How to have a great dive

[TSandM]

Halemano, I don't think you'll find ANYTHING about backplates and wings in my post. I said people should know their equipment. I think that's true, whether you are diving cold water or warm water -- you can have an autoinflating BC in Maui just as well as you can here, or get a bit of sand in a regulator and have it freeflow. Sure, people not diving dry suits don't have to deal with dry suit autoinflation, but anyone who IS diving a dry suit, should be able to do it.

Warm or cold water has NOTHING to do with learning some dive planning skills. And I don't care if you are someone who only ever dives off a boat with a DM, you SHOULD be able to compare the proposed dive to your skills, your experience and your gas supply, and decide if it is safe. This IS basic scuba! So is good enough buoyancy to avoid hitting the coral or the sand, and to avoid losing your buddy on descent or ascent.

Yes, the person who has mastered all those things is something above a novice diver -- but I didn't put this in "New Divers", I put it in Basic Scuba, because there is nothing particularly advanced about any of it. And BTW, people do their OW certifications in dry suits in Puget Sound, so there is nothing "advanced" about diving a dry suit here.

Edited to add: I AM selling something. I'm selling the idea that good diving skills lead to stress-free diving which is more fun. Do you REALLY want to argue with that?

 

[Peter Guy]

This is certainly basic scuba. I just finished an OW class for a family which went to Maui to do their OW dives and received a report from the dive op that they were well prepared -- well as well prepared as 6 hours in a pool can get you.

They've written to me that they want to continue their diving in cold water, in dry suits -- so it is likely their 7th or 8th open water dive will be in cold water and dry. What could be more Basic than that?

HM, just because you have a warped view of the diving world doesn't mean we all do.

 

[Teamcasa]

I too tend to would think that diving cold water is more than basic scuba except for the fact that most of the regular SoCal divers dive in it all the time, recreationally.

Gear choice is just that, a choice and for some a very personal choice. A diver that only dives in the tepid, clear and calm waters at some tropical location may not see the need for more technical gear but Lynne is spot on about knowing the gear you dive. We see it all the time with newer divers that are reaching, groping and flailing about trying to find their dumps valves as they head for the surface.

Her post is also instructional in focusing in on dive and safety planing.

As for buoyancy and skills practice I'll just add that newer divers, even those that dive regularly can benefit from spending a little time diving with a skilled mentor from time to time.

I'll just add navigation. Some many new and even a fair number of skilled divers just don't navigate worth beans. Practice it and those of us who can navigate will thank you.

 

[dwhthediver]

I would agree with everything Lynne said, knowing your and your buddy's gear, knowing basic bouyancy, evalulating conditions and comparing with your skillset, and how to deal with an emergency IS basic SCUBA! I tryto impart those valuable lessons to ALL my students from O/W to AI

 

[TSandM]

Dave, thank you for adding navigation. That was another thing that was really pertinent to our day of diving, because we had an anchored boat and really had to get back to the upline. Everybody had to know enough to check the lie of the anchor and evaluate the characteristics of the site (depths, contour, structure) to know how to get back to where they had started. We had enough surface current on the second dive that, had anyone failed to find the upline, they would have ended up a long way from the boat!

 

[diver_doug]

How to have a great dive:

Go out when conditions are good and don't do anything stupid.

 

[soltari675]

As a brand new scuba diver, I found the post very useful. I will admit it was almost a turn off when the OP implied to have a great dive, you need all very experienced divers. Maybe I misunderstood but that was how I interpreted it. But the information in the post was very useful. Most of my dives right now are in cold springs, rivers, and quarries. I am frequently in water that is cold. On Halloween I was in 47 degree water. And I had fun. In the spring however, I am going to go to Florida to try diving there. And in the summer I am moving to NYC and will try wreck diving off of Long Island and New Jersey. While I am happy with my diving at home, I am concerned I don't have the skills for ocean diving yet. This post let me look at the skills that experienced divers have and let me know what I need to work on before those trips come up. It helped give me goals.

I also plan to keep learning. I want to always work on being a better diver. For my safety, my buddies' safety, and to make the experiences more fun.Any information that can put me on the right track to being a better diver, I think is welcome. I appreciate the post.

 

[TSandM]

Oh, soltari, it was not at ALL my intention to say you had to have all experienced divers to have a great dive! It WAS my intention to say that the skills we had all gained by experience are useful to ensure you have a great dive.

When I dive with inexperienced divers, I choose sites where a lot of the skills I mentioned are less critical, and I simply bear more of the responsibility myself. But some of the things I listed are things even novice divers should be able to do, to dive safely, at least in my opinion (like find their dump valves!)

 

[mdb]

I do find that some folks are very busy congratulating each other on how experienced and skilled they are. This, sometimes, serves as a deterrent to potential divers, student divers, newer divers.

It is quite possible to have lots of fun learning, in class, and just out of class. You do not need to be Mr. or Ms. expert diver to enjoy the diving experience. You can just relax, take additional training at your own pace and be proud of the fact that you are doing something very few will ever do.

You can have a great dive on your very first dive. I did.

 

[soltari675]

I agree TSandM. The first thing I looked at when I bought each piece of gear I have so far is exactly how each part worked. For me it just seems logical to know all the tools at my disposal. Including dump valves. I sometimes think these things should be stressed a little more in classes. It would not be hard for a new diver to experience an uncontrolled ascent. I have once already, thankfully from a relatively shallow depth. I simply didn't have enough weight to compensate for an empty tank and was trying a dry suit for the first time. But if a new diver is at what is considered max depth for a new diver, 60ft, knowing where those dump valves are seems like critical knowledge, not something you just learn as you go.

I agree with you. I can't wait to get out for more adventures. I can only hope they are all as good as the one you talked about So far I love it.