Instructor Jaime
Instructor Jaime (Jaime Huang)
Professional Dive Guide & Lead Instructor for Domestic and International Dive Trips
Certification System: PADI / Level: MSDT
A true ocean lover, I started diving at the age of 13.
I cherish the freedom and silence of the underwater world.
～～ What Is a Dive Guide!? ～～
Let's talk about dive guides.
Every diver knows that no matter where you go on a dive trip, having a local dive guide is essential — it's a matter of safety underwater.
But what exactly is the role of a dive guide?
And what kind of safety are they actually responsible for?
When diving in Southeast Asia, the level of service is remarkably high.
Tank changes, carrying gear, even helping you suit up and put on your fins — someone is there to do it all!
A Southeast Asian porter miraculously hauling luggage onto the boat
What Is a Dive Guide?
This level of service has led many divers to dive in a completely carefree, almost careless way.
They're totally relaxed — after all, someone's keeping an eye on them, right?
It has also turned the dive guide's role into something like an underwater babysitter, stripping it of its true meaning…
A dive guide's job is not to be your babysitter or your personal porter.
Their role is to lead you through the ocean — as safely and as controllably as possible — so you can marvel at the wonders of nature.
All of this comes down to the pre-dive briefing: site topography, water temperature, tides, maximum operating depth (MOD), current direction, dive time, gas management, safety procedures, and more…
Then there's the check dive.
Most of us assume a check dive is meant to assess a diver's skill level, so dive guides in most countries will jump in to observe.
But in fact, a dive guide doesn't necessarily have to take part in a check dive!
A check dive is for divers to test their own equipment, adapt to the local underwater environment and water temperature, find their rhythm with their dive buddy, and build mutual understanding…
Assigning dive buddies, by the way, is the responsibility of the lead instructor — not the dive guide.
Instructor? Dive guide? Hard to tell the difference! Photo Credit: 小李大師
Once you're in the water,
the standard ratio is one dive guide to 6–8 divers. The dive guide leads from the front — they're not there to hover around you, constantly checking your pressure gauge or making sure you're keeping up (this varies by dive site). If your air runs low and you need to surface, the dive guide is not required to — and will not — ascend with you.
The first priority should be for the lead instructor or your dive buddy to accompany you to the surface; after that, the dive guide at the front takes over (in groups with two or more dive guides, the remaining diver-to-guide ratio must not exceed 8:1). The dive guide is absolutely the last line of defence.
Even when the current is strong, visibility is poor, there are waves and surge, or the water is cold — divers must still be capable of looking after themselves. This is an absolutely critical mindset!
Divers, take care of your own!!
A dive guide's role is, literally, to guide — to get in the water with you, show you the way, and lead you along the current. Monitoring your pressure gauge, watching your depth, staying out of decompression, deploying a surface marker buoy (SMB) at 5 m during a safety stop in a current — all of these things are related to dive skills and personal safety, and they are every diver's own responsibility.
As a certified diver, you should have the fundamental skills to be responsible for your own safety, and the self-awareness to honestly assess your own abilities.
In fact, all of this was already covered in your Open Water Diver and Advanced Open Water Diver courses — you've just forgotten and handed it all back to your instructor!
Dive guides may be the same title worldwide,
but the service you'll find in Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Central and South America can be vastly different.
What remains absolutely true, however, is that every single diver must bear the greatest responsibility for their own safety.
Only by building this mindset can divers approach every dive with the vigilance and caution needed to prevent underwater incidents.
Imagine, for a moment…
In the end, you may be the only one who can save yourself.
A dive guide can only assist from the sidelines.
It's very hard for them to reach you and get you out of trouble in the first critical moments.
If you place all the responsibility on the dive guide,
the one you're really putting in danger is yourself.
Of course,
we can still happily enjoy the wonderful service provided by our dive shop and dive guide — and please do take a moment to show your appreciation!
But always keep this in your heart: the dive guide is your second line of defence.
Your first line of safety is always, and only, yourself.
Finally, wishing everyone safe and happy dives!
