Am I ready to dive off-shore without a charter?

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sappnasty

Contributor
Messages
78
Reaction score
6
Location
Daytona Beach
# of dives
25 - 49
I know most of you that will read this thread will tell me that only I will know if I'm ready to dive off-shore without a charter/divemaster/instructor present but I'm looking for more than that answer.

Here is my dilemma....

My father in-law is a certified O/W diver and has made many dives in the past, most of them in the ocean. Several times a year, his friend Rick takes out his 24' boat and goes fishing approximately 30-40 miles off-shore from St. Augustine. I have been fishing with both of them on several occassions and we always see large amounts of marine life included the stuff we aren't pulling in the boat......Rays, dolphins, turtles, barracudas, etc, etc. So one day while on the boat fishing, Bill says to me "Mike, since you dive too, we should dive this spot next time we come out just me and you" leaving Rick and his brother George on the boat with neither one of them being divers. We usually anchor over taylor reef, some A-6 Intruders, or old pieces of concrete dumped out there years ago.....But we are not entirely sure what the bottom really is or looks like.....But there has to be plenty of stuff there because of all of the marine life present on any given day! And I want so bad to dive it, but I'm not sure if I'm entirely ready......I haven't done a ton of dives but most of mine have been in the ocean. And even though I dive, i am still fairly new and still have that minor fear of the open ocean....I'm mean, I'm not scared of sharks or anything but it's just the great mystery below that is frightening. Now don't tell me I don't belong in scuba for having this fear, because I have huge aspirations and want to do so much....But I feel like if I don't do this, I will never get the experience I need and because of my fear, I will cheat myself of many opportunities I could have if I dive and see that there's nothing to it and that it is really exciting and beautiful. But it's just those little thoughts of fear I have like.....what if the boat becomes un-anchored and looses us....what if we have an emergency 30-40 miles out...what if...what if...what if.....Is this normal? I feel almost stupid telling some of you veteran scuba divers this, but everyone had to start some where right? I just want to know what everyones thoughts are about this.....and if your wondering, the depth ranges from 40-90 ft deep. Is what I'm feeling normal...or should I stop worrying and jump in head first?

Michael Sapp
 
When my wife and I started diving on our own (after OW and before AOW), we set very strict limits on ourselves...and stuck to them. Plan your dive dive your plan. 30 feet for 30 minutes, or something of that nature. Until we were more comfortable in the water we severely limited ourselves.

Some may say it was a learning handicap, but honestly it made us feel comfortable and got us used to being in the water on our own and at our own pace. There's no class that can give you that. You have to develop it on your own.

I'd recommend you come up with a plan you are comfortable with, and then follow it. And, almost as important...have fun!
 
Assuming you're comfortable and competent enough to do the dive as-described, my advice would be to first dive it a few times with someone who has done the same dive and has knowledge of the environment and conditions. Is there a strong current? What's the viz usually like/ Is there a ton of monofilament line around from years of fishing? It sounds like your father-in-law hasn't dived the location before; in that case, I would seriously consider first diving it a few times with someone who has (or bring him along to dive with you two and show you around) instead of exploring it for the first time. When it comes to new locations, knowledge will prevent and/or save you from 99% of any trouble you might encounter.
 
I know most of you that will read this thread will tell me that only I will know if I'm ready to dive off-shore without a charter/divemaster/instructor present but I'm looking for more than that answer.
......
.....I haven't done a ton of dives but most of mine have been in the ocean. And even though I dive, i am still fairly new and still have that minor fear of the open ocean.......and if your wondering, the depth ranges from 40-90 ft deep. Is what I'm feeling normal...or should I stop worrying and jump in head first?

Michael Sapp

My hard and fast rule of diving is this:
If I or any one in my group says to me "What do you think? Should we do it or not?" my answer is NO, lets go eat and call it a day.

The fact you are asking a question on if you are ready/or should make the dive tell me you inner voice (aka common sense) is telling you you are not ready. Always listen to that inner voice. The rest is our ego's and "manly man I will not the one to cancel the dive" stuff. At this point you should be sticking to 30-40 feet, then once you get 25-50 dives, start looking at taking the advance course.

The dive site sounds great, but you are not yet comfortable enough for it. You also need to study the currents and when you no longer have a question in you mind about the dive other than how soon can we dive it, then you are ready.

Gombessa is right, you should also have someone who has dove the site before. Of course take shears and/or a knife for all that pesky monofiliment you and other fishermen have left behind before.
 
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My first "boat dive" was on my classmate's 25 ft cuddy cabin. Three male divers, leaving the 2 wives on the boat.

We are suppose to go "lobster hunting". Do you know the site? Yep. Been there. Do you know where the lobsters are. Yep, in the corals. Do we know how to catch lobsters? Heck no, but we'll learn the hard way. No net, just work gloves, no tickle sticks... Just lights and a bag.

So we arrived late in the afternoon. I had to pull his boat out of storage with my truck. Got it into the water. We had 3 tanks. I had 3 lights. Guess what? The boat owner and his friend were going to share ONE light. They are both newly certified OW like myself, but I did AOW and understood the need for back up lights. So I loaned them one of my light, and went with them with reservation. So, guess what, they don't know where the reef is. They asked a local where it was, he pointed out there. So we made it through trecherous shallow water (probably where we should be diving), out in the deep blue sea. We anchored on what appeared to be the spot. It was pretty dark then. The planned depth was about 20-30 ft. We descended to about 70 ft. There was nothing down there except sanding bottom, and what looked like a funny looking cat fish. We muddled around for a little bit, and my anxiety sucked up most of the air. I signaled to them I am going to surface, and they stayed behind. Could not find the anchor line, so I simply surfaced. Can't see the boat. Can't see very well without my glasses (I soon got Rx goggles after this). I started to panic, and headed toward shore. Guess what, the boat anchor rope was too short, and the boat drifted.... Fortunately, inland. I found the boat, and climbed up. The guys came back afterward. We called it a day, as I think it was nerve wrecking for them too.

