Finally OW certified.. planning first dive

[SNorman]

So me and a couple friends are thinking of doing a shore dive together now that I am certified. One guy has had his cert for a while, but I think hasn't gone diving much lately. The girl got certified a long time ago but hasn't been in a while, so she just took a refresher course and is going to Mexico to go diving this week.

Is it hard to stay together with three people? Do you think a shore dive would be a good dive for a beginner? I figure we'll just go at or near where we did the dives for our class.

After we're all familiar with each other, one guy has a boat and we want to do a boat dive. I've read in our text about considerations for boat dives so I think I would be prepared but should I get special instruction before doing it?

 

[jgmaroe]

Hey SNorman-

I personally believe that, for a begginer, a shoredive is an excellent choice in diving. It is easy to navigate, as you can tell by your depth guage which way leads to land (if a problem arises, this would be good to know).
As for diving in a group of three, it is not hard to stay together, as long as you take the neccesary precautions beforehand:
-Always go over all hand signals, even if this may seem unnessesary.
-Take a compass heading back to your vehicle or whatever you have on shore
-Stress the fact that you need to always stay together, and if a seperation occurs, to look for 1 minute and if to no avail, surface.

As for the boat dive, I personally believe that as long as you review the area for landmarks and properly use your compass and kick cycles, you should be fine. My first dive after OW cert was off of a boat, if that brings you any peace of mind.

Good luck!

 

[RonFrank]

So me and a couple friends are thinking of doing a shore dive together now that I am certified. One guy has had his cert for a while, but I think hasn't gone diving much lately. The girl got certified a long time ago but hasn't been in a while, so she just took a refresher course and is going to Mexico to go diving this week.

Is it hard to stay together with three people? Do you think a shore dive would be a good dive for a beginner? I figure we'll just go at or near where we did the dives for our class.

After we're all familiar with each other, one guy has a boat and we want to do a boat dive. I've read in our text about considerations for boat dives so I think I would be prepared but should I get special instruction before doing it?

Boat diving involves some serious considerations. There has been more than a couple incidents involving divers who surface to find that the boat has dragged the anchor, and may not even be in site.

One also may need to ensure that the boat is outfitted with the proper equipment for a dive. Then there is the issue of getting in and out of the boat with gear. Dive boats generally have open transomes and platforms that facilitate exiting and entering the water.

In any event, I'd make sure you go with some experienced divers, or someone with some diving experience on a boat if that is what you want to plan.

Shore diving is a very good start. Make sure you do a good plan including what to do if you get seperated, how you plan to navigate the site, how deep you plan on going, and how long you plan on spending UW. Review hand signals, stay together, and don't plan on anything too aggresive and you will be fine. A better option would be to hook up with some more experienced divers as they generally have site knowledge and experience that is very valuable.

Enjoy, and dive safe.

 

[mobster75]

I've found boat diving to be easier than shore diving, but my first Discover Scuba experiences were done off a boat and I've only done shore dives since becoming OW certified.

Shore dives tend to take a bit more out of me as I need to gear up on whatever shore there is and the walk to and from the water isn't as simple as just doing a nice giant stride off the back of the boat.

I think it comes down to how comfortable do you feel just descending with the anchor/dive line to max depth? Some people prefer the gradual descents with shore diving and some (like myself) have no problem with descending directly to 45-55 ft as thats what I was exposed to pre-certification in the Caribbean.

 

[cleung]

I've dived in trios with no problem. Just make sure that everyone looks out for each other and that the most experienced/fastest diver doesn't go too fast.

 

[RonFrank]

I've found boat diving to be easier than shore diving, but my first Discover Scuba experiences were done off a boat and I've only done shore dives since becoming OW certified.

Sure, boat diving is great when you are with a Qualified Captain on a Charter boat designed for Diving! They know the sites, they have the dive planned, and everything is setup for diving comfort.

Maybe I jumped to the wrong conclusion, but the original poster made it sound like he has a buddy with a boat, and they want to do a dive off of it. That was what my response was geared towards.

Sure, if you are a newbie, and want to boat dive with commercial charters, I think that's a great way to learn as long as you stay within you limits! OTOH, if you are a group of newbies, and one just happens to have a boat, that is a horse of a different color.

 

[SNorman]

Thanks for your feedback everybody!

Yes, you are right, one of my friends has a boat I haven't seen it yet so I'm not sure what is available for climbing back in the boat.

As for descending straight down, on our last two checkout dives we did have to do a surface swim out to a float, then descent straight down to 25ft so I think I would be comfortable doing that.

 

[BrianV]

If the currents aren't too strong it shouldn't be difficult to stay together, especially if you have 30+' visibility. You just need to make sure that everyone in your crew knows to stick within 5-10' of each other and to constantly check in on each other.

The 5-10' rule should be when you're moving somewhere or not directly paying attention to each other. If you feel more comfortable with you and your buddies then you can increase that distance, but the idea is to always be close enough to get each other's attention and/or get to each other in a decent amount of time.

Have fun!!!

 

[SNorman]

30' vis would rock!! I think we had more like 6' in our checkout dives.