First dive trip after certification

[iamrushman]

all the above.....enjoy your diving in the Florida keys...........trust you diving education and have fun..........if worried jump off boat find the tie-off buoy and venture out from there, that way you won't have trouble getting back.

 

[TSandM]

This is one of the problems with the OW certification -- it's quite possible to finish it without ever having done anything but follow the instructor. But the tools for managing a dive are really pretty simple.

If you are on the boat without a buddy, one hopes the dive crew will help hook you up with another person in the same position. You then have a conversation about your respective levels of training and experience. If the boat has already given you some information about the proposed dive site, you can begin creating a plan. I use a basic framework for a simple dive plan:

G - Goals of the dive. For you, that could be talking about the area of a wreck you intend to concentrate on during the dive, or something like, "Explore the reef within a ten minute swim of the boat.". Here's the place to talk about limits, like not going inside of anything.
U- Unified team. Here's the place to discuss who is leading. As a segue, you can talk about signals (make sure you use the same ones!). What formation are you going to swim in? If you are going along the hull of a wreck, you may need to be in single file (which means the guy in front needs to check behind him OFTEN). On a reef, you can often swim shoulder-to-shoulder, which makes staying together much easier.
E-Special equipment. Does the dive require a float or a signal buoy? Does anybody have a camera? (Cameras degrade situational awareness, so if one person is taking pictures, the other has to be more vigilant about where you are and how long you have been there.)
E-Exposure. How deep, and for how long? The boat should be able to tell you about the profile of the site, but you can always set limits that are more conservative, as long as the site isn't something like a wreck, which requires a flat profile.
D-Deco. How are you going to manage your ascent? Safety stop? What depth, and how long? Are you going up a line, or doing a free ascent? If the latter, is there any reference (eg. Does your buddy have an SMB)?
G-Gas. How much do you have? What size tank are you using, and what's in it? (Air, or Nitrox.). Is it enough for the dive you've outlined?
E-Environment. How is the visibility? Do you need to close up your formation to stay in touch? Is there current, and how might you change your dive plan because of it? Do you have to worry about fishing line or nets? Is there boat traffic that might affect where you would decide to surface?

The one thing that this list leaves out (because in the system where it came from, those things are already understood), is a discussion of emergency procedures. How do you share gas? What will you do if you get separated? It's very important to sort these things out before you are underwater and need to do them

It sounds daunting, written out like that, but in practice, it takes only a couple of minutes to run through the mnemonic. If you read through a lot of the "Near Misses" stories here, you will see that many of the problems people have could have been avoided by going through a quick review like the one I've listed. Diving isn't rocket science; a lot of dives are pretty simple, and what makes them difficult is poor communication.

Have fun! Nothing like diving in clear, warm water full of color.

 

[iluvtheocean]

how long ago was your last dive? if it was more than 6 months then some of the ops in the keys will want a "refresher" or a checkout dive 1st.

 

[pasley]

The fact that you are asking these questions is a good thing. Being nervous is normal.
Suggestion: Dive side by side or be the diver in front. You should do the navigation (the only way to learn, is to do. Naturally your dive buddies, will be doing navigation too, to make sure you don't get lost).
Quick review of the Rules of SCUBA that IMHO should be taught in every course:
1. NEVER ever under any circumstances or any reason hold your breath on SCUBA
2. No TRUST ME dives. A trust me dive is where you are "trusting" someone else (excluding of course a teaching situation with a qualified instructor) to accomplish a part of the dive this includes but not limited to:
a. Navigation you should always know where the exit/boat is in relation to yourself.
b. Diving a situation you are not trained for such as wreck or cave diving.
c. Conditions - do not dive in conditions you are not comfortable with or let someone else talk you into it.
d. Is it safe to dive here or today? you and you alone decide that for yourself. If you dive buddy says "what do you think?" You should say, "let's go to breakfast and not dive today" because that question tells you that they don't feel comfortable but don't want to be the one to cancel the dive. Listen to your inner voice and common sense. If you don't feel comfortable diving, don't. The dive you don't make will not hurt you. The dive you do make when your inner voice (common sense) was saying "umm, I don't know about this" may.
A trust me dive is a great way to get hurt or killed. What happens if the diver you were relying on to navigate, or go through the wreck because they are trained and you are not or what ever situation you are relying on them to get you through, gets separated from you or something happens to them? Then what? Your Scr#wed.
See Don't Worry - It'll be OK (also published in Divers Alert Magazine) for more on Trust Me Dives

