Navigation

[TSandM]

My poll on what people expect from a dive guide has resulted in near unanimity that the dive guide should be responsible for the navigation.

I can remember being a new diver. I did a lot of dives with NW Grateful Diver, who was my mentor. I let Bob lead, and I ceded virtually ALL responsibility for navigation to him, while I worked on buoyancy control, trim, and kicking techniques. But the sites we were diving were sites where, if I lost Bob and couldn't work out my route home, I could surface and swim in. It might not be comfortable, but it was eminently possible and safe.

On the other hand, I had a rude awakening in Southern California a few years back. I got in the water with two new-to-me buddies, who were both experienced off that boat and at that site. We took off in a train of three, and I was busy looking for critters and enjoying the relatively unfamiliar environment -- right up until the point where the leader signaled to me that I was to take over the lead on the dive. I had only the most rudimentary idea of our course, and where the boat was . . . I was immediately very stressed and anxious, and as it turns out, managed to muddle our way back to where sheer fortune gave me a glimpse of the anchor chain. Not one single time since then have I done a dive where I didn't pay attention to where we went and how we were to get to safety, whether that was shore or boat.

So I'm wondering, given the results of the poll, what new divers feel they would need to take more responsibility for their navigation. Did you not get enough practice with a compass? Did you not get good information about natural navigation? Do you just not have the bandwidth to manage everything you need to do to dive, AND handle navigation? Or did no one ever make you think about what would happen, if you followed a guide to somewhere unknown and then lost them?

How could dive instructors or mentors make navigation a more manageable task for new divers?

 

[TMHeimer]

Again, not a newbie, but it has been my experience that compass navigation skills in OW courses is saddly lacking. Only one of the instructors that I have worked with had the students do a reciprocal heading drill. The others simply had them set a heading to the buoy and go there. Heck, you could just stay with the group and get there, not learning anything. I guess that's just one of the things that left the OW course long before I was certified.

 

[Dive the World]

Everyone is responsible for Navigation or finding the anchor.

Recently happened to me - where I was leading and could not find the anchor. Good thing is my buddy new where it was.

Just because someone leading the dive - it does not mean you the play along with the follow the leader game.

 

[undrwater]

The OW nav course, even if done well, would not prepare someone necessarily to independently lead, especially at an unfamiliar site. As a buddy knowledgeable of a site, I usually will attempt to educate my buddy how to navigate the site. If I am the buddy unfamiliar with the site, I like to get the info down before dunking.

To answer the question: navigation should be a part of the pre-dive check. I'll take a guide to show me the cool stuff.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

I was taught navigation adequately in the PADI OW, but the skill was cemented well in the AOW class. I feel that these classes prepared me well, but my instructors were very good and may have been better than average instructors. I feel confident in my navigation abilities, and I always carry my compass.

My instructors made it manageable for me by having the divers figure out navigation a few times each on land, making sure we knew how to use the compass without help from the instructor or other divers. Then we did multiple underwater drills where he tested us in shoddy visibility.

I think the problem isn't necessarily with the instruction; it might be the lack of practice people do after the instruction. Most dive charters don't check their customers for navigation equipment, so most charter divers I've encountered don't have compasses on them. Some divers, especially newer divers, figure that if the DM is going to lead from the start, he's going to lead for the entire dive; thus, these divers don't pay attention to the navigation.

I've been guilty of that a few times, but nowadays, I pay attention to the compass and the topography, even when being led.

 

[Lucas Cordina]

Personally, I don't believe it's instruction that's the problem, but new divers don't pay attention to the route they're taking, they're busy perfecting Buoyancy & Trim, and the instructors want them to do that, it's a lot to take in at first, so having a new diver try to manage both that and navigation would make for a very anxious diver, and a very short dive.

That said, when a new diver finally gets things down, and is diving with a dive master, it's not a bad idea for the diver to be proactive, look around; keep track of the route and see if the dive master is going in the your guessed track; and most importantly, learning to keep themselves oriented

I'm a new diver, and that stuff really did help me, though I have to admit, I haven't completely gotten it down yet

 

[Divejones]

point to point navigation helps, caters for drift etc,

 

[Griffo]

I'm in the "lack of practice" as well as "task loading" camps. Most of my local dive sites are so simple, you only need natural nav. The occasional glace at the compass is the most that's ever needed, but it's normally depth, slope, features etc that allow you to get out and back. So you become lazy. Recently when I had to use the compass for actual navigation (the first site is a 300 degrees about 50m away, then take a bearing to xxx etc) over featureless expanses of sand, I admit that I hovered there underwater for a minute double checking that I was using the bezel properly. I'd simply not done it in months so it wasn't habitual. It only took me a few moments to work it out, but I had to think, and that's not good.

When I first started diving I never looked at the compass, I was too busy working on everything else to have to think of navigation as well! I remember distinctly the first time I was in a group where nobody was "in charge". We were on a liveaboard that did not have any DM's or guides, and we were all as equally reliant on the briefing to get there and back from a live dropoff - we had to navigate back to a different point for the pickup each dive. At that point I realised I had never really had to truly navigate underwater since my Nav course, and wished I had practiced it a whole lot more. On one dive we certainly got lost (all three of us in our group were convinced that the boat was in a different direction lol) but it's good practice when you have have to rely on your own skill.

I think also as you get more experienced, and relaxed, you actually take in more of the underwater scenery, so natural nav becomes almost instinctive.

 

[west0ne]

Not sure about other agencies but the entry level OW course for PADI requires that you can follow a straight line compass heading and return back to your start point by following a reciprocal heading. This is usually practiced on dry land before the start of the dive. Once in the water the instructor will have you follow a course until you can no longer see your start point you then have to follow the reverse heading and hopefully find your start point. Only once you do the AOW do you start looking to set headings and measuring distance using time or kick-cycles. I can't even recall the OW course mentioning navigation by site, I thinks that's in the AOW course as well.

I actually bought the Navigation speciality book and DVD to pick up navigation, but honestly still not that good at it. I did do a bit of orienteering in my younger days which helped.

How does looking at your compass help you to know where you are unless you start looking at the compass from a known point?

As for my view of a guide, when I'm somewhere I don't know and just out for a relaxing dive it's good to use them like a tour guide and have them point out things of interest that I can go back and see at a later date on my own.

I do think that some people expect too much of a newly qualified diver with on the entry level certification, dive plans will only ever be simple as the certification didn't teach much complexity.

 

[Bigd2722]

I learned more about navigation and compass work as a Boy Scout than I did in OW and AOW. Navigation is still a challenge for me (17 years) and I must make a concious effort to pay attention on each and every dive. Most of my diving is drift diving which doesn't require much navigation and tends to lead to rusty skills