I'm the Pariah again

[NAM001]

I have to agree with Matt here. When 2 go down and one comes up, things are not all right. Of the many boat dives i have been on, only one time had the boat showed any concern with only me surfacing. Things became ok when i signaled my buddy was underneith me. They dont have time. A dozen bodies in the water and the boat does not know onything but the head count on the surface. The lost buddy went to the boat. Well ok then ,,, the lost buddy should have been on the boat rail next to the captain to be seen by matt so he would know his buddy was ok also. From Matts perspective...Only Matt knew what had transpired before surfacing, and signaling OK would very well indicate ALL IS OK. The opinions surely would have been different if the final head could were one short and his buddy was found sutck in the tube after using his remaining air to operate the his squaker. Solely from the opening post i would take Matt as a buddy anytime. This also another example of why i am pro solo. Insta buddes...... I may be with others but i dive as if i am solo. ( NO DEPENDANCE ON OTHERS) Had Matt got frustrated with the lack of usefull responce from the boat and gone down to look for his missing buddy he could have become just another number. If I am not mistaken Matt is a fairly new diver.. and as such... he has only what he learned in classes and the limited dives he has been on to draw from when a problem araises. If a critique was done i am sure fault would be spread on all concerned. But all that is MOOT when the time is now, the problem is real and no one seems to be listening.

You needed to communicate with the captain. You did not. He needs to know whether to get in the water to give you aid or rescue you. Give him the OK then explain the situation.

You say all you wanted to do was save your buddy. That's nice, but I hope you now realize you didn't go about that in the best possible way.

 

[dallaskincaid]

Matt, question for you on this. What was the vis like? How were you able to get so far away from your buddy that you weren't able to find him?

 

[drrich2]

He did indicate he learned some things, and he demonstrated that he 'listened' to the different posts. It's human nature to appreciate support/validation, particularly when a matter has gotten personal. He also have some hypothetical scenarios that are worth consideration. I think there was some good 'negative' criticism on the thread, too, but then again, there are also some 'tact deficient' posts.

Richard.

 

[dallaskincaid]

He did indicate he learned some things, and he demonstrated that he 'listened' to the different posts.

If you have 20 dives or 2000 dives, hopefully you are learning something new every time you are in the water. (so says the person with 33 dives..haha)

 

[Mike]

Good job Matt, from reading your reply it's clear you aren't everybody's door mat, (which I was beginning to think was the case). For what it's worth, you'll find that many, many boat captains you run into have huge egos, many think they walk on water because they have reached a such a grand level in life to have attain a big bad 6 pack license, just ignore em and enjoy the rest of the crew, divemasters and your fellow divers company on the boats you're on. Many captains keep to themselves anyways, it rare for them to even speak to common people, he probably felt he was honoring you to take time out of his busy day to berate you.

 

[cbm32]

It is pretty amazing how things can spin out of control....both on a dive and in a thread here on SB.

It would seem that the biggest screw up (subsequent to the dive buddies becoming separated in the first place) in the scenario being discussed here is one diver "hanging on some coral" banging on his tank sees his buddy look around and then fin the other way failing to go catch up with his buddy instead of just returning to the boat (assuming he had plenty of gas in his tank at the time).

Then when the diver still in the water surfaces it would seem that the boat should have not JUST asked if the diver in the water was ok, but said "Your buddy is on the boat, are YOU ok?".

Had one of those two things transpired the snowball never would have gotten started rolling downhill.

 

[karlimmergut]

When you then refused to answer the Captain onboard, I can understand his becoming upset (...) ​

at sea, the Captain is the alpha male.

If the captain, or anyone from the crew, is unable to control their emotions and behave in a calm, courteous, and professional manner, especially in a situation that is allegedly not uncommon, perhaps they should change their career. Fortunately, the captain has apologized, which shows that he has the maturity to be a captain. A big dog does not bark without a good reason.

 

[HowardE]

Good job Matt, from reading your reply it's clear you aren't everybody's door mat, (which I was beginning to think was the case). For what it's worth, you'll find that many, many boat captains you run into have huge egos, many think they walk on water because they have reached a such a grand level in life to have attain a big bad 6 pack license, just ignore em and enjoy the rest of the crew, divemasters and your fellow divers company on the boats you're on. Many captains keep to themselves anyways, it rare for them to even speak to common people, he probably felt he was honoring you to take time out of his busy day to berate you.

I have a 100 ton license. If you're talking about me.

My point, like the delivery or not is valid.

If you are so knowledgeable with your wealth of diving experience, then what would the correct response be for a dive boat captain who sees a diver clearly distressed??

Let's be realistic here. The OP posted he didn't signal OK. He was concerned about his buddy (distressed about it even) and upon repeated signals from the boat and boat crew, the diver refused to signal OK.

While the buddy separation is another issue all together, and certainly, the buddy issue is an important issue, and had there been no separation in the first place, this probably wouldn't have happened at all... However, it did, so the crux of the issue in this case stemmed from the OP's refusal to signal the boat.

People on the boat wouldn't have given him attitude, and everything would have ended up being "ok" and the OP probably wouldn't feel like a pariah, and think that everyone hates him, even those who are trying to be helpful by sharing good information and proper etiquette for boat diving.

It's clear that there may be some overly sensitive people here, who just can't handle any kind of criticism or reality check from the perspective of someone who actually crews a boat among other things.

 

[Reck Diver]

Any Capt worth a damn wouldn't expect his divers to swim 200 yards into a strong current to return to the vessel. That's one of the reasons we put a motor on the back of our boat!

If you can't get your own boat, think about private charters. I have to believe it's worth the money and probably works out cheaper the owning your own boat..... ask me how I know that one!

 

[karlimmergut]

However, it did, so the crux of the issue in this case stemmed from the OP's refusal to signal the boat.

The goal is not to signal OK, the goal is to communicate. From what Matt has described, communication was actually pretty efficient considering that there was no established protocol for it and all parties involved had to improvise, everyone did a pretty good job.

People on the boat wouldn't have given him attitude (...) It's clear that there may be some overly sensitive people here.

I hope that as a boat captain, you do realize that it is unacceptable for the crew to show any kind of attitude towards the customer...