Very good question you are asking. When I dove in the Florida Keys in 2008 I decided not to pay the extra expense for a dive master. Me and my wife had approximately 90 dive each with most of these being in the Caribbean Ocean. All of the dives were fairly shallow that we did (20-30 ft) and any diver would assume that these are easy.
The problem is that there is a lot more going on in the ocean than an inland quarry. There might be waves, current and surge that you have to contend with. The underwater topography can sometimes be confusing. Your dive boat ties up to a mooring buoy and in the water you go. You get you bearing and start you dive. You go from this reef feature to the next and so on. You will see so many fish and other creatures that you visually get overwhelmed. Before you know it the location of you entry is soon forgotten. Trying to find a dive boat when you are under water is not as easy as people might think.
I was able to get us back to the boat most of the time, but there was one dive with sharks and eagle rays that we were chasing around that soon I had lost my bearings. We had to surface to find the boat and had quite a swim on the surface against the current. Little incidents like these are how the dive fatalities you read about in DAN Magazine begin.
If its you first time in the ocean, I would take a dive master. If you don't want to pay the extra cost, go to a dive destination (almost everywhere in the world except the USA) where a DM is included with your dives. Good Luck and Enjoy Diving!!!
Just got back from Roatan and heading to Okinawa! It's great being retired!!!
The problem is that there is a lot more going on in the ocean than an inland quarry. There might be waves, current and surge that you have to contend with. The underwater topography can sometimes be confusing. Your dive boat ties up to a mooring buoy and in the water you go. You get you bearing and start you dive. You go from this reef feature to the next and so on. You will see so many fish and other creatures that you visually get overwhelmed. Before you know it the location of you entry is soon forgotten. Trying to find a dive boat when you are under water is not as easy as people might think.
I was able to get us back to the boat most of the time, but there was one dive with sharks and eagle rays that we were chasing around that soon I had lost my bearings. We had to surface to find the boat and had quite a swim on the surface against the current. Little incidents like these are how the dive fatalities you read about in DAN Magazine begin.
If its you first time in the ocean, I would take a dive master. If you don't want to pay the extra cost, go to a dive destination (almost everywhere in the world except the USA) where a DM is included with your dives. Good Luck and Enjoy Diving!!!
Just got back from Roatan and heading to Okinawa! It's great being retired!!!