Name: Guest Blogger
Posts by guest
- DMs with limited experience, but who think they know it all and treat you like a simpleton
- DMs who lack flexibility of approach to their job- the ‘do-it-my-way or not at all’ type
- DMs who apply silly limitations to one’s dive time and depth so one returns to the surface with over half a tank left; some really stupid behaviours in this category
- DMs who think they are Ian Thorpe & swim like hell, expecting everyone to keep up, thus depriving clients of the opportunity of having a real look around
- DMs who allocate divers to buddy pairs for their dive, but then insists that everyone start to ascend when the first diver has used their air to 100 bar
- DMs with no ability to cope with a group with mixed diving skills/experience
- DMs who do not know the environment they are guiding in
- DMs who just float around looking bored and making no attempt to look for critters for their clients
- DMs who use horns, beeps or tap their tank constantly throughout the dive as though they were in the middle of the Paris rush hour traffic
- DMs who are demonstrably anxious
- DMs who run out of air before their clients do
- DMs who give you a harangue at the dive briefing about care of the coral, then proceed to knock the hell out of it themselves because they have no idea where their fins are or who hold on to live coral when showing clients something interesting
- DMs who are impatient with clients
- DMs who give lousy dive briefings; this includes those who give so much information that nothing is left to chance, surprise and excitement on the dive.
- DMs who allocate a really experienced diver to buddy with an anxious newcomer so they don’t have to look after them themselves (but that can be a pleasure too, when you can provide the novice with a dive that leaves them wide-eyed & bushy-tailed at the end, bursting to get under again!)
- DMs who take a spear gun on a night dive!!!
Dad and Daughters take Family Vacation Diving with Great White Sharks
November 27th, 2011
PADI and NAUI Professional Divemaster and Assistant Instructor Roger J. Muller, Jr. takes his Daughters on a Trip to Remember
By Sally Deering
Some families vacation in the mountains, some visit Florida’s Disneyworld, but Roger J. Muller, Jr. of Hoboken, New Jersey, Professional Divemaster and Assistant Instructor who holds 80 PADI, NAUI, TDI, SDI and SSI certifications decided to give his daughters Kelsey, 19, and Taylor, 15, a trip to remember. Muller took his daughters, who are also certified divers, aboard the Nautilus Explorer to Ensenada, Mexico’s Guadalupe Island where they plunged 40 feet below the water’s surface to observe the behavior of the mysterious Great White Sharks.
Muller chose the Nautilus Explorer, which takes small groups of scuba divers on unique diving expeditions to give his daughters a memorable vacation away from the daily demands of their busy lifestyles. Muller, a Certified Professional Insurance Agent oversees Muller Insurance, the family business, in Hoboken, and in his spare time serves as General Manager and Captain of the Hoboken Rockets Ice Hockey team; Kelsey is a sophomore studying economics at Harvard College in Cambridge and Taylor is a high school sophomore.
“It’s a wonderful bonding experience,” Muller says. “They get the opportunity to see Great White Sharks in their natural habitat and learn about shark advocacy. It’s also five days on a boat with no Internet access or cell phones to text boyfriends.”
Based in British Columbia, Canada, the Nautilus Explorer takes divers to the giant mantas and dolphins of Socorro Island and adventures into Alaska, British Columbia, the Sea of Cortez, the California Channel Islands, Baja California, San Benitos Island and Clipperton Atoll. Guadalupe Island is the top destination for Great White Shark encounters, says Jason Crabb, Director of Marketing for the Nautilus Explorer, and the best way to observe Great White Sharks is by descending into their world and interacting with them on their terms in a natural way. With four submersible aluminum cages that descend to 20-foot and 40-foot depths, the Nautilus Explorer takes divers down to where the sharks naturally travel and without chum to attract them the encounters between humans and sharks are an equal exchange of curiosity and respect.
That’s exactly the experience Kelsey and Taylor shared with their dad, who taught them how to dive in 2001, while training for his PADI Assistant Instructor certification. Muller trained his daughters to become certified divers in the family’s backyard pool.
“They became my students,” Muller says. “Kelsey started at 6 and two days after she turned 10, she was the youngest to ever become a PADI Open Water Certified Diver. At 12, she became the youngest Junior Master Scuba Diver, that’s the highest non-professional rating that you can get. Taylor started at 5 and she now has 21 certifications including Master Scuba Diver.”
Muller says his daughters’ training and his experience as a diver made it easy for him to take them on the Great White Shark diving expedition.
