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BANG,BANG,BANG manta! BANG,BANG,BANG humphead wrasse! BANG,BANG,BANG shark! All this banging drove me nuts. If I wanted to hear banging I'd go to a scrap-yard.
I'm introducing my grandchildren to diving and they did not seem to like the pace either. They are on their high school swim team and involved in other athletic activities, so it's about being physically fit.
So my question to posters is; Is this the way people like to dive? If so, I may have to find another activity.
I don't think I misconstrued or over analyzed anything. His comments were arrogant and offensive to the many divers that do now, or at some point in the future, need some level of assistance getting off or on the boat or getting in or out of gear. Hopefully you will never lose a limb or have some other physical ailment that makes it difficult or impossible to climb a ladder with your gear on. If given those circumstances, it would be interesting to see whether you would give up diving rather than ask for help and be less than 100% "self-reliant."
For Dan Volker and anyone else that thinks like him.
With reference to his comment, quote "...we would get on the boat the way florida divers get on a boat, not the way lame tourists do ( where the crew has the lame and pathetic remove their bc's and fins in the water, and the crew hauls this up, then helps the pathetic up the ladders) ", I find these comments arrogant, insulting, immature, and childish.
I guess you "florida divers" are so special and fortunate that you do not have people that love to dive, but also have to deal with some physical issues that may require some assistance getting in and out of the water. Instead of shooting off your mouth about the lame and pathethic, maybe you should dive with, or spend time with some of our Wounded Warriors. Many of these soldiers have overcome tremendous physical challenges and have learned to dive, despite missing or mangled limbs lost protecting your right to be an arrogant ass. After watching what they can do, and the challenges they have overcome to dive, perhaps you will not be so quick to use words like lame and pathetic to describe people that need help to be able to dive. I would like to think a good diver should be proud to give whatever assistance possible to anyone that needs a little, or a lot of help to be able to dive and have a fun dive. But I guess you proved me wrong.
If you do not do your homework prior using a dive ops, then you should not expect them to mind read the kind of divers you are...nor should you expect them to adapt to you when their modus operandi is to do otherwise and then criticize them about their narrow-minded philosophy.
If you are not willing to pay for a private charter, then you should not subject the DM and the other divers to what you personally want to do especially if they advertise otherwise. As much as I prefer not using a DM, if I resort to using a dive op that make it SOP or compulsary, then I will abide by the briefing and directives as long as it is not unsafe for me and dive buddy to do so.
If they set a time limit for their dives, I will abide to that and come up when we get the signal to go up.... I could not care less how much air I have left at that point just like I could not care less about how much air you have left quite frankly. Briefing is given, the dive is done as per the plan, signal is given to go up...we all go up. As I said, if it is not what you wanted, you should not only (not) be there but (you) should have picked somebody who caters to your needs in the first place and if you don't...do not start behaving like the world evolves only around you and subject all the others providing and using the service to your fancies. Other people have also paid the same amount of money as you did.