Ideal first dives for fresh OW graduates? ideal depth.

[kcc6001]

I might add that to this string that if you are willing to travel St John USVI is incredible. Give the folks at Low Key Watersports a call. Serenity and Andre who are both there are not only great patient instructors but also good friends. Most of the dive profiles there are perfect for beginners 40-50 feet, gin clear water and lots of sea life. Low Key Watersports | St. John Scuba Diving - Dive Shop

When you are done diving you can beach hop all day everyday with some of the best snorkeling around.

 

[bradlw]

Thanks all, some good suggestions

The root of my question is not about going deep for the sake of it. I could be wrong in all of my layers of rust since I haven't dove in so long, but I remember that, within reason of course, going a little deeper was a little easier.... Maybe a smidge easier to control bouyancy, clearing ears, not fighting wave surge.

I figure that it was maybe getting down deep enough for the wetsuit to compress.... so the pressure gradient is less per foot, maybe a little easier to clear the ears past that point, etc.. Am I off base here and just not remembering correctly?

Also a little deeper than the pool and deeper than the average casual snorkeler will go is a confidence booster too
I'm not taking super deep here....

That's what I was getting at in asking about "optimum depth for beginners...what's good and what's too deep?

About the drift dive thing, I'm with you @lowwall , I remember doing lots of those easy drift back in the day.
I've done some of those ripping current negative entry dives too...and almost always enjoyed them. but those gentle drift dives were fun too. I had mentioned them in a different post when I looking for ideas of a great place to take my new divers and got blasted about teh hot drop high current..Drift diving not for begineers stuff which is all true enough of course... sometimes

Anyway, they'll get a taste of drift diving before they even get their certification.... their second day of checkout dives will be Rainbow River. Scenery isn't reef quality but I remember it being fun just sort of lazily drifting along there too.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't recall it being Boynton. I was thinking West Palm. I'll keep that in mind!

This time around though I've pulled the trigger starting to set up a Key Largo trip

 

[lowwall]

Thanks for the tip. I didn't recall it being Boynton. I was thinking West Palm. I'll keep that in mind!

The best area for easy drift dives in that area is centered around Briny Breezes reef. The closest inlet is Boynton Beach.

Briny Breezes - South Florida Diving Headquarters

Location: Boynton Beach (outer reef) Description: You may think from the name, this reef may have been named by an Irishman. But in fact it was named for the landmark :Briny Breezes mobile home community directly inshore. The reef line like most all reefs runs parallel to shore making it great...

www.southfloridadiving.com

Starfish Scuba is a good boat that operates out of Boynton Beach. If Ren is still there, I can highly recommend him if you want a DM. He was the instructor for my son's OW course and my Rescue class.

Starfish Scuba · Boynton Beach, Florida

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[fred32176]

I second what @USdiver1 said, try a few springs. Springs are great places to gain experience. Most springs have stairs and the only current is from the boil.

State parks are usually only $6 per vehicle and two state parks you can dive in are DeLeon Springs and Blue Springs. I believe Alexander Springs (forest service) has mermaid Mondays which can make a dive more interesting. Rainbow River is a nice drift dive that new divers can handle. Just be aware of boat traffic and you will need to drag a dive float and flag.

I would wait on doing Devil's Den until they have done a couple of dives. Some of the dive throughs need lights and it is possible to loose sight of folks in a group, especially if the water is silted up.

 

[scubadada]

The diving on the inside, west facing, reef in Boynton Beach is indeed, generally, quite easy. The depth is moderate and there is generally good relief to the reef. However, it is a live drop with a swim down to the reef. I'm not sure that it would be good for the father to be responsible for the dive flag, navigating, and paying attention to his newly certified wife and children. The free ascent at the end of the dive would have to be coordinated depending on air consumption of all four divers. At times, the current can be quite brisk, sometimes pulling on or off the reef. Starfish Scuba is a good operator and Ren is a great diver and guide.

I think what the OP is looking for may be an easy guided dive in Key Largo.

 

[CCS]

Captain Slate and Rainbow Reef are both great options for fun, easy guided dives off of Key Largo.

Close to you, you should definitely try the Central Florida springs. My family and I love diving the springs. Blue Grotto, Ginnie Springs, and Devil's Den are probably the most new-diver-friendly of them. However, they might want to get a few dives under their belts before venturing into the Ballroom at Ginnie Springs.

 

[bradlw]

The best area for easy drift dives in that area is centered around Briny Breezes reef. The closest inlet is Boynton Beach.

