Just how important is Navigation to the Recreational Diver

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Teamcasa

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Since DEMA there has been more chatter about UW Navigation systems like GPS for recreational divers but really, how important is it?

Here in SoCal most dive charters do not provide a DM or guide and we are expected to do all our own navigation and the same applies to shore diving. You went in as a team; you find your way out as a team. For those gifted with that innate ability to navigate this is not an issue but for those who tend to get lost in the mall, they might have an entirely different perspective.

Navigation is indeed a skill that can and should be learned but for the majority of recreational divers that will not dive without a DM or guide or, they dive inside a confined space like a dive park, quarry or lake, just how important is it?
 
Ask the guy who goes out in the ocean, looses the morning line, surfaces a mile from the boat.
If they ever find them :wink:

Even with a DM you can get lost.
 
Ask the guy who goes out in the ocean, looses the morning line, surfaces a mile from the boat.
If they ever find them :wink:
At that moment, he's got bigger problems than his navigation skills.
 
I think navigation both natural and with a traditional compass is a great skill and I always recomend as part of AOW course along with PPB. True many people only dive with a guide, but would enjoy there diving so much more if they had the confidence to let the guide out of sight and still be able to navigate the dive site and back to the shore or boat.
 
My interest in the underwater GPS isn't for recreational or even technical diving, but rather for underwater archaeology. :)
 
If you are oriented and have an idea where you are then you are a more relaxed diver and a relaxed diver is a safer diver. I don't see how anyone can call themselves an advanced diver without at least an orientation to underwater navigation.
 
If all your dives are during the day, in warm, open water, with no deco obligation, from a shore line that you can swim directly two and exit from at any point, I suppose it isn't that important.

If not then I would suggest very.
 
I think that navigation is a critical skill, right up there with buoyancy and trim.
 
My interest in GPS isn't for the navigation, but the fidelity of the maps. I like looking at the topography and then do explorations based on what looks interesting.

Around here, it's easy to travel the same routes, but amazing things can lurk on the road to a destination. Having a clue of the potential would spark more poking around.

As to the OP's questions, navigation is critical to OW recreational diving. Everyone should be an active participant of the dive, and this includes knowing the navigation.
 
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