How to get skills prior to diving in currents in Raja Ampat

[hiker11]

As a followup to @sunseek’s post about the experience needed to dive Raja Ampat, I have some additional questions. Instead of hijacking her/his thread, I thought it might be better to post my specific questions separately.

My husband and I are headed to Raja Ampat over Christmas 2023-- 11 days on the Amira followed by 7 days at the RA Dive Lodge. I consider myself a novice diver— we currently have 150 dives each (AOW, Nitrox). My air consumption on my last trip ranged from .43 cf/M to .55 cf/M. Our experience includes two LOBs --in the GBR/Australia and Turks & Caicos. We have also done diving in Rangiroa (Tiputa Pass), Bora Bora, Fiji (Tavauni), Grand Cayman, Bali, Loreto/ Baja, Hawaii, etc. We have two dive trips booked between now and RA to log more dives (10 days in Belize in April and 7 days in Loreto/Baja in Sept).

After reading about the challenging currents, I'm a little nervous about diving RA, to be honest. We often hire personal guides on our trips if they are available, but the Amira does not offer that-- they have 1 guide per 4 divers. We have never done diving that required reef hooks --we only recently purchased them in preparation for our trip. While we have our own DSMBs, we're not proficient at using them and have relied on our DM to deploy his. We've never done what I think is a negative entry, although we dove Rangiroa’s Tiputa Pass from zodiacs with a relatively quick back roll entry required.

My question is this: if you haven't used reef hooks or done negative entries before, how do you get that experience before going places that have strong current that require those skills? I’ve deployed a DSMB in a pool, but I know I should get some open water experience doing it before RA and I think I'll try to hire a private DM to do that with me in Belize when we’re there next month.

I welcome any advice on how I can improve my skills before heading to Raja Ampat as I like being prepared.

 

[seba76]

I will not consider a diver with 150 dives as a novice. Don't worry and overthink your trip. We went there last January with much less dives and experience, and everything went well. Since you're in a small group, the dive master can easily take care of you if you need assistance with the hook. The biggest challenge with the hook is to not damage coral, so we only use it twice, and it was the first time for us. They will probably ask you to deploy the DSMB at the end of the first check dive, but in general, most people mess up because it's not an exercise that you practice every day. We did not have to do a negative entry, but that's also not a big deal. Normally, the dive guide is very experienced and will quickly estimate your competence and physical ability. I doubt that he will take you to any situation that he doubts you can handle.

I also read a lot about RA, and in the end, I found all the dives quite easy. As preparation, we went for four nights to a resort called Papua Paradise. It's nice to get familiarized again with your equipment, and you can tell your dive guide if you want to practice DSMB deployment at the end of the dive. There's no need to hire a private dive guide for that.

Just enjoy and relax, it's such an amazing place.

 

[Damselfish]

On a high end LOB with 4 divers/guide, its almost like having a private guide anyway. I’d expect they will help you as needed and tailor things to their groups needs. They will probably even make the groups to put people with similar desires together as much as possible. Each group might be doing a slightly different dive. If you want some help/practice deploying a SMB, mention it and they’ll likely accommodate.

For example, I was in a group (on Arenui) with my husband and 2 other photogs who preferred to mostly avoid current because its easier to do photography without, and I’m usually just as happy to skip current too. And of course they were critter hunting. He did exactly what worked for his group. Another group might be current junkies, and their guide could choose a different route that got them that.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @hiker11

I would also imagine you will do fine in Raja Ampat, especially with the low diver to guide ratio. The main reason to be able to deploy a DSMB is in case you get separated from your guide and/or other divers. Though this may be a low risk, your concern is realistic. Confidence in your skills is a good thing.

I don't know where you live or whether this would be practical, but an easy way to get in some practice with current, DSMB deployment, even reef hook placement, would be to do a few days of diving in SE Florida. I happen to be very familiar with Jupiter Dive Center. They put a guide in the water but you are not obliged to surface with them. You could inform them of your training plan before the dive. You could place your reef hooks several times during the dive. The guide uses a hook to secure the dive flag several times each dive. You can both deploy your DSMBs at the end of the dive and get picked up by the boat. If you wanted, you could even hire a private guide for your first day to assist you with your skills. The only thing you couldn't plan is the current. The currents in SE FL are often moderate, but vary from nothing to ripping.

Best of luck for your trip

 

[stepfen]

Happy divers are comfortable divers (and leave more tips). Your guide(s) will gauge your comfort level and will plan your dives accordingly.
Raja Ampat has all kind of dive sites. Guides (especially on good/expensive boats) know how to make divers of all levels happy.
Don't worry about it too much.

