How much should you tip your dive guide and crew? It is so confusing. The answer varies according to geographical location, dive shop, and the staff dynamics. Tipping dive guides and the boat crew is a standard practice. Unfortunately, tips can also cause jealousy between dive shop personnel. In the worst scenario, improper tipping protocol can lead to your tip being distributed in ways other than you wished. The question becomes not only how much to tip, but who to tip, and how.
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One of the many positive aspects of cenote diving is that no boats are involved. Not only do I not get seasick on my way to the dive site, my divers and I can usually avoid some of the hassles of boat diving, such as limited space and time for gearing up. Unfortunately, today when I arrived at cenote Jardin del Eden, a single guide and diver had already managed to use all the space normally shared by several dive groups of four or more people. Small pieces of dive gear were spread out as if for inventory, covering the entire twelve foot table. Tanks were in the parking spaces and their dive truck was backed up to the point that it nearly touched the table, allowing no room for other divers to pass. How inconsiderate! I thought to myself as my diver and I struggled to assemble our gear on the tailgate of my truck, ankle deep in a mud puddle. Then I realized that I see this behavior all the time on dive boats, where space is much more limited. Assuming that most divers hit the water infrequently enough to realize the errors of their ways, here are some tips on boat (and other dive site) etiquette.
After a couple of cave dives, my client and I were chatting about gear . We agreed that we felt safer diving in caves with our double tanks and cave gear designed for complete redundancy than we feel diving in the ocean with a single tank and non-redundant gear. While neither of us denies that cave diving is a risky sport, with cave gear the diver has the ability to solve any possible equipment failure (except for a catastrophic gas loss) himself, whereas with a single tank, a diver must rely on his buddy to help him with an equipment problem. These days I see recreational divers (even my own buddies) straying farther and farther away from their dive partners, to the point that is unlikely that they could render timely assistance in the case of an emergency. 
As a scuba diving instructor, I have developed an almost preternatural sense of hearing. I notice the pfffffffftttt sound of a diver holding down the power inflate button on his buoyancy compensator (BC) every time he adds air to his BC. When I am diving with new or inexperienced divers, this noise strikes terror into my heart. I worry that the diver has added too much air to his BC, or that he is using the inflate button to ascend. My fear is that he will send himself into an uncontrolled ascent, which is one of the worst things a diver can do underwater. Doing so increases a diver's risk of decompression illness. Scuba diving ascents should always be slow and controlled.