Spin Off: Do you refuse to dive with a DM/quide in a new location?

[Teamcasa]

I think it has far less to do with gear, and far more to do with the paradigm shift from local diving with a local buddy to vacation diving with a watchdog DM.

You say that like it is a bad thing. I do most of my diving locally without a guide, I know where I’m going and what I’m doing. However, if I owned a resort in some exotic locale there is zero chance I would allow a bunch of tourist divers to stride into my little slice of paradise without mandating they say with a guide.

Good, bad or indifferent ... I will not dive under those conditions...Then I would not share your little slice of paradise.

Amen to that brother, I don't enjoy at all being forced to play tag along and hand holdies with some DM. That sort of diving is just horrible. My wife is still upset with the forced upon us DM who sped around like Speed Racer. She was so disgusted with the dive she did not do the second dive. I asked her, whispering in her ear, if she minded me making the second dive and she said, go ahead. I did, I hit the water and the UDTs went into Warp Drive, there is at least one Carribean DM who got his own justly deserved guided tour handed to him. If there is going to be a race, I like to win.

You all should always at least consider just doing the dive how you like...they don't really spank you or anything.

As long as the boat doesn't have to wait for me, we don't really get chewed out and nobody ever comes looking for us.
Honestly, I think there is an unspoken rule that if you don't follow them, they are not really responsible for you anyway.
Most Dm's will let you do whatever you think you can do, in my experience.

This is my strategy. I usually toe the line for a dive or two to give them a comfort level, then I just go my own way.

..exactly...they key is not to ask permission, show them you are competent first, out of respect.

Having to tow an unwanted DM along is not very efficient. That is one piece of modern equipment that can be left behind, pun. N

So the question for this new thread is: When diving a resort or new (to you) location that stresses the need for a guide DM, do you insist on diving without one?

 

[Walter]

When diving a resort or new (to you) location that stresses the need for a guide DM

What does that mean?

 

[drbill]

I took the easy way out... I follow the charter operator's rules. Of course that lets me dive solo or with another buddy if it is within their accepted procedures.

I will almost always dive with a guide when I travel internationally. I want someone who can give me the lay of the land and point out nifty critters. The downside of course, is that many guides move too fast for a videographer like myself and I don't get the time I need to set up my shot and film.

After I've had an introduction to the site, and the DM/guide has seen my capabilities as a diver, I may ask to dive solo or with another imager as my buddy. Unfortunately I almost never travel with my pony bottle so if the site involves depths greater than about 40-50 ft, I won't dive them solo.

 

[Charlie99]

I dive the agreed upon plan, whatever that is.

In some areas the dives are guided dives. In some areas the DM stays on the boat and buddy pairs do their dives alone. In some areas, I get to count a float ball as my buddy. I enjoy all of the above types of dives and life is too short to get all bent out of shape about a particular dive op wanting to have a guide in the water.

One advantage of being a repeat customer is that crews get comfortable with me. It's not uncommon for the DM or Captn in Maui to quietly give me a quick brief and then I go dive while the rest of the group is briefed and gets geared up. "Meet you in 10-15 minutes somewhere between the orange grove and the garden eels" works when you are used to each other. It doesn't work for someone that isn't known.

Common courtesy and respect requires you to not try and ditch the DM/guide if the dive plan that you have agreed to is to stay with him.

 

[Teamcasa]

What does that mean?

I’ll provide an example.
When we went to Kauai and chartered Seasport divers to take us to Ni’ihau Island for three dives. They insisted that we stayed with the DM/Guides. I did so on the first dive. Since I was shooting video, it made it difficult to stay with the group so I spoke to the Captain and DM about having a DM just follow me. They agreed, and on subsequent dives, one of them just followed me. It worked out fine. I did observe that all of the rest of the divers stayed very close to the DM/guides.

Now on the majority of SoCal boat charters, we never are provided a DM/guide unless one is specifically requested by a (generally new) diver.

 

[captain]

A new site is a new site either local or when traveling. All I want is a general discription of the site and conditions. After all if I dive a new site from my own boat I don't have a guide why should anywhere else be any different.

 

[victor]

I ask the DM to go slow, slow, and slower. I will be trying to take photo's and I don't want to fall behind.
Hopefully they get used to me and manage to hang around while I take blurry pictures.
Sometimes they don't and I end up far behind the group, on 2 occassions I have had to abort the dive and head up. Both times the dive leader has appoligisied and and we have come to a compromise on the following dives.
Sometimes I have had an insta buddy who understands and does not mind going slow.

Night dives are the best and the worst, the group go slow but as soon as I try and set up a shot everyone arrives, fins and silt everywhere.

If it's very shallow and the conditions are good then I don't mind diving solo, wish I had a pony then I would be more comfortable.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

In new locations I like diving with a divemaster, heck, I like it on locations I'd been to before because to me it's all very new. I've only been diving a year. I feel I am still learning (probably will always be learning) and although I try to be a smart diver, I am not confident or comfortable on my own or even with my dive buddy. We got a little lost on a night dive last year so I'm a leery kinda person!

What is the issue behind this question? You want to go where you want to go while diving? Every time I've had a guide or divemaster with me, you do have plenty of freedom to point (over there!).

I have just under 100 dives and I really like having a guide or divemaster to plan the dive with. Just my opinion.

 

[grazie42]

I´ll do the first dive "by the book", then I´ll quietly ask to do it my way (whatever that happens to be that day), it´s worked so far...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Dive guides have their value ... they know the site, and know how to find the cool stuff that, often, a casual visitor will overlook.

What I will not do is allow a dive guide to tell me how to dive. If they try ... or if they set parameters on the dive that I think are unreasonable ... I'll listen intently, nod my head politely, and do it my way anyhow ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)