How to make your dive centre love you more?
We are all creatures of habit and feel attracted to things that are aligned with our values and beliefs, so it is a usual course of action to establish a list of favourites including your favourite dive shop. Of course, dive centres are service providers and you are paying them but there is a good chance they actually love what they do.
So, what makes a dive centre love their job? Of course, scuba diving is a big contributor but there is more, the divers. Believe it or not, scuba divers are generally a great bunch of people that are a pleasure to hang out with every day. So, what could you do to make your dive centre love you even more?
Here are the top 5 things that makes your dive shop go crazy about you.
Be on time
Dive trips are always on a schedule in particular when dive centres run multiple dive trips per day. They should always apply the art of rushing you along without generating the feeling of being rushed. If you simply show up at the time they ask you then that is just fantastic.
Listen to briefings
Paying attention and doing what you are told is a big one. This particularly applies to all dive related items such as reminders to dive times, logistics, emergency protocols etc.
Follow the Buddy System
Every good dive briefing includes areminder to the lost buddy procedure but yet we sometimes get divers that buddy up with someone else after losing their actual assigned buddy who then ascends as per the standard protocol. This really ruins the day of your buddy but also puts the dive centre into an awkward position as it potentially has to refund the other diver for missing out on their dive due to your failure to stick to simple protocol.
The third very critical impact is that a diver surfacing without a buddy technically means that the other diver is missing. The boat crew has now to decide whether to launch into a missing diver scenario. As you can see, losing your buddy and budding up with someone else and continuing to dive can have some serious implication including triggering an emergency.
Stick to maximum dive times
Nominating a maximum dive time is not only done to ensure the dive operation runs to schedule but more importantly, the maximum dive time determines from which point in time a diver is deemed missing. Should you decide to keep diving beyond the agreed dive time, the boat crew will call an emergency at some point, assuming you are missing.
Be part of the team
Going on a dive trip means you are participating in a team activity with other divers and the crew. Always consider how your actions impact on other divers so simply approach it in a team spirit. Help each other and watch out for each other to make every dive trip a safe and enjoyable trip.
Haven’t been diving in a while? Don’t wait too long and browse dates now!