New diver excited for first trip

[escinkc]

Hi folks - I have always wanted to dive and never made it happen until I was in Australia on the GBR with my wife last year. We were going to snorkel together and I decided I would try the "intro dive." Two 25 minute dives - first to about 25 feet and the second to 40. It was really great and I told me wife - it changed my life!

So I came home and got my open water certification. My first certified dive is coming up in May - I will be in Miami for a business trip so I am tacking on some time for diving before the biz event. I booked two morning charters that I understand will be a John Pennekamp park at Key Largo in about 25 to 35 feet of water. My wife won't dive, so I will be a single diver on the trip. I wish she would but she's not that comfortable in the water.

I have a question but will gladly take it to another part of the forum if that is better manners - it concerns being a single diver and getting paired up with strangers because I'm not hiring a dive guide - the charter outfit said people do that all the time and other divers expect it - but is it considered annoying to more experienced divers to have a beginner getting paired up with them? I don't know how conventional this is, and don't want to be 'that guy' if it is really kind of uncool to do so. She kind of discouraged me from bothering to hire the guide at $60 additional cost. And I don't mind saving the money if it's not really necessary for such a shallow dive.

I am 55 years old, in excellent fitness, and have a pretty natural comfort level with scuba. I don't think I will be a burden to anyone, but it will be my first 'real' dive. Any tips are welcome!

Thanks! And I look forward to learning more about this incredible sport and meeting new people involved with it.

 

[DiverAmy]

That's a great place to dive (as a new diver and even later).

I personally would probably decline to buddy with you. After all I paid my money to dive as well, and I can almost always dive for as long as is allowed by the dive operator because my gas consumption is pretty good, and I would want to enjoy the fullest possible experience. In my experience new divers generally go through their gas pretty quickly. I'm sure many people would gladly buddy up with you, however. If I could easily afford $60 and I was a new diver (or even diving in conditions that I was unfamiliar with or felt unsure) I would gladly pay someone to dive with me.

Have a great time in Pennekamp! The diving is sublime!

 

[RyanT]

Welcome escinkc. Your concern has been discussed quite a bit here on ScubaBoard. You might try searching some of the threads. In the meantime, the "insta-buddy" thing is quite common. Often dive charters will try to pair up divers of similar skill levels, but this is not universal. The dives you are planning are quite easy, such that even the novice diver shouldn't have too hard of a time. Probably the biggest advice I can give is just communicate well with your new buddy. Be honest about your experience level, ask questions, and talk about your expectations before you splash. Many experienced divers don't mind a little mentoring when they know what to expect. If you get paid up with an experienced diver, communicate your experience clearly, and then they get mad afterwards, well, that's on them.

 

[Stoo]

Oh boy... First of all, welcome to diving. There's nothing like it. Well there probably is, but whatever it is, it's probably illegal and likely immoral...

I said "oh boy" because you have hit upon a tricky subject. You are right, most experienced divers, and especially those that have a buddy already, probably won't be enthused about diving with a stranger. It's nothing personal, but they likely have their own plan and purpose for the dive, and having to "baby sit" a new diver, may not be in the cards.

So that leaves some other random single diver... and you have no idea of their abilities, or of their "way" of diving. With luck, you get together with a qualified patient diver. Alternatively, you could get stuck with some guy whose a disaster...

Hiring a DM is the easy solution, but then where's the fun in that?

If you leave things to chance, then I suggest that you quietly observe other passengers from the moment that they arrive. Try to identify the person that seems to be alone and competent and perhaps ask them if they have a buddy, and see where the conversation goes.

 

[Bubblesong]

It might be worth the money to get feedback on how to improve your diving from an experienced professional diver, instead of potentially getting paired up with another new diver, or a bad diver.

 

[arcticat99]

i myself just got my open water back insept and then did 6 dives in the Caribbean in January 2 in grand turks 2 grand caymen and 2 in Cozumel each dive i was getting better and more comfortable,yes we did the insta buddy thing but the groups were max 4 per dive master .i myself being new to diving my first priority was to stay close to the lead dive master and my dive buddy followed close behind on all dives they had way more experience and were cool with this.and at times would go deeper to check things out and then came back knowing i was sticking close to the dm .you know that they are making back to the boat

 

[escinkc]

Thanks everyone for the fast and helpful replies. I think after seeing your responses I will plan on hiring the dive guide for the first day, and maybe play it by ear for the second day. Like I said, I don't want to be a drag on anyone and even though I am comfortable with being on scuba in my very limited experiences, I'm sure I would go through my gas faster than experienced divers and that would not be great for them. I also envision if I was there with my wife or son or something like that, and some newb got connected to us, it might take a little away from the experience we had planned together.

I look forward to perusing these forums and learning more about the dos and don'ts and general etiquette kind of stuff along with technical issues. It's the little things that make you a good partner no matter the sport. Having gone golfing alone many times or showing up for pickup tennis games, I've learned every sport has subtle and often unspoken rules that a new person should make the effort to learn when pairing up with strangers. And since nobody else in my family dives, I better get used to it!

 

[Darnold9999]

When scoping out other divers you will want to put those with cameras at the bottom of the list. Not to say that they can't be a good buddy, but the odds are lower

 

[escinkc]

Interesting comment about cameras - being new to the sport, I can't imagine not grabbing a little go-pro footage while down there. Maybe one gets over that need after a little experience?

 

[RyanT]

I think what Darnold9999 was getting at is that some photographers tend to get caught up in the photography and forget to pay attention to their buddy.