How Shops Typically Manage Small Group Boat Dives

[TMHeimer]

Based on this, I would suggest (as other have) that you do a refresher or even another OW course (there are likely quite a few changes to the content of the course now compared to when you did it). Last thing you want/need on your wife's first dives are for there to be an issue and your skills are too rusty.
I would try to get your wife to do the theory and pool work done at home with a referral for the OW. That way you spend as little time indoors doing boring stuff on holiday - you get to get out in the water pretty much straight away.

WRT tips - this appears to be an American thing. In most of the rest of the world, we tip but only as recognition of great service. The staff are paid a wage and the tips are extra. If I don't tip the staff don't go home unpaid. The whole idea of "mandatory" tipping as you seem to have there is effectively a hidden charge for any service.
An example here of dive boats -you pay your money for the trip, you take your gear on the boat, you set it up and you dive (without guide normally), you secure your gear and you offload it after the dive. If a deckhand decided to assist me with any of that, I would consider tipping him as that is service above and beyond the requirement ( I have not paid the boat to perform any of those services).

Yeah, you guys got it right (maybe I agree being of Scottish stock?). What I have seen on the US Southeast Coast (FL, SC, TX, MS) is that the DM/crew almost always does some of that stuff--particularly loading/unloading everyone's gear, securing the tanks for the trip out, etc. Actually, I'm not sure whether I would consider that an "extra" or not. I get the feeling that most boat crews want to do this themselves so they know it's done right.
What I definitely consider an extra is getting help actually gearing up (not that we need it). I always gear up unassisted on all my solo shore dives, but I'm sitting on my van trunk, where I know where everything is--not on an unfamiliar moving boat. So I do appreciate any help just to make it easier and quicker.

 

[pf778c]

I've been following this thread with interest as I recently completed my PADI Open Water certification in December (yay me!) and plan on doing some vacation diving next month. I would very much like for one of the dive shop's instructors or dive masters be my buddy until I've gotten enough experience to feel more confident with my skills, and as I currently see myself as a vacation-only diver, I don't know if that will ever happen only diving sporadically throughout the year. I'm comfortable assembling and checking my gear (rental at this stage), and with the basics, but without spending more time underwater just honing and reviewing skills, I'm not terribly confident that I would easily react as trained if problems arose, or in an emergency. I would like someone to keep an eye on me, provide some constructive criticism, and be ready to intervene and assist in the event of trouble. What is everyone's experience in a case like this? Should I request a willing DI or a DM to be my buddy? Does it matter which? What is the going rate for such a thing? Double my dive cost or would there be some discount? Anything else I should consider? I do want to return for my AOW when I can arrange it, to add some additional skills and get more experience, but living in the Northeast and having no desire to dive in cold water, I'm just not able to dive often enough to where I feel the confidence I need. Thanks!

 

[kelemvor]

Should I request a willing DI or a DM to be my buddy?

Most dive operations will provide a DM to dive with you 1 on 1 as your buddy if you ask/pay for it. I've never done it myself, but I've seen it done plenty of times. You generally have to arrange for it ahead of time by calling and telling the operator you'd like to hire a dm for a buddy.


As for tipping, it's definitely optional. I just figure it into the cost of diving. For great service, I generally tip $10/tank. The way I look at it is I spend around $2,000 for a weeklong dive trip (airfare, food, diving, lodging etc). $200 or so in tips to the DM (for a week) is appreciated by them and I feel pretty good about doing it. Especially if it's a place like Mexico or Honduras where that is probably a big sum of money. I'm a tipper, some people aren't. No big deal. Heck, I tip the maid at hotels as well.

If you don't want to tip, then don't. Nobody will look sideways at you or anything. There are plenty of people on every single boat that don't tip at all.

 

[TMHeimer]

pf778c--I will add that I review my manuals, tables (or computer if you have one) and CPR a little daily (2 minutes). I would also suggest assembling your equipment (even putting on your wetsuit?) once in a while if you aren't able to dive in between dive trips. Also I go through the motions of all the "pool" skills learned once weekly (not in the water)--another 2 minutes. Can't hurt.

 

[Doby45]

Tipping in the US on any boat is NOT mandatory and the whole "they are so underpaid and blah blah blah" is just that. Tip if you want and if you don't want to tip, don't. That is the same here or anywhere else in the world. I personally am not someone that shies away from tipping or runs to it. Tipping is related to the service industry in the US and guiding and helping people is a service. I decide if I want to tip based upon the interaction I have with my server. Let me be on a boat with my wife and she has been helped getting into and out of the water and then she might not feel so good and a DM or hand helps her with a wet rag or orange wedges or whatever. That is above and beyond for me, their "job" is not for them to give one squat with how my wife feels.

So I see this from all the sides as first a DM and then instructor myself. I have gone above the norm for people and I have received nothing from them and I have received plenty from others. Either way, I still do what I would normally do in my heart.

As far as your certification and your wife's, I would not do her certification on vacation. Do your refresher and her certification at home before you leave. Certification dives on trips for the most part suck. It would be much nicer for you and your wife to spend your few dives you have on vacation, relaxing and enjoying the dives, instead of doing skills and dealing with the possible anxiety of "completing" a certification.

 

[TMHeimer]

Doby45, I agree with all you say, particularly about doing everything locally instead of taking time on a costly vacation.

