Don't let it bother you. If you are willing to put up with a few things, you can learn some useful information. Welcome to SB, I hope you stick around, as well as anyone else who may have been discouraged from any posts.
Diving with a computer/watch
- Thread starter Byron_01
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Don't let it bother you. If you are willing to put up with a few things, you can learn some useful information. Welcome to SB, I hope you stick around, as well as anyone else who may have been discouraged from any posts.
Hi Land Fish:
We understand your gratitude toward the divers that enabled you to enjoy your vacation. More over, we're even happier that you did not have any problems. However, diving without the necessary equipment endangers not only you and your buddy but also the entire dive staff. If you had gotten separated, how would have gauged your depth, time or nitrogen loading. You could inadvertently had acquired a decompression obligation. What if you had been using air (21%) and the other divers had been using an enriched air mixture. Your dive profiles/limitations would have been quite different.
When everything does smoothly, then scuba diving is enjoyable and relaxing. If you have to deal with an emergency, SHTF, the scenario becomes quite different. Don't take it from us. Read the Accidents and Near Accidents forum on this website. This should encourage you to become very conservative in your approach to diving.
O.
The minimum set of instruments you need in order to dive safely are:
- a depth gauge,
- a clock
- a pressure gauge (spg)
- a compass
If you do not have all four of these then you should not dive. Most computers combine the function of depth gauge and clock and display your NDL's so you don't need to look it up on a table. Some also integrate the function of the pressure gauge and/or compass. I prefer an "old fashioned" analog compass and spg to one integrated into the computer. YMMV.
If you don't have these instruments then you will need to invest in them. A decent computer these days can be purchased new for about €200,- in Europe, an spg for €60 or so and a compass for €50-70 or so. Not sure about South Africa.
This is money you really need to spend.
R..
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Although I agree and always wear a compass, I've got a distinct impression that it's not very common. Even among my clubmates, but especially for warm water resort diving. I don't know if the limited viz we have in colder waters makes it more obvious that one should carry one.
With all due respect I disagree with the compass. Remember I'm an OW Diver, not advanced. I will obviously need do NAV dives when I do my advanced, I'll only need a compass then.However, I will without a doubt, be buying a computer before I do my next dive.I really appreciate all your input everybody
With all due respect I disagree with the compass. Remember I'm an OW Diver, not advanced. I will obviously need do NAV dives when I do my advanced, I'll only need a compass then.However, I will without a doubt, be buying a computer before I do my next dive.I really appreciate all your input everybody
I think the compass is a good idea but not a requirement when just starting out. Although I have to say that, in the event of surfacing it would be an idea to have a rough idea of where the coast or boat is!
halocline
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I have to say I'm surprised that the instructor did not require each student to have their own timing device. That's not very good instruction; it's important to learn to time your own dives. I use a dive watch with a bezel on every dive, even ones that are shallow enough to not warrant a computer.
When you say you 'planned with tables so you knew how long and at what depth to stop', that sounds like decompression diving to me, just because of the wording. In recreational diving, the only stop is at 15 feet for 3 minutes unless you are in trouble with the tables. And I hope that was not the case in your OW class! And of course you should realize that it's impossible to execute a planned dive without a timing device; you need to know how long you were at depth, in addition to the depth.
But, to try to answer your question, lets say you're on a dive and your computer is your only timing device, and it goes belly-up during the dive. In this case, you time your safety stop by using your buddy's timing device, as long as your buddy isn't olyuser, in which case apparently you'll have to 'compensate him for the liability'.
If by some chance your buddy is missing or a jerk that won't give you the time of day, you could as a last resort start counting. A nice slow count to 200 ought to do it.Edit: Oh yeah, you don't need a compass on every dive. Only dives where there is some navigation involved that requires one.
Just to clarify things, I would NEVER give a new diver a hard time for making a mistake, not following protocol, not understanding the importance of self reliance or any of the other things that get jumped on here. I have been posting here for a long time, you can see that I'm always very welcoming to new divers. I understand that things that are obvious to many of us simply aren't clear to people who have been trained in different environments, or who have been taken under the wings of well meaning, experienced divers. So while you did something dangerous, that's more on the experienced divers and pros who facilitated that, IMHO.
The thing that I found awful about your post, Land Fish, wasn't any of that. It was the implication that the rules were different for girls, because people treat girls differently. Don't mean to get up on a feminist soapbox, I have no right to do that.
But since so many of my dive buddies are "girls" and amazing, accomplished divers, and since I literally trust them with my life, the implication that there is some sort of lesser standard for female divers is particularly irritating.
Maybe you didn't mean it that way, maybe I'm off base, but that's certainly how I read your comment, and I'm not sure how else to interpret it.
The thing that I found awful about your post, Land Fish, wasn't any of that. It was the implication that the rules were different for girls, because people treat girls differently. Don't mean to get up on a feminist soapbox, I have no right to do that.
But since so many of my dive buddies are "girls" and amazing, accomplished divers, and since I literally trust them with my life, the implication that there is some sort of lesser standard for female divers is particularly irritating.
Maybe you didn't mean it that way, maybe I'm off base, but that's certainly how I read your comment, and I'm not sure how else to interpret it.
Compass use is a requirement to become open water certified. There is a surface compass swim and a underwater compass swim requirement during open water certification dives. What are you to do if you surface and fog came in during a shore dive?I think the compass is a good idea but not a requirement when just starting out. Although I have to say that, in the event of surfacing it would be an idea to have a rough idea of where the coast or boat is!
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