New Open Water Diver

[TMHeimer]

I've found a couple of buddies over the years by posting on the Scubaboard "area" sub-forums below. I have also found some who appear interested but when time comes to decide, other things pop up. Of course, that could be said for winter charters in N. Florida as well. Bird in the hand.....

 

[MargaritaMike]

Some of us marry them. Sometimes we even do that first and progress to ow cert later.

I got most all of my certs LONG before I even met my 3rd wife who was my dive buddy until she had 3 rotator cuff surgeries, and her vision started getting worse, and she lost her confidence. Now I have a set of female gear to get rid of. But to the OP's point, let everyone you ever see or meet around diving, in a dive shop, wherever that you want a dive buddy. The solo cert is also a reasonable way to go.
Good luck and welcome to one of the greatest hobbies in the world.

Cheers -

 

[BlakeN]

Yes, I definitely want to dive local. I want to get back to Beaver soon. Where do you like to dive?

Congrats on your certs! Do you plan to do local diving?

DW

 

[Dark Wolf]

Yes, I definitely want to dive local. I want to get back to Beaver soon. Where do you like to dive?

I am very fond of Beaver Lake and Table Rock Lake. Stockton Lake is great for getting used to low visibility. Mermet Springs is nice, but has to be a weekend trip. Planning to try out Tenkiller in OK and Wilson Lake in KS this year.

DW

 

[Outbound]

OP, congrats on your certification and on getting hooked on diving! I know the feeling. As for doing your AOW next month, don't let the naysayers dissuade you. If you want to do it and feel that you are up for it, go for it. I did my OW checkout dives in the Caribbean and then came home and immediately signed up for Nitrox, Drysuit, and AOW in the local quarry with cold water and crap viz. No problems. If you are confident that you have the basics down, AOW will be easy. If you aren't, then you probably wouldn't be eager to jump into AOW anyway.

As for finding dive buddies, ask around at your local shop. Here, we have a local group that meets up once a week for an evening dive after work at one of the small local lakes. It's how I connected with a couple of people who I dive with regularly. You can also check out sites like meetup.com.

 

[Anish]

The problem I see is the nomenclature and expectations of someone with an AOW card. When you here advanced anything you expect a certain degree of expertise. And that's true even amongst dive guides and dive masters. So show up on a boat and claim AOW and your group, buddies and dive guide will all assume you are a confident skilled diver. With a whopping 9 dives there is no way you are even close. I strongly agree with the suggestion of at least 25 dives (preferably within 2 years) and then go for AOW. You will get far more out of it and then the Advanced may actually mean something.

 

[Esprise Me]

Is that really true? All the divers, DMs, and boat captains I've encountered interpret AOW to mean "can go deeper than 60 feet." Non-divers might think it means you're confident, skilled, etc., but non-divers also tend to think that of people who have a dozen or so dives.

 

[BikerBecca]

So had a busy weekend finished my OW check off then completed my Enriched Air course. I think I'm hooked already! Going back next month for Advanced OW the Palm Beach. I think the hardest part of all this is finding people to dive with. How do you guys find dive buddies?

First, welcome to the awesome, super addictive, greatest thing I've ever done in my life, world of SCUBA!

How do I find dive buddies?

• Mutual Friends
• Dive Shop Fun Dives
• ScuaBoard
  
• Meetup.com SCUBA group

Just get involved. For example, two weeks ago a training event for my was cancelled. I went to the local Monterey dive sites knowing I'd know at least one person, and I knew a bunch, and I had an awesome day with a dive shop's fun dive and made even more new dive buddies.

Divers are awesome. Be friendly. Say Hi!!! You may find a new friend for life.


Welcome to SB and SCUBA and dive safe!

 

[yle]

And that's true even amongst dive guides and dive masters. So show up on a boat and claim AOW and your group, buddies and dive guide will all assume you are a confident skilled diver.

I'm going to disagree with you here. My experience has been just the opposite of "dive guides will assume you are a confident skilled diver if you have an AOW card." Because dive guides get to deal with the evidence every day, and they (better than anyone) know that there really isn't much correlation between what card a diver has and how competent the diver is. There does seem to be a pretty strong (inverse) correlation between how much a diver talks about how great they are and how competent they really are (dive guides know about this also.)

With a whopping 9 dives there is no way you are even close. I strongly agree with the suggestion of at least 25 dives (preferably within 2 years) and then go for AOW. You will get far more out of it and then the Advanced may actually mean something.

Going to disagree with you here also, because it really depends on the diver. In my experience, some divers could really use a lot of simple, basic diving after their OW class to develop confidence and refine the basic skills. Some develop their confidence and skills very quickly, and can benefit from the fun of the AOW class right after OW. The standard PADI line is to encourage people to start AOW right after OW, which certainly isn't right for everyone. But it's not wrong for everyone either.

 

[yle]

If you are confident that you have the basics down, AOW will be easy. If you aren't, then you probably wouldn't be eager to jump into AOW anyway.

Yes, this ^^^

And, if I can add, your AOW class should be fun also. Its purpose is to introduce you to "what divers do and how they do it", not necessarily to make you an "advanced" diver. But if you have fun with your AOW class, you'll be more inclined to further explore what diving has available to you... and that experience will make you a better diver.