In defense of Casual Divers

[ItsBruce]

In my view a "trust me" dive is one where a diver is diving beyond his or her own limits/experience/training based on the judgement or assumed skill of the guide. That one chooses to let someone else navigate or lead or find stuff is not a "trust me" dive.

And, as if this thread is not contentious enough: How is a casual diver different from one who is physically unfit?

 

[fairybasslet]

In my view a "trust me" dive is one where a diver is diving beyond his or her own limits/experience/training based on the judgement or assumed skill of the guide. That one chooses to let someone else navigate or lead or find stuff is not a "trust me" dive.

I'm glad you clarified that. Thanks.

 

[PaulVS]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread... but I will say I've noticed an major increase in 'dive snobbery' since I first got interested in this sport 30 years ago.

My wife and I just got certified this summer. All of my dives in the last 4 years prior to getting certified have been 'discovery dives' in the caribbean. We did do a quarry dive a few weeks ago, and while it was good for keeping up our basic skills... it seemed there were a lot of divers there who take themselves way too seriously.

Frankly... nothing is going to compare with the 4-8 dives we are going to be able to do in tropical waters every year. So we will be actually diving much less than a lot of people on this board. We figure 'why bother?' if the scenery isn't compelling. (With the exception of keeping our basic skills up in a local quarry or lake.)

I think the original post was to address this issue of so many people trying (through their equipment, dive experiences, or length of time diving) to make themselves seem more self-important. And f that is the case... to a certain degree I would agree.

 

[pakman]

As a Canadian, I take pride in informing you that if you suck and try to play hockey above your head in my league, I WILL gladly remove your head from your sorry pathetic little body.

That happened to me once in a friendly league that was WAAAY over my head... Hadn't put my skates on since playing in a fraternity hockey league in college... A Canuck who used to play at Boston College nearly decapitated me when I went into the corner for a puck...

edit: but since he went to college to play puck instead of going straight to the NHL, he couldn't have been that good, right...

dooh, darn typos

 

[Sean C]

That happened to me once in a friendly league that was WAAAY over my head... Hadn't put my skates on since playing in a fraternity hockey league in college... A Canuck who used to play at Boston College nearly decapitated me when I went into the corner for a puck...

Did she at least buy you a beer....

 

[superstar]

Is a 120 bad:11:
not for me

 

[Diver Dennis]

Did she at least buy you a beer....

 

[Diver Dennis]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread... but I will say I've noticed an major increase in 'dive snobbery' since I first got interested in this sport 30 years ago.

My wife and I just got certified this summer. All of my dives in the last 4 years prior to getting certified have been 'discovery dives' in the caribbean. We did do a quarry dive a few weeks ago, and while it was good for keeping up our basic skills... it seemed there were a lot of divers there who take themselves way too seriously.

Frankly... nothing is going to compare with the 4-8 dives we are going to be able to do in tropical waters every year. So we will be actually diving much less than a lot of people on this board. We figure 'why bother?' if the scenery isn't compelling. (With the exception of keeping our basic skills up in a local quarry or lake.)

I think the original post was to address this issue of so many people trying (through their equipment, dive experiences, or length of time diving) to make themselves seem more self-important. And f that is the case... to a certain degree I would agree.

I think a lot of the posters here are worried about "basic skills" and you have addressed that by saying you will keep them up in a local lake. What would you say about the divers who don't keep up their basic skills? There are a lot of them.

 

[TheFoggyMask]

Why are people still replying to this heap of crap? There isn't anything else to say. Casualties think they're fine, and that mindset is the fault of mass certification and "training". I may not be the best diver I can be at the moment, but after PADI classes I realized that they hadn't taught me anything, and anyone who thinks they're safe with that kind of minimal survival is misinformed.

 

[superstar]

Dive guide, or dive Master.
Following a guide is not a trust me dive, the guides job is to show you around and that's it. You are responsible for yourself.
Paying for a DM on a dive is a trust me dive, It is the DM's job to look after you. This is a good thing, it lets divers progress in there training and skills and do more challenging dives. I bet most of us had a DM very close by when we dove our first wreck or our first night dive. And some of us did these dives on vacation in clear warm tropical waters.