All of your other questions were taught in your SCUBA class including I hope navigation.
Who is responsible for any and all dive decisions? You and you alone. Not the DM, not the dive leader, not the dive buddy, just you. Use your training, and your head and your common sense. Don't panic (panic kills. Stop, breathe, think, act.).
Who decides who the leader is - You and your dive buddy do. You discuss it and agree on it.
Who decides the dive plan - again you and your buddy. The plan is based on the capabilities (training, skills, air consumption, physical conditioning etc) of the least capable of the buddy team.
Turn around pressure - mutual agreement and is part of the dive plan.
Who decides when to surface - you do based on which occurs first: Dive plan, Remaining Air, No Decompression Limit.

You are nervous and that is normal when making the first dives after certification. You need to rely on the skills taught you and to trust yourself. Dive only in a team of two diver or three at the most. Never a larger group. A larger group should divide into twos and threes. The groups may agree on a common dive plan and plan to stay together, but buddy teams cannot exceed two or three. If you do you get "where is Joe?" "I don't know I thought you were watching him!" "Me? I though you were watching him. Oh, cr#p!".

Try to find a dive buddy on the boat you are comfortable with. Talk to the other divers and get a feel for them. Avoid the diver who is:
1. Bragging about how deep they have been or other daring do. Diving with fools is never a good idea.
2. Appears nervous.
3. Has all brand new equipment and is not real sure how it all works. Two new divers is probably not your best plan.
4. Agrees that if you signal that you are surfacing, they will surface with you. NEVER dive with a dive buddy who will wave bye to you under water. Your dive buddy should come with you to the surface and stay with you until you are back on dry land or the boat or the DM on they boat has clearly communicated that they have you. Most dive injuries occur during the ascent to the surface. Diver death reports are full of "the last time I saw Joe was at 40 feet and he was OK and heading for the surface."
5. Dive buddy is within arms reach at all times. Same ocean dive buddies are of little to no value to you in an emergency (out of air for example). Just ask yourself, "If I run out of air now, how far away do I want air to be?" The air on your buddies back should always be closer than the surface.
6. You want a buddy who is experienced, comfortable, not a risk taker and not a same ocean dive buddy.

A good dive buddy cares only about the following:
1. Did we all come back with no injuries?
2. Did we dive safely?
3. Did we all have fun?
How long or how deep we dove should not be a consideration. I have had many a dive that lasted 15 to 20 minutes because my dive buddy (a newer diver) had use 2,300 PSI while I used 800 PSI. But that is fine with me. We dove safely and had fun and were on dry land with 500+PSI.

Last of all have fun and check back in and tell us how it went.

 

[DKL]

Do as you were trained to do. You and your buddy plan your dive and dive your plan. Dive conservatively, and you should have a great time and be very safe. Don't forget to go over your signals and do a gear check prior to entry. Most of all have a great time. I was also nervous on my first ocean dive, but once your in the water and you see all the awesome sights, you will relax and be like.....wow this is the best thing I've ever done.

 

[PatW]

First off most keys dive ops do not put a dive master in the water.

if you are diving Pennecamp at Key Largo, most of the sites are about 30' max, little current, and decent visibility.

However, it as if you are a bit concerned about diving with an insta buddy at your level of experience.

There are several options. You could hire a personal dive master. You could go with an operator who puts a dive master in the water.

You out could also join a local scuba club and go on some of their dives until you feel confident with your experience.