Better divers??????
- Thread starter DepthCharge
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I've seen both excellent and crap divers from pretty much everywhere, and no one continent stands out. I've seen great British divers, but I've also had to watch a BSAC instructor bounce off the reef endlessly and then explain to him why his air-only computer locked out after he'd blithely followed me on a nitrox profile. I've seen awesome CMAS divers, but had to tell one Belgian CMAS 3* diver that, no, his NDL didn't get longer as he got lower on gas: that increasing number was actually his decompression obligation, and his computer was beeping at the surface because he hadn't cleared it. I've dived with Russians whose idea of gas management was 'suck tank dry in 15 minutes, swim to dive guide at 25m and signal out of air, expect him to get me to surface.' Hilarious, until the third member of a group of eight does it and you know the other five - who have all been ignoring your 'requests' to ascend the line since the first one went OOA - aren't going to be far behind. Again, though, I've dived with superb Russian divers, too. Americans I've dived with have also run the gamut from utterly horrifying to extremely competent.
The one real difference I've noticed between Americans and Europeans/Australians diving here is the response if I say I think a dive is beyond their experience level. American divers seem much more likely to insist, based on the experience they've gained in a handful of dives, that they'll be ok with the dive I don't think it's safe for them to do. Although I'm talking about a very small sample, so I'm not sure there's any great insight to be had there.
The one real difference I've noticed between Americans and Europeans/Australians diving here is the response if I say I think a dive is beyond their experience level. American divers seem much more likely to insist, based on the experience they've gained in a handful of dives, that they'll be ok with the dive I don't think it's safe for them to do. Although I'm talking about a very small sample, so I'm not sure there's any great insight to be had there.
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Directly to the OP:
Bollocks. -other than an inherent disregard for depth that may be misconstrued for ability, I'm saying about the same...
Bollocks. -other than an inherent disregard for depth that may be misconstrued for ability, I'm saying about the same...
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I take holidays. Often in my own country. I dive in my holidays. Our waters are cold, usually no more than 12C below the thermocline even in mid/late summer. If my holiday doesn't take me far abroad, I dive in cold water. Such is life.
But since I dive dry in cold water, that automatically means I must be an awesome diver, right? Right?
Alright maybe I see a different side of all of this, but I'm gonna say that I would rather dive with an American than most Europeans. At least they tend to pay some attention to what you say. I deal with europeans daily and have more or less formed these stereotypes. Of course there are exceptions, but in general we've all found these pretty true to form.
Italians: Run like hell they are frightening to dive with.
Germans: It's like diving with Batman, they are prepared for everything and seriously dive with anything and everything you might ever need.
Belgians: Are a complete dream to dive with. They're buoyancy is fantastic and they're always streamlined.
Brits:As long as they're not diving with Americans they're fine. If there's American's around they put their sassy pants on and there's no hope for ever having a logical conversation before or after the dive.
Scottish: Great divers, but won't ever ever ever listen to a single thing you say. It's their way or nothing.
Dutch:Always pretty calm and rational underwater and usually pretty good divers.
Maltese: Worse than Italians. It's literally the combination of mixing Italian and Arabic and hoping the world doesn't end.
Cypriots: See above just a mix of Greek and Arabic.
Japanese: You've all heard the tearm asian tourist? Yeah nothing changes underwater....
Russians: Honestly the most horrible group of people I've ever had to dive with. They do what they want, they listen to no one, and they'd fight for the right of way with a shark.
Italians: Run like hell they are frightening to dive with.
Germans: It's like diving with Batman, they are prepared for everything and seriously dive with anything and everything you might ever need.
Belgians: Are a complete dream to dive with. They're buoyancy is fantastic and they're always streamlined.
Brits:As long as they're not diving with Americans they're fine. If there's American's around they put their sassy pants on and there's no hope for ever having a logical conversation before or after the dive.
Scottish: Great divers, but won't ever ever ever listen to a single thing you say. It's their way or nothing.
Dutch:Always pretty calm and rational underwater and usually pretty good divers.
Maltese: Worse than Italians. It's literally the combination of mixing Italian and Arabic and hoping the world doesn't end.
Cypriots: See above just a mix of Greek and Arabic.
Japanese: You've all heard the tearm asian tourist? Yeah nothing changes underwater....
Russians: Honestly the most horrible group of people I've ever had to dive with. They do what they want, they listen to no one, and they'd fight for the right of way with a shark.
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