Giving advice to newbies concerning guided dives

[chrpai]

Um, whatever. Of course I was diving with a buddy.

I don't know get your angle but believe what you want. I don't care.

---------- Post Merged at 09:44 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 09:31 PM ----------

I did my both my OW (Nov 2000) and AOW (Mar 2001) in Jamaica. After those 10-15 dives or so ( log book long gone ) I started diving with just buddies and haven't dove with a DM since except when required by local law.

Yup.. diving with buddies I was.

 

[Crush]

I don't think there are that many people here who are against guided dives for new divers. We're against "trust-me" dives, where the new diver cedes all responsibility for dive planning and dive decision-making to someone else. If you read here long enough, you'll read horror stories of dives which were led by someone who exceeded the planned depth, got lost, or failed to respond to someone's signal that they were low on gas until the situation got scary.

+1.

Recently I was in warm, tropical water in a 3 mil wetsuit - no appreciable current, shallow depths, great vis, etc.. I still opted to hire a dive guide since I would likely not return for years and the dive guide could point out local flora and fauna far better than I could find it. It was money very well spent.

Would I do a "trust-me" dive into a cavern without my correct gear, not obeying the rule of thirds, etc., even though the guide had done it a hundred times? No. But then again, at least I know (a little bit of) what I don't know. It is often the case that a brand new basic OW diver doesn't know what he/she doesn't know.