Diving without a dive master or guide.

[windapp]

Dive guides are very helpful when you are doing limited dives, and want to see as much as possible. I had an excellent dive guide in the Florida keys. Everybody kept her informed of their air consumption, and she re-paired buddies so that each person could use all of the air available.

 

[TSandM]

saldiac, that's a sad post. What functions of executing a dive do you not feel well enough prepared to do, that you feel that you need a guide? I can certainly see the value of guides in places and conditions which are unfamiliar, but someone with over 50 dives should, I think, feel confident enough to dive with a buddy in familiar conditions.

 

[soltari675]

I am comfortable with or without a guide. I have done several dives without one and been just fine. But I don't mind diving with a guide as long as the dive is fun. Kinda neat when they point out neat things they see everyday that I may have missed. But I don't need a guide. I have a compass and I know how to plan my air.

 

[Saldiac]

saldiac, that's a sad post. What functions of executing a dive do you not feel well enough prepared to do, that you feel that you need a guide? I can certainly see the value of guides in places and conditions which are unfamiliar, but someone with over 50 dives should, I think, feel confident enough to dive with a buddy in familiar conditions.

I'm probably being overcautious. I'm doing the rescue diver course at the moment and it's improving my skills set and confidence heaps. Actually, the guides I dive with often give me more slack than others whom they haven't dived with. Since I've been diving with the local divepoint folks for 9 months now (including a whole bunch of specialty courses) I guess they have more confidence in my diving skills than I might have. I just feel humbled among experienced divers and there's plenty of those here on SB too.
Though I'll admit that at the familiar dive sites I sometimes feel like doing a buddy or solo dive just to see how I'll manage. Maybe once I reach 100 dives I'll discuss it with the divepoint guys.

 

[beester]

I'm probably being overcautious. I'm doing the rescue diver course at the moment and it's improving my skills set and confidence heaps. Actually, the guides I dive with often give me more slack than others whom they haven't dived with. Since I've been diving with the local divepoint folks for 9 months now (including a whole bunch of specialty courses) I guess they have more confidence in my diving skills than I might have. I just feel humbled among experienced divers and there's plenty of those here on SB too.
Though I'll admit that at the familiar dive sites I sometimes feel like doing a buddy or solo dive just to see how I'll manage. Maybe once I reach 100 dives I'll discuss it with the divepoint guys.

I recognize this in alot of beginning divers... specially women. This is not to be sexist, just that women tend to be more cerebral about diving, think things through more, let ego play a much smaller role.

But is certain situations, like diving on your own with a buddy, you need to take a small leap of faith, be aware of your own limits of course but don't let them grow out of proportion. I'm sure since you dive locally and have done more then 50 dives you know some local dive-sites at which you've dived before. So you already know a bit about the local circumstances that affect that specific site (be it below or above the water). I suggest you just take an experienced buddy with you (not a DM) for the first couple of dives where you lead the dive. Make your buddy aware that you'll be the lead, but that he can intervene if something goes astray.

Most feel a bit overwhelmed in the beginning because it's alot to focus on: Safety, diveplan, underwater navigation, current, entry and exit, your dive-team (buddy), and others... and you might feel why the hassle, if I follow instead of lead the dive I only need to focus on my buddy (DM) who leads the dive instead of all the above stuff. However if you do a couple of those dives at that same location you'll start to notice that all the above points will become easier and will require less focus. It's a bit like learning to shift-drive a car... in the beginning you're focussing alot on the actual process of shifting a gear, after a while it's second nature and you don't think that much about it.

Trust me by doing this you'll become a much better diver... because you'll evaluate every dive in a different way, not as a "follow the DM" which is easy, but as a "dive-leader". After a while it's so 2nd nature that no matter if you are leading a dive or just following your buddy or a group with a DM, you'll still be attentive on all this ("have we already passed that underwater pinnacle that was shown during dive-briefing", "is the current NW as stated in briefing by DM or has it changed?", "this guy seems to lag behind let's keep him in view", "looking at the bubbles this diver seems stressed, let's see what's bothering him", "after the dive ended... is everbody back on the boat?")... So even if you're just following a guide or DM, you can take charge of your own dive at any moment because it's 2nd nature.

Diving is practice... not just on the first levels (beginning to dive and focussing on myself) but also after some experience... you just need to take the next step, you are ready.

