[BuzzF117]

I just returned from a Caribbean Cruise with my wife. I did 6 dives over 4 days and was amazed by the lack of basic skills many divers posses. Things like buoyancy control, proper weighting or just plain common sense on the reef or wreck. One women can thank a dive master for getting her head screwed on straight when she over filled her BCD and almost swam herself to death trying to stay down on bottom of the wreck we were diving. Another women was more into appearances then she was about getting her weight distributed correctly on the belt so she kept doing barrel rolls under the surface I was really pissed when she almost took out my mask and reg because she was out of control then couldn't control herself on the safety stop. I just gave her space and let her go on her own. Best dive buddy all week was a young women from Austin TX who was doing her 6th dive after certification and she had her head on straight and dove within her abilities, she did better then the others with much more experience. You learn very quickly who to avoid and who is a good dive buddy. I am very thankful for an instructor that emphasized certain skills over and over.

In St Lucia we dove and before we began our dive the dive master wanted to see certain skills performed before the dive and he had to teach somebody how to clear their mask. It's sad when simple basic skills are over looked by certifying instructors. I practice mask clearing and reg recovery at least once when I do a dive I even breath off my air2 so if in an emergency it won't be strange to me. Don't think i am bashing women it's just those were two of the major ones that jumped out at me.