First ocean dive: Guide or no guide?

[LakeCountyDiver]

Hey buddy I dive Key Largo several times a year. I am going to assume you plan on doing the reef dives here and that being said the reefs are shallow and usually have next to no current. They are an easy dive and the Viz is usually great. Now Key Largo has earned the title as "Diving capital of the world" (weather it is true or not I don't care) and with that title you will see that the reefs can be full of boats coming and going. You will see Divers everywhere and will have other safety conserns as well (buoyancy,surge, fire coral).

If you are going to do more than 1 boat dive which I hope you do do the first one with a guide. Plus if it don't cost any more money you are out nothing. Guides can be GREAT or can SUCK but your safety and comfort level in the water is #1.

If you decide not to go with a guide or switch boats after your Guided trip I want to recommend Scuba-Do and Island Ventures These 2 outfits really care about the divers and customer service.

 

[Downing]

Probably if it were someplace other than the Florida Keys, then I'd suggest using a guide but as others have said the diving there is so shallow with no current that I think you'll quickly find you don't need a guide.

Having said that, if it's free and you think you'd like one, go for it. But I bet after your first dive you'll have the confidence to do without one.

Sounds like there are a lot of great dive ops there. I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to Conch Republic Divers in Islamadora, just over the bridge south of Key Largo. We dove with them summer before last for four days and had a great time. I thought they took very good care of us. Nice shop. Nice folks. Didn't use a guide except for the trip to Spiegel Grove and then only because my son was a newly certified diver and we all agreed it would be a good idea to have a pro watch over him since it was a relatively deep dive.

 

[NorCalDM]

We are all asuming me included that the OP did his training in a lake or quarry. If that is true and you have the free option to have a guide in your first ocean dives I would do it. There is a difference between a confined lake and the open ocean unless it's one of the great lakes. In my opinion the final check out dives should be in "OPEN WATER" I know not everybody has this option but if you can do it. I have had students in AOW classes I've DM for that have came straight out of OW but did thier final dives in a lake not get in the water once they got to the beach and saw the waves/swell and Kelp "We call it big water syndrom". Also not every dive destenation will have guides in the water, here in California the DM on the boat is there just as a safety diver if you want one in the water to guide you you pay them and the boat ride. Get good with your compass not every dive site has great viz we are jumping for joy if we have over 20'.

 

[Law5Guy]

My guess you'll be on a two tank dive trip. So... how about this idea....
Dive 1 = use the guide.
Dive 2 = If after the first dive you feel confident, do your own thing (based on the pre-dive briefing, that is).

 

[warmwaterturner]

When I was new to diving I used a DM. Not to compensate for a lack of training or poor training but due to a lack of experience in ocean diving. Pools, lakes and rivers can only take you so far. If you ask the question - then you are concerned - then you are possibly a little stressed about it. Clearly then the answers is Yes! There is another plus to using a local DM. That being our time on vacation and diving is limited. I look to local DM's in areas where I have never been before to show me the best. Nothing worse than spending lot and lot of $$$ on a bad diving site.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Either way take a safety sausage with you in case you get lost, separated from the boat, so they can find you quickly.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

The clue is in where the OP decided to post this thread:
New Divers and Those Considering Diving

I think the OP will be the first to admit that his experience is minimal... that's exactly why he's asking the question

Andy, that's why I said if they want one go for it. I put a big separation between wanting and needing. Wanting one because of unfamiliar or new conditions, to see neat stuff, or just for an orientation is a lot different than needing one because the diver cannot plan a dive by themselves, be trusted to assist their buddy, or to just keep themself safe. The keys IMO are the best place for new divers to go. Easy, low current, hard bottoms at most sites less than 30-40 feet, and good vis. A new OW diver could plan a dive without a guide or DM and spend 40-60 minutes having a great time seeing lots of neat stuff while working on their buoyancy, trim, and maybe some basic skills and not have to go more than 50 yds from the mooring line.

Is it the same as following the guide to who knows where to see a seahorse? Maybe not but it certainly will show them that they can have a good time and be safe on their own with a buddy. I spent one dive with an UW photographer in an area the size of my living room. He was doing macro stuff. Saw an incredible amount of stuff I'd have missed. Worked on my trim, buoyancy, and back kick as well as helicopter turns while he was setting up shots. We were first in, stayed within sight of the boat, and as a result by the time everyone else got in and at the end of the dive got back on the boat we had a nearly 70 minute dive and I still had 1600 psi left.

So does one really need a guide to see great stuff and have alot of fun? No. Do you need to get 100-200 yds from the boat with 6 course changes? Nope. Just dive within your comfort limits. How many new divers get nervous when the guide starts off in some direction for 20 minutes and then the diver realizes he has no idea where he or she is? Is that relaxing or fun? Not to me. The keys are where new divers can do easy dives and expand their limits gradually on their own as they should be able to do.

My first keys, and ocean for that matter, dive was a little more intense. The op we originally booked with had boat issues and sent us to another. What was going to be a nice easy dive on Molasses I believe, turned out to be a nice dive to the well deck of the Spiegel Grove. Loved it! And my 100th dive later that week was back on the Grove.

 

[boulderjohn]

Here is how you can impress our girlfriend diving a typical Key Largo site without a DM in the water.

A typical Key Largo briefing will tell you the boat is moored over the dive site and you can explore anywhere in the area. They will tell you to swim around for a while, than come to the surface, find the boat, go back down, and head for the boat. Anyone can do that. You, on the other hand, with no more training than you got in your OW class, will explore the site and return to the boat without surfacing, thus amazing your friends and confounding your enemies.

All you need to remember from your OW class is how to take a compass heading and a reciprocal. Here's what you do with that basic knowledge:

1. Descend to at the back of the boat and look around. See what the area looks like so you will recognize it when you see it again.

2. Look for something big and noticeable in the distance. Take a compass heading on it. (You won't have to look at your compass again for a while.)

3. Swim around and enjoy the sights, keeping that distant object in the corner of your eye. Stay primarily on one side of that object. Eventually get to it.

4. Look at your compass and find an object on the reciprocal line. Swim around and enjoy the sights, staying on the other side of the original object, always keeping tht new object in mind.

5. When you get to the new object, find another object on the reciprocal line and repeat the process as often as necessary to get back to the boat.

6. When you find yourself back in the familiar territory of the boat, look for a distant object in a different direction and repeat the process.

7. Repeat as often as you have time for, exploring the area in a star shaped pattern. Your girlfriend will never realize what you are doing--it will look like random wanderings to her. When your girlfriend suggests it's time to look for the boat, casually point up to the surface. She will see the hull and assume you are a navigational genius.

There are other techniques you can use in other sites that have variations like this. For example, one site there has a series of rows of coral, kind of like rows of corn. You don't need a compass. Just go up and down the rows and then cross back when you are ready to return to the boat.

Most of the sites there can be easily navigated using variations of these techniques.

 

[gcs118]

+1 on the star navigation pattern. You don't have to go far in any one direction to see a lot.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

And if you are lucky enough to get on the Benwood just stay on the steel and note the side you came down the line on. The mooring is a few yards off of the wreck. You can swim all the way round the wreckage, cross over it, and have a great dive. And using John's technique keep the most prominent piece to you in the corner of your eye. You will not get lost and again you will impress your GF and probably a few others.