What are your biggest pet peeves?

[Rhone Man]

A recall is generally a rare occurrance ... it's not something that should be used to "go to lunch" ... but it IS something that should elicit an immediate response from all divers to surface as quickly as they safely can ...

Absolutely agree. Anyone who used a recall signal because they wanted to go to lunch ends up in a special circle of hell otherwise reserved for people who issued Mayday calls because they can't figure how to pull their anchor up or some other dumbass reason.

If you cause me to ascend immediately and skip my safety stop (which is SOP for an emergency recall) you had better have a sound reason.

 

[Piers]

Too many, or too few? PADI gives AOW on five dives. Personally, I think five dives is ridiculous. I'm all for instruction even if it's only one dive, but calling someone "advanced" based on five dives of instruction??? I took 3 dives of an AOW program (it was cut short for unrelated reasons) and I learned useful stuff. I'm glad I took those dives. But two more would not have made me a truly "advanced" diver.

I was referring to 9 dives total, 4 O/W dives and 5 AOW dives. It is always a bundle of fun when you get divers on your boat with an AOW cert all their own gear ready for a dive like the drifts in Cozumel and they can't remember how to clear their mask or their bouyancy is HORRIBLE, I always make my AOW students do Peek Performance Bouyancy before I think about doing an AOW course, well specifically when they have less than 20 dives. I think the AOW course is great, but a diver needs to be truly ready to do it!

 

[Cacia]

Absolutely agree. Anyone who used a recall signal because they wanted to go to lunch ends up in a special circle of hell otherwise reserved for people who issued Mayday calls because they can't figure how to pull their anchor up or some other dumbass reason.

If you cause me to ascend immediately and skip my safety stop (which is SOP for an emergency recall) you had better have a sound reason.

I guess you don't dive with Armando J. then?
Actually, he is probably in "the special circle of hell", now that I think about it
I dive with the wrong people mostly, I'm usually the most safety conscious person on board
Have you seen his old American Sportsman movies hanging on to Marlins like a rodeo clown? that man is not a safe diver
I dived with him eight years in the VI, he was very "exiciting"
Some of my best dive memories, every dive was one big emergency

 

[Rhone Man]

I guess you don't dive with Armando J. then?
Actually, he is probably in "the special circle of hell", now that I think about it
I dive with the wrong people mostly, I'm usually the most safety conscious person on board
Have you seen his old American Sportsman movies hanging on to Marlins like a rodeo clown? that man is not a safe diver
I dived with him eight years in the VI, he was very "exiciting"
Some of my best dive memories, every dive was one big emergency

I have never dived with Armando, although I have dived "near" him. My favourite story (amongst many) was when he dragged a nurse shark out of an overhang by its tail to get a better shot of it, only for it to whip around and clamp onto his shoulders with its jaws. It didn't release until he had actually climbed out of the water onto the boat.

Pretty sure that is not consistent with PADI standards.

:focus:

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I have never dived with Armando, although I have dived "near" him. My favourite story (amongst many) was when he dragged a nurse shark out of an overhang by its tail to get a better shot of it, only for it to whip around and clamp onto his shoulders with its jaws. It didn't release until he had actually climbed out of the water onto the boat.

Pretty sure that is not consistent with PADI standards.

:focus:

... a pity it wasn't a bull shark ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Rhone Man]

... a pity it wasn't a bull shark ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

OK, I'll tell just one more Armando Jennik story. Four years back there was a dead humpback whale washing up in to the southern islands of the BVI. The smell is awful. And there are these huge, I mean frikking huge, tiger sharks just ripping off chunks of this dead whale and frenziedly eating for all they are worth. Dozens of boats have gather around to watch the show.

Then a very small dinghy worms its way through the boats right up the dead whale, and our friend Armando puts on his mask and fins, grabs his camera, and jumps in the tigers.

:hijackedthread:

 

[mlsantos]

done alot of dives with alot of people over the years... my one pet-peeve about divers if i have one... is the dive police... these are the divers who constantly complain about what other divers are doing underwater and on the liveaboard... i mean c'mon guys im sure you didnt pay 3 or so thousand dollars to come and police what other people are doing?!... get in the water enjoy your dive and enjoy the food, the wine and the atmosphere of the islands around you... if anyone annoys you for whatever reason just go to another place onboard avoid that person dont make him/her ruin your trip... and for the love of god stop complaining to the cruise director or the divemasters about petty non-sense things ... this isn't the kindergarden playground... so stop acting like the tattle tale in kinder garden running to the teacher every 5 minutes... funny thing about the dive police is that they are guilty of everything and maybe even more than what they are complaining about... ive never been the classmate they tattle tale on... im just the teacher thats extremely tired of it...

