Dive Boat Etiquette

[Darren Dodge]

Not long back from a quick, one day dive vacay in the Florida Keys and got in a double dip on the Speigel Grove. One thing that bugged me was this: my buddy and I had hired a guide from the boat operator and part of the dive briefing for everyone mentioned for everyone to put on their fins while seated and then to proceed to the entry point at the bow to descend down the mooring line in the current. Our guide went first then my buddy, I waited for him to get situated at the fore then stood to shuffle forward. I was however cut off by a solo(?) diver that walked to the entry and then struggled to put on his fins while I waited. Eventually he entered and I followed shortly after. Now on the descent line I am separated from my buddy with an unknown diver between us and had to swim past him on the line to rejoin my buddy and our guide and may have caused an equalization problem with my right ear from over-pressuring. My ear never felt "normal" on the following two dives and I thumbed the last dive due to moderate ear pain on the surface.

Ear problem aside, my question is, should I have politely cried foul when the guy got between us on the first entry?

 

[Dhboner]

Yes...but much more importantly your buddy and the guide should not have begun the descent without confirming at the surface that you were all together and ready to dive. On a boat dive, you enter the water, signal to the boat crew you are okay, make your way to the line (if there is one) and wait for your buddy or the dive group to be ready and only descend when everyone is together and have completed their surface checks.

 

[freewillie]

It depends on what you and your buddy talked about for entering the water. You should have had an agreement to either meet at the descent line and descend as a group or once entering the water make your way to the descent line and then wait for the group at the bottom. For safety reasons the first option is the best because it avoids a diver having to wait underwater before the buddy teams up. Who knows what can happen in just a few minutes and it's always best to stay together at the surface then descend together. It's not necessarily the other diver's fault for trying to get in the water when he did, but maybe he should have paid more attention to the pre-dive briefing for putting on the fins before approaching the entry point. But your buddy and the DM should have waited for you before going down the line. I would have cried foul to your buddy for not waiting.

 

[radtype]

I wouldn't worry about it. Something like this will probably happen again. I don't start down a line until my buddy (wife) is next to me in the water and both of us are ready to go down.

 

[Darren Dodge]

Agreed that we should have discussed this on our own before hand, another one of those add to the list to fine tune our diving. Had we been diving without a guide, we would have done a final check before descending. In this situation, he was staying with the guide and due to the current and needing to hang onto the tag line right from entry to be able to pull to the mooring line, it's possible some confusion could have existed.

Ask questions, learn things

 

[Steve_C]

Couple caveats

-This was the Speigel; was there a strong surface current?

-How far were you from the buddy and the guide? Viz is often pretty good. If you were just a few feet from diver A and diver A was just a few feet from the other two members of your party, then it might still have been ok. Two options other than making a fast descent which is just asking for trouble. 1) Just follow diver A down the line and be next to buddy and guide at the bottom. 2) Give a stop signal to the guide buddy and indicate you want to join up. They should then let diver A pass them and group up. A general rule it never works out well if you try to descend faster than your body wants to go.

 

[Darren Dodge]

Couple caveats

-This was the Speigel; was there a strong surface current?

Yes there was a moderate to strong surface current, thus hanging on the surface while trying to get around people would've been difficult. Separation on the downline was probably only couple feet between each diver and they could see me once we got few feet down, so staying behind diver A probably would've been acceptable as well. Ear was only bothersome for a few hours and eventually cleared that evening, lesson learned.

 

[kwinter]

You don't jeopardize yourself or your ears just for that. The line was only going one place. You hired a guide. If your buddy and the guide reached the wreck, they would wait there for you. It would only have been a couple of minutes. If you didn't show in a reasonable time, the guide should go back up the line to see if there was a problem unless you made an alternate plan. If you were really afraid that the guide and your buddy would take off to explore the wreck without you, then you hooked up with the wrong guide........ and buddy.

 

[Wolfie_47]

Generally; if there was no specific discussion on descent procedure shouldn't the default action be the safest and simplest? in this case guide and diver1 wait on the surface to group up, or am I just over thinking this?

 

[Foxfish]

Someone jumping in front was impolite and your buddies not waiting for you was unfortunate. Descending at a rate that could have caused ear damage is the bigger cause for concern. Things don't always go to plan and when that happens divers need to be able to react in a way that causes no harm to themselves and others.

Normally our boats have a 'mermaid' line floating off the back so if you need to wait for a buddy and current is a problem you can just hold onto the line. I'm surprised your boat didn't have that. Anyway, if you were dropping down the mooring line you could have planned to meet your buddies on the bottom near the anchor where current may not have been a big deal if you got separated. Something to remember in future.