Loosing Heads looking for Hammerheads

[Tigerbeach]

An Instructor is not a certificate to collect and add to the rest of certificates, its a RESPONSIBILTY.

It sounds like a wonderful area to dive; sorry about your experiences.
I wonder though, if your expectations were perhaps a bit high; maybe a tad unrealistic.
I do not know your experience level, It sounds as if this dive was beyond your capabilities.
If you are certified as a diver, YOU are responsible for your training, fitness, dive plan, your comfort level. Everything.

You are also responsible for communicating your intentions, desires, AND experience level, and asking any and all questions,and getting them resolved, before you enter the water in a new environment.
Dive when YOU are ready; otherwise don't.

What I hear is a new (or infrequent) diver that was in over his head (literally) and thought the Instructor or boat skipper should have watched out for you in some way that they did not.

There is an expression for that. It's called "accident-waiting-to-happen."

Yes, you, my friend, need to seriously consider that YOU were not prepared for the dive you did; and take the steps necessary to manage yourself on future similar dives.

Perhaps further classes, fitness conditioning or training in rough water/ currents; make a list of questions to ask before drift diving, or to ask a prospective buddy. Be prepared.

Practice self-reliance, and strive to be completely responsible for yourself.
Best of luck to you.

[acelockco]

Tigerbeach,

I could not agree more. It seems like infrequent or inexperienced divers think that the DM is their babysitter that is supposed to do everything for them and protect them. Remember the bottom line is YOU have to take responsibility for what you do.

[hbh2oguard]

And this goes back to my one major "beef" or whatever about diving that there are way too many people that get cert. because the class is a joke. You don't even need to know how to swim to pass, and if you can't swim how is it possible to be comfortable in the water?

[Tigerbeach]

Oh please, don't get me started about scuba equipment dependency...

[amtrosie]

And this goes back to my one major "beef" or whatever about diving that there are way too many people that get cert. because the class is a joke. You don't even need to know how to swim to pass, and if you can't swim how is it possible to be comfortable in the water?

Don't EVEN get me started on the certification process that exists today for the basic diver courses. There are not enough hours in the day for me to articulate all the issues I have with today's certification process!


Suffice it to say, the current thinking that guarantees a certification regardless of ability, WILL BE MORE OF AN ISSUE EACH DAY!!!!

[acelockco]

Maybe not though!

I just bumped into a NAUI instructor today doing some checkout dives with his students at the quarry. We were talking about the class and such and he said that the class started out with 28 students, and there were 15 that actually made it to the checkout dives. That alone is a large dropout rate. He also said that only 8 of the divers would actually get their C-cards and the others needed more work before he would sign off for their cards.

Of course he could be telling me B.S., but from talking to him for a while, I don't think so. He was teaching for a University so that could be the reason, but I was still impressed.

I usually feel that the training is not even remotely enough, but there are some of the " good ol' " instructors left out there that care about doing it right (not DIR doing it right, but maybe that as well)

[hbh2oguard]

A class of 28 is pretty big but maybe not for a university

[acelockco]

It is a really big class. When I was in college they offered SCUBA class, and the same thing happened. A lot of students showed up for the first few classes and then they were gone.

I think they were thinking "oh...scuba....easy A", but then they had to learn dive tables....LOL