OP
Antmany2k
Contributor
erm...........are these people i want to be diving with then or was it an isolated incident?
overwhelming choice for an uninformed solo diver
- Thread starter Antmany2k
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erm...........are these people i want to be diving with then or was it an isolated incident?
- Messages
- 93,422
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- Location
- On the Fun Side of Trump's Wall
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
I was in Hurghada six months ago, and I don't understand the safety concerns. If anything, the people there are too nice ... for an American, it was unsettling.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
You will be fine. The uk inquest didn't blame the club, however it was used by a local to bash independent diving in Malta and Gozo. One of the excellent things there is you can take your kit, hire a jeep and just get full cylinders from local dive centres. Thus it can be just like diving in the UK with none of the pointless DM/guide stuff when it is not required. Guides are available for people that want them as well as full service diving but British divers are generally to mean for that.
You have spent too long in the pub here. The people they are most scared of are nicer than them.
- Messages
- 93,422
- Reaction score
- 91,705
- Location
- On the Fun Side of Trump's Wall
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
People who are fearful tend not to travel ... which is probably just as well for everyone ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
OP
Antmany2k
Contributor
i dived in Gozo with a guide and i thought it was great, the Blue hole and inland shore being particular highlights (despite being stung by a jellyfish and bearded fireworm in the same dive) i don't think i am ready to dive without a guide unless i had a buddy i trusted completely which unfortunately isn't really the case as i have mentioned in other posts, besides a guide tends to know the best places to go so unless i was going back somewhere i had been previously i wouldn't be confident. but i am hoping that joining a dive club down here and meeting new people and diving in cold murky water will improve my skills and my confidence so in the future i could go diving without a guide or DM. i would also do rescue diver course as well
Often guides are not required. In particular if a club or group has been going to the same place for years then someone will know the site well enough. Even on dives I have never done previously I find a guide can be disappointing. Since they are extremely keen to show off all the life that they know is there the dive can practically turn into a zoo tour. You miss out on the feeling of achievement of spotting stuff yourself. sure you seem more stuff with a guide, but then you would watching the TV.
Learn to independent and then you have the choice. Maybe your objective is getting good pictures and a guide is good, maybe it is exploring for your own satisfaction and a guide is not good.
I've done a fair few trips to lots of places. As a BSAC diver, I have been on club trips to the Red Sea (hired a day boat just for us, so essentially had our own water taxi) and Malta (where we got cylinders, lead and air from an LDS, but were completely self sufficient in all else). I have also run a club exped to Gibraltar where we had a private equipment store and boats that we hired for the two weeks.
That said, while my regular buddy was on a couple of the club trips, most of my overseas diving has been done without him. I have also done solo trips to Lanzarote, France, and around the UK, where I had either an instabuddy (mixed results), casual companion or a guide. I always prefer to hire a guide when in an unknown site so I get to see all the juicy bits.
I would happily go either way - on club trips or as a lone wolf tipping up at a centre. I am actually about to have 6 months of lone wolfing in the Caribbean as being sent overseas with work. Lone wolfing to me has a requirement for a robust sense of humour, a reasonably thick skin and a decent handful of patience.
For UK diving definitely find a club - almost every coastal village seems to have its own BSAC branch, and where the locals are, the local knowledge also tends to be. Clubs, in my experience, will have a weekly/monthly social evening in the private bar if possessed, or down the local, so you can all get together and catch up. Each weekend will probably hold at least one diving day, sometimes both (in summer and larger clubs). Many clubs own their own boats, so you would book a space onto a scheduled dive, and then get buddied up by the Dive Manager/Supervisor so people with similar interests can dive together, or instructors don't get always get stuck with the brand new divers. Summer would usually hold at least an evening dive a week as well. Once you have met and dived with the club you'll get to know people and could start arranging your own private 'splash and dash'evening trips outside of the club diving. Brighton has 3 clubs in the immediate area
SCUBA diving find it tool, trip reports to wrecks, to big critters
Let us know how you get on
That said, while my regular buddy was on a couple of the club trips, most of my overseas diving has been done without him. I have also done solo trips to Lanzarote, France, and around the UK, where I had either an instabuddy (mixed results), casual companion or a guide. I always prefer to hire a guide when in an unknown site so I get to see all the juicy bits.
I would happily go either way - on club trips or as a lone wolf tipping up at a centre. I am actually about to have 6 months of lone wolfing in the Caribbean as being sent overseas with work. Lone wolfing to me has a requirement for a robust sense of humour, a reasonably thick skin and a decent handful of patience.
For UK diving definitely find a club - almost every coastal village seems to have its own BSAC branch, and where the locals are, the local knowledge also tends to be. Clubs, in my experience, will have a weekly/monthly social evening in the private bar if possessed, or down the local, so you can all get together and catch up. Each weekend will probably hold at least one diving day, sometimes both (in summer and larger clubs). Many clubs own their own boats, so you would book a space onto a scheduled dive, and then get buddied up by the Dive Manager/Supervisor so people with similar interests can dive together, or instructors don't get always get stuck with the brand new divers. Summer would usually hold at least an evening dive a week as well. Once you have met and dived with the club you'll get to know people and could start arranging your own private 'splash and dash'evening trips outside of the club diving. Brighton has 3 clubs in the immediate area
SCUBA diving find it tool, trip reports to wrecks, to big critters
Let us know how you get on
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