If, as an instructor, you do nothing else for us, do this:
Have your students visit the Blue Grotto website at least one full day prior to arriving here and follow the instructions they will find on the site.
This will accomplish two things.
- It will give students the opportunity to watch the Blue Grotto orientation video, in its entirety, without distraction. This will save time when you arrive. Remember that watching the video is mandatory for any person diving the Grotto.
- It will also provide students with the opportunity to download and complete the Blue Grotto liability release before they invest time, gas money and more getting here.
Both these things are important for reasons you may not realize.
The video helps protect everyone
A critical part of the orientation video is the section covering risks and hazards that are unique to the Grotto. This includes things like:
- Unless you maintain an awareness of what is overhead, you can clunk your head on overhanging rocks and ledges when coming up.
- There are many parts of the Grotto in which direct, vertical ascents are not possible. This is why it is vital to always have a competent and capable buddy close by with whom you can share air.
- When leaving the air bell, it’s important to resume breathing normally. Failure to do so can result in a serious and potentially fatal lung-overpressure injury.
How this information can help protect students should be obvious. But it can also help protect both us and you.
- From the standpoint of the Grotto, it shows we did our due diligence in ensuring divers are fully aware of unique risks and hazards they may not have encountered at other dive sites.
- From your standpoint, it shows you did your part in making students aware of anything that could get them in trouble.
As you know, there is a box on the Blue Grotto waiver that students must initial indicating that they have watched the video and agree to abide by the rules it outlines. Do not allow students to initial this box without first making sure they actually watched the video and fully understand everything it covers.
When students sign the waiver is important
When you were learning to become an instructor, you may have been told a story like this:
A boat arrives at a dive site. Before anyone can enter, the captain holds out a stack of papers and says, “No one can get in the water until they sign one of these waivers.”
As you learned in your instructor course, waivers signed under these circumstances might have a hard time standing up in court. Why? Because it would be easy to argue they were signed “Under duress.” And what do we mean by that?
- To get to this point, the divers most likely spent several hours driving to the marina.
- Along the way, they spent money on gas, tolls, meals and, possibly, overnight accommodations. This is in addition to what they paid for the charter.
- Next, they endured a long and possibly bumpy boat ride to the dive site.
- Finally, as the divers are eager to get in the water, they may not be thinking as clearly as they should. They know that, should they refuse to sign the waiver, all the time, money and effort spent getting to this point would be wasted.
In this situation, it would be easy for an attorney to prove that the divers were not in the proper frame of mind when they signed the waiver.
So how does this relate to Blue Grotto?
- To start, if you wait until students arrive at the Grotto to sign waivers, you waste valuable time doing something they could have done before leaving home.
- You create a situation in which, should students elect to not sign the waiver, the time, money and effort students spent getting here will be wasted.
- Additionally, because students are eager to get in the water, they may not be in the best frame of mind to sign away valuable rights.
In other words, it’s basically the same situation as in the dive boat story.
Now you know why we’ve begun pushing to have instructors tell students to download, complete, sign and date the waiver at least one full day before leaving home. Doing so helps ensure:
- If students elect to not sign the waiver, they lose nothing in terms of the time, money and effort needed to drive to the Grotto.
- Having signed the waiver, students still have at least a day to reflect on the significance of having signed away the right to collect for damages by doing so. Even though they signed the waiver, they can still elect not to dive.
If you are not already doing so, insist the students email you a completed and signed Blue Grotto waiver dated at least one full day before they arrive here.
Neatness counts
If you’ve been to our new website, you know that we not only want students to complete and sign the waiver at least one full day ahead of time, but we also want them to do so using Adobe Acrobat. Why?
- Legibility has become an issue. Too many of the waivers people give us that have been completed by hand are simply unreadable. This is not a problem with Acrobat.
- When visitors digitally sign waivers in Acrobat, it not only results in a signature that is easier to defend in court, it clearly establishes that the waiver was signed at the date and time the diver says it was.
Completing the waiver in Acrobat is not rocket science. Nevertheless, we have a video on the website that walks students through the process step by step.
Make it a point
As you now know, we want you to have students visit the website at least one full day before leaving for the Grotto. Reaching out to students at least a week in advanced is better.
Give your students a deadline for getting their completed and signed waivers back to you. Make this deadline at least a few days before you arrive here. This way you will have time to build a fire under those who have difficulty following directions.
If you have questions about anything you have read here, call or email us.