Dumbest things you've seen a newbie diver do

[LIVES4SHARKS]

I have seen the snorkel instead of the reg many times in pool sessions and have learned to keep a keen eye out with my students. I have seen that on the boat as well, so I make sure that as I put in divers, that I look at what is in their mouths.

I think the most common oopsie is jumping in with no fins! I have had that duh moment before.

I think we have all had/seen situations where there are oopses. That is why you never take forgranted refreshing skills and sticking to routines when setting up.

Great story Diver0001! I have had my fair share of instabuddy disasters and what amazes me the most is either they are totally oblivious, or get upset that you had an issue with what they did during the dive. If anything, it has helped me with my awareness and keeps me dilligent to practice in the pool, especially if I had been out of the water a bit.

Carolyn:shark2:

 

[CamG]

Greetings fellow divers and interested divers I would like to say that I am not a fan of the newbie term. I have seen dumber things from so called experienced divers and even dumber things from instructors allowing their students to plow furrows in the bottom of the quarry. Who is to blame for that? Newbie? I think not!
I have no axe to grind though it sounds as I do I just think that new divers are rather more conscious than the average joe diver.
I agree with the others that mentioned that it is easy for a new diver to get involved in dives that exceed their skill level and comfort. But once again I will say that experienced divers can and do the same things to. It is important to be safe and use good judgement when choosing dive sites and planning out dives. Not just for new divers but ALL DIVERS! I have come to understand this yet once again in a personal way. Never allow complacency creep into your dive planning because poor judgement is next. One must never ignore the obvious or choose to push the parameters of safe diving practices! It will find you at depth at a most challenging time.
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[weaserm99]

I have to agree with CamG on this one, i have seen more experienced divers tend to make the dumb mistakes like forgetting to take pocket protectors out of new fins, surfacing in the middle of the niagara river right across from the exit point, not seeing it and wanting to go back down for ten minutes until i point it out, three experienced divers go in three different directions when supposed to be diving in a group, then the person who was supposed to be leading the group start complaining even though they didnt give a specific dive plan, i could go on and on but there are a lot of times when i would rather dive with a new diver than a "more experienced" diver simply due to the fact that the newer diver is most likely to cause less headaches, oh and the second time i went to use my new drygloves i got the liner caught in the glove lock and it leaked, so being an experienced diver i made a really dumb mistake

 

[MaxBottomtime]

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To be fair, I also see experienced divers trying to enter Marineland when they shouldn't.

 

[scjoe]

Good example of why one should watch what the locals are doing. I suspect not many of them bothered trying to go in that day. Even in calm conditions, rocky beaches have their share of injuries. Crawling in and out with fins on isn't elegant, but at least you can't slip and fall.

 

[Codiak]

Jump in with snorkel rather than Reg... AND forgetting to inflate his BC

 

[scubaskipper]

Jump in with sun glasses on instead of mask, mask on fore head, snork. in not reg., tank not on, tank not full, reg. not hooked to tank, jump in with no fins, jump in with dry suit zipper not zipped. The list goes on and on and on. The sad part is more often than not, these were " experienced" live aboard divers with 100's or even 1000's of dives. Apparently the proper buddy check part of the briefing is paid little attention. Maybe they just do it for comic relief?

 

[paddler3d]

Newbie? Forget newbie. Two weeks ago I had a to help out an experienced diver (certified in the 70's and dives at least bi-weekly) with his regulator. He had put in on upside down and had the tank facing the wrong way. He even went and feed his LP hose around to make it work!

Anyway, newbie's are newbie's. They are going to make mistakes. Some are funny, some aren't so funny.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Good example of why one should watch what the locals are doing. I suspect not many of them bothered trying to go in that day. Even in calm conditions, rocky beaches have their share of injuries. Crawling in and out with fins on isn't elegant, but at least you can't slip and fall.

When I was a new diver I was crawling out at Marineland with fins on. I grabbed the sides of a boulder to climb up when a wave lifted me over the rock, turning me in a 180 flip and depositing me on top of the rock tank first. I was praying I didn't hit my head. I no longer exit at the point.

 

[StevenN]

I saw one newbie who I won't name (But it rhymes with StevenN) go for a dive with the instructions for his brand new BC still in the pocket!