Taylor#$%@
New
Hi all. Was able to log about 30 dives about ten years ago, did dry suit, deep dive, wreck, drift, night dives and felt pretty comfortable in the water. Anyway I ended up taking a break until last week when I had a chance to do some boat dives in Hawaii. I watched some refresher videos and used my gear that was still in good shape (not the reg though it needs to be serviced) and felt kind of clumsy but mostly comfortable on the dives even at 120ish ft and moderate current. Anyway I had a couple questions I thought might be good to get feedback on.
1. I took 4lbs because the last dives in my log book said 2lbs and maybe try none next time (in my 3mm wetsuit that I still have). I vaguely remember going with no weight but didn't see a record of it so I figured I'd take a little extra. I didn't think it was a big deal but I got some flack from the dive masters and they said that was way less than I should take (just looked up numbers and it suggests I take 12lbs) but I stuck with 4 and it seemed fine. I had no buoyancy problems and actually felt like I could have taken less since I still sunk when I had no air in the bcd. Is there any reason to take extra weight if you don't need it? Should I have been taking more weight in case I have to try and keep a panicky diver down or something? Anyone want to weigh in?
2. Tipping. There was a jar on the boat for tips which I assume they all shared between the boat crew and dive guides (which drove us back to the shop after). I put my full tip (20% percent of dive cost sound reasonable?) in the jar but when I was dropped off the dive leader kind of gave me the feeling he expected a separate tip, or maybe he was just doing a good job. Plus he let me borrow his knife to cut a zip tie I needed to replace so that was nice. Is there a somewhat standard for this?
3. It seemed like most of the people were still using paper dive logs and a few people went back to the shop to get stamps and signatures (which I have often forgotten). One person was using a phone app which seemed like a good idea but the dive shop didn't seem to do much of that. Is it still pretty new or are most people using apps now?
Thanks for any feedback, safe diving!
1. I took 4lbs because the last dives in my log book said 2lbs and maybe try none next time (in my 3mm wetsuit that I still have). I vaguely remember going with no weight but didn't see a record of it so I figured I'd take a little extra. I didn't think it was a big deal but I got some flack from the dive masters and they said that was way less than I should take (just looked up numbers and it suggests I take 12lbs) but I stuck with 4 and it seemed fine. I had no buoyancy problems and actually felt like I could have taken less since I still sunk when I had no air in the bcd. Is there any reason to take extra weight if you don't need it? Should I have been taking more weight in case I have to try and keep a panicky diver down or something? Anyone want to weigh in?
2. Tipping. There was a jar on the boat for tips which I assume they all shared between the boat crew and dive guides (which drove us back to the shop after). I put my full tip (20% percent of dive cost sound reasonable?) in the jar but when I was dropped off the dive leader kind of gave me the feeling he expected a separate tip, or maybe he was just doing a good job. Plus he let me borrow his knife to cut a zip tie I needed to replace so that was nice. Is there a somewhat standard for this?
3. It seemed like most of the people were still using paper dive logs and a few people went back to the shop to get stamps and signatures (which I have often forgotten). One person was using a phone app which seemed like a good idea but the dive shop didn't seem to do much of that. Is it still pretty new or are most people using apps now?
Thanks for any feedback, safe diving!