I did a lovely dive with a somewhat novice diver tonight. Max depth was 60 feet, and the dive was 30 minutes long (and I knew those parameters ahead of time). We found all kinds of cool stuff, and best of all, I wasn't cold when I got out of the water!
My buddy was profusely apologetic, before and after, about the short and shallow dive. He was very concerned that I would feel the dive was "wasted". I remember feeling exactly the same way when I was new. I tried to reassure him that I didn't mind at all. This wasn't an expensive charter or a dive using expensive gas . . . it was an evening shore dive in a familiar site not a long drive from home, and it didn't matter to me if it was 30 minutes or 60, as long as I got to get wet and see some fun things, which I did.
It got me to wondering . . . for those of you who are no longer "new divers", would you mind doing a shorter and shallower dive than usual, to accomodate a new diver?
(Part of the reason I don't mind is that my LDS sells a membership where you buy all your fills for the year for one price in December. So using a third of a tank doesn't offend me at all, because I don't pay a full fill price for doing it.)
My buddy was profusely apologetic, before and after, about the short and shallow dive. He was very concerned that I would feel the dive was "wasted". I remember feeling exactly the same way when I was new. I tried to reassure him that I didn't mind at all. This wasn't an expensive charter or a dive using expensive gas . . . it was an evening shore dive in a familiar site not a long drive from home, and it didn't matter to me if it was 30 minutes or 60, as long as I got to get wet and see some fun things, which I did.
It got me to wondering . . . for those of you who are no longer "new divers", would you mind doing a shorter and shallower dive than usual, to accomodate a new diver?
(Part of the reason I don't mind is that my LDS sells a membership where you buy all your fills for the year for one price in December. So using a third of a tank doesn't offend me at all, because I don't pay a full fill price for doing it.)