Refusing the services of an assigned dive guide (long post)

[TSandM]

Far too often I find that guides feel that clients want to see as much of the dive site as possible. While I am happier seeing as much as possible on the dive site

Well said!

 

[DivemasterDennis]

These stories of the DM or dive guide who is unresponsive, not helpful, and sometimes the most negative aspect of a trip are more common than they should be. I think the key problem is communication. If divers cannot communicate with a dive leader as to their expectations and purposes for a dive or dives, and cannot effectively remediate problems due to language barriers, the result is the kind of thing to OP presents. The situation becomes aggravated when diving sites that mandate a local guide due to conditions or otherwise. Experienced divers, including dive professionals, are often treated in these cases as if they were rookie divers because a group activity has to be based on the least competent skill level. Even if everyone in the is an expert diver, the same thing can and does happen. I have not encountered a problem like the one raised, but that is because I have not ventured beyond locations where English or French will be understood clearly. I am impressed that the OP endured and remained as composed as he did. Had I dropped thousands of dollars for a dive trip only to have a dive guide squeeze most of the joy out of the diving, I am not sure I could be as controlled. I suppose the lesson I draw from this thread is that if I go to a remote and new location where a local guide will be in charge by reason of policy or necessity, I am going to give up the freedom I am used to having in doing my own profiles at my own pace. That freedom is a big deal to me and my wife/dive buddy Debbie. Thanks for the conversation so I will know to make inquiry about the issues raise here before I drop thousands on a trip.
DivemasterDennis

 

[boulderjohn]

O We all agreed, and from that point onward, made no effort to stay with him at all. He eventually realized it and slowed down to where he could see us.

A number of years ago the Cozumel operator I was using added me to a boat full of experienced photographers who had come to Cozumel together. That was essentially how the dive was handled from the beginning, and the DM was obviously fine with it. He just hung around and watched the photographers work for the most part, thus fulfilling the legal requirement. The exceptions were with me, because I was not a photographer. He sometimes took me on little side excursions that were very nice indeed. It was a great dive. I have since been on several other situations in which the group had enough experience to dive without the required guide, and in each case the guide made the necessary adjustments just fine.

 

[Quero]

That sounds ideal, John. I quite like having a good dive guide such as you describe in places where I'm unfamiiar with the reef --the currents in Indonesia can be wicked, and the guides should know where the dive site ends so that the group doesn't get to the point where they will be swept out into the open ocean, and even with a decent briefing, what seems clear enough on a hand-drawn map may not be recognizable to divers when actually on the reef for the first time. Additionally, while I get a huge thrill out of finding marine life myself, I also appreciate having the guide's practiced eye working to help me see things I might otherwise miss. So in spite of my thousands of dives and years of experience leading dives myself, I do always hope for a good guide--not to relieve me of the responsibility for planning and executing my own dive, but rather to enhance the dive and to point out the right route as we navigate the site.

It might be worth making clear that in my story from the opening post, this dive guide was simply LOST on two of those three dives and not present on the other one. On the dive in which he swam too fast, I only caught up with him near the end of the dive site, which he reached a long time before the end of the planned bottom time, so he and the other diver just hung around at the exit point until it was time to surface--my buddy and I dived much slower, and we still made it to the end of the site with air and bottom time to spare. On the night dive, he was meant to cross over to the opposite side of the ridge, keeping the reef to the right all the while. He mixed up his left and right I guess, and instead of keeping right, he went left into the black water. On the other dive in which he was lost, I don't think he would ever have found the reef if I hadn't surfaced to take a compass heading--he would have just kept swimming in circles. In these three dives I did with him as dive leader, he failed to fulfill those two functions that I value in a dive guide--accurate navigation of the site and staying within the vicinity of the divers in order to point out particularly interesting marine life.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I am impressed that the OP endured and remained as composed as he did.

... that's because the OP is a she ... a he would not likely have remained that composed ... for sure this one wouldn't have ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)