Bathtub Divers

[Kennedydive]

Hey Everyone.
A friend of mine just came back from a vacation in the Caribbean somewhere. Of course he planed on going for a dive so he brought his own regs with him. The deepest dive he could find for a charter was 40fsw. We are use to deeper cold water dives but this was not a big deal he just thought he'd get a bit deeper than that. He signed up for a charter and on the boat was an overweight female diver looking at her two second stages and then looked at my friend and said "I guess this one is a back-up huh." He is an instructor so he quietly explained things to her along with talking to her trying to find out her experience. This was her first dive beyond her certification dives she had done last summer and her first salt water dive. She had also asked him what the gauges were for. She stated that she thought one was for pressure but wasn't sure what the others were for. He again explained things out to her while the rest of the group was busy putting regs on backwards or the BCD on backwards. He explained that during the dive the other divers were down and then shoot to the surface then come back down only to repeat it all over again. The buoyancy was horrendous.
My question is to anyone out there that either works on these charters or someone who frequents these charters. Is this the norm? Are there really that many crappy divers out there?
Jason

 

[CBulla]

Hey Everyone.
A friend of mine just came back from a vacation in the Caribbean somewhere. Of course he planed on going for a dive so he brought his own regs with him. The deepest dive he could find for a charter was 40fsw. We are use to deeper cold water dives but this was not a big deal he just thought he'd get a bit deeper than that. He signed up for a charter and on the boat was an overweight female diver looking at her two second stages and then looked at my friend and said "I guess this one is a back-up huh." He is an instructor so he quietly explained things to her along with talking to her trying to find out her experience. This was her first dive beyond her certification dives she had done last summer and her first salt water dive. She had also asked him what the gauges were for. She stated that she thought one was for pressure but wasn't sure what the others were for. He again explained things out to her while the rest of the group was busy putting regs on backwards or the BCD on backwards. He explained that during the dive the other divers were down and then shoot to the surface then come back down only to repeat it all over again. The buoyancy was horrendous.
My question is to anyone out there that either works on these charters or someone who frequents these charters. Is this the norm? Are there really that many crappy divers out there?
Jason

Oh, you have described my last 2 experiences in Key Largo. I particularly enjoyed the AOW diver getting wet again to take rescue and he had lots of dangly gear that hung up on the Ben Wood, and his bouyancy at the whopping 25' depth was about that of styrofoam. Fortunatly I had a good buddy whom was visiting from one of my former company's norther offices.. the entertainment provided by these other "experienced" certified divers was nearly worth the price of admission.

I've seen others on drift dives who are zipping along above the reef in the current looking as if they are walking.

I don't think its the norm but you can definitely end up in crowds of folks who dive like that when you least expect it.

 

[Web Monkey]

Since I usually grab tropical dives while my wife is out shopping, and don't usually have a lot of options on short notice, I get to see this kind of thing pretty regularly.

The latest was a woman (I was in a "3 buddy" group) who put her gear on, did a giant stride entry into about 20 feet of water and proceeded to crawl (on 2 hands and 2 knees) across the sandy bottom with a completely fogged up mask, dragging her SPG behind her.

Absolutely no buoyancy skills, no mask clearing, no knowlege of the existance of mask defog, no idea that the gauges she was dragging might contain information that could be useful to her.

I was thinking about trying to get her to rinse her mask so she could see, but then decided that any extra stress would probably freak her out, so I just kept an eye on her to make sure she was OK, and got her to show me her SPG periodically.

How can an instructor sign a C-card for someone that can't even clear a fogged mask or stay off the bottom, and still be able to sleep at night?

It's amazing to watch. I saw one person mount the tank backwards, attach the regulator, then demand a wrench from the boat crew because "the hoses were in the wrong place"

How can an instructor certify someone who has obviously not mastered even basic skills?

Terry

Hey Everyone.
my friend and said "I guess this one is a back-up huh." He is an instructor so he quietly explained things to her along with talking to her trying to find out her experience. This was her first dive beyond her certification dives she had done last summer and her first salt water dive. She had also asked him what the gauges were for. She stated that she thought one was for pressure but wasn't sure what the others were for. He again explained things out to her while the rest of the group was busy putting regs on backwards or the BCD on backwards. He explained that during the dive the other divers were down and then shoot to the surface then come back down only to repeat it all over again. The buoyancy was horrendous.
My question is to anyone out there that either works on these charters or someone who frequents these charters. Is this the norm? Are there really that many crappy divers out there?
Jason

 

[kaboom1371]

those stories really aren't very funny, but, they are very funny.... if you know what I mean....

Can't believe people are that clueless.

 

[jpomerantz]

those stories really aren't very funny, but, they are very funny.... if you know what I mean....

Can't believe people are that clueless.

Scary

 

[herman]

And people wonder why I go to Bonaire and shore dive with select friends.

I tagged along with an "advanced" class a couple of weekends ago. One of my regular buddies was taking the course and I wanted to get wet. The extent of most of the "training" dives was, "there is the water, go dive and be back in an hour or so". The "instructor" went his own way--solo. He did lead the deep dive thank goodness...I think. On their deep dive I watched these guys and gals crashing into the bottom stirring up a huge silt cloud at 130ft. My buddy and I were hovering 5-6 ft above them. This particular wreck is susposed to normally have very strong current, luckily we had almost none. I don't think a one of them was capable of a free accent. One lady was pawing the water like may lab at 130ft. With the exception of my buddy, I don't think a one of them had a clue what being neutral was. The only one the bunch that I would have let out of an OW class was my regular buddy who was taking the class- he got his AOW card but no real training- so did the rest of the class. There are some very scary people with scuba on..no way I am going to call them divers. I am getting to the point I will not dive with out a know buddy.
I am afraid this class of "divers" is getting way too common.

 

[kaboom1371]

Scary

It is scary.

I mainly dive with my 11 year old son that does everything on his own from the time we get out of the truck to the time we get back in. I double check his gear but, it's always done right. and never have problems in the water.

 

[CAPT HOOK]

I have to agree that this type of "diver" is getting to be more and more prevelent; we get lots of tourist divers here and it can be pretty bad.
I'm one of those who started out not too great, but at least I was taught the proper way to do things. Took me a while to figure out how to actually do them, but practice does pay.
You just have to hope these folks learn before the do too much damage or kill themselves.

 

[jbd]

You can rest assured that the instructors that are sign cert cards for these folks feel like they are doing a good job of instructing.

 

[kevink]

And people wonder why I go to Bonaire and shore dive with select friends.

I second that.