Your personal evolution in diving, and an etiquette question

[Steve_C]

I also like to look around. My solution is several fold. When traveling I avoid group lead dives. I will usually just hire a private DM and we discuss what we are going to do. Some I have to force them to go slower but they almost all get it eventually. In local waters if I get an instabuddy or new buddy we discuss diving first and make sure our styles are compatible. In local waters I am almost always in a solo configuration so if an instabuddy goes charging off I will just let them go and meet them on the anchor line or in the boat. It was their choice.

For something like a reef dive in the Keys it is more nuanced. Often I wind up leading which solves the problem.

In general if my instabuddy is a new diver, or almost new, if I agree to buddy I assume that I have taken on some extra responsibility but they are usually very good about staying close.

 

[The Chairman]

I barely got to explore. Is it unfair in that situation for me to request a slow down? A BIG slow down?

The group should move at the pace of the slowest diver. The onus is not on you to keep up, but on them to keep back. Let 'am rush off. Your tank will last a lot longer taking is s-l-o-w.

Last year while diving in Coz, I often let the group get so far ahead that all I could see was their bubbles. It didn't bother me one whit. The next day our DM came up to me and told me "Senor, I am a slow diver, but I have not seen slow like you!" On the dive I noticed that he had added a second DM just for me. So my new found buddy and I let the group wander even further ahead. We saw a lot they didn't see and always seemed to have more air at the end of our dive. He didn't speak English, so the other DM told me that my personal DM was pleased to see all the critters I had found.

Slow down, You Scuba too fast!
You gots to make your air tank last!
Take a look under the coral heads...
Doot de doot, doot: Slow Scuba's groovy!
(Apologies to Simon & Garfunkel and anyone who loves the 59th St Song)

 

[icechip]

A couple of older, more experienced divers who I buddied with early in my diving taught me about slowing down and it was some of the best advice I ever I got. By far, I've found the best dives are those just poking along, looking around!

 

[caruso]

Last year while diving in Coz, I often let the group get so far ahead that all I could see was their bubbles.

That is another way of handling it if you don't want to dive without a guide, or it's not permitted by the dive Op. Go at your own pace and don't let anyone rush you. What are they going to do about it anyway. Just be prepared for the possibility that you may lose the group and know how to get back to the boat or your entry point.

 

[Ana]

I dive slow, but I also dive fast, and sometimes I go at many different speeds in one dive.

One style does not fit every diver's goals for the dive, or every sea state. If one is looking for tiny creatures obviously slowing down increases the chances of finding them, but if you are drift diving on heavy current this isn't the dive to look for newly hatched flounder.
I've been 20 minutes on the same spot watching things, but I also love to fly as fast as I can through the waters. If I use more air then I use more air, a short dive going all out trying to match the speed of a snapper or jack or whatever puts a smile in your soul, well worth the fast consumption of air.

And so many other situations when going slow is just not the way to achieve what you want for that dive. Diving at the same speed on every dive would take the fun out of it for me... but that's just me.

If one only like to dive slow that's ok, set up your dives so you can do so. It isn't selfish, it is knowing what you like and doing it.

 

[The Chairman]

And so many other situations when going slow is just not the way to achieve what you want for that dive.

It's my opinion that there are more situations where slow diving is the BEST diving than the other way around. You just can't see as much during these forced marches. I hate them. I just slow down.

 

[caruso]

It's my opinion that there are more situations where slow diving is the BEST diving than the other way around. You just can't see as much during these forced marches. I hate them. I just slow down.

Stay away from Cozumel and West Palm Beach.

 

[Ana]

It's my opinion that there are more situations where slow diving is the BEST diving than the other way around. You just can't see as much during these forced marches. I hate them. I just slow down.

Forced marches.... I can't stand them either, but then again I hate diving in groups, to me they don't go slow enough to see things, and don't go fast enough to end the misery.

With that said, I can't dive slow on every dive. Some dives are for reckless speed with cartwheels in the water column and blowing big bubbles.

 

[Compressor]

The group should move at the pace of the slowest diver.

Perfect.

It's my opinion that there are more situations where slow diving is the BEST diving than the other way around. You just can't see as much during these forced marches. I hate them. I just slow down.

Slow is always better; you see more, use less air and things tend to be more relaxing otherwise.

 

[scubadada]

For those of us who spend a fair amount of time in SE Florida, slow is not always an option. Fast can be fun