First Dive w/o a DM

[jen_b]

So I ended up in a weird situation last month. My brother and I had a chance to do shore dives for one day in Roatan and we couldn't pass it up. The thing is- we're both new divers. For the first dive we had a guide, that was only our 9th dive. We both really wanted to dive a second tank while there, but none of the DMs had time to go with us- so we did a short shallow dive together after. It went fine, but I couldn't help but feel like it was a bad idea. I guess my question is- how many dives did everyone here have before they were comfortable diving without a DM or otherwise very experienced buddy???

Thanks

 

[TSandM]

From my 14th dive on, the vast majority of my dives have been without any sort of guide. On the other hand, I dove with a couple in the Red Sea who had been diving for many years, and did their FIRST dive without a guide on that trip. I was really amazed, and they were a little apprehensive but then very pleased to have had the experience.

My 14th dive was a shore dive on Maui, where my husband and I went out to look for a reef and didn't find it. It was kind of exciting, to be off on our own . . . but after all, that's what you get certified for, isn't it? We're supposed to be independent divers.

I don't think it was a bad idea. I think it was splendid, and you showed good judgment by making it a simple dive.

 

[noreastDIVER84]

I have done all my dives (35) with a divemaster or instructor, with the exception of 3, two were with a friend, and one was solo doing some recovery work for items dropped off my boat. I questioned whether I should have gone in to do that, but I did it and found everything that was dropped.(in less than 20' of water to my surprise). Although if you are certified, and have are with someone else who is certified; and you both feel comfortable with your abilities, than why not.

 

[Atom]

Go for it!! An OW is supposed to train you to dive independently, and diving without a guide is a great way to build your confidence and put you more at ease in the water. It'll make you plan the dives yourself (and keep those skills intact), something that a lot of people don't do on guided dives. And it'll also be good for your navigation skills, since you'll have to use them. Of course take it easy and dive within your limits.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

It sounds like I'm at about the same experience level as you are. I'd only done a couple of dives since I was certified in 2005, so when I went on a dive trip over the holidays this year, I re-took an OW class. My buddy was taking OW for the first time, although he is very comfortable in and under the water.

I was feeling very glad to have instructors right with us.

Then came a day that there wasn't an instructor available (we had been going to take AOW), and... unexpectedly, we were on our own! The trip was to be a boat trip out to a relatively shallow reef (35'), so from that angle it was not going to be complicated. The boat captain was one we had been out with on our previous dives (he did not get in the water though but stayed on the boat).

Okay.... nerves!

But you know what? As it turned out I actually felt better about it in many ways. Not "better" as in "I wish I'd never gone with an instructor," but just that it was a great experience. The thing is, on the dives with an instructor, I was busy paying attention to them and following them, and that in some ways took the place of some of the thinking for myself. Also, you need to keep to the instructor's schedule, so you go in when they do, and dive their dive. Not that this is a bad thing, of course.

Once we knew we were on our own, and we got down to making our plan, I started to feel good about it. We talked over how we wanted to make our dive, how/when/where we would descend and ascend, when we would turn back to the boat, what we might want to practice, and also went over hand signals, etc.

After the boat got situated, we took our time doing a buddy check, made sure we were both comfortable, and then... we were off! Both dives were great experiences, and although I was at first disappointed and nervous that there wasn't someone to go with us and instruct us, it turned out to be a great experience and a real highlight

Like you, we went on a dive that was relatively simple.

So although I can't speak for you, or from the position of expertise, I just wanted to give you my perspective, since we're in a somewhat similar place in our diving.

B.

Me:

May 2005: OW certified with two lake dives cold, murky water
July 2005: Two boat dives in Key Largo with very experienced buddy

January 2008: Two boat dives in Marathon with DM who was specifically my buddy (not the group guide)

December 2009: Took OW course again in Florida Keys with buddy who was taking it for the first time, including four ocean dives for checkouts.

One night dive with group guide

Four independent dives with my newly certified buddy

Looking forward to more

 

[carrielsal]

I was certified with my ex-husband 15 years ago. We started out by diving with a local club. It gave us a chance to be in the water with other divers, look at other divers gear, and ask tons of questions.

 

[Sas]

My first dives were like this:
-first two off a boat in Egypt, with a guy holding my hand leading me around. Didn't have any training for this but pretty much this guy did everything for me including operating my BC
-next 8 were OW course
-2 with a DM
-2 on a night diving course
-another 2 with a DM

So for dive 17 I arranged via SB to meet a guy on a boat to do a dive together. He bailed due to a cold (and I've never seen or heard of him since...) so I nervously showed up alone on a boat. A bunch of people said they didn't want to dive with me as they wanted to go deep (a 70m deep wall dive, think they were going to 40) but one lovely guy volunteered to be my buddy. We did a 40min dive to 21m so I went a bit beyond my OW recommended depth (I had seen some sharks) but only for a bit. I remember being freaked out when this happened and my buddy noticed so swum shallower even though there wasn't heaps of interesting things shallower. The viz wasn't great (3m) so I stuck to him like glue. I was pretty nervous all around but my buddy was nice, and looked out for me well. I actually ran into him a few months ago and remembered me, so I thanked him again for making my first dive by myself a lot more comfortable.

My second dive of the day was a drift dive with a new set of people on the boat (boats return between dives so often you'll end up with completely different people), my first one of those and again I had a good instabuddy. I was following tables (I was given a computer with my rental gear but I didn't understand how it worked) and calculated that I only had a short period of time (30mins) to dive given my last profile. The boat captain looked at my computer and said I would be fine to do the run time of 45mins, and a bunch of people were saying they'd been deeper than me on the first dive so I'd be fine but I just didn't understand how my computer worked so didn't want to do longer and one guy said he would dive with me and just come up earlier with me.

Since then I've only done a handful of dives with a DM and it's been to get them to show me stuff rather than hold my hand.

In hindsight I got lucky having a good buddy on a dive with good conditions that can be quite difficult at other times (big up and down currents and it's dependent on slackwater so if that finishes you have to do your stops drifting in a current, and there can be a lot of surge). I'd recommend doing your first dives without a DM on a much easier site and with someone you know.

 

[DiveDocMD]

My first dive trip was to Aruba, this after finishing my OW certification in a nearby quarry. I traveled with a good friend and his brother. They were certified divers but without a great deal of experience and not having been diving for quite some time.

Our first dives were on Renaissance Island, now a part of the Mariott hotel. The guy running the watersport service drew us a map of the airplane dive site and pointed to our tanks. We were on our own. It was very good practice. We went through our predive check list over and over. We discussed our dive plan. We triple checked our gear and hand signals. We executed out plan to a T.

I think that the fact that we we on our own made us better divers. You are obligated to be a more responsible diver. After all, that's what its all about.

Sure, some dive sites and dive conditions are better done with someone more experienced whether a guide or a divemaster. But don't sell yourself short. Be comfortable and be responsible.

 

[Becca_007]

Took me zero dives. Lol. I took my basic class in 1992 but never dove after the OWs. The boyfriend decided to get certified in 2008. Yay! He finished his class in July, we bought our own gear, tried it out in the pool, and did our first dive as buddies in August. We were with a local group so they briefed us on the site but in these cool/dark waters your buddy is pretty much the only other diver you often see. Our second dive was with the group as well but our third was just the two of us. End of August we took the advanced class so had instructors with us then went back to diving with the local group and by ourselves too. Our first DM/guide experience was on boats dives in Cozumel. I definitely appreciated the stuff they pointed out and liked that they were around without crowding us but we are comfortable on our own too. However, maybe I'd feel different without a DM if I was diving out in the big blue versus our little shore dives.

 

[diver 85]

In 1985, my wife, daughter & I were diving by ourselves on dives #5 on--ie the dives after our 4 checkout dives.....& as for as I know, we all felt very comfortable, @ least neither one of them said anything otherwise......IMO, it really depends on your training or lack of.....

Remember, we're all certified divers after getting signed off----