finding dive buddies just by asking

[marco58]

So I was at the local dive site, which is only an hour drive from my house, without a dive buddy to go with. I only have 24 dives under my belt so I did not want to try going solo. Anyway I found a couple of guys from Racine area that let me dive with them. All in all it was a great dive. I would definitily ask other divers if I could go with them not only so I can get some bottom time, but the information I got from just talking to them was very helpful in making me a better diver. Divers are really some of the friendlist people out there. Keep diving.
One question : My local DS has been talking about ice diving and have been asking me if I would be interested in it. I do have a dry suit and am deep diver cert. ( from what I hear, the warmer water is deep) My question is do I have to take an ice diver class to do this? Or can I just go with the more experienced divers. I think I could handle this without a class but would like to hear from the masses on this.

 

[mathauck0814]

With few exceptions, you rarely NEED a cert to do much of anything. There are no scuba police and no one will stop you from jumping in over your head. If the ice dives are being led by someone with a clue and they're willing to spend time with you then it could be fine. If the course you'd look to take is a PADI Ice Diving specialty (or similar) you're probably just as well off either way.

 

[DevonDiver]

Ice Diving - you may well find that a cert is required. It's an overhead environment and demands a specific skill-set and knowledge-base to ensure your safety.

With few exceptions, you rarely NEED a cert to do much of anything. There are no scuba police and no one will stop you from jumping in over your head.

In principle, yes. In practice, no.

Most diving venues are from private property e.g. A chartered dive boat or private land access to a lake, quarry or beach. The owners of that private property have an absolute right to determine who shall, or shall not, be permitted to dive from that property. That means most dive boats/scuba companies can and will insist on appropriate qualification for divers. Likewise, private quarries, lakes (and associated caving venues) will do the same.

If you are diving from public property, there 'may' be local regulations enforced that put limitations on diving. That'll depend on the location... especially the country concerned.

If you are diving from your own property, you can do what you want - providing local/national laws don't say otherwise.

Looking at the global scuba community, the majority of divers conduct their activities from other people's private property - so it's fair to say that "with few exceptions you DO need an appropriate cert to do the dive".

 

[marco58]

How strange it is to hear so many people,( not just on this topic) but in general. I get the feeling that many divers out there have not had much success with PADI. I trained with them during my OW and my AOW and Deep Diver and Dry suit and found the information given very helpful. Maybe it is because I have nothing to compare with but I think they are doing a very good job in giving the info that is needed to help divers get the confidance needed to be a safe and good diver.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

How strange it is to hear so many people,( not just on this topic) but in general. I get the feeling that many divers out there have not had much success with PADI. I trained with them during my OW and my AOW and Deep Diver and Dry suit and found the information given very helpful. Maybe it is because I have nothing to compare with but I think they are doing a very good job in giving the info that is needed to help divers get the confidance needed to be a safe and good diver.

The quality of the class you get depends way more on the instructor than the agency. There are good and bad instructors in all of the mainstream agencies ... and most of the boutique ones.

Some of the best instructors I know teach PADI classes. Many of them also work for other agencies ... including GUE.

Don't judge the value of a class by the agency that provides it ... spend some time researching the qualifications of the instructor. They vary wildly. The reason you hear so many people bitching about PADI classes is because they're by far the largest agency ... and because they're more available, it's easier to get connected with a poor dive instructor.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[faster7581]

I get the feeling that many divers out there have not had much success with PADI. I trained with them during my OW and my AOW and Deep Diver and Dry suit and found the information given very helpful. Maybe it is because I have nothing to compare with but I think they are doing a very good job in giving the info that is needed to help divers get the confidance needed to be a safe and good diver.

I dont think it's PADI directly people have an issue with, I thinks it's some of the crazy cert's they try to sell.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

So I was at the local dive site, which is only an hour drive from my house, without a dive buddy to go with. I only have 24 dives under my belt so I did not want to try going solo. Anyway I found a couple of guys from Racine area that let me dive with them. All in all it was a great dive. I would definitily ask other divers if I could go with them not only so I can get some bottom time, but the information I got from just talking to them was very helpful in making me a better diver. Divers are really some of the friendlist people out there. Keep diving.
One question : My local DS has been talking about ice diving and have been asking me if I would be interested in it. I do have a dry suit and am deep diver cert. ( from what I hear, the warmer water is deep) My question is do I have to take an ice diver class to do this? Or can I just go with the more experienced divers. I think I could handle this without a class but would like to hear from the masses on this.

I don't ice dive, so I won't address ice diving specifically. But I do dive in overheads, and can give you something to think about from that perspective.

When you ice dive, you are entering an overhead environment through a very small hole. What would you do if you lost your way back to that hole while under the ice? Would you trust the answer to that question to someone who promotes himself as an experienced diver? Or would you prefer to trust someone who's trained to provide the answer using techniques that have been vetted and taught to others?

Mentors have a very important role in scuba diving ... but it is not to teach you techniques that your life will very much depend on. It's more to help you gain experience putting those techniques into practice, and to help you understand how to adapt what you learned in a class environment to the real world.

For any overhead diving, I would highly recommend not just training ... but being very picky about who you take the training from. Interview not just the instructor, but some of the people who've taken classes from that instructor. Once you've taken the class, then find the experienced diver who can accompany you on your first few dives and help you establish a comfort zone with your newfound skills ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[g1138]

Ice diving would be considered an overhead environment. I'm not qualified or experienced enough to make the dive, but I will say to make one safely you should have a line and a line tender topside. There will be certain signals that need to be conveyed between the diver and line tender, through tugging signals on the line.

At the very least I would get a mentor to guide you through the procedures and even go as far as practicing an "ice dive" in a non-overhead environment such as a pool. I wouldn't do the dive if they expect you to arrive on site, sit through a briefing, and then go on the dive.

Ice diving IMO is heavily team based. You have to coordinate and trust your line tenders as well as your buddies to prevent entanglements, too much line being fed etc etc.

 

[Jaydubya]

I've never been ice diving but I imagine ice diving without training would be like cavern diving without training. You can do it but I wouldn't recommend it. Find a well-qualified mentor who is willing to work with you, or take a class, or maybe do both. You don't know what you don't know.

 

[mathauck0814]

Ice Diving - you may well find that a cert is required. It's an overhead environment and demands a specific skill-set and knowledge-base to ensure your safety.



In principle, yes. In practice, no.

Most diving venues are from private property e.g. A chartered dive boat or private land access to a lake, quarry or beach. The owners of that private property have an absolute right to determine who shall, or shall not, be permitted to dive from that property. That means most dive boats/scuba companies can and will insist on appropriate qualification for divers. Likewise, private quarries, lakes (and associated caving venues) will do the same.

If you are diving from public property, there 'may' be local regulations enforced that put limitations on diving. That'll depend on the location... especially the country concerned.

If you are diving from your own property, you can do what you want - providing local/national laws don't say otherwise.

Looking at the global scuba community, the majority of divers conduct their activities from other people's private property - so it's fair to say that "with few exceptions you DO need an appropriate cert to do the dive".

I think I both agree and disagree here. The ice diving that I've been party to has been done by driving pick up trucks out onto a frozen lake and cutting a hole. To board someone else's boat you will often be asked to show proof of training for the dive in question.

Ice diving sort of precludes the use of someone's boat... so if you're shore diving, the only time a question of your qualifications would arise would be when they're recovering your corpse... at which point it's awfully hard for them to punish you.