DMs behaving badly

[fishoutawater]

Very true Aqua Bouy. Although, like myself, most people get into this sport because of their love for marine life. Likewise, I did notice a marked lack of urchins in the Carribean when I first dove it as compared to southern California.
Similarly a DM's attitude probably reflects his own upbringing.
A few years ago, I moved to a small river town and befriended a few local boys. These guys grew up in this area as hunters and fishermen. As such, I would've expected them to have a certain level of respect for their surroundings. I was wrong. When they go out in the woods, it's always to kill something. If it moves, they kill it, whether they plan on eating it or not, no matter what it is. I'm different. I don't shoot it unless it's in season. I don't kill it if it's pregnant. And I don't kill it if I have no plans to eat it. As a matter of fact, I haven't hunted since I bought my property, just because I have a ready supply of meat at the grocery. I like my critters crawling, walking, or flying, not on my wall or in my freezer. One of those guys recently approached me about hunting on my land, because I made the mistake of telling him I have more turkey and deer than I could shake a stick at. I asked him why he don't hunt on his farm. He said it's because he doesn't have any game on his land. I said, "And you wonder why"?
In Cozumel, I noticed a lot of nice coral, but not many fish. The local DMs are just like the good 'ol boys around my little town. The see it, they kill it. They grew up that way. They do the DM thing, not for a love of their environment, they just do it for the money.
Makes it REAL hard for me to shell out a tip after a dive.
I agree with you though, an understanding of the environment should be taught along with bubble blowing 101.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

On a recent trip to O'ahu we had an overzealous DM trying to impress. Check it out. He knew exactly where to look to find one.

I saw something even more stupid in Maui a couple years ago. A DM actually tipped over a coral head in order to get to the octopus ... so he could hand it to a 12-year old diver who promptly released it as soon as it inked.

Probably take a couple hundred years for that coral head to repair itself ... all for a couple seconds worth of thrill for the 12-year old.

What is it with Hawaii? It's the only place I've ever been where that sort of thing would be tolerated ... much less "acceptable" DM behavior.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[baitedstorm]

Question: How many people have seen a DM do something they consider dumb(bad) or out of line ? I know I have, more than once.

On the flip side, lets ask the DM/Instructors here how often they see stupid divers on the reef. Holding on to coral in order to get a closer "look" at something. How about the morons who dive 4 times a year and are completely reliant on us to get them down and back up with no harm. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've seen this out there. And ya know what, it's usually the divers that do most of the complaining topside that suck so bad at 60+feet. I seen so much crap down there I really need to consider writing a book.

So, before you go casting to many stones at DM's I'd say take a good look at yourself, evaluate what your skills are like. We do things sometimes that may seem bizarre to others (like I have zero problem with taking 5+ minutes to take fishing line off the reef, making sure not to rip anything in the process, in my opinion... If you see it and leave it, your just as bad as the person who left it there in the first place) just like divers, drivers, husbands, and such...there are good DMs, and there are bad ones.

Im betting that if you took a survey on divers behaving badly, the DM's on the board could curl your toes with what we see everyday. Maybe someone should start it and see how it develops....oh wait a minute, I'm almost certain a thread like that would be pulled within a day of reading what "really" goes on down below...

 

[fishoutawater]

Absolutely NO arguments from me Vicky.
I sure as hell ain't perfect.

 

[baitedstorm]

Absolutely NO arguments from me Vicky.
I sure as hell ain't perfect.

Ok..... so I just reread what I posted and it seems as though I might have broken my own rule about posting when I'm a little, shall we say "peeved". For those with thinner skin ftroest: it'll be ok...

The thing is, no one is perfect, picture's now a days can be altered in such a way that you seriously can't tell what's real or fake. Even if the photos are real, we don't know what was going on. I love the ocean probably more than I should (seeing how I feel more at home in it then on land), and yet, I'm sure I've done things that others would be appalled at unless they took time to ask me why I did such a thing. The DM with the shark very well may have been out of line, God knows we make mistakes too.

A very brilliant man once told me "People who live in glass houses should get dressed in the basement" . I just want to make sure we are all in check before this thread gets too ugly.

 

[dscheck]

I am no way condoning this behavior, but if I had a choice of an experienced DM handling some wildlife for the group or allowing the group to poke, prod and "investigate" unchecked...I would choose the DM

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

It's easy to pick on the pros isn't it

Isn't it nice the pros aren't here with photos of the non pros doing all the things they do?

Let's worry about ourseleves and how we conduct ourselves. The rest will take care of itself.

 

[Dion]

Mind you marine biologists also (as with many biologists/scientists) do some pretty distrubing things with marine life - dissection comes to mind (though thankfully I've never seen or done live ones, yes they do happen). Some sampling in marine science is very destructive - the argument of course is that it has a benefitial purpose that outweighs the damage (though I am not always convinced of that). Having said that I know of a coral researcher that stands on the reef while he does transect for reef damage/disease!!!!!!

You just reminded me of one of my most annoying dive experiences. I was in Cozumel and a couple on the boat were "marine biologists", but they were on vacation. I thought it was cool and that it might be a good learning experience. Boy was I wrong!

By the end of the trip I was ready to strangle both of them. There were the most obnoxious divers I have ever seen. They would both go down to the bottom and start sticking their hands under coral and into every hole in the coral, while at the same time finning the sand and completely ruining the visibility for everyone on the dive. My dive buddy had a camera and he wanted to kill them even more than I did because they were completely ruining his visibility for taking pictures. I really got the impression that they thought because they were "marine biologists" they didn't have the same rules as the rest of us. The dive master wasn't too happy about their attitude either, but he didn't really do anything to stop them. But I saw him watching them and shaking his head.

I am pretty sure I am not the only one who was desperately hoping they would find a sea urchin, fire worm or some other prickly thing on one of their blind searches. I don't think they ever did though.

Dion

 

[fishoutawater]

Vicky, :hug2:
I do have to say, I've never had anything but professionalism from all my stateside DMs.
It always seems to be them furriners. Then when I come to this board and see that I'm not the only one who has, or sees, or hears problems, ranging from just plain incompetence, all the way to criminal sexual assault, that it makes me wonder. I know that's just a generalization, but it seems when I step outside our borders, everything turns into a box of chocolates. "Ya just never know what yer gonna get".

 

[baitedstorm]

everything turns into a box of chocolates. "Ya just never know what yer gonna get".

That's when you use the squish em method and see what's inside :laughing: