After your ow course, were you able to dive without Dm/instr?

[Edward3c]

snip...

During one of our invasions, we had a ScubaBoarder, that was not a part of our group die there in the Keys. She was a Cold Water Barbarian, where she dove a dry suit and an aluminum tank. Down here, the dive op provided her with a steel tank and she wore a bikini. They asked about her amount of lead, but she told them she really needed that weight. She died in thirty foot of water with her 26 pounds of weight still on, a full tank and her reg out of her mouth.

Over the years I’ve stopped a number of people jumping in with their cold water weights.

The warm to cold tends to be less fatal. But I have seen, only once, a 3mm shorty in a quarry during February; they lasted 10 minutes.

 

[drk5036]

I was trained in the Philippines, and since have dove in Okinawa, Thailand, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. 42 dives total in the last year. Not once have I even had the opportunity to dive without a DM. Right out of OW, which was basically a 3 day course, I definitely wasn't ready to dive on my own. Buoyancy wasn't there; uncertain about equalizing and gas limits. I guess some people would say I wasn't ready to to be given my OW card then? But I can say even then I was a much better diver than a lot of others I've seen in Asia diving...

Now, I think I would have no problem taking care of myself and a buddy underwater. Reading this board has done wonders for my abilities, which is shocking since I've done a lot more reading than practicing. The only issue I'd have I think is with navigation, since I've never had to pay any attention before, and in general most dives I've done are one-way, not back to the boat. But I'm guessing once i'm "in the drivers seat" so to speak, I'd pay more attention to navigation.

Also, speaking ill of the dead is a good way to let people know your true personality.

 

[clownfishsydney]

On my first dive out of the dive course I did a shore dive with two of the divers I did the course with. On my 20th dive, I calmed and brought back to the anchor two "experienced" advanced open water divers who had panicked. Some can, some cannot. I put it down to the fact that I had spent the first 30 years of my life living in and near the ocean, so diving was not that big a change for me.

 

[The Chairman]

I am surprised she didn’t ditch her weights.

Panic. Unfamiliar gear, massively over-weighted, she might have been drinking the night before and... panic.

 

[Marie13]

Panic. Unfamiliar gear, massively over-weighted, she might have been drinking the night before and... panic.

So blaming this one on a cold water diver unfamiliar with warm water isn’t the whole story. Sounds like there was a lack of good judgement going on. Any sensible cold water diver knows you’re going to need less weight with less exposure protection. And the “drinking the night before” - on vacation and partying hard?

 

[The Chairman]

So blaming this one on a cold water diver unfamiliar with warm water isn’t the whole story.

It was a cascade caused by a single mistake. Just because you've dialed in your cold water diving, doesn't mean that diving into warm water requires no thought or adjustment to your kit. Every environment is different. Every environment has its own needs and dangers. Some divers feel that if you can dive deep, dark and cold that you're ready for diving anywhere. While that has a ring of truth to it, you'll still have to make adjustments. It's my belief that her critical fatal mistake was to splash while massively over-weighted. All the other ancillary issues would have been benign without that single provocation. Rather than being the straw, it was the 2 ton boulder that broke the camel's back. Of course, you're free to draw your own conclusions, but I remember this needless tragedy pretty clearly.

Most everyone believes themselves to be immune to panic. You're not. I'm certainly not. No one is. The real problem is we don't know where that line is where we cross from calm deliberations into becoming a blind whirling dervish desperate on doing something, but never quite able to do the right thing. Sometimes it's caused by a sequence of mistakes snowballing into a seemingly insurmountable mega-issue. Sometimes it's the 2 ton boulder breaking the camel's back. Training really, really helps, but you're still not immune. Hours of prep also helps, but again, panic can be just around the corner. Experience is the best defense, but even then you can have the wrong experience. Take it slow. Listen to the locals. Dive within your limits. Dive within your training. Dive within your capabilities. Learn your limits. Honor them. Commit to calling a dive before it has a chance to call you. Take nothing for granted. [/soap box]

 

[Storker]

DURING open water, the divers are acting as independent dive teams. They are under indirect supervision, but only there to intervene if a safety issue comes up. The divers are responsible for their own navigation, own limits, etc etc. Exception to the norm

Over here, that is the norm. No exceptions allowed. We have national regulations on what a dive class compliant with ISO 24801-2 Autonomous Diver should include, and one of the requirements is not four or five, but six open water dives. I certified PADI OW locally, and our two last dives were like you describe it: the divers plan a dive and do that dive as an independent team, just supervised by the instructor and/or a DM.

Which made me confident enough after my OW cert to go diving with my buddy at one of the local sites as soon as we'd gotten our own gear. No DM, only a person on the surface checking that we surfaced within the time we'd given them (something I still think is good practice, and I still like having someone counting bubbles when I'm diving).

 

[Storker]

Only time I want a DM in the water with me is on a trip where they can point out wildlife/ features that I wouldn't know about.

You don't want a DM. You want a guide.

 

[TMHeimer]

On my first dive out of the dive course I did a shore dive with two of the divers I did the course with. On my 20th dive, I calmed and brought back to the anchor two "experienced" advanced open water divers who had panicked. Some can, some cannot. I put it down to the fact that I had spent the first 30 years of my life living in and near the ocean, so diving was not that big a change for me.

Huge difference from someone who may not have ever been over their head in water. Makes you question how anyone could have problems with some of the OW skills--even why some of them are called "skills".

 

[Esprise Me]

I have yet to dive without a DM. Actually, I have yet to dive without an instructor, which is not to say I haven't done any non-training dives, just so happens all my guides have been overqualified. I would be open to diving without a pro if I had a buddy or group with more experience and familiarity with the dive site, but I haven't found such a person or group yet. Even after doing AOW, I don't know if I'd feel comfortable going with just the friend I got certified with in November (who hasn't dived since; not because she doesn't ever plan to, just because it's cold right now.)

How much this says about my instructors and how much it says about me, I'm not really sure. As I learn more I increasingly feel I did not receive good instruction in my OW class, but I thought my AOW instructors were pretty good. So maybe I lack confidence, or maybe I just suck.