For resort guides/DMs: Rushing?

[MasterFritts]

TSandM, good to see you back. I always enjoy reading your posts and have learned a lot from them.

I would hate to be rushed when performing safety checks. Too easy to miss something important.

mjh, thanks for the checklist. I am new to diving and read these forums to know what to look for, etc.

 

[Blackwood]

Wow, that is also rude. These people would never survive in a service based industry. Oh wait....

Yah, I won't go with them again.

Maui will be private charter to Molokini if possible, shore diving if not.


Sorry for the thread hijack, but:

...

That's a cool banner you've got there. Funny what a difference a crop makes. In your avatar, it seems like you're ending the dive, whereas in the banner it's clear that your having a grand ol' time

 

[MasterFritts]

Sorry for the thread hijack, but: That's a cool banner you've got there. Funny what a difference a crop makes. In your avatar, it seems like you're ending the dive, whereas in the banner it's clear that your having a grand ol' time

Good point, all fixed

 

[k ellis]

In refrence to my earlier post, It did not really bother me they had a limit as to the depth we were at 45 minutes and the depth reached about 100 feet it would have been hard for me to have stayed longer then that. My concern was that I am 100% Devoted to the nitrox as it does make one feel better after the dive. They argued that it was only placebo but those who use Nitrox trully know better then that B.S.

But not one to spoil a dive I did go ahead and dive air All in all what was funny is that they let us go in groups of 6 (12 on the boat) The first group there was a guy who was bragging he had 100s of dives which was of little concern to me since he had supposedly been varified by the shop to have a ccard. When he did the walk off the boat he was in the first group and start flailing like he was drowning. A quick life thinking buddy inflated his BCD back to the boat he went only to discover he had never done a boat dive nor had he had more then 10 dives from the shore. He missed out on that dive. He did actually make the second dive though and he did ok with it

 

[RonFrank]

I've never been rushed entering the water. I've had ops give me grief for doing a full hour BT on shallowish reefs.

I think it is pure rude to rush a diver... UNLESS.. there is a reason. The reason is generally something like hitting a site in current.

Generally if that is the case, then the boat drifts until all divers are ready, and then we hit the site once everyone on board is ready.

Honestly, my diving has been limited to Coz, FL, and other places in the US. Is this something all the S. Pacific Ops do?

 

[diver 85]

My son told me (he DM'ed for 6 years -- Roatan 3.5 yrs., the Wind Star Cruises 1.5yrs. & for Peter Hughes 1.5 yrs) they were always hungry & afraid to get back to the resort/LA late for meals........Doesn't sound right but he was a growing boy then, age 19 to 25......

 

[Jim Lapenta]

My wife has gotten nervous on boats when I've been the last one back. I choose to dive alone whenever possible and if the op says 1 hour I'm at the foot of the ladder at 59:30 or so. If you don;t want me to have an hour bottom time then don't give it to me. For this reason I prefer diving on boats with an understanding and experience with tech divers. The boat we use on Lake Erie never rushes anyone.

 

[MPR]

I may sound like a hypocrite here but I've been on both sides of the "boat" if you will. As an instructor/dm in the Caribbean, I may have rushed divers on more than one occasion, but never to the point of bypassing safety checks. It was more for inconsiderate divers and those who didn't care about holding anyone else up ( hey, we're on vacation; so is everyone else and they're waiting on you). I never rushed for personal reasons, i.e., I was hungry, wanted to go to the bar, etc. In fact, it was usually the opposite as we were on an island, we had no where to go, and a fun and memorable dive usually earned an invitation to the local watering hole afterwards. So a "rush" was counter productive.

Now as a diver out for my own fun, I've had ops tried to speed me up, limit my bottom time (when some divers on Nitrox, others on air, everyone had to dive an air table), and telling me to rush while getting ready. I've been diving for a number of years and I know exactly how long it takes me to don all my gear and be ready to go, and it's not that long. I don't need to sit rigged up for 15 minutes while new or inexperienced divers take their time. (again this is personal time not professional). Once I was trying to help a pair of new divers and actually got chastised for holding the group up. I was in the water before the two I was helping could enter. They told me in the water thanks, and they would never use these guys again.

On one occasion I went in the water about 15 minutes after everyone else. When asked what I was doing I told the DM I wasn't pushing my interval for his sake and if he wanted me to stay on board, he could return half my cost. He decided to let me go. Diving can be expensive and it's not out of the question to expect your money's worth.

I think it may be prudent to be clear through a conversation exactly what your expectations are for BT and SI. And then hold the DM accountable to that time table.

 

[redacted]

I've seen larger liveaboards that limit jump time once they open the gate but nothing excessive. I've rushed myself a bit to keep from holding up others, especially when I'm the last pickup in Cozumel and it's less than 10 minutes to the dive site. But I've also seen divers that start late and are slow as can be. Someone needs to rush them a bit.

I hope you tipped accordingly.

 

[Teamcasa]

Welcome back Lynne! I'm looking forward to a complete trip report.


After diving several of the boats here in SoCal and a few different ops in Hawaii, I’ve never felt rushed nor ridiculed for doing a buddy check. One Hawaiian operation, after seeing my setup thought I was a technical diver and had a ton of questions but he never rushed us. I think I would explain my expectations in very clear and concise terms should a snot nosed DM ridiculed me or my buddy for doing a pre-dive check.

Like MJH, I too talk to the charter about how they conduct a dive prior to booking a trip. I also realize this may be impossible in some of the more remote locations but in that case, I would talk to the captain should the DM fail to treat me or my wife with the proper respect. The subsequent treatment following the conversation would also effect the tip.