In my experience, if there's abuse to be dished out, it will be me on the receiving end. These Bubblemaker and Scuba Ranger initiatives are simply a sadistic plot to undermine the fundamentally adult nature of a sport which requires dedicated participants to spend long hours debriefing in pubs. I say, make the parents sign a declaration that their kids will refrain from tormenting the adults and keep well away. Come to think of it, we should get trainees to sign a declaration too, because when it comes to questionable behaviour, it's generally the instructor who comes off worse.
Panic can induce all kinds of bad manners.
Anyone who has had their mask battered, their reg ripped out and their head used as a stepping-stone by a frenzied trainee clawing a path back onto the RIB will know what I mean. So my interest was aroused when I heard three blokes discussing their first open-water experiences in graphic detail. The dive in question had been on the Dredger, nestling in all of 6m outside the breakwater of Portland Harbour. This bloke had a sticky-out stomach but no waist and no hips, so getting his weightbelt to stay in position had required some fairly assertive intervention. She had me spread-eagled on the wreck, and was groping my arse.