I don't think SB would let names be put on SB, [they don't like it when I get on AL's case {poor babies !!}] but I do think those who have first hand experience w/the 'guide' and shop should give serious consideration to reporting it to the DA's office as well as PADI/SSI and the State's Attny's office...Then it's on record and there's a little thing called 'dereliction of duty' that the DA's/State's Attny's office may want to consider ;O !!!!!...With it on record the 'guide/shop/DA/State's Attny/Park and maybe even the state of Florida, may become liable if found derelict/negligent....Wouldn't that be an interesting suit :O !!!!!.....Are you listening Florida ??!!.......
Untrained cave diving in the Dominican Republic
- Thread starter philliplehman
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..If they're responsible for stopping this 'activity' how comes it happens 'quite a bit' ???!!!
....Isn't that like 'military intelligence' or 'jumbo shrimp' ;P ??!!
..If they're responsible for stopping this 'activity' how comes it happens 'quite a bit' ???!!!
I didn't say they are responsible for stopping it; I said they are dedicated to stopping it. There is a huge difference. I suspect that there is absolutely nothing against the law involved here. If that is true, your recourses are few.
soltari675
Contributor
The one in Florida was American Pro Diving. Somewhere near the Orlando area. They do a lot of the crystal river Manatee snorkel/dives. But they also do guided dives in local springs.
Although I realize that new(er) divers don't know what they don't know, one disturbing thing I see way too often in divers, is the divers' absolute blind trust in guides & Dive Maters leading a dive. What ever happened to "you are certified divers, plan your dive & dive your plan". Is this being forgotten in OW training? Or is it that the courses are being shortened so much that it gets relegated to "I hope they read it"? If the plan includes following a guide, fine,.... but if it is into potentially dangerous situations or beyond the divers' skill or comfort level, then it is time for the divers & their buddy to refuse to follow. I commend Soltati's refusal to go beyond what he knows is dangerous. There is a time for some "Trust me" dives,... primarily during training, but in that case, the dive plan should be gone over thoroughly, by the instructor & keep well within the instructor's control. Remember there was just a triple fatality in Mexico where a couple likely blindly followed their guide into the cave zone & (sadly) into oblivion. When diving, a buddy pair should have their own dive plan & follow it regardless of what the guide/ DM does.
I think there's a different explanation.
In pretty much any such training situation in any area you can name, there is always an element of thought that goes like this: there is 1) to formality of what we are taught and must demonstrate in class and 2) what happens in the real world. These are seen as two different things. What percentage of today's divers were taught to use tables, and what percentage use them? All were taught to use a predive safety check process, but how many actually do it? It is not that they don't know about it--they have decided that the real world is different from the hyper-safe instruction they were given in class.
I have had several occasions in which students told me that friends who were already certified told them that the only time they would ever use the dive planning skills I was teaching them was in class. In "the real world," the DM makes all those plans, and all you have to do is follow the DM.
It appears they do offer both SSI and PADI. I accepted the earlier statement of another poster in my earlier post.
Underdoc
Registered
Boulderjohn, I think you have hit the nail on the head. There is an assumption most of us live by. That knowledge gained in certification courses is "theoretical" and that modern technology can circumvent the application of that knowledge. We further assume that the dive guide is operating under the same rules as your dive instructor. If he can ignore rules, there must be a good reason. It is impossible to have it both ways. Human nature will not allow us to trust the instructor in the classroom and distrust our dive leader. Until we start teaching divers to trust their common sense first, we won't be able to do much about these cowboy operators.
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