Posted by Elaine on May 02, 2004 at 23:55:45:
In Reply to: Re: You don't have an ax to grind do you? posted by Gosford on May 02, 2004 at 23:10:25:
I've been doing a great deal of diving off many of our Southern Californian dive boats over the past 10 years or so. I don't have a boat so I'm dependent on "public transportation".
I'm not so sure that I want my life in the hands of the person who is the "professional" who runs the boat. That professional often has many, many things to worry about (most of which I'm probably not even aware of). I was under the impression that the reason DM's were on the boat was because their job is more specific - IE: to do some keeping tack of me. The DM is the one who stands there with the clipboard of some sort in his hands and attempts to write down my water entries and exits. If the DM is screwing up, how is the captain supposed to be aware of this? The captain might be keeping the toilet unplugged so that I can make that my next stop after I get on the boat and out of my drysuit. (In case you haven't figured it out, I don't have a P valve, and I am a girl)
I don't think that the captain has the authority to demand that the dive shops put competent DM's on the boat. (Maybe some of the captains are more demanding than others). This confuses me. I have always assumed that it was a competent professional dive master who was performing this task and then telling the captain that everyone was aboard and that it was OK to proceed to the next dive site.
I would think that an arrogant and incompetent captain would pull anchor without checking with the dive master.