How to improve when hard to find dive buddies?

[iamrushman]

I'm sure there is a dive shop there that has groups that go to the keys and south Florida that you can start with....good luck and get diving for the fun and entertainment and comradely of scuba.

 

[Seastardiver625]

Thank you! Hoping to get my gills wet more often. You guys have offered some great suggestions. My husband and I are hoping to take a trip to the Keys so I will definitely be looking for dive trips I can schedule our trip around.

 

[BullDiver]

I'm in a similar situation as well, I'm at the 9 dive mark as well. I recently dove with Paradise Below out of Riviera Beach and they were really great at handling my "newbie" situation. I actually signed up for a refresher course where the DM went over all the basics with me on the boat before we hit the water. We dove as a group (there were only 5 of us) and the DM did a great job of checking on everyone and also checking how much air everyone had (along with pointing out cool things through out the dive). They were drift dives which was actually pretty great since it required very little propulsion. My only caveat with them is that they were pretty pricey compared to other operations but I justified that with a great experience.

I'm diving pompano beach in a couple of weeks and it sounds like it will be a similar situation. Since I'm new I like to contact the dive operation to make sure that I won't be in over my head. Also, I'm buddy-less until my boyfriend gets out of the Army so I look for operations that have DMs leading the dive. Hope this helps! My main advice I guess would be to contact the dive operation and tell them your new and see what accommodations they have.

 

[nolatom]

I'm in a similar situation as well, I'm at the 9 dive mark as well. I recently dove with Paradise Below out of Riviera Beach and they were really great at handling my "newbie" situation. I actually signed up for a refresher course where the DM went over all the basics with me on the boat before we hit the water. We dove as a group (there were only 5 of us) and the DM did a great job of checking on everyone and also checking how much air everyone had (along with pointing out cool things through out the dive). They were drift dives which was actually pretty great since it required very little propulsion. My only caveat with them is that they were pretty pricey compared to other operations but I justified that with a great experience.

I'm diving pompano beach in a couple of weeks and it sounds like it will be a similar situation. Since I'm new I like to contact the dive operation to make sure that I won't be in over my head. Also, I'm buddy-less until my boyfriend gets out of the Army so I look for operations that have DMs leading the dive. Hope this helps! My main advice I guess would be to contact the dive operation and tell them your new and see what accommodations they have.

Thanks. You've confirmed what I was trying to say to OP earlier on in this thread, that a drift dive off Palm Beach/Rivera/Jupiter in the usual favorable visibility, weather and sea conditions, can be managed by a decent novice diver, probably better than the average anchored-boat dive where the DM often doesn't dive with the group.

I was pretty new when I first did it, also at Riviera Beach, at about 15 dives, and found it much smoother and less strenuous and uncertain than "out-and-back" swimming and navigation, and you have a more "groupy" group, since most divers stay around the DM, and you're all drifting in the same direction 'til you get down to 1000psi or so and signal that you're heading up, to a boat that's pretty much "waiting for you".

And as you pointed out, if you make friends and explain your novice status when you arrive, odds are you will end up buddying with the DM. And even if you don't, if you suggest to your insta-buddy that you both "just stay near the DM", you'll have accomplished pretty much the same thing.

 

[EdC]

I'm not sure if this fits into your time and budget but I was in the same boat as you after certification. I did my checkout dives in a lake in CT, late Sept. I then had all that enthusiasm to get more dives and was looking at 6 long months before much was going to happen. I hadn't even been in salt water at that time so I was really feeling stuck.

When I saw a trip with my LDS to Bonaire for February I was a little hesitant but the experience was incredible from a learning perspective, as well as just plain fun. I was by far the least experienced person in the group which had me nervous to begin with but turned out to be no big deal. The group was very patient and happy to answer any questions I had, and the staff at Buddy Dive was awesome. I went there with 5 dives and came home with 25, all but 8 from shore and never having to go deeper than 35-40 feet if you didn't want to.

I think you can learn a lot from relaxed, experienced divers just by watching and emulating the way they go about their routines. Being on a dedicated dive trip in a place likes Bonaire also gives you the repetition that really helps to speed up the learning curve.

Like I said may not be an option for you but I think I got a lot of bang for the buck in experience and confidence from it.

 

[srhein]

I can't speak for Florida, but here in Michigan a lot of LDS have regularly scheduled fun dives 2-4 times a month run out of the shop.

 

[Greg Doyle]

Hey guys,

I'm a new diver in FL with only about 9 dives under my belt. I am a little nervous still and want to build my skills and comfort level slowly (it's been 6mos since my last dive) but it's hard to find local dive buddies who want to do shallow diving with me. All the dive trips through local dive shops have been 80-120ft dives and I am not ready for that.

Pretty much all the folks I have met through my local dive shop are all advanced divers. It's been hard to meet fellow divers to buddy up with who are willing to do some shallow dives (40-50ft). How do you improve and get more comfortable diving when you can't find buddies to dive with. Feeling out of practice because I haven't been able to find someone to buddy up with. I have a friend who lives several hours away who is going through the same thing. We are going to try and dive together sometime but it most likely won't be often because of the distance and or schedules.

Any advice is helpful!

I am AOW and travel to the FLL/Miami area for business several weeks each month. I'm heading to Islamorada on my next trip down, but definitely want to dive Blue Heron Bridge. So far I've been doing dives with Key Dives in the Keys or Squalo in North Miami and have the same dilemma as you, so I book with guides. Its getting expensive. I'd enjoy connecting with you in May for a dive at BHB.
I assume you know your way around do there and understand the tides?
Greg

 

[TMHeimer]

I'll add that since the get go I've just booked onto charters as a single and just got the instabuddy. No major problems, though I've only taken maybe 20 charters over my 12 years. Biggest problem on the panhandle in winter was finding a boat going out that had enough paying divers to go out in that FRIGID Gulf water.....I would imagine in S. FL it would be easy even in winter. If you're concerned with finding experienced divers (DMs, Instrs., etc. or with many dives under their belt), it would be harder. At least half of the buddies I've shore dived with have had either less or the same experience as me. Thus the idea of taking more courses would be they way. There is always a discussion about what AOW really means. But for the course fee you get 5 dives, some of which may be from a boat, which may cost like 2/3 of what the course costs and you're with an instructor. Same for Wreck Diver/Deep Diver courses, etc. Then for really improving, everyone suggests the Rescue Course, though not really any "deep" diving there. You only need Adventure Diver Cert. (PADI) for that, and the 20 logged dive requirement was dropped years ago. You'd take that if you feel comfortable beforehand with the basics.