Got refused boat dives due to 12 month break

[Splitlip]

My stats are not stellar. Fewer than a 1000 dives in over 35 years, but then I did take about 10 years off. The last 13 years or so I tried to get about fifty in a year averaging like 2 evert other weekend. The last 3 years I admit I haven't made those numbers. Sooooo.....if I've been dry for a few weeks I will refresh at the rather benign Blue Heron Bridge Marine Park shore diving site. I also get to dial in my weights before heading out to the big boy boats.

 

[mathauck0814]

Using this same logic I could refuse to dive with you as you don't have the number of dives I like to see, and may not have the experience I like.

I'm ok with that logic. Generally speaking I bring my own "buddy" with whom I have several hundred dives. If a stroke shows up and needs a buddy he can go with the DM. A diver like the OP does nothing to enhance the experience of those around him - even in the best case scenario.

 

[Splitlip]

This 12 month thing is just a stupid rule they made up. Just give them a stupid made up answer and go diving.

I disagree. Why would they turn down the money. Obviously the ops must have concerns. As far as I know all local ops ask for date of last dive. I don't know what all of them do, but one in particular will interview the stale diver (I don't know the threshold) but if the managers are not satisfied, it's into the pool with an instructor to check basic skills.
Check my photos for 2 divers who gave made up answers. (I heard the pair telling the DM they dived all over the world) The stills my buddy shot don't do the incidents justice, but I thought for sure, things would end badly.

 

[jmneill]

Title correction: (should say) "

Got refused 2 tank dive because I have NOT gone diving within last 12 months"​

I recently went with my family on a cruise to Cabo San Lucas. I'm the only certified diver in my party, so I wanted to scuba Cabo.

However, because my last dive was over 12 months prior, the cruise line (on behalf of operator) refused to let me go; stating that it was Mexican law not to allow people to go if they haven't dove within 12 months.

I've never had this problem in Hawaii where in some cases it has been more like 24 months since a last dive. I always go with guided tours (never do my own shore dives).

My questions:

- are operators becoming more strict?
- where is this 12 month requirement from? Is it really Mexican Law and where else has this restriction?
- is there a less time consuming/expensive way to "refresher" without spending a whole day doing a beginner dive? (because my family does not dive, it is hard enough for me to get one dive to myself)
- tips/strategies?

EDIT: Also will be going to Hawaii in a couple of weeks (family reasons) and want to go diving there but don't want to get refused again.

I dove Cabo year before last and didn't run into this, so it may have been cruise line related? I haven't read all the posts, so you may already have you answer. That said, my choice not to keep a dive log has gotten me into several situations that required me having to talk my way into dives. (always deep dives though, which I don't assume you were going to be making in Cabo)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Many people have never really been trained in this. How often have OW divers done all their skills, especially air shares, while anchored to the bottom? How many OW divers are ever asked to replace a mask while in mid water? When is it taught after that?

When I was completing my final cave diving course, each day of the course I was joined by another diver in training, one who was evidently not ready to finish the course. On each day, I was leading the exit, and soon after entering a fairly confined and rocky tunnel, the instructor made the student behind me signal out of air. In hindsight, I figured out why he waited until we were in such a space before starting that exercise--he knew what would happen. In each case, the diver took my regulator and went right to the ceiling. I had to wait in the middle of the tunnel for them to regain control of their buoyancy and come back down to me. If we had done the exercises in large areas, I would have been yanked to the ceiling with them. If it had happened in the open ocean, I would have been fighting a runaway ascent. These were divers in the middle of a cave diving instructional program, people who are supposedly already well beyond standard recreational diving skill at that point.

Yes, regular practice on critical skills is very important.

To drive this point home ... I had a student this past week-end who did both his OW and AOW classes just a few months ago, and has logged nearly 70 dives since then. I asked him when was the last time he did an OOA drill and he told me he hadn't done one since his OW class. So on the first dive I got his attention and slashed my hand across my throat. It took him about 10 seconds to realize I'd just signaled that I was out of air ... and his response even after that was tentative. After the dive I told him that in a real emergency, he'd have been mugged long before he had reacted, and that would have probably turned a minor emergency into a serious one.

We practiced OOA's several times on subsequent dives until he was responding immediately ... and appropriately.

Skills fade happens very quickly to someone who doesn't practice safety skills until they can perform them almost instinctively ... and in a real emergency, you won't have time to "remember" what you did years back when you learned how to dive.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Jim Lapenta]

This is why I began to use the term "underwater tourist" as opposed to "diver" for those who do not seem to realize how serious what they are doing is. The OP's statement about "maintaining it enough" to do pool dives and never going deeper than 15 feet show just how much knowldege is lacking. The most dangerous place in the water column is that first 15 -18 feet because it is not driven home hard enough that it is. A tourist in any location gets by with the bare minimums and often the services of a guide. Not only to show them cool stuff but also to keep them from killing themselves by doing or saying the wrong thing. If you cannot set up your own gear, do your own weight check, perform all basic skills smoothly and comfortably in mid water, and cannot control your buoyancy well enough to not tear up the bottom, I can't see how one can call themselves a diver. They are an underwater tourist and quite possibly, at some point, a statistic.

 

[oly5050user]

$75 does seem a lot for a review though. If that is purely for a refresher session in confined water (without attached open water dives) then it'd pay to shop around.

We charge $140. or a refresher here in NY in our onsite lDS pool. Private basis. For 2 people that are together rate is $160. for both. It may sound high,but it is what the market here can bear, as I very often do anywhere from 1 to 3 in a week.

 

[redacted]

If it catches on, forged log books should quickly follow.

The solution that dive retailers need to find is simple dives with skills demonstrations, not expensive refreshers or service denials.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I have three different levels for refreshers. 2-3 hours pool with pool side classroom going over the basics including proper weighting, basic rescue skills - $40 per person, private $50, 2-3 hours pool and 2-3 hours formal classroom with tables, rescue considerations, and any special info the student wants $75, second level with two local dives $125 plus gear rental if necessary. At any time during the 1st level if I decide the student needs more we stop and make the decision then and there. Extra time is 25 an hour or 35 per OW dive same day. That is what the average is around here. I'm actually higher than some.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm sure that refresher courses are good ideas at times. My home bud hasn't been diving in over 18 months so after we get our regs & tanks serviced, we'll head over to New Mexico for practice dives and safety drills in Santa Rosa.