Do not ever say you are a rescue diver

[Joneill]

We have all the good wrecks. OK, a lot of them then.

And it’s 10 miles away without needing a flight.

Was tongue-in-cheek… cold water and cave diving are absolutely not for me (and “meh” on wrecks - I like the growth and marine life on some wrecks, not really the wreck itself ) but I have no ill will towards those of you that like those activities!

 

[admikar]

If they remunerate you for those services, then you are acting as a professional. If you are acting as a professional and things go bad, you can be sued. That is why professional DMs and instructors carry liability insurance, and it isn't cheap.

Now for the other side of the coin: of a dive operation asks you to do something like that and things go bad, they can be sued for putting someone who is non-certified and uninsured in a position of trust.

The only time I ever did anything like this on behalf of a dive operation, it was after I volunteered for the work when I heard they were short a needed professional for an upcoming dive. I had my instructor card and insurance card with me, and they checked both. They just needed the numbers for insurance purposes--I really didn't do anything I was not planning to do as a customer. They discounted my dive.

In short, asking someone who is not an employee of a dive operation to take on a position of trust is a bad idea, which is likely why I have never seen it done.

I do not understand this question fully. I will respond as I understand it.

If you are a certified rescue diver, then if a situation arises that someone needs rescuing, you might be able to help out because of your training. If you do, great! Good work! Your training paid off!

I do not, however, believe there is a legal requirement that you do so--except maybe on Malta. In another case decades ago, a man named Gabe Watson was prosecuted for failing to rescue his wife, Tina, but that was under an unusual law in that section of Australia. In a recent thread, I was told that law no longer exists.

It may not be done, for the reasons you stated, but it seems you are expected to act in such role nevertheless, as witnessed by remarks made to the OP.

 

[clownfishsydney]

You are far behind the times. The trial was in 2012.

As I said, he served the manslaughter conviction under an unusual law in that area that is apparently no longer in effect.

As for the case in Alabama, it went to trial long ago, and the judge threw it out as soon as the prosecution had completed its case. The expert witnesses who were on hand prepared to testify that Gabe failed to rescue her because of his sheer incompetence never got to testify. The judge's ruling on the prosecution's case was scathing.

As for the insurance--IIRC, prior to marrying her, he paid off all her debts, an amount greater than the insurance policy for which he supposedly murdered her.

Much of the information on which the general public formed their opinions turned out to be just plain wrong. The true expert on this case is @clownfishsydney.

Thanks John. Just a minor correction, Gabe had to pay off her debts after she died (car, dive gear, honeymoon, university debt and more). The only insurance money (US$33,000) went to Tina's father as per her work agreement. He did not offer to pay off any of Tina's debts.

 

[clownfishsydney]

Here is something I found on google concerning Gabe Watson:

Watson served 18 months in an Australian prison after pleading guilty to a manslaughter charge, but is now on trial in Birmingham, Alabama and faces life in prison. His defense contends that her death was accidental while prosecutors say he drowned her to cash in her life insurance policy.

I remember watching a documentary about this story and in it another diver said he witnessed Gabe hugging his wife underwater and shortly after that she was seen lying unresponsive on the bottom. Some people speculate that Gabe shut Tina's air off during that embrace.

Most of what you have written is totally incorrect, I was the defence diving expert witness at the 2012 murder trial. As @boulderjohn has indicated, the case was thrown out at the completion of the prosecution's case.

In my view, the person who claimed that he saw Gabe with Tina (it was never, ever stated by him that it was a bear hug as the Queensland Police later claimed) did not actually see them as he was too far away. All the available evidence I have gathered points to that it would have been impossible to see them at all, let alone to have seen Tina's eyes as he said he did in his many statements.

The Queensland case did not relate at all to Gabe being a rescue diver, just a buddy. The law no longer exists and was only valid in one state of Australia.

If you want the real story, look at my website pages about the matter. Here is the link to the index page. Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

Why on earth would anyone want to dive in cold water?

... because it is a 15min drive from my house

 

[Joneill]

... because it is a 15min drive from my house

You left out the at the end of my question.

If cold water is your thing, more power to you - especially if it's so close! I, personally, would not have even bothered with scuba certification if cold water was my only diving option. I live in NJ that, supposedly, has good wrecks off shore but too cold and generally low viz so I've never dived here and don't ever intend to. Outside of a few quarry training dives, I only travel to warm water destinations to dive!