 

[Suppresst]

I've been following this thread with interest as I recently completed my PADI Open Water certification in December (yay me!) and plan on doing some vacation diving next month. I would very much like for one of the dive shop's instructors or dive masters be my buddy until I've gotten enough experience to feel more confident with my skills, and as I currently see myself as a vacation-only diver, I don't know if that will ever happen only diving sporadically throughout the year. I'm comfortable assembling and checking my gear (rental at this stage), and with the basics, but without spending more time underwater just honing and reviewing skills, I'm not terribly confident that I would easily react as trained if problems arose, or in an emergency. I would like someone to keep an eye on me, provide some constructive criticism, and be ready to intervene and assist in the event of trouble. What is everyone's experience in a case like this? Should I request a willing DI or a DM to be my buddy? Does it matter which? What is the going rate for such a thing? Double my dive cost or would there be some discount? Anything else I should consider? I do want to return for my AOW when I can arrange it, to add some additional skills and get more experience, but living in the Northeast and having no desire to dive in cold water, I'm just not able to dive often enough to where I feel the confidence I need. Thanks!

Well, what I have gathered from this thread is that you really can't expect any divemaster to personally supervise you on a dive unless you pay for it, and probably arrange for it in advance. What prompted this whole thread is the big gap between what my initial open water dive was like, and the promise of "valet" service I have for upcoming Caymans trip.

To repeat, for my first open water dive I signed up for a boat trip with maybe 20 people on board to go way out in Pacific Ocean and dive off San Clemente Island where water drops off very deep all around. Plus water is cold. We got there and it was just every person for himself - just a mad scramble to get in the water. One guy got bent, was airlifted and may have died for all I know. Coast Guard rescue helicopter, screaming turbine, whooshing blades, stretcher lowered by hoist, the whole works. Very dramatic, but not ideal for making you feel safe.

Then all the dives I did off small 6-pack boat in Florida Keys, were much the same, only less people. Boat staff pretty impersonal, even jaded, probably from over-exposure to tourists. As a diver, you were on your own. The staff weren't supervising you in any way, on boat or once you got in water, but if you did something they didn't like they would bark at you.

Now just this past October my wife and I rented jet skis as part of a two hour water tour in Florida Keys, and once we paid the money we were treated a lot like cattle, and this was at a pricey resort with international name recognition. Now I've never been to Cayman Island which is a dive mecca and lots of shops competing for business, but it costs me $2.00 per minute to talk on the phone to that island, so I'm relying websites, most of which promise "valet" service; so I got on this forum to find out what that "valet" service might look like, since I've never been treated to anything close to "valet" service. Now, I personally can cope with being treated like cattle, as I'm a big boy, but I'm introducing my wife to scuba and I want her to have fun, feel comfortable, and be safe, not treated like cattle. Moreover, I'm not sure I want to feel obligated to tip since staff may be working for free. That to me is an internal business problem, not mine, especially when I'm paying plenty already for a boat dive.

 

[Suppresst]

"As far as your certification and your wife's, I would not do her certification on vacation. Do your refresher and her certification at home before you leave. Certification dives on trips for the most part suck. It would be much nicer for you and your wife to spend your few dives you have on vacation, relaxing and enjoying the dives, instead of doing skills and dealing with the possible anxiety of "completing" a certification."

I appreciate this advice and it is sound but I'm not going to follow it for following reasons - my wife chills easily and our trip to Caymans is early June so she would have to do her OW work here in chilly (polar?) May Michigan waters. I want her to be introduced to the sport in clear, warm waters, which is all the diving I ever plan to do with her. She will do eLearning portion up here, in advance. As for me, I have agreed to pay up and not do just refresher, but pay for and participate in her confined water and open water training, as I am 30 years rusty. I will not pay for eLearning, as certification is for life, but I will informally take e-course with her to get refreshed there too.

 

[Damselfish]

As far as your certification and your wife's, I would not do her certification on vacation. Do your refresher and her certification at home before you leave. Certification dives on trips for the most part suck. It would be much nicer for you and your wife to spend your few dives you have on vacation, relaxing and enjoying the dives, instead of doing skills and dealing with the possible anxiety of "completing" a certification.

"Certification dives on trips for the most part suck" seems like a major over-generalization, not even sure what is meant by that - what part sucks? Starting at home and doing the OW dives in warm water by referral is a perfectly valid and common way to do things. And if it's a matter of someone not doing it at all because they don't want to do cold water, or doing it and hating it and quitting diving right there, well I think the warm water alternative is much better for them. Sure there can be crappy dive experiences doing class on vacation, but that can also happen anywhere. I've seen and known people doing cert dives or classes at tropical resorts and they had great experiences. Just pick the right place/instructor (and given the amount of competition in Cayman, it's probably hard to make a bad choice.)

 

[Suppresst]

"By definition a tip is optional. Do what you can or want to...or don’t. But its not worth losing sleep over. Now if you want to dive warm water and spend less money doing it, there are ways. (Going to Cayman to boat dive is NOT one of them. "

Well, I'm paying up for all this because my wife wants to learn to dive, she hasn't even passed OW yet so consequently we don't have any dive equipment. If she passes we rent a boat ride, and rent equipment. If we stick with the sport, lots of things are possible - what are some of the ways to dive warm waters (and see more than sea grass) and spend less?