Midwesterndvr
Contributor
I often think I would like to go back to the quarry and do some diving. And then I read about these experiences and think maybe I'm not missing that much.
Rude divers
- Thread starter KatieMac
- Start date
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Stay away from the platforms and on the deep side and you won't have any problems.
AlexL
Contributor
maritime rule of gross tonnage applies: bigger / heavier groups have right of way. personally i try not to get worked up about it, because those OW instructors have enough chaos to stay on top of without having a 3rd party team flipping out on em. we just move off the platform and continue whatever skills we were working on in mid water. quarry is plenty big enough.
it also works the other way around, when the docks have a traffic jam from single tank OW classes and we're diving back mounted doubles we'll invoke 'heavier has right of way' and pull a 'make a path please! twinsets coming through!'. parts the crowd like the red sea. also seems to work as a cue for some instructors to do a quick refresher on dock etiquette with their students who have all their gear somehow strewn out across the entire dock. if we're in singles we're not in any big rush to splash, we'll just wait till the crowd thins a bit, or there is an opening to the stairs.
whats real entertaining to watch is two different OW classes with the same basic rig and colors crossing paths on a platform and geting mixed together. then its a game of long till the instructor / divemasters figure out that it happened.
Thank you @AlexL for the explanation and insight. I do agree with you about the stress those instructors must be under to keep their students calm, together, and more importantly alive. Personally I wouldn't want to be in the vicinity of an OW class. I have seen groups get mixed up in tropical so-so conditions and it is pretty funny. I turned around on a dive in Fiji and found a group of divers following me. It was clear from the confused look on their faces that they had lost their guide.
As for etiquette, I think we all need to be reminded every once in awhile. Most people with big camera rigs and experience know to let people without cameras see critters first. They either take turns or wait for everyone to leave. What is rude is when someone is done looking at the critter and when they turn to leave they fin and silt out or blow the critter of the reef. This has happened so many times that I can't keep count, usually it is completely unintentional.
For me the rudest people I have encountered were people who prejudged people. Automatically assuming that kids or older divers are bad, people with cameras, or doubles, or side-mounted rigs are going to be trouble etc... Those people always ended up being the ones that get the reminder lecture about etiquette underwater. I think there are plenty of things people can do underwater that might be perceived as rude. Most are done unintentionally, ...I have also learned that some of it is cultural. Either way you can't let it ruin your dive so just breathe and move away. And if it is a night dive, turn off your light and swim as far away as possible so they can't follow you! My mantra is "Every dive is a learning experience and the ocean is my classroom".
As for etiquette, I think we all need to be reminded every once in awhile. Most people with big camera rigs and experience know to let people without cameras see critters first. They either take turns or wait for everyone to leave. What is rude is when someone is done looking at the critter and when they turn to leave they fin and silt out or blow the critter of the reef. This has happened so many times that I can't keep count, usually it is completely unintentional.
For me the rudest people I have encountered were people who prejudged people. Automatically assuming that kids or older divers are bad, people with cameras, or doubles, or side-mounted rigs are going to be trouble etc... Those people always ended up being the ones that get the reminder lecture about etiquette underwater. I think there are plenty of things people can do underwater that might be perceived as rude. Most are done unintentionally, ...I have also learned that some of it is cultural. Either way you can't let it ruin your dive so just breathe and move away. And if it is a night dive, turn off your light and swim as far away as possible so they can't follow you!
My mantra is "Every dive is a learning experience and the ocean is my classroom".In my 300 or so dives both local but mostly ocean destinations never had any rude divers such as you had. Perhaps just bad luck on your part.
Anyone who is interested in seeing or photographing things up close should master the back kick. When I approach something to look at it, I move in slowly, take just enough time to get a good look but not so much that I am holding up others from having a look, and then I slowly back away. A back kick in every diver's toolbox of skills would do SO much toward reducing what we perceive as rude behavior.
My wife will tell you that I have mastered the back kick, however it is generally to her head. I say it still counts...she disagrees.
This is so funny!!!!!Yes @Lorenzoid I think PADI should have a back kick specialty card or just straight up teach in OW!! Seriously though it is a difficult skill to learn when you still haven't mastered buoyancy.
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