 

[Jcp2]

Practice deploying DSMB every dive you can. After doing it a few times you’ll get a hang of the sequence of events and it’ll be a matter of choosing your favorite inflation method.

 

[hiker11]

Thanks for your reply. I'm in CA so far, far away from FL. We've got two dive trips between now and RA-- to Belize and to Loreto/ Baja. So I'll try to use my hook on one of those if I have a chance.

 

[FishWatcher747]

Learning to use a DSMB just takes practice. I was horrible at it the first few times I did it. If you make yourself do it on all your dives you will get better and better at it. Just tell the guide before the dive you are going to do it.

Even if the guide has his DSMB up, put yours up anyway.

At the end of the dive go to 30 feet, put up the DSMB, then use the finger spool to reel yourself up to 15 feet, do your safety stop then reel up to surface.

If you orally inflate it underwater a 3 foot DSMB with a pressure relief valve is much easier to deal with than a bigger one and will be fully inflated on the surface when you get there.

You can also carry a 6 footer for inflation on the surface if your boat isn't there for better visibility.

 

[Indah]

I will not consider a diver with 150 dives as a novice. Don't worry and overthink your trip. We went there last January with much less dives and experience, and everything went well. Since you're in a small group, the dive master can easily take care of you if you need assistance with the hook. The biggest challenge with the hook is to not damage coral, so we only use it twice, and it was the first time for us. They will probably ask you to deploy the DSMB at the end of the first check dive, but in general, most people mess up because it's not an exercise that you practice every day. We did not have to do a negative entry, but that's also not a big deal. Normally, the dive guide is very experienced and will quickly estimate your competence and physical ability. I doubt that he will take you to any situation that he doubts you can handle.

I also read a lot about RA, and in the end, I found all the dives quite easy. As preparation, we went for four nights to a resort called Papua Paradise. It's nice to get familiarized again with your equipment, and you can tell your dive guide if you want to practice DSMB deployment at the end of the dive. There's no need to hire a private dive guide for that.

Just enjoy and relax, it's such an amazing place.

To me it sounds you are overdependent on the dive guide. And overestimate their capacities. What happened to the old: be able to plan your dive and dive your plan?

 

[tomfcrist]

My husband and I are headed to Raja Ampat over Christmas 2023-- 11 days on the Amira followed by 7 days at the RA Dive Lodge. I consider myself a novice diver— we currently have 150 dives each (AOW, Nitrox). My air consumption on my last trip ranged from .43 cf/M to .55 cf/M. Our experience includes two LOBs --in the GBR/Australia and Turks & Caicos. We have also done diving in Rangiroa (Tiputa Pass), Bora Bora, Fiji (Tavauni), Grand Cayman, Bali, Loreto/ Baja, Hawaii, etc. We have two dive trips booked between now and RA to log more dives (10 days in Belize in April and 7 days in Loreto/Baja in Sept).

After reading about the challenging currents, I'm a little nervous about diving RA, to be honest. We often hire personal guides on our trips if they are available, but the Amira does not offer that-- they have 1 guide per 4 divers. We have never done diving that required reef hooks --we only recently purchased them in preparation for our trip. While we have our own DSMBs, we're not proficient at using them and have relied on our DM to deploy his. We've never done what I think is a negative entry, although we dove Rangiroa’s Tiputa Pass from zodiacs with a relatively quick back roll entry required.

My question is this: if you haven't used reef hooks or done negative entries before, how do you get that experience before going places that have strong current that require those skills? I’ve deployed a DSMB in a pool, but I know I should get some open water experience doing it before RA and I think I'll try to hire a private DM to do that with me in Belize when we’re there next month.

I welcome any advice on how I can improve my skills before heading to Raja Ampat as I like being prepared.

The way you get experience doing those things is to go do them. Shoot your DSMB at the end of every dive until you are comfortable. Dive in some current and use a reef hook.
Negative entries: you must have your act together prior to jumping in. Mask defogger, gear stowed etc. you can suck the air out of your bcd via the oral inflation orfice. What you don’t want is to “think you deflated” and end up bobbing on the surface while the rest of the group is decending at warp speed. clear your ears early and continuously. Getting behind the curve will be difficult to recover from without ascending or squeezing the crap out of your ears/sinuses.

It’s really not that difficult, just go do it and build some confidence/competence in the skills you desire.