EstrellaCaribe
Registered
A couple of weeks ago I had a terrible experience with a divemaster at a large dive shop in Cancun Mexico that resulted in an ear injury for me, and ruined the rest of my planned dives for that trip. He was completely uncommunicative above the water, and then once under water, he wouldn’t leave me alone (or respond adequately to the one thing I needed a moment to deal with). His behavior was bizarre and unprofessional. Here’s what happened:
Due to rough seas we opted for some cenote diving, and headed out with one guide and four divers – three men (including my husband) and myself. We had a 1+ hour drive to get there. During the drive, divemaster did not introduce himself or share any information about where we were going, etc. It was a bit odd. I only found out what his name was by asking another diver. He asked a cursory question about diving weights, but didn’t really listen to the answers. Once on the property he told a brief story about a U.S. Navy Seal who couldn’t handle this cenote because of its cave-like entrance. He wanted us to know we needed to “get our minds right” to do this cenote.
Once at the cenote, he exited the van and began prepping gear, again, pretty much without a word. In the water, he wanted me to go first behind him, since I was the least experienced diver (25 dives), which seemed reasonable. He rushed through the dive plan right before we got in the water. His main points were to follow him and to not disturb the sediment on the bottom, so as not to reduce visibility for subsequent divers. We began our descent and I noticed some trouble with my right ear. This cenote requires a pretty steep initial descent, and I signaled him that my ear wasn’t clearing and I needed a little time. He came up beside me and grabbed my arm, which made it difficult for me to maneuver to clear my ear. I don’t know what assumptions he made about me or what was going on, but from that moment on he did not leave my side.
The ceiling of the cavern limited how much upward movement I could make, so down we headed, me still struggling with my ear. It eventually cleared, painfully and in stages, with him pulling me along. That was unpleasant enough, but MUCH MUCH more unpleasant was that throughout the whole dive he wouldn’t leave me alone and swim ahead. I was not in any distress besides the residual discomfort in my ear – I signaled over and over that I was ok, that he should proceed with the dive and let me follow in accordance with the plan – but he never did that – he stayed glued to my side, half a foot behind me, which made it impossible for me to really swim in any kind of normal way, or get my bearings.
Every time I tried to relax, he was right there tugging at me, or adding or subtracting air from my BCD (seriously, WTF), shining his light in my eyes...I mean, WHY? I was not disturbing the sediment, I was breathing normally, I was not panicking, I was physically ok – but he wouldn’t let me be. He NEVER moved into his position at the front of the line like a normal divemaster should, but instead ran the whole dive with one hand on my elbow. Since he was slightly behind me, it was hard for me to really tell where we were headed (leading to constant prodding and redirection from him). It was an absolutely miserable experience – I got zero enjoyment from it, despite the cavern itself being quite intriguing. He never checked on the other divers. I have never been treated with such utter disrespect on a dive, and I am certain that he would not have treated a male diver in this way.
What was worse was that after we surfaced, he didn’t ask me a single question, or offer any explanation for his behavior. I had a bloody nose from barotrauma, and was again having pain in my right ear. He saw my bloody nose and had to be aware I had an ear injury, but he didn’t even ask if I was ok. Nothing at all – he just climbed out of the water and went to prep the second dive.
I was not getting back into the water with this guy, so I went back up to the van. Even then, he had nothing to say to me – he dismantled my rig in silence, and went back down to conduct the second dive without me. At no point did he address me directly, or even ask my husband why I wasn’t continuing. It was extremely rude, unprofessional, and inconsiderate behavior from a supposed professional.
We packed up and had a silent ride back to the dive shop. I had originally planned for more dives, but I canceled, both because of my ear and because I didn’t want to give this shop any more of my money. It took most of the week before my ear was back to normal.
For me, the worst thing was that since getting my certification I've always had to get through a bit of pre-dive anxiety...but that day was the first time I hadn't had any! I was super ready, super relaxed, and would have had a great time. Has anyone else ever had an experience like this, or have a guess as to what this guy was doing?
Due to rough seas we opted for some cenote diving, and headed out with one guide and four divers – three men (including my husband) and myself. We had a 1+ hour drive to get there. During the drive, divemaster did not introduce himself or share any information about where we were going, etc. It was a bit odd. I only found out what his name was by asking another diver. He asked a cursory question about diving weights, but didn’t really listen to the answers. Once on the property he told a brief story about a U.S. Navy Seal who couldn’t handle this cenote because of its cave-like entrance. He wanted us to know we needed to “get our minds right” to do this cenote.
Once at the cenote, he exited the van and began prepping gear, again, pretty much without a word. In the water, he wanted me to go first behind him, since I was the least experienced diver (25 dives), which seemed reasonable. He rushed through the dive plan right before we got in the water. His main points were to follow him and to not disturb the sediment on the bottom, so as not to reduce visibility for subsequent divers. We began our descent and I noticed some trouble with my right ear. This cenote requires a pretty steep initial descent, and I signaled him that my ear wasn’t clearing and I needed a little time. He came up beside me and grabbed my arm, which made it difficult for me to maneuver to clear my ear. I don’t know what assumptions he made about me or what was going on, but from that moment on he did not leave my side.
The ceiling of the cavern limited how much upward movement I could make, so down we headed, me still struggling with my ear. It eventually cleared, painfully and in stages, with him pulling me along. That was unpleasant enough, but MUCH MUCH more unpleasant was that throughout the whole dive he wouldn’t leave me alone and swim ahead. I was not in any distress besides the residual discomfort in my ear – I signaled over and over that I was ok, that he should proceed with the dive and let me follow in accordance with the plan – but he never did that – he stayed glued to my side, half a foot behind me, which made it impossible for me to really swim in any kind of normal way, or get my bearings.
Every time I tried to relax, he was right there tugging at me, or adding or subtracting air from my BCD (seriously, WTF), shining his light in my eyes...I mean, WHY? I was not disturbing the sediment, I was breathing normally, I was not panicking, I was physically ok – but he wouldn’t let me be. He NEVER moved into his position at the front of the line like a normal divemaster should, but instead ran the whole dive with one hand on my elbow. Since he was slightly behind me, it was hard for me to really tell where we were headed (leading to constant prodding and redirection from him). It was an absolutely miserable experience – I got zero enjoyment from it, despite the cavern itself being quite intriguing. He never checked on the other divers. I have never been treated with such utter disrespect on a dive, and I am certain that he would not have treated a male diver in this way.
What was worse was that after we surfaced, he didn’t ask me a single question, or offer any explanation for his behavior. I had a bloody nose from barotrauma, and was again having pain in my right ear. He saw my bloody nose and had to be aware I had an ear injury, but he didn’t even ask if I was ok. Nothing at all – he just climbed out of the water and went to prep the second dive.
I was not getting back into the water with this guy, so I went back up to the van. Even then, he had nothing to say to me – he dismantled my rig in silence, and went back down to conduct the second dive without me. At no point did he address me directly, or even ask my husband why I wasn’t continuing. It was extremely rude, unprofessional, and inconsiderate behavior from a supposed professional.
We packed up and had a silent ride back to the dive shop. I had originally planned for more dives, but I canceled, both because of my ear and because I didn’t want to give this shop any more of my money. It took most of the week before my ear was back to normal.
For me, the worst thing was that since getting my certification I've always had to get through a bit of pre-dive anxiety...but that day was the first time I hadn't had any! I was super ready, super relaxed, and would have had a great time. Has anyone else ever had an experience like this, or have a guess as to what this guy was doing?
