OWN your Dive

[flyboy08]

Ignorance, lack of recent diving experience. Safety stop wasn't over. He dropped the weight and took off. Still 100% my fault. Won't happen again.

How much does a weight cost?

 

[Doc]

How much does a weight cost?

In some countries, it might cost a DM his job.

......doesn't mean you have the ability to read the entire thread

If but only that was a requirement before posting, but it wouldn't be the nets then, would it?

 

[gt2003]

How much does a weight cost?

EXACTLY the discussion he and I had on the boat!

 

[gt2003]

@gt2003 and @ReadyDiverOne - Hear, hear!!! When I think about what I learned in class and promptly forgot when I hit open water I'm internally horrified and thankful I didn't die within my first 100 dives! It's SO easy to think that we each absorbed every tidbit of learning, like little scuba theory sponges. But there's so much to absorb and then keep it in a part of the brain that is accessible when anxious due to extenuating circumstance, that it's just not realistic to think we are going to be anything close to perfect. Competent - maybe - but anxiety is the great equalizer. Just my 2 cents - and I may take some heat for those pennies! But I think you did a good job with what you had, you learned a lot, and you're going to have a great time diving (in Cozumel in October, right?)

Thanks @Kimela ! Yes, Coz again the last week of October!

 

[Kimela]

I understand that losing a weight might cause some heartburn on the boat (hard to believe it would cost them their job, but stranger things are true), but his actions may have put his own health at risk as well. We were on a boat in Coz when the DM descended to get a woman's fin, then came right back up with it for her to don at surface, then carried on with guiding the dive. We ended the dive with him on oxygen (and I honestly think he was the only staff on the boat who knew how to use it) and a stop at a pier where the medics were waiting to take him for a chamber ride. When I saw him later I think he said he'd be out of the water for a couple of months. The weight, fin, whatever, just isn't worth it.

 

[ReadyDiverOne]

Kimela, thanks for your prior shoutout and yes, couldn’t agree more re diving back down for weights or fins, just isn’t worth it. I would only add that, as you know, these DMs in Coz (and elsewhere) make very little and survive on tips and that’s surely why he dove back down to get that fin. So let’s all remember to tip our DMs (when they earn it, as they almost always do)!!

 

[Doc]

...understand that losing a weight might cause some heartburn on the boat (hard to believe it would cost them their job, but stranger things are true), but his actions may have put his own health at risk as well.

(For purposes of this hypothetical, the ownership of the dropped object is irrelevant. We also assume it is dive gear related. Okay, can we accept that premise?)

You bring up a subject I entitle "Divemaster Heroics". It is broken into to sub-groups: Lifesaving and Stupid Human Tricks.

Retrieval of dropped objects falls into the latter, Stupid Human Tricks.

This subgroup further subdivides into Superman Stunts or Monkey Manuevers.

That's where it gets hazy.

If a DM goes all Seahunt over a dropped object, yes, he is risking DCS and Barotrauma.

So hopefully, you'll IMMEDIATELY hand him an extra $20+ bill for reviving your shiny POS widget. You're a good guy now too. If you don't, or if you "tip him later", you're a very typical meat-head guest.

Either way, he's doing it "in the name of customer service". Because if he didn't chase after it for your clumsiness, it would be a perfect excuse to short him on the tip. He knows this.

How much would you hand a DM for saving your sorry @$$? Let's say, if you ran out of air and thought you couldn't do your full safety stop.

I mean really, how much did you (does one) tip for a DM performing a Thunderball Technique and saving your life?

What's a man's continued ability to make a living worth?

 

[ReadyDiverOne]

Doc, too funny, could not agree with you more!! My favorite Coz DM once dove down to retrieve some schmo's lost camera TWICE because the guy didn't have a lanyard on it. Unbelievable. I gave him one of mine for the next dive lest the poor DM get bent!

 

[gt2003]

For the record, it wasn't my weight. It was an extra he was carrying with him. I told him something to the effect of, "Hell, I would have paid you for the weight!"

 

[ReadyDiverOne]

Yep, I got that. Ridiculous in either case.