“My kids trust me when they’re with me, they know I’m looking after them,” Muller says. “We have spent years practicing. Scuba Diving is a dangerous sport. You need to respect the water and respect the things living in the water.”
At 19, Kelsey holds 38 diving certification, earning her Open Water Certification when she was 10 and her Junior Master Scuba Diver certification at 12. Witnessing the awe-inspiring presence of one of the world’s greatest predators was a diving experience like no other. Kelsey says: “I felt rather small among them, as if we were the entertainment for them and not the other way around. While observing them from our cages, limited to the tiny expanse of water we could see around us, they had the vast oceans around them to explore and master. I realized that no matter how long we observed them, we would probably never procure all the Great White’s secrets; for they could simply disappear into the distance, nothing betraying their position but the reflection of the silver sun on the Pilot Fish that hung close to their sides.”
During their trip, Kelsey and her dad were together in one of the submersible cages with Kelsey shooting video and Muller, who is also a PADI Digital Photography Instructor, taking photographs. At one point Muller stuck his head out between the bars of the cage just as a Great White Shark passed by - his head just inches from the shark’s mouth, which startled but didn’t surprise Kelsey one bit.
“My most exciting moment was when my dad stuck his head outside the cage and the shark came in touching distance and he didn’t know it was there,” Kelsey recalls. “I’m pointing to dad to turn around and he turned around and made a face like ‘uh-oh’.”
Of course, it all turned out alright; the Great White Shark kept on passing through and both Muller and Kelsey have photos and video footage of the experience.
“The power of these creatures has frightened even the strongest of men, yet here we are looking them square in the eyes, like equals,” Kelsey says. “I learned that the Great Whites are ferocious, yet magnificent creatures, which inspires me to learn more about the world and the sea, if not myself.”
From the moment she entered the submersible cages that plunged 40 feet below the water’s surface Taylor says she was filled with excitement. She has gone on many diving adventures with her dad and sister, but this experience was over the top.
“It really is a trip to talk about,” Taylor says. “”I never thought I would be able to go five days without a phone or the Internet but as each day goes by you forget more and more about the outside world, These memories will be with me forever and I plan to tell my children about my remarkable trip that brought me to Guadalupe Island to dive with Great White Sharks and the even better experience I had during my stay on the Nautilus Explorer.”
Nautilus Explorer makes 18 trips per season, from the end of July to the middle of November, which is the season of the sharks’ migration to Guadalupe Island’s warmer waters to feed on the massive Sea Lion colony that lives there. They also go there to mate. Very little is known about the mating rituals of the Great White Shark. There’s still a large mystery looming over these species and the Nautilus Explorer regularly takes groups of scientists to Guadalupe Island to unravel those mysteries. The Nautilus Explorer’s aim is to raise awareness of the beauty and peacefulness of Great White Sharks and to remove the fear factor typically associated with the mention of their name.
“It’s a fantastic bonding experience for families,” Crabb says. “You have to teach children at an early age to be advocates for conservation and push their parents to help as much as they can for the plight of the sharks. Now is the time we need action. The shark population is dwindling and we need more advocates. Last year we counted over 109 unique sharks off Guadalupe Island and we see the same sharks returning. We just took pictures of a new shark, a big shark, very old. That’s exciting when a newcomer is on the block.”
Captain Mike Lever of the Nautilus Explorer and his wife Mary Anne established the Guadalupe Conservation Fund and work closely with the Mexican Navy and the Mexican Environmental Agency CONANP to help ongoing research on Great White Sharks as well as to observe and report illegal shark fishing off Guadalupe Island. The owners of the Nautilus Explorer went as far as buying a twin engine aircraft which they donate the use of to the Mexican Park service.
Shark conservationist and activist Alisa Schwartz recently returned from her third trip to Guadalupe Island. She was 11 when she began diving with her dad, a former Navy Seal, and since then she has gone on to work with Shark Angels, a non-profit advocacy group based in New York and 333 Productions, a documentary film company in Exeter, Rhode Island, which recently won an award from the Cousteau family for a 90-second film they made for Jacques Cousteau’s 100th birthday.
Sharks are critical to healthy marine eco-systems,” Schwartz says. “I’ve been diving since I’m 11 and I’m 51 now and I can see first-hand what we’re doing to our oceans - pollution, over-fishing, climate change and the killing of sharks for their fins for shark fin soup. Sharks protect the coral reefs, they eat the weak and the sick and it keeps the reefs healthy. We have other problems with the oceans, sharks are not the be all, but if you take the shark, an apex predator, out of that equation, we don’t know what the effects will be and we don’t want to know. This will be a scary thing.”
Educating children about the importance of sharks and the survival of our oceans is critical, Schwartz says.
“I work with Project Aware doing beach clean ups and library programs for kids. I’m always emphasizing the importance of the ocean, its majesty and my main focus is to try to dispel the scariness about sharks,” Schwartz says. “Children are the future. They need to learn early on to take charge of their world and when they learn of the sharks’ plight, they’re all over it. I have been diving with them since I was 11 and I’m still here to tell the tales.”
Muller’s vacation with Kelsey and Taylor is the perfect example of parents educating their children about shark conservancy that inspires them to become advocates. Schwartz says: “Instead of taking his daughters to Disneyworld or a mountain retreat, he took them to see endangered species in their natural habitat no holds barred.”
Kelsey and Taylor say they had a thrilling time diving with the Great White Sharks and for both girls, it is an event they will remember the rest of their lives - although it’s very likely the girls and their dad will be taking more exciting diving trips in the future.
“My dad is a real adventurer,” Kelsey says, “and that’s rubbed off on me. He’s inspired me to want to go out there and see the world and not be afraid to do things other people won’t do.”
—————————————
Sally Deering is an arts and culture writer.
She resides in Weehawken, New Jersey.
She can be reached at:201-667-3636, SallyDeer@aol.com
Roger J. Muller, Jr. can be reached in Hoboken, New Jersey at:
201-803-9091
Working to Protect Marine Ecosystems: Oregon Bans Shark Fin Trade
October 30th, 2011
In June 2011, Oregon passed legislation that prohibits the distribution and possession of shark fins within its state. Oregon House Representative Brad Witt, House District 31, sponsored House Bill 2838, which declares that an individual may not “possess, sell or offer for sale, trade or distribute a shark fin” within the state. Bill 2838 effectively closed a loophole that existed in Oregon state law, which prohibited the practice of “shark finning” within state waters but did not address the possession, distribution or trade of shark fins. House Bill 2838 prohibits such activity and effectively clarifies the rules adopted to prevent the establishment of a shark finning industry within Oregon.
Shark finning is the process of removing the dorsal, pectoral, pelvic, anal, and tail fins of a shark. After all of a shark’s fins and its tail are cut off, the rest of the shark is discarded back into the ocean. The shark is then left to survive without any of its limbs, which often results in starvation, suffocation and eventually death.
In 2010, nearly 73 million sharks were killed as a result of shark finning. Sharks’ slow reproduction rates raise many concerns over the survival of many shark species. Sustained growth in the demand for shark fins, which are used in traditional Chinese shark fin soup, may deplete worldwide shark populations and leave marine ecosystems without an important natural predator.
Representative Witt’s bill follows the passage of Hawaiian Senate Bill 2169, which also prohibits the sale, distribution, possession or trade of shark fins within the island state. Guam, Chile, the Bahamas and Washington State have already approved similar legislation. California [passed! -- editor] and the Northwest provinces of Canada are currently considering adopting shark finning laws as well. In 2012, Taiwan will move to ban shark finning at sea, and it will be the first Asian country to do so.
After learning about the practice of fining from scuba diver and friend Phil Tobin, Representative Witt decided to sponsor a bill that would effectively eliminate the distribution, possession and sale of shark fins within Oregon. Witt’s strong commitment to protecting animal rights influenced his decision to sponsor House Bill 2838. Gaining a Representative’s sponsorship is the first step that is required for all proposed bills to become law within Oregon. Once a Representative sponsors a proposed bill, it is then sent to the Legislative Counsel’s office to be written into the accepted legal format. From there, the bill is sent to the appropriate departments within the state legislature, assigned a number, verified for proper legal format, and sent to the State Printing Division to be printed for its first reading.
According to Oregon legislative records, the first reading of a bill involves reciting its measure number, title, and sponsor upon its introduction in either legislative chamber. In this case, only the measure number and title of House Bill 2838 were read in the Oregon House of Representatives. After its first reading, Witt’s bill was referred to the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
After the Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee received House Bill 2838, a public hearing was held on March 18, 2011. In this hearing, Witt introduced the contents of House Bill 2838 and explained the importance of curtailing the development of a market for shark fins within Oregon.
Representative Witt worked with many stakeholders who had an interest in prohibiting the possession and trade of shark fins within Oregon. Concerned citizens, media professionals, business owners, environmental groups, and non-profit organizations, including the Humane Society of the United States, OCEANA, the Oregon Environmental Council, and WildAid, provided support for Witt’s bill. Scott Beckstead, the Senior State Director for Oregon at the Humane Society of the United States, considers shark finning to be a high priority for legislation within the United States. Beckstead identified that serious animal welfare and global environmental concerns are associated with the practice.
Representative Witt also actively worked with opponents of certain parts of House Bill 2838 to coordinate exemptions that would allow commercial fisherman and seafood processors to continue harvesting spiny dogfish, a species of shark. The capture and processing of spiny dogfish had been legal before House Bill 2838 was proposed. Representative Witt worked to ensure that the legitimate practice was not unintentionally disrupted. Provisions within Witt’s bill also allow commercial fisherman, sports fisherman and seafood processors who hold licenses or permits issued by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to possess, sell, trade and distribute shark fins in ways that are consistent with the terms of those licenses and permits.
After the initial public hearings, a work session was held on April 20, 2011, to clarify the Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee’s understanding of House Bill 2838. The work session was closed to public testimony and Representative Witt fielded the Committee’s questions. During this work session, House Bill 2838 was unanimously moved to the House floor for voting with a “do pass” recommendation. Representative Witt agreed to carry his bill on the House floor.
After House Bill 2838 was reported out of the Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee, necessary amendments to the bill were included and it was reprinted as an engrossed bill. On April 28, 2011, a second reading of Witt’s bill took place where the bill’s measure number and title were read in preparation of the third reading in which a final vote would take place.
On April 29, 2011, a third reading of House Bill 2838 took place. The measure passed the House vote and it was sent to the Oregon Senate. Once Witt’s bill reached the Senate, it underwent a similar process as it did in the House. After a first reading was held, House Bill 2838 was referred to the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Once being referred, a public hearing and work session were held on separate dates respectively.
After hearing testimony from Representative Witt and other stakeholders on May 26, 2011, the Senate recommended to pass House Bill 2838 with the additional amendments to protect legal and incidental catches of sharks by Oregon fisherman and seafood processors.
After a second and third reading of House Bill 2838, the Oregon Senate passed Representative Witt’s measure on May 31, 2011. The Oregon House later agreed with the Senate’s proposed amendments and it repassed the bill on June 2, 2011.
On August 4, 2011, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber signed House Bill 2838 into law with an effective date of January 1, 2012.
Oregon’s passage of House Bill 2838 highlights Representative Witt’s collaborative efforts to help set the precedent that the practice of shark finning and the trade of shark fins will not be accepted within the United States.
By Phil Tobin
ptobin6625 AT gmail DOT com
Tanks and Weights
September 18th, 2011
Well - maybe it shouldn’t have taken me by surprise. But it did. A communicating New England area dive shop told me, “It’s OK to sell integrated weights BCs because divers don’t drop their weight-belts anyway.” An honest peddler - at least honest in describing his outlook. Almost as bad as, “I have insurance for that.”
Under the banner of, “It’s our livelihood,” we have dangerous junk being sold because “…they don’t drop their weight-belts anyway…” (that really floored me), “Sell the aluminums ’cause we can “crack fail” them in a couple of years.” “It’s a ‘low-flow’ regulator - they put them on pony bottles.” Someone tried that one on me. Imagine? Putting what he classed as a “low flow” regulator on a “pony bottle” justified its existence in some way or other. I couldn’t make the connection - but - if the effen thing was for making an escape to the surface, why put all your marbles into a “low flow” regulator?
The last people who should be passing their hands over scuba cylinders are people who sell them. In this economy, the lure is too great. The DOT almost prohibits such a close association. TITLE 49 CFR 2010 (107.803):: “…No independent inspection agency…may have a financial involvement with any entity that manufactures cylinders …except as an independent inspector (such as myself ).
Fred Calhoun doesn’t sell cylinders, he is “qualified” to inspect, and he inspects. His customers often visit dive shops for air fills, and are subject to a litany of questions implying that maybe there’s something wrong with the cylinder, or the person who did the inspection and affixed the EOI sticker. I’m qualified (I don’t sell the things). I have a wallet c-card that has my name on it - says I’m qualified. I wrote the book SCUBA CYLINDERS AND TITLE 49, CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS. If anyone is qualified, you’re readin’ his writin’. Shops that regularly “fail” cylinders (you wouldn’t believe the stories that come across the gunwale), by-and-large don’t do it right.
I’m a licensed construction supervisor. I’ve regularly dodged compressed gas cylinders at construction sites at a regular rate. They get driven over, knocked over, you name it. Do you know how long steel cylinders last? Practically indefinitely. The earliest retest date I’ve seen on K tanks was 1927 (older than I am). At dive sites, scuba cylinders do not suffer the same manhandling that I’m talking about. But, if in one’s haste a 2250 steel is banged to 5000 (aluminum 50s and 80s test pressure), it won’t last long, if at all. Inexperienced people in dive shop fill stations, who are not paying attention, could fail several steel seventies without batting an eyelash.
We became PSI cylinder inspectors because it was interesting to do - because in my other life it was beneficial - and because we could see where this smoke-and-mirrors b-s was going to lead. Because of U.S.Divers and its followers (DACOR et al.), and the aluminum cylinder fiasco, Scuba-Pro through its outlets, NASDS shops, instituted the VIP program. They would look into your tank or they wouldn’t fill it. They were looking for aluminum chips. Talk about a red herring, heh? In the beginning, everyone complained about the ‘Global stickers’ and about everyone doing ‘their visuals’. Well, things ain’t much better now than then, although it sounds more legit.
Here are some facts to face: steel cylinders fail at the hands of dive shop fill stations and private compressor stations (they are accidentally over-filled - - integrated weights vests can not readily be divested of their lead (maybe the charade works when they’re standing on the shop floor, but it doesn’t work when they’re floating at the surface).
Capt. Fred Calhoun, Gloucester, MA
A response to “A Divemaster’s thoughtful Rant”
August 22nd, 2011
I am glad to see that I am in the good company of Bret Gilliam in wishing to respond to the anonymous JD (are you scared to say who you are, JD?) with a few home truths about divemasters, gleaned from my nearly 50 years of scuba diving.
I have experienced all of the following behaviours from professional DMs, some many times:
Undercurrent likes names, so here from my long experience are my votes:
Favourite DM ever: Pauline Feine in Hawaii, escorting dives to Molokini Crater. Pauline was awesome!
Favourite dive charter company: Dive! Tutukaka in Northland, New Zealand. Dive!Tuts has the ability to take 20-30 divers, with experience ranging from first open water dive since their basic course to teckies with rebreathers and underwater scooters, out to The Poor Knights Islands & everyone come home happy after a great day’s diving. Good skippers, competent DMs, flexibility of approach and a determination to ensure clients have a good time, all of which stem from outstanding leadership at the top, make this company the gold standard by which I judge all others.
Editor, Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine
The combined journal of the South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society and the European Underwater and Baromedical Society
Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine is indexed in MEDLINE, Science Citation Index Expanded (SciSearch®) and Embase/Scopus, the Excerpta Medica databases.
Address for correspondence:
C/- Hyperbaric Medicine Unit, Christchurch Hospital
Private Bag 4710, Christchurch 8011
New Zealand
Phone: (New Zealand) +64-(0)3-329-6857 or (mobile) +64-(0)27-433-2218
Fax: +64-(0)3-329-6810
E-mail: editor@dhmjournal.com
Website: www.dhmjournal.com
My Top 10 Tips on Teaching Kids to Dive and Diving with Kids
June 11th, 2011
Sharing my strength, experience, and hope with you. Margo Peyton
1. Kids have very short attention spans, they learn better visually and by doing repetitively.
Its one thing to tell a child his max depth is 40 feet for example, but go beyond that with kids. Tell them why; and don’t make it about their ability or knowledge, make it physical! Tell them what can go wrong and what can happen. Give them an example. Don’t scare them but inform them enough to make a difference. There is a fine line here. Kids are competitive and want to outdo their parents and each other at anything they can, so explain the mandates are about safety, not skill.
Example: “Jennifer, your max depth is not 40 feet because your just learning or not a good diver, its 40 feet, because based on all the research we have with nitrogen effects on bone growth at your age, internal organ development and tissue saturation limits, that it has been determined to be the safest depth for your physical composition at this age.” ( I even explain to 10 and 11 year olds, that it’s like when they go to a doctor and get a certain dosage of medicine based on their age, weight etc. The amount of medicine has to be adhered to, because more than that can be dangerous.) I tell them nitrogen is similar, too much can be dangerous.) This takes the skill out of it and puts into perspective for both kids and adults the real risk factor of not following standards.
