Posted by e-shark on December 30, 2000 at 15:07:24:
In Reply to: Here is today's news. More questions, few answers. posted by Wayne on December 30, 2000 at 11:26:22:
Wayne wrote: "On my dives to her I found the Yukon to be deep, cold, surgey, with poor visibility. Not all certified divers are ready for this type of dive. It is an advanced dive for divers with advanced experiences under their weightbelts. A simple AOW cert is not the same as advanced experience. I am not saying that this had anything whatsoever to do with this tragedy, but am only saying that divers who venture to the Yukon should be prepared for a serious dive in deep water. Far too often folks who dive in Cancun and the Bahamas think they are prepared for our waters. Sometimes they are found lacking."
According to relatives, the victim was apparently certified two years ago and had "at least 20 recreational dives." Some (not clear exactly how many) were in Thailand and Cancun (i.e., warm water and good visibility).
A crucial skill needed to dive the outside of the Yukon competently is decent cold-water buoyancy control. This is not the same thing as AOW certification. Some divers have it without AOW, some don't acquire it even with AOW or even a multitude of warm-water dives. For the divers for whom this is most likely to be an issue, a logbook or other piece of plastic means little or nothing.
Waynes also wrote: "In many resort areas that I have seen, divers are required to hire a divemaster as a guide in deep dives, unless they can show a log indicating that it is not necessary. Personally, I think this would be a good move in the case of the Yukon. A knowledgeable guide can enhance the experience and improve diver safety. I do not know if the commercial boats offer this service as a matter of course, but it seems a good moneymaker and a benefit to the tourist divers coming to dive here."
I don't disagree that many inexperienced and/or tourist divers would benefit from having an experienced local guide when diving the Yukon. Responsible dive boats ought to maintain a list of available guides for those divers who want them. But there are practical problems with _requiring_ guides.
Who decides if a guide is required? The guide himself? Given the economic component to the transaction, how can we be sure that the decision is made fairly? What standards (if any) are applied, and are they objective or subjective? How is the requirement enforced, both as to divers and as to dive boats?
Given the prevailing conditions on the Yukon, you would have to count on no more than four divers per guide (and possibly no more than two per guide). If you can't check logbooks until boarding, how do you know whether a boatload of twenty divers needs ten guides, five guides, or perhaps even none at all?
Checking logbooks for a group of twenty divers for deep, cold, less-than-spectacular visibility dives would more than likely add half an hour to the boarding period. When you're trying to do two or three two-tank trips a day, the added time would be rough on the schedule.
Imagine this situation: Reservation office to diver, "OK, that'll be $60 if you're an experienced diver or $110 if you're not. Are you an experienced diver?" How does the diver respond (keep in mind that many divers are ‘thrifty')? Now it's dive day and the boat is loading. The crew tells a diver, "You need a guide. That'll be an extra $50." The diver says, "No. I'm not going to pay. Let me dive or I walk over to the phone and cancel the charge on my credit card."
Moneymaker? Figuring the cost of the boat space, $10 an hour for the guide and four hours per trip, you're looking at $80-90 per dive team before the boat makes any additional money. Insurance may also be a factor (both liability and worker's compensation).