unless you came with a big group of your friends. So far, the only dive ops who was OK with us diving separate from everyone else were Reef Divers at Little cayman ( awesome operator) and guys at Key Largo

I avoid dive ops that require me to follow a dive guide all the time. I'll happily follow someone who wants to find me nice critters to take pictures of ... but I ultimately do my own dive plan. AFAIK, we're all supposed to be trained to that ability if instructors follow standards. I don't choose to dive with people who think I need a babysitter.

I don't do group swimming ... period. And at home, most of my photo dives are solo.

It's all a matter of what you're comfortable with ... and no matter what choice you make it comes with advantages and drawbacks.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I used to do a lot of photography and I resemble that remark. Photographers are the absolute worst people to dive with. All they care about is the shot. They might as well dive solo because they pay absolutely no attention to their buddy. Unless the buddy is in the shot.

Oh ... that's a generalization. Diving with a photographer takes some effort on both the photographer's and dive buddy's part ... but I know people who are quite good at it.

If you want to dive with a photographer, I wrote an article just for you ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[R2K2]

A lot of the divers on these cattle boats are vacation divers and dive once a year or once every few years so they are probably not aware of the situation around them, I would take these cattle boat divers any day over the super a*sh*les who think they are dive gods or something. Just ran in one of these types this past week because he was diving to 360FFW a he had 4 deco gases.

 

[k ellis]

A lot of the divers on these cattle boats are vacation divers and dive once a year or once every few years so they are probably not aware of the situation around them, I would take these cattle boat divers any day over the super a*sh*les who think they are dive gods or something. Just ran in one of these types this past week because he was diving to 360FFW a he had 4 deco gases.

My point exactly!

 

[reo]

I'm amused at those complaining about inexperienced divers. We were all inexperienced divers at some point in our lives. It's the "experienced" divers you need to watch out for.

My buddy and I were joined on one drift dive by one guy who was talking non-stop about all of his diving experiences. Been there, done that, knew everything, blah, blah, blah. He talked a good game, had a BPW, and looked really tech. When we stepped off the boat into the water, he went one way and his tank and wing went another. Seems he forgot to tighten the bolts fastening his wing to his backplate. Despite us trying to help with his gear, he had to go back to the boat to reassemble his gear. I think he was a few bolts shy of a BPW. Because of the time we spent trying to help him put his gear together in the water, we had drifted off the reef and ended up on the sand.

During the surface interval, he didn't have much to say.

Ron