Diving without a dive master or guide.

[DivemasterDennis]

Actually, at dive destination resorts and destination day boat outings, most people have an in water guide or DM. How close they stay or stray is a matter of personal comfort. The exception is of course liveaboards. Many many recreational divers ( I might even say most of them) dive with a guide. If that's your style, enjoy the diving. My point way back near the start of this thread is that when you are ready to move from that kind of diving to planning and carrying out your own dives, be sure you dive within your limits, and have the skills and planning to be a safe diver. For some of our "I never dive with a guide" posters, you need to know there are some places and dives that can only be made with a guided group. I suggest you get info on those places in advance (some Hawaii boats and sites, like the Molokai hammer head dive are among those) so you aren't unpleasantly surprised.
DivemasterDennis

 

[boulderjohn]

As DD just said, in some places it is required, but in other cases it is desirable, even for the most skilled of divers.

Let's take, for example, a dive I did in a place where it is required--Cozumel. We were doing a dive that featured some really interesting coral formations. Just as we were getting close to them, one member of our group, a highly experienced diver of the "I don't need no stinking DM" school of thought, went off exploring on his own. Since the currents were such that he could not get back to us, we had to go to him, thus missing the site we had planned to see. Everyone there was a highly experienced diver, but we all needed that guide to get us to the purpose of the dive, and we were all mightily PO'd at the guy who prevented that by demonstrating his independence.

I have also been in a number of places where it was not required that we stick with a DM, but if we wanted to see anything really good, we did. The DMs knew where to look and what was there to see. I could have asserted my independence and gone off on my own, but I think a pile of great looking but hard to find critters is a good trade for that manly assertion of independence.

 

[nomro]

I have done it on 2 dives only here in the red sea in Egypt , at Abu Nuhas area , one dive was a reef and the other was a wreck (outside only) and I would say those were the best dives ever , as it's the first time to be in control , without having the fins of the divemaster taking a big chunk on my view. However the trick is to be very comfortable with the environment , learn to look around to get some reference points.You have to be aware of the directions and current to be able to reach your boat again with enough air. I thought it would be very hard as I always depend on the divemaster for directions etc.....and never thought that I can recognize refrence points , reefs look the same underwater. But it wasn't that hard as I knew what I have to do . At the end it's my life and my buddy's life . BTW I'm an AoW diver with 50 plus dives on my belt.

 

[Doppler]

The only guided dives I have experience with are to caves where guides are required: Hart, Indian, Diepolder, etc.

These perhaps represent less than one percent of my logged dives.

 

[beaverdivers]

Do you ever go diving without a guide? I am curious about how many people go diving on their own without signing up to go out with a dive master or some local guide. If you do, how often do you do this? Do you only do this where you live or on vacation too?

Thanks

I think diving and skiing make a good analogy. If you live near Keystone, CO as an example, then you ski Keystone Ski area on your own w/o a guide.

If you go heli-skiing up in Alaska, then you are going to have a guide.

Most local divers don't need a guide. But if they go abroad, then then a guide makes sense.

On our boat dive trips we always have local dive guides. Even though I may have years of experience in that area, it is both political and intelligently correct.

Shore dives that we have done before, we generally go w/o a local guide.

How close you follow the guide depends on the individual and on the situation.

 

[Peter Guy]

By most people I'd be considered an experienced (perhaps even advanced) diver. I, in fact, often "guide" people on local dives, sometimes for money, sometimes just for pleasure.

Do I use a guide? You bet! When and Where? When I can and where I want to.

For example, I sometimes get to go diving with NWGratefulDiver at his favorite "watering hole." If I do go with him, you bet I let him guide because he knows the place better than I know the back of my hand. For what it's worth, I've also guided dives at this site because I know it moderately well -- just not as well as he does.

I always (assuming I can) use a guide at a site that is unfamiliar to me but that doesn't mean a paid guide or necessarily even a "professional." Like TSandM wrote, I will often hook up with a friend who is familiar with the site and let her be the guide. Why wouldn't I? And why wouldn't anyone else?

Having a guide doesn't mean it is a trust me dive -- it just means I have someone with local knowledge who can help maximize my experience. I'll use a guide whenever I can!

 

[Searcaigh]

Locally I rarely have a guide, just a good buddy or am solo.

On vacation dives there is always a guide or DM / instructor, however I have have occasionally been cut loose from the herd once the DM / instructor knows my diving style. Also in some places the herd is loose, especially with a boat load of photographers.

 

[boulderjohn]

Do I use a guide? You bet! When and Where? When I can and where I want to.
...
Having a guide doesn't mean it is a trust me dive -- it just means I have someone with local knowledge who can help maximize my experience. I'll use a guide whenever I can!

When I went to Seattle last year, I was blessed to have Peter and TSand M show me around. That allowed me to have some great dives. We did a night dive in a favored location, and TSandM showed me a wrecked sailboat she knew about, under which was a giant pacific octopus bigger than I even knew they could grow. It was a great experience I could not have had on my own.

 

[nimoh]

I too will mostly use a guide in unfamiliar waters, especially at resorts. The resort guides I have had dive the waters daily and are great at pointing things out. Of course, I have had bad guides as well, but overall I think it is better.

That being said, I don't do trust me dives. I listen to the dive plan and if I see a guide breaking the dive plan, such as going to deep, I have no problem breaking away from the group (with my buddy of course). There have also been times when during ascent, the guide goes up a little quick, and the rest of the group follows, while I go up at my own safe pace and make a safety stop regardless of whether or not the guide does.

 

[beester]

Diveguide as in paid DM-ish person, I would say doesn' t exist in my neighbourhood. On holidays obviously they do, and chosing to use them depends on the site and the goal and my experience with that particular type of dive. 95% of these kind of dives where a DM is available I won't follow the DM. Not because I don't trust his experience, or better his knowledge of local fauna, etc... but just because I don't like "follow the leader, leader" kind of dives where 6 people are following a DM. DM shows frogfish... 4 of the 6 divers following take pictures and are running over themselves to get a good shot... well I rather leave that kind of hassle, and not see a frogfish.

However even in small buddy teams (2 - 3 persons) in my philosophy you are always planning the dive, and decide who will "lead" the dive...is responsible for navigation, deco profile, who will deploy the smb, etc. Most of the time the guy leading the dive (navigating) is the one who knows the place best... nothing wrong with that