Not Ready to Dive Without a "Dive Guide"?

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By definition, someone with an OW certification should be able to plan an execute dives in the same/similar environment and conditions in which they were trained. Hopefully "most people" are able to do this.

I don't think that people wanting a guide is the same thing as needing someone else to plan and manage their dive for them. I'm a bit nervous for the OP saying that he doesn't need a computer because "the guide will take care of all that" for him. If that is truly the case, I hope that the OP informs the guide of this. Because the guide might think he's merely "a guide" while the OP is of the mistaken belief that the guide is managing the OP's air consumption, depth, bottom time, etc. I would not take that on.


RJP,

That was very well said!
 
I am a recently certified open water diver and I am now always looking to do more trips here and there with my girlfriend as my diving buddy (same experience level). When we dove on an excursion right after certification (Dominican Republic), it was led by one of the dive shop instructors. No navigation skills required, no dive computer needed, the instructor took care of all that.

Now that I am looking at new adventures around the US (specifically Florida in May), it seems like all of that will be my responsibility, unless I dish out an extra fee for a guide to escort us.

Am I freaking out too much about this? I just feel like if the boat dumps us at a location, I am bound to be distracted by reefs/wildlife and not pay attention to direction/fin strokes/current and end up far from the boat. I just think that right now, I should be working on breathing control and bouyancy control. Adding navigation into the mix seems like too much for a beginner. Am I right?

That said, at what point do you feel confident enough to dive without a guide?

When I started diving it was in the Carribean, nice clear warm water, and I felt much the same as you do. I was confident in the water but pretty dicey about being fully responsible for a dive myself. I think this is a natural confidence thing...will I forget something? Can I find my way back? etc. The confidence will come with time, try going through all the motions of leading the dive while following your DM. See if you can track your course with your compass, predict your air consumption and compare your supply with your prediction as you go. Make this a "game" as well as looking at the sights...think of it as practice in the multitasking that is so important to diving.

Also, as suggested by others, do some local diving. There is much more to see than you may think (I'm assuming this is as true in the inland lakes as it is on the coast.). When I took up diving in the waters of Maine and Mass (shore diving with skilled buddies) I found a whole new world. This included a new set of challenges (cold dark water with 20 foot viz on a good day) that I really enjoyed overcoming. In spite of the conditions there is an entire eco system just waiting down there! And conquering the challenges of the northern climes will make you a much better warm water diver. It's well worth seeking out experienced local buddies and diving for experience.
Now when I go to the islands and they make the rounds on the boat to determine everyone's skill level the conversation is like this (DM to the warm water diver)..."where and when did you dive last?" WWD:"uh, last year in Barbados", DM: "How many dives did you do?". "Um three", DM:"ok, stick close by me". Then he turns to me, DM: "Where and when did you dive last?", Me "last week in Maine", DM turns to next diver, "where and when...". It's funny how much skill the other vacation divers lost while I was diving at home, where did all those intimidating "pros" go?


kimbalabala, is this "signaling device" you mention referred to as "safety sausage"? My instructor used this when he had me practice doing a CESA, it was pretty cool going up like a rocket!

Um, the line about going up like a rocket makes me nervous...you do know that that is anything BUT cool, right? Please review ascent rates and why you should be careful...
 
Go with a guide as long as you feel you need one. Once you have more hours in the water you will know when you are ready to go out on your own.
 
I didn't read through the whole thread - but if you head to Riverwalk dive center in Jupiter they ALWAYS send a guide out on their boat dives. They are mostly drift, so the DM tows a line and flag.
 
Matt, if you allow me, I will present a different point of view. In order to do so I am going to throw some questions at you, for your consider, as I do not need the answers.

Why did you take up scuba diving? What type of scuba diving do you envision doing in your future? What is the highest level of certification do you see yourself achieving?


Depending on your answers, perhaps you have no requirement for you to ever dive without a guide. If the only diving you have in mind is warm tropical water once or twice a year done as boat dives, most dive ops will not even give you the choice and will assign to you and the rest of the group a guide to follow. If Bonaire (shore diving) and/or Blackbeard (or other type of non-guided liveaboard) are something of interest, slowly but surely you will have to let go the guiding hand and take the necessary steps to develop the necessary confidence/skills to get you there. Crawl/Walk/Run...in that order.