2. Gauges and depth. Once most kids are certified, it’s all about skill to them. The deeper they go the cooler they think it is. They are constantly talking about depth.
So I turn this around and try to make it all about good air consumption and buoyancy. First of all when diving with kids, for trainers or parents, I never ask a child under water what is the amount of air left in their tank by showing me an OK sign or showing me fingers. I take the gauge in my hand and I look at it as well as Maximum depth. Kids don’t want to be the first to run out of air and they don’t want to end the dive for everyone else.
As a dive guide, Instructor, Dive Master or parent, when diving with kids, you have to take the time frame in which you would normally turn around and check in with your buddy or group, and ask them how much air they have triple it! On a 45 minute dive, I turn around every 3-5 min to look at kids and give them an ok sign as well as check gauges. You may think that is ultra conservative, but from someone who has been diving with kids for 11 years, trust when I tell you, they go through air twice as fast as adults. Kids are excited, nervous and when in groups, the boys are looking at the girls and the girls are looking at the boys and they are animated and hearts are racing. They can blow through a tank in 10 min.
3. Give very detailed briefings, and also make sure when you’re diving with kids, that you ask them, when the last time they dove was, also ask how they are feeling. Notice a cough or a runny nose. Parents more than likely filled out the forms and may not even have asked how their child felt that morning. This is important to do. Parents need to provide all information on forms, even the occasional medication taken for allergies for example, can make a difference on a dive. Kids can be nervous or stressed because they don’t know anyone. Instructors, Dive Masters, during your briefing tell them a funny dive story from when you started diving, put them all at ease. Go over how to inflate and deflate the BC and signals. Even thought kids are certified, they are afraid to openly ask questions or state they don’t know something. They don’t want you to think they are dum or new etc. So they don’t ask. Make this your job. Remind them how to set up gear and then watch them. Remind them of how to be a good buddy, stay close to their buddy. Kids Get Side tracked all the time. If you have ever sat in the passenger seat of a new teen driver, than you know how many times they have taken their eyes off the road. Underwater is 10 times worse. They see cool fish and tons of colors etc. they forget to look for their team, their buddy, and their gauges.
4. Take the fear out of the dive. Tell kids how much fun it is to dive, tell them all the things they can see and do. Psych them up about good buoyancy and show them some cool ways to be neutral. It really helps to make things fun and interesting.
Kids are not adults, they don’t learn like adults, they don’t all want to read books and study, they want you to tell them what they need to know for this moment only, they want you to show them what they need to do. Slow everything you do down. Ask questions to everyone randomly when you just finish teaching something. This is a fantastic thing to do.
For example, you just went over a dive briefing; Daniel what is our max dept today? Lisa, name 3 things I said we could see on this dive, James what is the most important rule in diving? If they think there is any chance you’re going to call on them, then they will pay attention. the worse thing to happen for them in front of their piers is for you to ask them a question and they have to say “I don’t know”.
5. Excuses: If a child is telling you their tummy hurt and they can’t dive, or their ear hurts and then need to go up. This may be the case so always take care, but watch that it is not repetitive and constant before or during each dive. Kids are very quick learners and they know that if they tell you their ear hurts or they are stuffed up or they have a tummy ache, that you will not make them dive or will end the dive. No discussion, no argument etc. and that is the correct thing to do. However, this could also be a sign that the child is just feeling insecure and scared and or not as good as the other kids. If it happens twice, conform, give the child a break, and then make sure to mention it to his or her mom that same day. If the parent thinks it’s strange and does not think there is anything wrong with the child, it just might be fear. I will work one on one with a child, talk to them to find out what the block is. Mom and dad can help in this area too. Find out what the problem is. 50% of the time, it can be overcome; it could be one skill like mask removal, or fear of sharks or even fish that has them stressed etc. Sometimes, kids are just not ready yet. It could be pressure they feel, a parent is proud and the child does not want to disappoint their family. Make whatever it is ok, address it and do your best to find out what it’s about. Assure parents, they don’t want to push a child, because if they have a bad experience it may end up in their child not wanting to dive. Kids have all the time in the world and can take their time with this sport.
