Question Guided dives for newbie on Ribbon Reef - necessary?

[HelpI'mNotSinking]

Hi all-
I'm interested in taking the 3 day SOF Cod Hole/Ribbon Reef liveaboard in December as I'm a newbie diver (Open Water cert in March 2021). The enticing-but-more-challenging 4 day to Coral Sea is geared toward Advanced divers, so unfortunately that is out.

I'll be traveling alone, and SOF doesn't offer guided dives. Should I be more inclined to find a dive operator that has a dive guide, or just hope my dive buddy either a) can spot creatures more easily and/or b) isn't a total weirdo?

Thanks!

-KC

 

[Damselfish]

How much guiding are you looking for?

Per their website it appears they have a guide in the water for the “inexperienced” and you can go with that group or not as you please. (But as I’m sure you know, you should still be primarily relying on yourself and your buddy rather than on a guide, even if there is one.)
The way it is all written it seems to me they want to avoid overcommitting.

That pattern of a guide that you can follow or not, and many people don’t, is typical for LOBs in many places.

All that said, we ran into some snarky conditions even on a cod hole/ribbon trip and might think twice (as you are) about signing up for this if I was a newbie without a known reliable buddy.

 

[HelpI'mNotSinking]

Makes sense. Unfortunately I am going to be solo unless Glenda the Good Witch comes down and gifts me with me a scuba diving boyfriend. The cost is higher than other boats with a better crew-pax ratio than others, so it might weed out some of the newer divers.

I'm a strong swimmer but takes me awhile to equalize. Once I'm down, I'm fine, it just takes a few more minutes than most, but it might annoy some people.

 

[chris kippax]

Get some more experieince locally first, then your trip will be more enjoyable. Why don't you try Lady Elliott Island first?

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

First off how many dives have you done since qualifying, and have you done any at depths below 18m?

Loads of OW divers go on this trip so dont be stressed out about that and the majority are traveling by themselves.

If you have not dived below 18 then you will need to do a Deep Adventure Dive (can be counted towards PADI Advanced) once on board, as nearly all sites have opportunities to go deeper and you will be quite restricted at shallower depths.

You will be buddied up with one or 2 people and there are plenty of staff in the water to follow if you wanted. Sits are very well briefed.

Personally I always advise you look to take the Advanced course on board as this way you not only get to expand your skills but also are in the water with an instructor to help for 5 of those dives, so its better than guide. Its only $285 extra. Most shared guides on day boats go for $30 per person per dive, so Adv better value

 

[HelpI'mNotSinking]

First off how many dives have you done since qualifying, and have you done any at depths below 18m?

Loads of OW divers go on this trip so dont be stressed out about that and the majority are traveling by themselves.

If you have not dived below 18 then you will need to do a Deep Adventure Dive (can be counted towards PADI Advanced) once on board, as nearly all sites have opportunities to go deeper and you will be quite restricted at shallower depths.

You will be buddied up with one or 2 people and there are plenty of staff in the water to follow if you wanted. Sits are very well briefed.

Personally I always advise you look to take the Advanced course on board as this way you not only get to expand your skills but also are in the water with an instructor to help for 5 of those dives, so its better than guide. Its only $285 extra. Most shared guides on day boats go for $30 per person per dive, so Adv better value

None, unfortunately. We did approximately 6 on my OW cert, max depth 18m. I'm going to do a refresher dive (not the official PADI renewal, just a "Yo, remember how to do this?" thing) on Sunny Coast before the trip.

I did my OW down on Gold Coast so anything I see will be likely be better!

 

[mwerle]

Makes sense. Unfortunately I am going to be solo unless Glenda the Good Witch comes down and gifts me with me a scuba diving boyfriend.

Lol, most of us guys have the opposite problem!! Shame you're not in Tokyo

As others have said, if you have the time, instead of doing a "refresher" you might want to consider doing at least an Adventure course if not your entire AOW before going. It should only take a weekend or two at most and will get you much more comfortable in the water, as well as giving you the opportunity to go a bit deeper (not that you really need it on Ribbon iirc). Even if you get your AOW I still wouldn't recommend you go on the full outer reef tour though with only that number of dives under your belt.

The alternative is to go to Heron or one of the other southern islands for a week, and do a bunch of diving there. Easy dives, always with a guide, amazing corals and heaps of turtles, and you'll get plenty of practise before going on a trip out from Cairns next year.

As regards Instabuddy, socialize on the way out with the other solo divers and see with who you "click" instead of waiting until just before the first dive and get buddied up at random.

Whatever you decide to do, I'm sure you'll have an awesome time Jealous - the water is definitely getting colder now around here!!

 

[boulderjohn]

When I dived with SOF several years ago, everyone did a checkout dive, after which we were put into groups. My group was free to do whatever we wanted without supervision. Everyone else had a dive guide. Some of them, believe it or not, had even less experience than you. Two were Scuba Diver certified--not even full Open Water.

No problem.

 

[HelpI'mNotSinking]

When I dived with SOF several years ago, everyone did a checkout dive, after which we were put into groups. My group was free to do whatever we wanted without supervision. Everyone else had a dive guide. Some of them, believe it or not, had even less experience than you. Two were Scuba Diver certified--not even full Open Water.

No problem.

Good to know. I suck at equalizing "quickly" so I'm sure they'll put me in the remedial/slow learning group.

 

[Damselfish]

Good to know. I suck at equalizing "quickly" so I'm sure they'll put me in the remedial/slow learning group.

Or not, more to it than that. I’ve been diving for over 20 years and I’m a slow equalizer too. Especially after days of 4-5 dives a day.