Posted by watrbb on June 25, 2001 at 15:18:36:
In Reply to: Strokery continued . . . posted by Kevin on June 25, 2001 at 09:54:33:
Ya know what, Kevin? The fault for poor diving skills is all over the place. It isn't just the instructors, the agencies or the poor new diver who desperately wants to log hours. It's all that and more. It's also the people like you who had the good thought to pass some experienced info on and did not, thinking it was the skippers' or someone else's place. I would much prefer to have someone offer their experience to me than crack a joke or a hard comment between buddies. So would most other new divers. Of course, there will be those that won't want the benefit of your experience, but so what? Keep trying.
When I went for instruction, I went with NAUI because they required more hours than PADI and I felt I would benefit from that. I now think that more time should be spent with instruction in real water situations. My classes in OW and Advanced had just six dives each in open water alotted, and in the first class 3 of those dives were in a lake! A really calm lake. Might as well have been the pool. A couple of my classmates sure could have used more real time, with an instructor, in the ocean. We only received pool time on the bouyancy problem. I had no idea I could use help in that area until the Advanced instructor said something after the Advanced course was over!
Finding people to pair up with is another problem. As so many on this board have said, being paired with a buddy on a boat whom you do not know isn't fun in most cases. Its stressful. I have no idea what to do about that, except stay off the boats. And what about practicing skills with a buddy? I have never hooked up with one who would. In my own case, my buddy is my kayak, but I live in the mountains and a dive club is a couple hundred miles away for me.
I think the next time you see someone out there floundering around, the most wonderful thing you could do would be to counsel, not criticize. Perhaps if more experienced divers were willing to help, there would be better skilled divers out there. If it's me, I will welcome all suggestions and thank you for them. If it's another and they don't care to be counseled, well ok, leave 'em alone, but don't stop trying!