 

[Wibble]

If cold water is your thing, more power to you - especially if it's so close! I, personally, would not have even bothered with scuba certification if cold water was my only diving option. I live in NJ that, supposedly, has good wrecks off shore but too cold and generally low viz so I've never dived here and don't ever intend to. Outside of a few quarry training dives, I only travel to warm water destinations to dive!

Wow, NJ diving sounds fantastic. All those wrecks just waiting to be dived upon!

Anyway, there's no such thing as being cold. Only wearing the wrong clothes.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

You left out the at the end of my question.

If cold water is your thing, more power to you - especially if it's so close! I, personally, would not have even bothered with scuba certification if cold water was my only diving option. I live in NJ that, supposedly, has good wrecks off shore but too cold and generally low viz so I've never dived here and don't ever intend to. Outside of a few quarry training dives, I only travel to warm water destinations to dive!

I am on Vancouver Island. I did my OW here; where all the dive shops teach OW in drysuits. So not only learning how to dive, but also learning how to use a drysuit. I have yet to experience warm water. Jacque Cousteau called the diving off Vancouver Island, some of the best cold water diving in the world, and 2nd in life to only the Red Sea. I love diving here, and dive so much, that I was Solo Cert, 11 months after getting my OW. In a drysuit, it's not so bad. Some ppl dive wet; they are never on the 2nd dive of the day though.

 

[Stanleyh]

There has been a lot of threads about how a diver should introduce herself or himself to a new DS. I have a DM C- Card but I never claim I am a DM as I have never worked as such. I always say I am a Rescue Diver. 90% of the time, I dive with my wife as a buddy. I jump first, tell her I am ok and watch her jumping. I am more experienced than her and I want to be there if she has a problem (overweighted, valve problem,…).
Last week, diving in the Philippines, the DS decided that we would be three in a group. Two groups of 2 including the guide or DM and our group at the back. To make a long story short, the third « buddy » jumped without inflating his BCD and was probably overweighted. He immediately sunk. He was AOW, and should have been able to correct that rapidly but he was not. I saw it, went down in a rush but I could not equalize fast enough so had to slow down.
Eventually, the diver managed to to inflate his BCD and get back to the surface. A bit too fast though so we aborted the dive. Then, one Dive Director blamed me for not helping him and said I thought you were a rescue diver. I think he will never say that again after the sh*** I gave him but the point is:
1- If it was my wife, I would have risked rupturing my inner ear. I won’t do it for an insta-buddy.
2- I was a customer and not a guardian. Of course, you care for your buddy (even in a 3 guys team) but there are limits.
3- I should never have said that I am a rescue diver. Those folks believe that I would help them protecting their customers. From now on, I am just AOW with a 40 meters clearance.

Without knowing too much details:

1. A rescue diver is not a dive professional, and you are right, you were a customer on that day and weren't working for that dive boat.
2. Even for an employed dive professional, it is not advised per almost all agencies I know of, to put yourself in risk to rescue someone. Within your ability, sure! But not chasing after an over-weighted diver. IMO, it's that DM's role to safety check all divers to make sure no one is over-weighted.

 

[BlueTrin]

I was paired last time I was on Egypt during the checkout dive with the father in law of a diving couple.

Every time I looked at him, he was either under me, or either near the surface. When the DM told me to buddy up with him and follow him, I shrugged and told him to do it if he wants to grab him every time he floats away down or up. I think the DM should have come back and done a checkout at a much shallower depth with a person unable to hold his depth and maybe a weight check.

I kind of stayed where my buddy was but without moving up or down with him, just waiting for him to catch up. I thought that:
- I am a paying customer on holiday
- there is no way I do half a dozen ascent/descent for a random guy on a checkout dive

At some point, I thought the DM should have probably checked his remaining gas: since I was getting closer to the turn and this guy already did a dozen semi ascents by then.

I pointed at the DM and told my gas then pointed at my buddy to tell the DM to go and check on him. (My buddy at this point would just ignore my signals and was mostly following us 5-7 m above)

The couple barely checked on the guy and just dived assuming he would be taken care of …

When he grabbed his gauge … I thought the DM eyes are gonna go through the mask cartoon style (guess that’s good that it’s tempered glass )



The DM told us, at the surface, that this diver apparently had like 30-40 bars left at this point … that explained why he gave him his octo on the way back …

I don’t think as a paying customer, you should do the job of the DM, especially if they pair you with someone who shouldn’t be there in the first place.

Definitely do what’s expected of you and offer assistance if asked but it’s hard to think that you’d be expected to endanger yourself for a random person.