Upon Entering

[Ondeen]

Assume you are about to move from boat to water and that the water surface is a bit choppy:

Do you do your giant stride into the water, pop to the surface, and wait for the rest of the group plus the sign from the DM? .......

Or, do you do your giant stride into the water and descend directly?

 

[Quarrior]

That strictly depends on what was briefed before the dive.

 

[Ondeen]

That strictly depends on what was briefed before the dive.

Divers were told they could do either entry. So, what would be your preference?

 

[Quarrior]

Divers were told they could do either entry. So, what would be your preference?

Should have said welcome to the board, sorry about that.

Now to the question at hand. Personally, I would ask what the DM would prefer we do. I would not let the DM get away with an either/or answer. They are there for your safety and are getting paid to do so.

True, it is ultimately up to the individual diver to ensure their own safety, but you are usually not familiar with the site, thus the need for the DM.

If I had the option, I would agree with my dive buddy on which we wanted to do, then wait for my buddy to be prepared to enter the water. Once we were both ready to enter, I would do what we decided. I would always ensure I pop up and give the OK signal, then follow whichever plan my buddy and I agreed upon.

Brian

 

[Kim]

It depends what you mean by 'choppy'. I usually like to settle my breathing down at the surface so that I don't waste a lot of air by rushing everything. If the surface is really rough though then I suppose there might not be a lot of chance to settle down. In any event - whatever I'd do would be in tandem with my buddy - as Quarrior said.

 

[HowieDean]

Be sure the DM knows what you are planning to do!!!!!!!
I strongly perfer not surfacing. My prefrence for weights is to be just a little light so that I am nutrual at 15ft. This means that at the surface I usually have to kick down till I get at least ten feet. By going straight down I am able to use my momentum to take me that first few feet.

Also hanging around on the surface, especially in rough water, is just going to tire you out and get water in your mouth.

Depending on your experience I see no problem with going straight down as long as there is a shallow bottom - or a decent line - and visibility is resonable. Either of these will give you a refrence point.

Diving straight down into Deep water with no refrence point should only be done after you are very comfortable with bounacy control and knowing exactly where you are.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Your decision should also take into consideration current and visibility. If you are going to descend and wait for your group down below, make sure conditions are conducive to them being able to find you easily once you descend. Even a modest current can spread out a group rather quickly on descent ... especially without something like a down line to provide a reference for the group to follow down ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[mossym]

Your decision should also take into consideration current and visibility. If you are going to descend and wait for your group down below, make sure conditions are conducive to them being able to find you easily once you descend. Even a modest current can spread out a group rather quickly on descent ... especially without something like a down line to provide a reference for the group to follow down ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Excellent Point, in Hawaii, where viz was 150+, meeting on the bottom was not a problem, the DM would have been able to see you on the bottom if he were on the surface by just sticking his head in the water..

However, in Monterey, where i do most of my diving, with sometimes less than 10ft viz, you could be invisible to someone following you down...better then to stay in visual contact the whole time,

 

[jbd]

Assume you are about to move from boat to water and that the water surface is a bit choppy:

Do you do your giant stride into the water, pop to the surface, and wait for the rest of the group plus the sign from the DM? .......

Or, do you do your giant stride into the water and descend directly?

My preference is to back roll off the boat. Other than that see the response by NWGD and mossym.

 

[Jason B]

I guess these things really depend on where you are diving. Here in NC, there is no group diving or DM guides that I've ever encountered. Usually the boat anchors, the captain tells you where the wreck is, you jump in, pop up and give the DM (who usually stays onboard) an okay sign, wait for your buddy, and descend to the wreck. Do your dive, ascend to your safety stop, surface, enter boat. That's how it was done on all my trips to the Keys also. Resort diving may be different...but I don't do resort diving.

Jason