However for this to happen, you will eventually have to start diving locally at a sanitized/benign body of water (a quarry/small lake/beach without current and surge) and practice. Initially, if that body of water is unknown to you then you do it with somebody who is familiar with it. Then you do it without a guide and with your diving buddy and practice planning and diving your own dive based on all the skillset you have learned up to this point. There should be enough considering you are AOW. Do it day time and then do it night time. Then when you think you are pretty good, pick another body of water and repeat the process. At some point, you will be able to dive at unfamiliar location following advise and information you will have been able to gather from fellow divers/internet. You need to build confidence in yourself and your dive buddy. At that point, you should feel ready to go to places that offered unguided dives, plan them and dive them.

I strongly feel that unless you let go that guiding hand and take small steps to build confidence or whatever to eventually get that comfy feeling, you might end up, in fact, develop a dependency on guided dives which is not necessarily wrong if this is the type of diving that satisfies you.

Good diving.
 
When I started diving it was in the Carribean, nice clear warm water, and I felt much the same as you do. I was confident in the water but pretty dicey about being fully responsible for a dive myself. I think this is a natural confidence thing...will I forget something? Can I find my way back? etc. The confidence will come with time, try going through all the motions of leading the dive while following your DM. See if you can track your course with your compass, predict your air consumption and compare your supply with your prediction as you go. Make this a "game" as well as looking at the sights...think of it as practice in the multitasking that is so important to diving.

Also, as suggested by others, do some local diving. There is much more to see than you may think (I'm assuming this is as true in the inland lakes as it is on the coast.). When I took up diving in the waters of Maine and Mass (shore diving with skilled buddies) I found a whole new world. This included a new set of challenges (cold dark water with 20 foot viz on a good day) that I really enjoyed overcoming. In spite of the conditions there is an entire eco system just waiting down there! And conquering the challenges of the northern climes will make you a much better warm water diver. It's well worth seeking out experienced local buddies and diving for experience.
Now when I go to the islands and they make the rounds on the boat to determine everyone's skill level the conversation is like this (DM to the warm water diver)..."where and when did you dive last?" WWD:"uh, last year in Barbados", DM: "How many dives did you do?". "Um three", DM:"ok, stick close by me". Then he turns to me, DM: "Where and when did you dive last?", Me "last week in Maine", DM turns to next diver, "where and when...". It's funny how much skill the other vacation divers lost while I was diving at home, where did all those intimidating "pros" go?




Um, the line about going up like a rocket makes me nervous...you do know that that is anything BUT cool, right? Please review ascent rates and why you should be careful...

I imagine he's speaking of the marker going up like rocket.
 
I imagine he's speaking of the marker going up like rocket.

One would hope, but the statement was a bit ambiguous...just sayin'
 
I'm a bit nervous for the OP saying that he doesn't need a computer because "the guide will take care of all that" for him. If that is truly the case, I hope that the OP informs the guide of this. Because the guide might think he's merely "a guide" while the OP is of the mistaken belief that the guide is managing the OP's air consumption, depth, bottom time, etc. I would not take that on.

I think you may have misunderstood or I was not clear when I originally posted the start of the thread. I did not mean that I would rely on the dive guide to "baby" me through a dive. On my first post-OWD cert dive, we dove with 2 guides who were the instructors for the class that we took. We monitored air consumption ourselves, but the dive guides handled the navigation and bottom time monitoring, since they had computers and no one else in our group did. I understand that is not really kosher, but it was in the Dominican, we were total noobs, and no one objected....

That said, now that the two of us have our own dive computers, I am totally cool with keeping track of bottom time, depth and air consumption myself, it is just that I am a little shaky on navigation and knowing "where the good spots are". That is why I would like to have a dive guide with us. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Um, the line about going up like a rocket makes me nervous...you do know that that is anything BUT cool, right? Please review ascent rates and why you should be careful...

Yes! I guess I was not clear about that either! Yeah I was chilling at the bottom when the instructor sent up the signaling device. I DID NOT SHOOT UP LIKE A ROCKET MYSELF haha! I was actually paying attention to those cheesy PADI videos :p
 
Wow I have not been paying attention to this thread and it kinda lit up pretty good. I did not think that it would get this much attention and I hope no one is at each other's throats. I would like to thank you all for your input, and there seem to be opinions all over the board so I will take them all into consideration.
 
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