"Advanced Divers Only..."

[boulderjohn]

This sentence tells you all you need to know: “We only take customers who have been diving with us before or for a couple of days before going on the Aldora adventure trip”

It essentially translates to “We are gods, and only we determine if you are worthy of this trip”.

Love it when dive shops do that.

It's what I would do if I were in their shoes.

In 2003, the Mike Ball operation in Australia has a policy requiring checkout dives in which they would watch you dive and decide how you would be diving off their boat. It essentially translates to “We are gods, and only we determine if you are worthy of this trip”.

One couple, Gabe and Tina Watson, convinced them that the rule could be waived in their case. After all Gabe was NASDS certified at the Rescue Diver level. He could take care of his wife if she got into trouble. It turned out that Tina, newly certified by the same NASDS instructor who did all of Gabe's certifications and who it later turned out cut a whole lot of corners in getting people certified, was wholly incompetent and was in trouble soon after hitting the water. Gabe, whose only experience was in the quarry where he was being shortchanged on his training, was wholly incompetent in trying to save her. He was so bad, in fact, that many people thought he had murdered her, since no one at that certification level could be that incompetent, but later analysis showed that, yes, he was indeed that incompetent.

The Mike Ball operation was fined heavily for failing to follow their own requirements for a checkout dive, and you can bet they will make you do one if you dive with them today.

 

[scubadada]

What part am I wrong about?

“We are gods, and only we determine if you are worthy of this trip”.

@Scuba-74 Have you ever dived with any operation that had rules regarding doing some of their dives?

 

[Coztick]

I did a lot of diving at a local quary this Summer. It was fairly common for people to surface after 20 minutes to get their dive counts up. There was one couple that needed 50 dives prior to their trip to Galapogos.

Well, at least they did the dives!
Anyone can fill a log book without getting wet.

 

[Scuba-74]

“We are gods, and only we determine if you are worthy of this trip”.

@Scuba-74 Have you ever dived with any operation that had rules regarding doing some of their dives?

All of them. Those rules are typically: 1) possessing a certain level of certification (like AOW, or a drysuit, or a solo); 2) having completed a specific type of dive in similar conditions (like cold water, bad vis, deep, etc); 3) having dove recently (like within a year).

Those are all fairly objective, and helpful in determining if you are ready for that specific trip.

In my (perhaps limited) experience I have encountered just a couple of dive ops insisting that you personally demonstrate to their (DM-level) personnel your diving skills in order to determine your worthiness. The right term for this type of requirement is a “shakeout dive” and that’s exactly what it is.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
In my (perhaps limited) experience I have encountered just a couple of dive ops insisting that you personally demonstrate to their (DM-level) personnel your diving skills in order to determine your worthiness. The right term for this type of requirement is a “shakeout dive” and that’s exactly what it is.

Now that I think about it, I have only encountered this in Cozumel. At dive resorts and on liveaboards, and on Bonaire, the dive ops have asked only that we do a shakeout dive, which I suppose fulfills several goals: check for proper weighting and exposure protection, equipment check, and for those who haven't dived in a while, just get in an easy dive as practice. But they are not really evaluating your ability to dive certain sites. Maybe Cozumel is unusual. Many sites are relatively benign, but a few are reliably challenging. Due to its convenient (to N. America) location and good value, Cozumel draws a lot of divers, with abilities all over the spectrum.

 

[Streydog]

Well, at least they did the dives!
Anyone can fill a log book without getting wet.

That is true but until you see them dive, who knows. The pencil whipper could be more qualified.

 

[Scuba-74]

Due to its convenient (to N. America) location and good value, Cozumel draws a lot of divers, with abilities all over the spectrum.

That’s probably the main explanation. I’m not saying it’s inherently wrong either - I understand where the ops are coming from, and I wouldn’t want to be on a boat where any type of emergency happened with any of the other divers.

But in those rare one or two cases when I found myself on the s..t end of the stick and wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do because of arbitrary shop requirements, I couldn’t help but be annoyed.

 

[Coztick]

I feel for the OP'S that are just trying to ensure everyone can participate safely.
While signing up for a heli-skiing trip, the forms stated that you MUST be an EXPERT level skier in good physical condition. Check ✔.
First run, I couldn't understand why we took such a gentle slope. After all, everybody could ski well, right?
Well, just like diving, the 2 bragging the most had to be plucked off the mountain partway down the first run. They were exhausted.
In comparison, the last run was a minimum of 45 degrees and almost 3 feet of powder. I doubt the newbs would have got out of the helicopter!

 

[Scuba-74]

I feel for the OP'S that are just trying to ensure everyone can participate safely.
While signing up for a heli-skiing trip, the forms stated that you MUST be an EXPERT level skier in good physical condition. Check ✔.
First run, I couldn't understand why we took such a gentle slope. After all, everybody could ski well, right?
Well, just like diving, the 2 bragging the most had to be plucked off the mountain partway down the first run. They were exhausted.
In comparison, the last run was a minimum of 45 degrees and almost 3 feet of powder. I doubt the newbs would have got out of the helicopter!

Wow, 45 degree slope is STEEP when skiing. And with so much powder sounds like an avalanche waiting to happen!

 

[Lorenzoid]

That’s probably the main explanation. I’m not saying it’s inherently wrong either - I understand where the ops are coming from, and I wouldn’t want to be on a boat where any type of emergency happened with any of the other divers.

But in those rare one or two cases when I found myself on the s..t end of the stick and wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do because of arbitrary shop requirements, I couldn’t help but be annoyed.

At least in Cozumel, I believe the DMs are skilled and know what to look for. If they don't think I am up to doing a dive, they're probably right. I suppose I have formed this opinion because I have never been "on the s..t end of the stick"; in Coz the ops I have dived with have been accommodating after seeing me dive.

However, I can see it being annoying if you the diver don't have faith in the DM's judgment, or if the "arbitrary shop requirements" are to flash an AOW card.