Underwater navigation

[serambin]

My navigation problems occur due to the following:

1. Vis decreases during dive.

2. Current changes or varies in intensity.

3. My mistake in identifying a natural object. For example, a large, and I think unique sponge, only to discover that an identical sponge is lurking 30 feet away.

All of these are operator error, but I have learned not to bumble around when I get that I ain't so sure feeling. If possible, I surface (allowing the obligatory safety stop)to locate the boat, and if I have enough time to return to the bottom, I do.

Stan

 

[annie]

Maybe I just get narced easily, but I find it hard to focus on compass settings underwater. I can only manage by remembering just ONE compass heading and sticking to it at the appropriate point in the dive. Otherwise I rely on air consumption / mental map / landmarks to work out distance.

I usually insist on a good briefing on the boat, figuring out quickly at which point I am most likely to go wrong, and accordingly setting the compass heading for that rather than having compass headings for different directions or triangulating etc. . .sorry can't do it, would get completely lost.

For instance if they say fin towards the wall and then go along the wall north direction, I set my compass in the direction of the wall so that I can find it, presuming that once I'm there I will be able to go along it without getting lost. When at the wall I note a landmark (by looking backwards as I go along the wall) so that I will know the point to fin out from the wall for the boat.

If there is a crucial factor such as "don't go too far south or you will get caught in a drift and end up out at sea" I tend to keep that one fact in mind during the dive and get out the compass to make sure that doesn't happen.

 

[FFMDiver]

In the beginning, you might forget about all the tiny numbers on the compass.
Just get used to N S E W, unless you use a slate and want to task-load out immediately.
Ask the boat crew to draw the bottom features on your slate before a dive.