 

[mlsantos]

I couldn't agree more, this has got to be my all time pet peeve. Nothing is worse than bringing a new diver into this sport, sending them out into the "real world" only to be bullied by some jackass who seems to think his/her skills are the shiz-nit. I've listened to countless conversations about how awesome someone's gear is to hear (publicly) that (X) gear is crap because they've seen it fail or "heard someone had a failure". I caution all of my new divers to watch out for what I call the chest thumpers. You know who I'm talking about. Someone who brags about the most intense life threatening dives and claims to have walked the edge..... YAWN...boring.
This has such an adverse effect on a new diver, it can discourage them, embarrass them, deter them from the sport or worse yet, cause them to fear being ridiculed when asking for help and not react appropriately when something does happen.
I was sitting in Catalina's dive park a few year ago, talking to a friend. I'd overheard a group of divers (who were clearly inexperienced by their gear assembly method), with one of the divers (and I hate to generalize but it's usually a male, c'mon guys, we know it's true) bragging about his amazing adventures and his gear being the bomb. 30 or so minutes later I noticed a group of divers at the surface and something just didn't look right. 1 of them was flailing around while the other 3 floated at the top and watched. I thought it best to kick out to them to check if they were alright, turns out it was the same group, and the braggard had been tangled up in kelp. He was overweighted, had spit out his regulator, removed his mask and was in the first stage of panic. The other three in the group sat there watching him, no one reacted, no one called out for help. I reassured him, handing him his regulator telling him to breathe into it (his BC was not inflated and he was being pulled down by his weight and the kelp) I went under him and removed the kelp, towing him in by his valve. When we got back to the stairs, I walked him up the stairs, his friends didn't follow...they simple resumed their dive....
The moral of the story is; unless you're being paid to this job, it's a hobby....it's supposed to be fun, enjoy it, don't ruin someone else's fun and never hesitate to ask for help if you need it, the only person who will make fun of you is the one you'll want to identify quickly anyway...
I'll step off my soapbox now.

Funny thing is... the ones who really know just shut up and dive... till they are asked about it offcourse...

 

[Splitlip]

done alot of dives with alot of people over the years... my one pet-peeve about divers if i have one... is the dive police... these are the divers who constantly complain about what other divers are doing underwater and on the liveaboard... i mean c'mon guys im sure you didnt pay 3 or so thousand dollars to come and police what other people are doing?!... get in the water enjoy your dive and enjoy the food, the wine and the atmosphere of the islands around you... if anyone annoys you for whatever reason just go to another place onboard avoid that person dont make him/her ruin your trip... and for the love of god stop complaining to the cruise director or the divemasters about petty non-sense things ... this isn't the kindergarden playground... so stop acting like the tattle tale in kinder garden running to the teacher every 5 minutes... funny thing about the dive police is that they are guilty of everything and maybe even more than what they are complaining about... ive never been the classmate they tattle tale on... im just the teacher thats extremely tired of it...

I'm a dive cop here where I live.

If I see some douche standing on a coral head (what's left of them) posing for a picture, I will get in his face. If I see him tearing up the soft corals with his fins (as I often do) because of poor trim and buoyancy, I will offer advise (not always well received). If I see him riding a turtle..well let's say that enrages me. I crossed the line once or twice, but now I catch up to them and give them the finger wag.

I've done SCUBA here and in the Keys since the early 70's. The destruction of our reefs by an over abundance of careless divers is very obvious to me. You'll see it as well in your part of the world I suspect in the next decade or so.

As for the turtles, riding them can injure them, can cause them to fear divers and I'm told will cause females to drop their clutches.

Rant off.

 

[Saudi-Diver]

My pet peeves at the moment are my Dry suit neck seal, its sentient and I am pretty sure its out to kill me! Its really comfortable once I am in the suit. But getting the damn thing over my head without ripping my ears off is near impossible and if I hear anyone else say it will loosen off with age I shall scream! Also don't get me started about my Hood it seems to trap air for fun and its determined to make me look like a pointy headed Gnome even though I have burnt some escape holes in it with a soldering iron. Also wet suit divers who dive cold water and zoom around to keep warm! I feel like a boil in the bag curry after trying to keep up with them.