Shore dive with new diver: Do you mind short and shallow?

[Diver Tim]

As a newbie diver who goes through air like the congress goes through money, I find this discussion heartening. Did a nice dive the other day on a couple of wrecks, and I hit the boat with 500 PSI... and my buddy had about 1100 left. He was very gracious about it, but I still felt a little bit like a dork. It was a club dive, so at least we didn't pay for the air or the boat (other than club dues and a tip to the captain)...

 

[aquaregia]

I'm also really grateful for this thread. I'm an extremely new diver (10th dive last Sunday), and my SAC is just barely under 1cf/m. So far, I've tried to buddy up with the biggest guy I can find because their air consumption seems to be similar to mine, but usually my air's the limiting factor in the dive. I dove the RMS Rhone in December, and the DM had me damn close to empty while he hovered next to me with an octo ready during the safety stop. My buddy finished with 1100psi, and another friend on the same dive was >50% full.

 

[AndyNZ]

It got me to wondering . . . for those of you who are no longer "new divers", would you mind doing a shorter and shallower dive than usual, to accomodate a new diver?

That's a really tough question to answer, Lynne... I can only say "it depends".

I'm looking at my diary now, between now and the end of March I've got a couple of non-diving weekends and one diving weekend.... the rest are teaching diving weekends. To be honest, the one diving weekend that I have for myself for the rest of this summer is all mine! If I wasn't so busy teaching, it would be different.

I would much rather a shallower, longer dive than a deeper, shorter one.

 

[Wisnu]

I did 18 shallow diving not exceed 40 ft during our trip to Lembeh mid of Dec. as my buddy is my younger daughter - 10 years old Jr. OW; but not too short - min. 65 minutes and max. 85 minutes.
Lot to see at less than 40 ft in Lembeh : frogfishes, crocodile fish, ambon scorpionfish, pigmy seahorses, flamboyan cuttlefish, mimic octopus, wonderpus, flying gunnard, snake eels, moray eels, pegasus seamoth, sea snake, nudibranches and many more.
No need to go deeper if you can find everything in shallow water - that's why Lembeh is our favourite destination.

 

[mudhole]

I guage a dive by what I saw and what kind of fulfilment I got doing the dive wether it be 10 minutes or 2 hours. In that respect time doesn't matter.

When I look back at a dive and dream about it when I finally hit the pillow, it's usually about one special moment during the dive that is burned in my mind. That moment could have been in the first ten minutes which means the rest of the dive is moot.
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ZKY, you've said in clear language what I was trying to convey. Shallow, clear water, where a beginner can focus on what's around them, is a valuable time, that gives them motive to dive over and over. When a new diver "finds" something to excite them. . . that excitement is enjoyable for everyone. Finding that "big" fish, a broken plate, a sunken car. . . they're excited, they tell everyone, and they'll be back for more.

I've been diving for many years, and have dove with championship spearfishermen. They achieved what they wanted and have stopped diving. There comes a time when finding fish is no more exciting than finding supper at the grocery store. . . But helping a new diver, get their first fish, and feed their family. That first fish diver makes diving enjoyable for all.

Spearfishing isn't the only motivator for good diving. On tropical trips, getting close to fish for portraits, or a new divers portrait on a reef, Sharing excitement is always it's own reward.

 

[BuoyantC]

As an instructor who only teaches occasionally, I find more enjoyment in mentoring new divers. I enjoy their enthusiasm and in turn help create good dive buddies and friends. I have dropped off so many half-full tanks, I almost have to ask if I want a full fill. I also get the satisfaction of sharing knowledge without worrying that isn't in the "book", on the cue card, or in the proper order. We just get to enjoy.

 

[TSandM]

BuoyantC, that's a lot of the reasons why I mentor and don't instruct! There are no mentoring "standards" to violate

 

[Scubadam]

I would absolutely not mind at all. Infact sometimes on shallow dives I can see more than on deeper dives. For instance in the Carribean Ocean, most of the ship wrecks are in only about 40ft-60ft. so it doesn't matter anyway.

 

[potato cod]

I'm hardly experienced enough to really have mentored divers, but my husband and I took a recent trip to the Florida Keys with a couple friends that had *just* gotten certified. The first day they dove with an instructor to ensure they were comfortable, but after that we were happy to skip the deep wrecks and do shallow dives with them. Since most dives in the Keys are really shallow anyway, this wasn't a big deal.

The benefits were great for us too: watching my friend fall in love with a green moray and finally having another couple that we don't worry about boring to tears with our constant diving stories = priceless.

 

[nwbrewer]

I dive with new divers quite a bit, and most of the time it's a lot of fun. Dives under 30 minutes? No problem, it's just an air fill. Shallow? No problem again, in Puget Sound there's plenty to see shallow.

What I don't deal with will is the "Super Diver". The new diver who has all of 2 non-class dives and is a certified rescue diver, who's going to show up and tell me how things are going to be. After 20 minutes of this diver thrashing around at 20', and coming back the beach with 500psi I get accused of "nannying" said diver. I wish I could say that's only happened to me once.

Any new diver who shows up at the beach, wanting to get better is a somebody I'll dive with. If you already know everything, go dive with somebody else.