Instructor molested me on first dive

I took a resort course (3-4 hours and a beach dive) before going on my "boat dive" with an instructor. I freaked out after going under about 5 feet and had to come up. The instructor encourage me to try again, I relaxed and he took my hand. Even though I was still panicky and having trouble with the breathing, he kept taking me down. Throughout the dive, he took his regulator out and kissed my hand, arms, neck and ear. He pulled me against him and proceeded to grope and touch. I was under water for the first time... went over 45 feet and although I made motions for him to stop, he didn't. I felt helpless and confused. Is this something that happens often? I don't want this negative first experience to keep me from trying this again, but I didn't dive again on this trip (and I could have). I just returned home today and even though this took place over 4 days ago.. well, it was just a very upsetting experience. So it does happen...I would love to name places and names, but I would hate to hurt anyone who wasn't involved. Just be careful and make sure you are with more than just one stranger on your first dive.

Apologies for the tone of this, but have you done anything about it?

I'd hate to think that someone else might suffer the same indignity if you haven't.

Is this something that happens often?

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I never heard anything like this before.
I guess it happens of course, and that it's very rare ( I hope so).
It's probably unusefull to tell you that you should prosecute him ? This is extremely serious.

Please don,t think that this is a diving problem . Ther are so many scum buckets out in this world . I to give my Apologies . to you YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT . not on land not in the water not any were. Please talk to the local law inforcment and find a close frend that you can talk to . injoy your dive ing . Ther are a lot of realy good fellow divers out there and we all send our APOLOGIES .

GOOD LUCK DIVE SAFE


KEN

I did not even go back to the dock for the remainder of the vacation, although my sister and aunt both spoke to the instructor and another employee about the incident. I didn't want to create a huge drama for my family for the rest of the trip.. so I just stayed away. I really cannot believe that this is something that is normal for anyone... much less someone brand new to the experience. It's gonna be hard to separate the good parts of my first dive from the bad, but I am determined to dive again. What this guy did was wrong. He took advantage of my trust and his position.

krawlings:

Please don,t think that this is a diving problem . Ther are so many scum buckets out in this world . I to give my Apologies . to you YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT . not on land not in the water not any were. Please talk to the local law inforcment and find a close frend that you can talk to . injoy your dive ing . Ther are a lot of realy good fellow divers out there and we all send our APOLOGIES .

GOOD LUCK DIVE SAFE


KEN

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Thanks so much for your response. I'm no baby, but I've been feeling so weak about the whole thing. If somebody had done that to me on dry land... Well, they wouldn't have. I have decided to follow up with it. I don't know a lot about SCUBA or about jobs available, but I can just imagine there are a lot of people who would love to introduce people to this amazing experience for a living... I met a lot of very experienced divers on this trip in Mexico; and they all seemed like "good people". This guy was just a bad apple.

There is nothing that could justify his actions.
You should report him to both the school involved and the resort. Besides the obvious sexual assault he also took you far to deep for that type of dive.
This is not typical and something I hope is rare.
I hope you continue to talk and resolve this issue as it would be a terrible outcome to stop any future diving because of it.
take care

Welcome to the board.
No, this kind of thing does not happen often and should never happen at all. In any group, there is going to be a bad person in the bunch, sad but true. Don't judge the whole diving community on one nutcase. For the most part we are a friendly, fun loving bunch.

Not to be rude or insensitive I do have to point out something for you to keep in mind. None of us were there and have any idea what happened, this is a classic he said/she said situation. It may happened just as you say and I for one have no problem raking someone over the coals for such an act but over the years on this board it has been our exprience that a person who's first post is to raise an issue such as this and starts naming names and places are often not being totally accurate. The person/company will be contacted and given a chance to respond. On more than one occasion, the facts ended up being completely different than those posted by the original poster. I am not saying this did not happen and if you were wronged, stand your ground and we will support you but before posting names, make sure what you are posting is fact and not emotion.

I appreciate the response. After seeing the passion people have for diving, I was ready to let go of my fears and see what it was about. My sister said "You know that Tuesday Afternoon song about the guy at the aquarium with his kid? That's what it's like." My sister was so excited about my first dive, and after the dive I tried not to let her know about the crap that came along with it. My sister saw right through it and knew something wasn't right. I'll dive with my sister... I need to get my proper certification from a reputable place first and not try to jump the gun with the "quickie resort course".

I understand what you are saying. I am upset about the situation, but by no means am I about to start posting names or places over the internet. This forum has only shown intelligent, thought out support. I wanted to get feedback from people who are experienced in the sport and who are not my relatives (unbiased).