 

[nimoh]

I'm probably being overcautious. I'm doing the rescue diver course at the moment and it's improving my skills set and confidence heaps. Actually, the guides I dive with often give me more slack than others whom they haven't dived with. Since I've been diving with the local divepoint folks for 9 months now (including a whole bunch of specialty courses) I guess they have more confidence in my diving skills than I might have. I just feel humbled among experienced divers and there's plenty of those here on SB too.
Though I'll admit that at the familiar dive sites I sometimes feel like doing a buddy or solo dive just to see how I'll manage. Maybe once I reach 100 dives I'll discuss it with the divepoint guys.

Nothing wrong with that, dive guides generally know the area well, and are good at pointing things out, as are experienced divers. Just be sure to think for yourself and don't follow blindly. Myself, I am at about the same level as you are based on number of dives, and I like diving with more experienced divers including some guides. However, I have been on dives where the guides were not all that great (fast ascent rates, blown safety stops, etc.)

 

[GramsciBeat]

I find it interesting that commenters are willing to write-off guided dives. I also prefer diving with just a buddy - however, if I was to rate my top-5 dives, only one of them was done without a DM. If I were as dogmatic as some of the posters I would have missed the Thistlegorm and Brothers Island in Red Sea, blue-water shark dives with Makos and Blues where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, 9-mile Reef in Sodwana and most of the dives I have done in Mozambique. I also would not be able to do the Sardine Run later this year (where - OMG - not only is there a DM who guides you in the water, but there is also a guy in a microlight that spots where the 2000 strong pod of dolphins or the sardine bait-ball is from the air and guides your RIB to the spot).
In some of these dives the DM was irrelevant to my enjoyment and on one she was a positive danger, but as has been mentioned in other posts there are a number of places where either in terms of law or practicality you can only do guided (DM) dives. Sometimes this is due to the conditions and on other occassions this is done in order to protect the reefs and the underwater environment. There are too many awesome dives to be done where a DM is required and I, for one, think that being guided is a price worth paying for the privilege of accessing some of these sites.

 

[Mark Derail]

Think emergency / worst case scenario. Guides are often trainer-level or at least Rescue. They are backup first.
Second, the guide can bring you to see places that are out-of-the-way, in Maui my guide Halemano took pictures of us.

* I would never drift dive or do a dive requiring a deco w/o a guide/DM or say part of a group.

Here in Canada I shore dive with the kids in canals where the deepest is 15 feet. That's one-kick-to-the-surface, no decompression. Great for practising buoyancy and compass.
Diving in near-zero visibility, no current, of a canal, is a great reminder on how skills are important.

Down South I shore dive from beaches and don't go deeper than 25-ish feet, and stay within sight. I go where snorkelers go, except I can get closer, and practise taking pictures. I'm satisfied with that.

Then again, I'm still under the 50 dive range as of this time, you're above 200. Safety first!

Do you ever go diving without a guide? I am curious about how many people go diving on their own without signing up to go out with a dive master or some local guide. If you do, how often do you do this? Do you only do this where you live or on vacation too?

Thanks

 

[captain]

Captain a guide is a master diver that knows the dive site, they show you how to dive the profile of actual site, show all the great things there and make sure you have enough air. they also are your for sure way that you will be safe in the water. If you keep your eyes focused on the guides fins you will be sure not to loose him.

Captain you should Hire a guide sometime and see what the difference is from diving without one and tell us about your experience.

My friend that was said in sarcasm. I know what a guide is and I am perfectly capable of guiding myself. One of my main issues when choosing a charter is that there are no guided dives. I might make an exception if Jenny is the guide.

 

[Saldiac]

No worries beester, I'm not even a woman but since I'm in academia I guess thinking things through (perhaps overly) is natural for me. I once led a dive during the UW navigation course which was eye opening for sure. You're right that in order to become a better diver I should take that leap of faith. I already feel some responsibility when diving in a group with friends or people that I don't know. Most of them haven't dived around the island yet so since I know the dive sites fairly well I can keep an eye on other divers.

At first I thought that the total number of dives is a good indicator of how good a diver someone is. Until I dived with someone who apparently was a divemaster but managed to land on his back on top of a rock during the descent (visibility was great, no current). He seemed fine during the remainder of the dive though.
Additionally, seeing the horrible buoyancy control of three UW bomb demolition divers also made me rethink. I guess these guys were so used to diving with two bottles and working on the ocean floor that they probably never learned proper buoyancy control. Two of them also ran out of air halfway through the dive.

Indeed like nimoh says, I sometimes know where to find moray and garden eels and such, so I usually point those out to other divers. So I'm definitely not just blindly following the dive guide which might make that leap of faith even smaller. As said, I'll talk to the divepoint guys who are always very flexible so possibly I'll take one of them and lead him. If that goes okay I'll feel confident enough to lead other divers as well, at dive sites I'm familiar with.