Not Ready to Dive Without a "Dive Guide"?

[FPDocMatt]

I use a DM at least for the first couple of dives when diving in an area that I am not familiar with so that I can get a better knowledge base of the local diving environment. A guided dive or two should give you some good tips as to where to dive, and more important, where not to dive.

Well that's reassuring to a newby like me, that someone who has more experience would use a dive guide.

I have friends that have dived for more than 5 years and still use a DM on every dive.

I think this makes sense if they only go on one or 2 dive trips a year. It's easy to forget anything without regular practice.

[DivemasterDennis]

Well krukster, the fact a lot of recreational divers NEVER dive or have never dove without a guide. Others have prior compass skills and pick up navigation quickly, so go independent pretty quickly. I think the Florida Keys are a good place for you to begin the independence of self navigation. Dives off Key Largo in Pennecamp Park are shallow (up to 45 feet at most), viz is good, hardly any current and you don't need to move around a lot to see a lot. Review the points on compass and other forms of navigation in my blog post- Navigation for the Recreational Diver. Start simple, grow with each experience, and you will be fine. And start with the Florida Keys- great "self training" ground.
DivemasterDennis

[nimoh]

nothing wrong with wanting a DM to lead your dives. Just be sure to think for yourself and your buddy, and avoid putting your complete trust in the DM.

This will both make your dive safer and help you gain the confidence to go out on your own.

[Splitlip]

If I missed, where in florida is your trip planned. The protocols can vary by location and Operators.

[ermaclob]

when i first started, me and my buddy could not afford dive charters, so we just started beach diving, and lake diving. during this time we tuned in our equipment and established some basic "where the hell are we skills" as well as buoyancy, and safety procedures. after ~10 dives we both where able to start going on trips with charters and didnt even consider a dive master.

i took my OW class pretty serious, by the time i was out. i knew i had all he info in my head to be safe, all that was needed was some practice.

[TMHeimer]

when i first started, me and my buddy could not afford dive charters, so we just started beach diving, and lake diving. during this time we tuned in our equipment and established some basic "where the hell are we skills" as well as buoyancy, and safety procedures. after ~10 dives we both where able to start going on trips with charters and didnt even consider a dive master.

i took my OW class pretty serious, by the time i was out. i knew i had all he info in my head to be safe, all that was needed was some practice.

Sounds like you proceeded correctly. My opinion has been if you do take OW seriously and apply all the rules you should be fine. Knowing more theory, etc. is nice, but it doesn't change the basic rules--the outside limit for 60' on air is 55 mins., etc. The only exception may be the discussion (a current thread) about what if any rescue skills should be taught in OW course.

[kimbalabala]

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!

Yep - that's what I'm talking about. My buddy and I both dive with one when we're in the ocean. On our next dive we're planning to practice inflating it at depth with a reel (and we'll let the boat know what we're doing) just so we know how to do it and know that we CAN do it (I got mine out the other day and it only took about half a breath to inflate). Ideally, you'd only need to inflate it topside if you're floating away - but I'd like to know that I can float it up in case of entanglement. I'm also thinking about a way to attach a light stick to it in case we get separated from our boat and the sun sets on us ... am I being paranoid? :-P

[kimbalabala]

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.

Just a gentle reminder that no matter how fantastic your instructor/guide is, you can't rely on his dive computer to keep track of your and your gf's air and depth issues. If the guide uses very little air (and they all seem to) and you are a hoover (like my buddy) then you'll be in trouble if you're counting on his computer to keep track of all three of you. My advice is to take your gf out to dinner and take your dive computers with you - have some fun playing with the functions and see who can figure out what all the numbers mean! What do the alarms mean and when will they go off? At what depth will my computer tell me I need to start a slow ascent - or how much time will lapse before it tells me to start a slow ascent? Becoming comfortable with my computer resulted in another bump in my confidence level in the water. Once we went to the park with our compasses and practiced leading one another around by compass bearings - we must have looked funny but it was fun and helpful. Also, I always have SUCH fun scrolling through my computer after a dive - to see how deep I was at what point in the dive - and my computer has an optional bookmark I can hit and then I can go back and see what my depth was when I hit that bookmark (I might hit it when I saw a lobster or when I was at a certain feature, for instance).

I know that our sport has to be very serious in many ways - because our safety is of paramount importance - but it is SO much fun!!!

[Splitlip]

I took an entirely different path. I was certified in my teens with my younger brother and one of his friends. With Dad's boat the three of us embarked on a great adventure. I never set foot on a charter or dived wiyh guide until 26 years later.
We had no bc's, no computer, no octopus and for the most part, were diving j-valves. My brother and I were the first in our group to have "sea view gauges" (spg's) k-valves.

I have a friend who today still dives with a plastic backpack, no bc, no octo, no computer and his very ancient 2200 psi steel 72's. His kids are more traditionally equipped.

Granted, I was certified in Palm Beach and that was where I did most of my diving. But we also took our boats to the Bahamas and the Keys.

(the older I get, the better I was )

[Teller]

Confidence comes with time. No reason to rush in to a situation that your not confident about. You may not understand this yet but there are many so called dive pros out there that you might as well be diving by yourself then diving with them. Get a buddy, do rehearsals and dive togther.