Can someone please help me to better understand the DIVE TRIP environment?
I've just completed my 25th dive. I will admit that the things I've seen, while diving, have been unbelievably beautiful, mysterious, bizarre, etc...HOWEVER, every one of my experiences have been soured by this one component, that I have found on EVERY SINGLE DIVE TRIP I've undertaken, which have been about 12.
WHAT THE H*** IS EVERYONE RUSHING FOR???
1. Meeting time 8:30a
2. Boart departs 9:00am
3. Everyione RACES to put on their wetsuits and gear.
4. The DMs are frantically attaching everyone's regulators to the various tanks.
5. The DMs race through the dive briefing
6. We arrive at the dive site.
7. Everyone is frantically putting on their floppy flippers.
8. There's now a RACE to slip into your BC and get in the water.
9. NO SAFETY CHECKS - NO SURFACE WEIGHT CHECKS
10. Everyone gives the "OK" sign, and down we go.
11. Dive ends
12. DMs frantically switch out everyone's regulators with new tanks - YES, ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION, I HAVE BEEN GIVEN AN EMPTY TANK!
13. Fruit, sandwhiches, and water bottles are passed out as the boat RACES to the next dive site.
14. We arrive - SEE #3-#10
15. 2nd dive ends as we RACE back to the shop.
Am I totally missing something? It wouldn't be the first time... I undertstand I'm entering an environment as a total newbie, but here's my conclusion: THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF THE TRIP WAS TO GET TO THE DIVE SITE - GET THE DIVERS IN THE WATER - GET THROUGH THE DIVES - END THE DIVES - GET BACK TO THE SHOP - ALL IN WORLD RECORD TIME!!! It's like the boat and all divers will suddenly turn into LAND CRABS if the whole process doesn't get completed in 3 hours!!!
Listen, I realize, underwater, ya can't stop at every little fish and hold a seminar...LOL...And that you have to keep going, because of nitrogen buildup and air consumption...
But, this has been my experience on EVERY SINGLE TRIP...All different operators. At the end of the day, the most prominent memory is the harried and hectic dive trip I undertook...
My goodness, as divers we enter such an alien world, with signts and experiences that are so magnificent and bizarre they can only been seen while doing what we do, wearing the gear we wear, headfing to the sites we visit...BUT, NONE OF THAT MATTERS...What matters is only that we get out and back in 3 hours...and that everyone gets some fruit.
I don't know! Maybe I'm complaining about NOTHING, and it's ME that needs to "catch up." It's just the race into water that seems so off-putting....Sorry for long posting...