Diving without a dive master or guide.

[beester]

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

I'm sorry Mark but in my book that's dangerous. Deco diving means you 're entering ceiling-diving (tech), the essence of these kind of dives is that you are self-reliable and have the experience, skills and training to do these kind of dives. Of course doing a wreckdive at 160 feet is different from just dipping into deco on a tropical dive but the fact remains, I would never rely on a DM/ Guide doing these kind of dives.

 

[beester]

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.

I've been to places were law states that a local DM needs to be in the water (Brothers Isles, Cozumel, Red Sea wrecks, Maldives)... however that doesn't mean I'm diving WITH the DM. At Brothers for example every DM would join 1 zodiac ferrying divers out to the dropsite... negative entry and dive on your own, pickup at the liveaboard or just by deploying SMB on your own and being picked up by the zodiac. Same for all the other places (although in Cozumel I had to research before going to find a good shop willing to dive like that).

I'm not stating that a DM/guide can't be handy or even necessary in certain circumstances but in 99% of the cases even if he's in the water he's not going to be needed and in 100% of the cases you shouldn't rely on him.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

There's really no local diving for us, so everything has been travel dives.
With the exception of a few shore dives off Curacao, we've always technically been with a guide. It's nice to have a local who can point out things we'd otherwise miss seeing.
However, we make it a point NOT to rely on the guide for anything other than a site seeing role. If the guide were to get lost (we'd never get lost, of course, it could only be the guides fault.. ) we'd continue with our dive plan.

 

[Mark Derail]

As just a OW, my understanding of a deco is what my computer tells me to do. You're right, remembering my training, in the 50-100 foot range, there is no deco, only a safety stop.

So to rephrase, I would not solo dive if a safety stop is required, or solo drift dive, w/o a DM or being part of a group.

Thanks for catching that Beester.

I'm sorry Mark but in my book that's dangerous. Deco diving means you 're entering ceiling-diving (tech), the essence of these kind of dives is that you are self-reliable and have the experience, skills and training to do these kind of dives. Of course doing a wreckdive at 160 feet is different from just dipping into deco on a tropical dive but the fact remains, I would never rely on a DM/ Guide doing these kind of dives.

 

[mathauck0814]

As just a OW, my understanding of a deco is what my computer tells me to do. You're right, remembering my training, in the 50-100 foot range, there is no deco, only a safety stop.

So to rephrase, I would not solo dive if a safety stop is required, or solo drift dive, w/o a DM or being part of a group.

Thanks for catching that Beester.

Safety stops are never required. They're optional. You can go into decompression at 100 feet by staying too long. Perhaps you should revisit that training?

 

[fisheater]

As just a OW, my understanding of a deco is what my computer tells me to do. You're right, remembering my training, in the 50-100 foot range, there is no deco, only a safety stop.

Uh. No. You could, if you're not paying attention, go into formal staged deco on these dives. Don't do that without proper gear and training.

 

[Mark Derail]

Uh. No. You could, if you're not paying attention, go into formal staged deco on these dives. Don't do that without proper gear and training.

Yep, I agree. That's why I trust my dive comp, when it tells me to do a deco, I do it. It does a good job of forewarning, so I can avoid a deeper dive if it brings me into deco.

 

[nimoh]

with under 50 dives and no deco training, you should be planning your dives and looking at your computer earlier to be sure you don't go into deco.

 

[Mark Derail]

with under 50 dives and no deco training, you should be planning your dives and looking at your computer earlier to be sure you don't go into deco.

Of course, but when on a trip and you're doing 2-3 dives per day, it IS possible that you move "into" a deco zone, depending on how the dive comp is set. Mine is set to agressively safe, due to my age and lacklustre physique.

Not something that I would go do on purpose, and it hasn't happened yet. My son, who is a DM, it did happen, but he has the training for it, and even so doesn't go out of his way to do them.

 

[nimoh]

Of course, but when on a trip and you're doing 2-3 dives per day, it IS possible that you move "into" a deco zone, depending on how the dive comp is set. Mine is set to agressively safe, due to my age and lacklustre physique.

Not something that I would go do on purpose, and it hasn't happened yet. My son, who is a DM, it did happen, but he has the training for it, and even so doesn't go out of his way to do them.

Not sure what computer you have, but most will tell you how much no-deco time you have left, so no matter how conservatively you have set up your computer, you should never be going into deco accidentally.

If your computer won't tell you how much no-deco you have left, and only tells you when you are actually in deco, you should be using it as a bottom timer, and plan your dives with tables.