IwakuniDiver
Contributor
I know I make my jokes about people being rude and generally inconsiderate divers but I honestly really hadn't had one along with me on a dive. Until Yesterday....
Yesterday was the big treat that I have been waiting for all winter. Our first trip to the Sea of Japan side (East Sea for some) of southern Honshu. It's about a 3 hour drive from Iwakuni but man is it worth it. The water is generally 10 degrees F warmer and is a crystal blue instead of pea-soup green that is on my side. Great variety in marine life and spectacular rock formations like underwater cliffs and towering rocks. Totally cool.
Anyway, our first trip of the season was a small group, only 5 of us. 3 of us are close friends and we dive together regularly. My wife, and a newbie were also with us. At the site there were 1 meter swells but little current. The plan was to drop down the anchor line to about 80 feet and head north to "the twins". Two huge, identical rocks jetting 60 feet from the bottom, where we would do a weaving pattern around them and then ascend to the top which is shallow enough for our safety stop. My wife and I buddied up and the newb and our DM (my friend) teamed up. All 4 of us took off together and it didn't take our newb long to start making an *** out himself. He kept bumping into me, swimming directly under me and cutting me off. He kicked the regulator out of my mouth twice before I had to give him the "if you do it again I'm going to cut your air hose" signal. No matter where I moved to, he would drift into me and / or someone else. He almost managed to knock me into a plume of fire coral 3 times before my wife and I split from the group and went back to the boat. In 48 dives that I have made in the last 6 months, I have never had one of my buddies EVER bump in to me once, and I couldn't keep this guy off me for more than a minute. Needless to say, I didn't enjoy the dive at all.
Second dive my wife sat out and I went down with my other friend. We dive together every week and can "read" eachother perfectly. That was a spectacular dive. We found some incredibly cool crevaces and some coral species I had ever seen before. Best dive of the year so far.
After my experience this weekend with this idiot, I find myself wondering. At what point do you stop cutting a diver slack for being inexperienced before they are permanently branded a retard and effectively banned from diving with your group? He's a nice enough guy, but his SAC rate is in the high .80's and is generally oblivious to other divers around him. He did apologize for knocking my reg out of my mouth (twice) but offered no explanation for his underwater antics.
Yesterday was the big treat that I have been waiting for all winter. Our first trip to the Sea of Japan side (East Sea for some) of southern Honshu. It's about a 3 hour drive from Iwakuni but man is it worth it. The water is generally 10 degrees F warmer and is a crystal blue instead of pea-soup green that is on my side. Great variety in marine life and spectacular rock formations like underwater cliffs and towering rocks. Totally cool.
Anyway, our first trip of the season was a small group, only 5 of us. 3 of us are close friends and we dive together regularly. My wife, and a newbie were also with us. At the site there were 1 meter swells but little current. The plan was to drop down the anchor line to about 80 feet and head north to "the twins". Two huge, identical rocks jetting 60 feet from the bottom, where we would do a weaving pattern around them and then ascend to the top which is shallow enough for our safety stop. My wife and I buddied up and the newb and our DM (my friend) teamed up. All 4 of us took off together and it didn't take our newb long to start making an *** out himself. He kept bumping into me, swimming directly under me and cutting me off. He kicked the regulator out of my mouth twice before I had to give him the "if you do it again I'm going to cut your air hose" signal. No matter where I moved to, he would drift into me and / or someone else. He almost managed to knock me into a plume of fire coral 3 times before my wife and I split from the group and went back to the boat. In 48 dives that I have made in the last 6 months, I have never had one of my buddies EVER bump in to me once, and I couldn't keep this guy off me for more than a minute. Needless to say, I didn't enjoy the dive at all.
Second dive my wife sat out and I went down with my other friend. We dive together every week and can "read" eachother perfectly. That was a spectacular dive. We found some incredibly cool crevaces and some coral species I had ever seen before. Best dive of the year so far.
After my experience this weekend with this idiot, I find myself wondering. At what point do you stop cutting a diver slack for being inexperienced before they are permanently branded a retard and effectively banned from diving with your group? He's a nice enough guy, but his SAC rate is in the high .80's and is generally oblivious to other divers around him. He did apologize for knocking my reg out of my mouth (twice) but offered no explanation for his underwater antics.
