"Allowed" to dive

[Diver0001]

I mentioned I was looking forward to spending a lot of time swimming around with a photographer friend in Bonaire. He basically said "well you won't have as much time as you like since you have to keep up with the guide".

Bonaire is one of those places where diving *without* a guide is actually quite common. You can even book a "dive package" that includes a rental car

R..

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

He was definitely a PADI DM and that's why he said other agencies are useless.

I don't plan to dive with him (ever)! I was at a dinner and after eating our conversation steered towards diving since I consider myself to be an avid and active diver. We were talking about u/w photography since I just bought a camera and I mentioned I was looking forward to spending a lot of time swimming around with a photographer friend in Bonaire. He basically said "well you won't have as much time as you like since you have to keep up with the guide".

Things basically unravelled from there.

... and so among other things he's apparently never been to Bonaire. Diving with a guide there is purely optional ... in fact, I'd say that most people don't.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[mselenaous]

I call :gans:

That DMs info is :toiletclaw:. He needs to go back through some of his training and materials.
There is really are "legal" issues - it's all industry standards and private business owners might raise the bar where they see fit.
You don't even have to be certified to dive privately or buy your own gear or buy a compressor and fill your own tanks. Oldster eventually got certified to comply with industry norms for tank fills, or diving with businesses. The only real legislation applies to commercial fill stations and tank transportation under DOT & CTC commissions' regs.

A certification card is a certification card and you can do any dive unescorted within your training and experience within recreations no deco profiles.

There are some locales that have regulations where all divers must be lead by a guide. Cozumel comes to mind. It's that regions' way of keeping divers safe while employing more local dive pros.
And there are few Dive Charters who have similar policies for whatever reasons such as their liability insurance. For some ops, if they don't know you, they are basically confirming during the first dive or two that you have the skills to do those dives safely before they send you out on your own and usually repeat customers are good to go.

 

[Damselfish]

as long as he's not interfering in your personal diving, sounds like the sort of person better seen (for your own sake) as entertainment rather than annoying

 

[DivemasterDennis]

The erroneous information given to the op is typical of over generalizations often made by people with marginal credentials. If reeporters would report t=what they know, the information is useful. But when people just "run off at the mouth," usually in a self aggrandizing way, as was the case here, then the communication is of no real value. Sorry, meagicano, that your Dm wa so inappropriate. There are lots of threads on whihc I do not piost, because I have nothing to add. I am real familiar with Hawaii dive rules and practices, but know nothing about Australia or New Zealand. If meagicano's Dm was specific in his reporting he could have been passing along useful information. As it was, he just created some upset. Oh well. That has been known to happen here on the board from time to time as well. .
DivemasterDennis

 

[fjpatrum]

I just had a pleasant evening turn into a rather annoying disagreement with a PADI DM who has dove and worked in several Latin American countries and New Zealand. At home, he DMs in Canada.

Basically - he told me that as an AOW it wasn't "legal" for me to dive without DM supervision and that many places would refuse to rent me gear without either supervision or a DM cert.

Yes - he used the term "legal". I was further told that other qualifications are useless (I don't see myself progressing much further in PADI but I want to take courses elsewhere).

Oh. Also - apparently AOW certifies you for overhead (he talked about a guy freaking out in a "cave" in Nicaragua) because of the wreck dive.

So I'm a bit annoyed and slightly tipsy and I'm wondering if anything - anything at all - is true. I suspect he's a DM with a bit of a god complex (there was some bragging involved) but who knows. Maybe I'm being obstinate.

So, ScubaBoard.... Educate me.

To put it bluntly, this guy is an idiot. Stay far away from him.

 

[corvettejoe]

that DM is full of it, ill informed and someone I would never seek to dive with. It's sometimes fun to ask people questions, find out they are totally wrong in their information and bid them good day as you look for another person to dive with.


... I actually learned quite a bit about diving in other countries from this thread. Very informative! (I've only ever dove in the US and Mexico, both have about the same regulations for diving)

 

[Jim Lapenta]

He was definitely a PADI DM and that's why he said other agencies are useless.

I don't plan to dive with him (ever)! I was at a dinner and after eating our conversation steered towards diving since I consider myself to be an avid and active diver. We were talking about u/w photography since I just bought a camera and I mentioned I was looking forward to spending a lot of time swimming around with a photographer friend in Bonaire. He basically said "well you won't have as much time as you like since you have to keep up with the guide".

Things basically unravelled from there.

He's a douche bag idiot moron and you can direct him to this post. PLEASE DO!

Bonaire is perhaps the no dive guide capital of the Caribbean. 2 o' clock in the morning? Can't sleep? Want to dive? As hard as putting on your gear, grabbing a tank from the unlocked rack of them on the dock, and stepping into the water. No need to notify anyone, sign a book, carve a tombstone for yourself in case you drown, nothing. Just dive and screw the world. Especially DM's like him.

 

[AfterDark]

He's a douche bag idiot moron and you can direct him to this post. PLEASE DO!

Bonaire is perhaps the no dive guide capital of the Caribbean. 2 o' clock in the morning? Can't sleep? Want to dive? As hard as putting on your gear, grabbing a tank from the unlocked rack of them on the dock, and stepping into the water. No need to notify anyone, sign a book, carve a tombstone for yourself in case you drown, nothing. Just dive and screw the world. Especially DM's like him.

Sounds like where divers go when they die!

 

[Atom]

Interesting point. The province of Quebec has the FQAS, which does indeed put some very legal restrictions on what you can and cannot do as a diver. I don't think it requires use of a divemaster though, and I'm not aware of any such equivalent in Ontario.

Even if he's from Qc, he's wrong.

Basically the law on safety in sports states that if you're rec diving (as opposed to commercial diving) in the province of Quebec you have to hold a "Certificate of qualifcation in recreational subaquatic diving", which is normally issued when you take your OW class (obviously while you're taking a class you don't need the certificate).

• It has a few classes that mostly follow the OW, AOW, DM progression. Plus other classes for instructors.
• It's only necessary for diving, not for renting/buying equipment.
• It doesn't require a guide.
• It expires after 3 years, you have to show proof of 10 dives in the province (or equivalent conditions) in the past 3 years to get it reissued
• Specialty-stuff, like nitrox, wreck or cave diving necessitates proper certification from an agency listed in the law (most of them are there)

If you're a local but got certified outside of the province, you can do a quick evaluation dive with an instructor/DM to get your certificate issued. If you're a tourist (don't think we have many of those) you can get an instructor to issue an temporary exemption upon review of your dive certifications.

As you can guess, it's not really popular with the divers around here, but it really doesn't change much for divers appart from some more paper to fill and from not letting somebody certified in Cuba plunge into our much colder waters without being checked by a dm/instructor....in theory, it's not like every lake/cove in the river has an inspector ready to catch you in the act of illegal-scuba-diving. I heard from instructor friends that its a bigger hassle on their side. It's also an hassle for people from Ontario who come to dive here sometime.

He was definitely a PADI DM and that's why he said other agencies are useless.

I don't plan to dive with him (ever)! I was at a dinner and after eating our conversation steered towards diving since I consider myself to be an avid and active diver. We were talking about u/w photography since I just bought a camera and I mentioned I was looking forward to spending a lot of time swimming around with a photographer friend in Bonaire. He basically said "well you won't have as much time as you like since you have to keep up with the guide".

Diving without a guide is the entire point of diving in Bonaire, that and the unlimited shore diving. What an idiot.