6. Gear: This is very important. Gear really needs to be perfectly fitted. Take the time to make sure fins fit and are not causing blisters, masks don’t leak and the BC is not chaffing a Childs arms. These things can go un noticed and often do, until 3 days later when the child can’t go on because there is a sore. Many parents don’t want to spend money on gear for their kids, because they are growing. However they would not buy their kid a pair of shoes that did not fit and gave their kid blisters. Talk to parents and make this important. Fins can last a year or two if they get the adjustable kind. A mask too, soft silicone is much better for little faces. A wet suit and a minimum of a rash guard are a must, Kids get cold. A parent would not send their child out in to the snow without a coat. Again emphasize the importance of gear it’s also less stressful for a child when they have gear that is familiar and they are comfortable in it. If you’re using rental gear, make sure the dive shop has the xxs and xs that many kids need. Don’t just settle with a size too big. This causes much more stress on a child than an adult and can ruin the entire experience, therefore losing a future diver.
7. Tanks: this too is very important. I hate seeing a 10 and 11 year old and even some small 12 year olds with an 80 or 72 on their back that they can barely lift. Schools across America have on-line books now because they have determined how unhealthy it is for kids lugging around these 20lb book bags all day. Don’t make a kid walk with a heavy tank on his or her back, carry size 50 or 63’s for kids.
8. Be ultra conservative with ratios. THIS IS NOT ABOUT MONEY, IT’S ABOUT LIVES! If you can take the number of kids you’re going diving with from one end of a mall to the other and not lose one, then you’re good. Diving with kids is like diving in a bait ball, if you have not done that, try it. My suggestion is 1 instructor with no more than 5 certified kids. In a course 1 instructor with 2 kids. When parents diving with their kids, if you’re not an avid diver, or its your first dive of the year, I would suggest you have a dive master guide you and your family.
Keep kids close together and in buddy teams of 2 not 3 and not 4, always 2. A child can only focus on one thing at a time, so that is one buddy to keep tract of. I can tell you a million things that go wrong when you don’t use buddy teams and when you use more than 2.
9. Your role with kids: If I had a dime for every time an instructor said to me, ” I’m not a baby sitter, they are certified divers,” I would be rich. Instructors, you are a baby sitter, a parent, a dive buddy, an instructor and a pro! You are everything and anything when you’re underwater with a child.
You are aware, patient and on guard, you are fun you are safe and you assume nothing. If you need to hold a hand you hold a hand, if you need to go up early you go up early. You check air, you check gauges, and you always follow up a question with confirming the answer visually. I have seen kids, with computers that their parents bought them diving, and they have no idea how to use them, or what the numbers on them mean etc. They just jump in the water and follow you and wait for you to tell them when to come up and go down. Confirm that they know how to read their gauges or computer, again check their air, check their gear and check their eyes and see if they are doing ok.
10 After the dive: What did you see? How was your dive? Were you cold? How did your weight feel? We can take some off, add one on etc. Compliment what was great and tell them a tip or two on what they can do to improve. Log the dives with them. They will not do this when they get home. It will be lost forever if you don’t do dive logs on the same day with them. Tell them how important logging their dives are and why it’s important. Tell them how many logged dives you have.
Most important! They watch you and you are their ambassador to the sea, you will determine in most cases whether a child becomes a diver or continues to dive. You are just like one of the teachers you had in High school that molded and shaped your life.
I’m sure you have a teacher you can easily think of that you loved that inspired you and maybe one that did not and may have been the cause of why you did not like math or history etc. Be that teacher that inspired and caused a child to succeed. Be that teacher that guide that will never be forgotten. You affect every child and you affect the future of diving. The kids you turn out today are the divers of tomorrow, so if you can make a better diver, safer diver, then do.
One last thing: When teaching kids, be firm, but let them know you care, let them know they matter. Share your stories, your firsts and let them know with diving you get better with time and practice. It’s important to let them know we all did not start out as good as you are today. Lots of high fives! Don’t rush them, let them go at their own pace, and if one child is slowing down the class, because he or she needs a bit more time, just tell mom or dad they will need some private instruction.
Keep in touch, give them places to go dive, give them information on another course and reminders, when they turn 12, they can now do advance, or when they are 15, they can now do deep etc. Stay in touch.
“Kids are our future, believe in them, keep them safe, inspire them and be inspired by them”
Margo Peyton
PADI Instructor
[DSE: Margo and her husband Tom run Kids Sea Camps at various destinations in the Caribbean and have been doing so for 11 years. They have successfully taught hundreds to kids to dive and enjoy it. See www.familydivers.com]