The bottom line - know your dive site. Always be over prepared - SMB, lights, mirrors. Always have a competent person on board who can handle the boat in emergency, and got the strength to pull an injured diver on board. And don't dive with divers in these situations unless you really are sure of their level of experience.
 
Operating your own personal dive boat is nothing like climbing on a charter where a professional captain (in USA with a CG license) is in charge of the boat and your safety. Driving about fishing here and there is good experiance but it qualifies neither of you to act as your own dive boat skipper.

Setting up your boat for diving is different from fishing or just running around burning gasoline. You need a strong ladder, an excellent chart plotter/sonar, vhf, at least seven times the expected anchoring depth in rode and ten to twenty feet of chain. You need first aid kits, possibly O2 (Dan) kit, dive flags and importantly the knowledge to set anchor and read local sea conditions and anchor safely.

There have been numerous threads concerning diving from personal boats and leaving the boat unattended. My wife and I have no problem doing exactly that in some places but in other placres we would not. The decision is made by me and is based on my experiance diving from very small vessals for the last three decades or more. AND, I might add we are still learning, big water and little boats can be a challenge, add diving to the mix and it is more of a challenge. It is also a fun, rewarding and completely do-able if approaced with a good learning attitude and careful planning and preparation and a healthy dose of wise caution. You can do so much more and see so much more and do as you please from your own boat, so much nicer than being surrounded by a circus.

Wife hogs the ladder:

IMG_0487.jpg


Oh, good, it is still there, we won't have to swim home:

IMG_0479_edited-1.jpg


A store bought ladder solution, for example, works great, very sturdy and rigid. Custom ladders can be built for larger boats, most 20ish footers can do well with this type single pole ladder. We prefer to gear up and down in the boat, we find hauling doffed gear over the gunwales is diffucult and results in smashed fingers and banged up fiberglass in any sort of sea.

DSCF0255.jpg


Down:

DSCF0032.jpg


Stowed for fast moving:

DSCF0031.jpg


Not saying this is good or better, just that it works fine for us for a ladder solution.

You gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them and know when to put them down. That said, it is easy, piece of cake.

N
 
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Short story is I think you need more experience. Chances are you could dive there tomorrow and be fine. And there's always a chance of things going bad no matter how much experience you have. But I'd still rather rely on experience than luck. If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all.

The questions you raise are perfectly normal and valid. But rather than worry about them you need to develop an action plan for addressing and resolving them. You need to have proper safety equipment as others have mentioned. Also your topside tenders need to know a few things too, such as how to track your bubbles, some basic scuba signals, how long you should be down, how to rescue you from the water, and how to track the currents because if you come up away from the boat that's the way you are going.

If you do decide to try it, make sure it's on a day with great conditions, flat seas, slack current, good viz, etc.
 
The others have given great advice. I think I would reccomend trying a site that was closer to shore and a little shallower first to get your feet wet, so to speak. Having concerns and fears is healthy and good. It's best if you consider them and plan around them so that you're prepared. Definately have a well briefed boat tender and plenty of safety signaling equipment. Also, if you really don't want to loose the boat, just follow the anchor line down and clip a line on it from a reel. You can play it out as you're heading away and then wind it in as you follow it back. After your first dive you'll have a much better idea of what you're dealing with. Don't dive if the conditions aren't ideal.

Mike
 
Thank you everyone for your knowledge and support. I just never have the money for charters and hate going out on them as it is.....I wanna dive at my pace...where I want....when I want, and on your own boat is somewhat cheaper. I was just trying to figure out how I can prepare myself mentally and physically when I do decide to make the dive. It's so damn exciting I can't even sit still....but on the same token, no dive is a good dive if you don't have the knowledge or experience you guys have...and no dive is worth your life. I thank everyone for the help and I think I have a good idea of how I will approach this, until the day I slip into the water just as Bill wants to do!

Thanks Again,
Michael Sapp
 
I think this is a wonderful opportunity that you should look forward to doing when you have a bit more experience under your belt. Diving an unknown site is an adventure -- You don't know what the conditions are going to be, you don't know what the site is going to hold. You really need to be very adaptable and to have the judgment to know when the dive should be aborted. For example, you can have some current, not enough that it's really uncomfortable, but enough that it might make finding the anchor line again on a featureless bottom quite a bit of a challenge, particularly if there isn't much relief or contour. (I called a dive for precisely this reason two weeks ago.)

At your stage of the game, just diving a site which is unfamiliar to you, but well known and well documented, is adventure enough. If your buddy had dived these sites a few times, and had a good idea of what's down there and what to expect, I would be more encouraging.

Oh, edited to add: Diving off a fishing boat is different from diving off a DIVE boat. You need, for example, a good ladder, or, failing that, preset cords to attach gear to if you have to take it off in the water. You need current lines and sometimes granny lines. You need to carry signaling devices (SMBs, Dive Alerts, mirrors, whistles, etc.) and it is a darned good idea for the boat to have some O2 on it, particularly if you are going very far offshore. We did a LOT of work to get our boat ready to dive off of, and it's not there yet.
 
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