After your ow course, were you able to dive without Dm/instr?

[Marie13]

My experience is the same as that of @Marie13.

When I am diving an unfamiliar site, I may well seek out a buddy who is experienced there. That person need not be a DM. While a DM can be a guide, a guide does not need to be a DM.

Around here, DMs tend to primarily assist with instruction. Once the course is finished, their DM role is finished and I go back to diving with them as friends and dive buddies.

Never understood why some feel that a DM must be in the water with them at all times...

It’s the warm water vacation occasional divers who seem to have that attitude. I once had a moderately experienced diver who was a warm water vacation diver who told me I didn’t know squat since I had never dived with a DM. I told her she wouldn’t know what to do being dropped on a Great Lakes wreck with no DM. Swim around on your own. Oh, the freedom!

 

[Neilwood]

My first dives after OW were 3 shore dives of an island on the west coast of Scotland.

Was organised by the dive school but I was diving with a couple of other OW divers. Actually had issues with getting a dive computer for that first dive (the van that had them was held up getting on the ferry) so ended up sharing DC with my buddy on the initial dive (the computers showed up after that). Actually ended up doing my first OW dive post qualification to 22m quite a distance from the instructors/DM groups that were doing OW check outs. My insta buddy that weekend wasn't aware that I was freshly minted OW and didn't pick it up from the way I dived which to me was a good thing. Never once thought I needed or wanted a DM or instructor in the group.

Only time I want a DM in the water with me is on a trip where they can point out wildlife/ features that I wouldn't know about.

 

[Damselfish]

We didn't dive with a DM/Instructor until like 2 years after getting certified in 1990, except for AOW dives. Not sure we even realized that was a thing, as diving on our own was what we were taught and knew. Our first independent dive was an hour after certification at the same site we finished at (Rockport MA), as in instructor basically said "off you go." Also, "do 20 dives on your own before we do AOW." That was all local, then we did trips to the FL Keys and Bonaire, where there wasn't a DM in the water. I think our first dives with a DM were in Maui.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I was stuck on my knees, cratered to the bottom with 36 lbs of lead, holding onto a rope. We never planned our own dive. Oh, we did have a 5th dive after doing a CESA as that counted for another dive by going down again (not).

I had no clue. I believe that the dive planning materials provided by all the agencies I have seen to be insufficient however. So I wrote one for my region and I'm looking to release the second revision this weekend where I added a fair bit of content and included metric.

 

[scubadada]

I was certified by the LA County Underwater Unit in 1970 at age 16. I spent the next 10 years, doing mostly shore dives in Southern California with a buddy or by myself. My initial training prepared me very well for independent diving in my local conditions.

 

[Dogbowl]

OP, I doubt you’re gonna get a representative poll response.

If you look at the people who have posted and look at what kind of diving they did first or continue to mainly do, it’s mainly cold water diving, people from “colder” places, North Americans or Europeans, where no DM is the norm. In many tropical places like the Caribbean, Red Sea, Indo Pacific, DMs are the norm (and sometimes required by law). I would hazard to guess that on a worldwide basis warm water vacation divers diving with a DM far outnumber cold water divers diving without a DM. So why are we not hearing from the majority but only from the minority? This poll is really North American and Euro-centric. Again an example of where the views of SB are really skewed.

Not to mention some cultures are proudly DIYer’s while others don’t give a hoot.

It’s well known that cold water divers look down on warm water divers here on SB. Look at how proud cold water divers are of their skills, and how quickly they complain about warm water divers’ lack of skills? So why on earth would anyone come here and broadcast that they’ve never dived without a DM before? Or that they’re uncomfortable doing so? I’ve pretty much admitted to that but that’s probably because I’m actually quite confident in my own skills (I have very little diving ego) and don’t really care what people think of my skills. I’ve seen some cold water trained divers that are not all they’re cracked up to be, and some really amazing warm water divers.

This thread is extremely self-selective and some of the posts don’t sit right with me. It’s like stepping on others to show how good you are.

I know I’ve offended a lot of SB friends but that’s how I’m seeing this thread guys.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I was a free diver before getting my OW cert. I had also scuba dived once before taking my class. My first wife and I made dives the same day we were handed our temporary card.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Thankfully I quickly found experienced buddies via Scubaboard. They helped me immensely to learn and grow quickly. I never dived with a DM or Instructor after OW outside of further courses and one Discover Local Diving workshop to learn the ins and outs of diving in kelp.

 

[Neilwood]

OP, I doubt you’re gonna get a representative poll response.

If you look at the people who have posted and look at what kind of diving they did first or continue to mainly do, it’s mainly cold water diving, people from “colder” places, North Americans or Europeans, where no DM is the norm. In many tropical places like the Caribbean, Red Sea, Indo Pacific, DMs are the norm (and sometimes required by law). I would hazard to guess that on a worldwide basis warm water vacation divers diving with a DM far outnumber cold water divers diving without a DM. So why are we not hearing from the majority but only from the minority? This poll is really North American and Euro-centric. Again an example of where the views of SB are really skewed.

Not to mention some cultures are proudly DIY’s while others don’t give a hoot.

It’s well known that cold water divers look down on warm water divers here on SB. Look at how proud cold water divers are of their skills, and how quickly they complain about warm water divers’ lack of skills? So why on earth would anyone come here and broadcast that they’ve never dived without a DM before? Or that they’re uncomfortable doing so? I’ve pretty much admitted to that but that’s probably because I’m actually quite confident in my own skills (I have very little diving ego) and don’t really care what people think of my skills. I’ve seen some cold water trained divers that are not all they’re cracked up to be, and some really amazing warm water divers.

This thread is extremely self-selective and some of the posts don’t sit right with me. It’s like stepping on others to show how good you are.

I know I’ve offended a lot of SB friends but that’s how I’m seeing this thread guys.

I look on cold and warm water dives as both having different issues to address (having dived in both). Every type of dive brings its own set of problems ( for example we don't have huge issues with vertical currents where we dive at home but they seem more common in warm water areas). There are also more things in warm water that can seriously harm you than off the UK coast such as lionfish, etc.

If your instructor has done his job you should be able to operate as a diver (that is what the course is supposed to set you up to do). You should have the skills AND the confidence to get out there and dive. Some people though either have just scraped the skills or still lack a bit of confidence to actually make that step to DM free and like it as a "safety belt" - in this case the instructor really hasn't fulfilled their part of the bargain.

Other people get through OW and think they are now dive gods who can learn nothing - they are probably more dangerous as they are not aware how close to the edge they really are.

I think attitude has a lot to do with how you approach diving during and after OW. The right attitude should see you striving to improve each and every dive by thinking about what you (and your buddy) did well and what you can improve on. I was lucky that my instructor got me thinking on those lines.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @Dogbowl

Some of us simply answered the poll question.

You are absolutely correct about SB polls. I have posted several polls and have gotten results that do not appear to represent the general diving population.