Briny Breezes - South Florida Diving Headquarters

Location: Boynton Beach (outer reef) Description: You may think from the name, this reef may have been named by an Irishman. But in fact it was named for the landmark :Briny Breezes mobile home community directly inshore. The reef line like most all reefs runs parallel to shore making it great...

www.southfloridadiving.com

Starfish Scuba is a good boat that operates out of Boynton Beach. If Ren is still there, I can highly recommend him if you want a DM. He was the instructor for my son's OW course and my Rescue class.

Starfish Scuba · Boynton Beach, Florida

maps.app.goo.gl

Well I'm happy to report that my family is now certified!!
The kids all had good buoyancy control. My wife struggles a bit more but mostly because her ears are hard to clear

They all had fun with it, although the first day of checkout dives was rather pointless...well not pointless I know, but boring and a let-down as I knew that it would be. Just a lather rinse and repeat of the pool dives. All skills and nothing to look at, not fun really.

First day of dives was at Blue Gratto. All their time was spent on the 10ft and 20ft platforms. No tour...not that there's much to look at....and I'm assuming that the standards for students say "no overhead", so they were limited to a very small volume of water. They weren't even shown the novelty of the diving bell there, just 20ft or so away! Seriously, those sorts of sink hole "spring dives" are no different than the shop's pool except 8 ft deeper, colder, fish, and a little more turbidity.

That night over dinner my son was asking about the purpose and that led me to a discussion about "open water" and the effect of depth.

Personally I really do think that the training establishment is doing a disservice by not at least taking them down to the 30ft platform for day one. And at least by day two into "real" open water. Day two in my opinion, would be good to take them down even a little deeper maybe 40-60ft...and in something that is truly open water...not a natural swimming pool

Anyway
Day 2 was at Rainbow River. They all had a blast with the drift dive.... although the cold did take a toll towards the end. It confirmed my suspicion that a nice saltwater reef drift dive would probably be a big hit for them!
That place, even though the depth is still very limited, I think is a much better training environment. It feels like real open water, adds a giant stride off the boat, more to see and explore. Adds current, fun navigation scenarios, etc...

Looking forward to our keys trip in August now. I do plan to ask the captain for at least one dive someplace down maybe in the 40-50ft depth range? I know it probably won't happen there, but I still think that I'd prefer maybe 60ft to get well past 1atm deep...to experience the smaller relative pressure gradient...and otherwise just for the confidence boost.
And I think I'll be thinking about a drift dive trip next....maybe to Boyton!

 

[boulderjohn]

and I'm assuming that the standards for students say "no overhead",

This may be hard to believe, but what most people call an overhead is actually possible during an OW class. It is also possible for routine OW dives.

This all came out to me when I was in a discussion on the topic of overheads with PADI headquarters. During that discussion, I learned the following.

• An old PADI training bulletin (IIRC, the 4th quarter of 2001) said that it was possible for OW students to do short swim-through type overheads if they are properly briefed on them ahead of time.
• In general, short swim-throughs are not considered by PADI to be overhead environments. They are considered to be open water. That is why you have OW divers routinely going through small shipwrecks and coral tunnels.

 

[Johnoly]

... Blue Gratto. .... weren't even shown the novelty of the diving bell there, just 20ft or so away!

On OW checkout dives anywhere, it's temping to break focus and let diver's go play. But I understand it's like dangling a treat and not letting them experience it. With all levels of certification dives (AOW, Cave, RB, Rescue, DM, etc) It's still best to just complete the certification and then go play later or re-visit the site.

.Rainbow River..., I think is a much better training environment. It feels like real open water, adds a giant stride off the boat, more to see and explore. Adds current, fun navigation scenarios, etc......

Many of us in Florida are huge supporters of diving Rainbow river before doing southeast Florida DRIFT dives. It really gives the new divers a safer drift diving experience at shallow depths on how to stop, adjust, move and handle currents. Alot of new divers at first are frightened by being 'swept away' from where they first submerged, since it wasn't like that in their confined water dives prior.

Just my 2cents but I think your plans for slowly adding new levels of diving to your family will help them adjust to better and more challenging dive sites. Many times a newer diver will freak out at a small problem, lose self confidence at diving and just quit & shut down, refusing to continue. By you going slowly adding small steps you'll keep them comfortable and diving with you for a long time into future dive trips. You are doing a great job with them !!

 

[Bubbles Daily]

What do ya'll feel is a good first dive trip for a fresh OW graduate?
Obviously good vis, low or no current, "fun" stuff to see, easy dives are the general goal

But I've been researching to put together the first trip for my wife and kids who are in the process of getting OW and Nitrox certified now...

Getting ready to book a keys trip, with plans to dive upper Keys (key largo area)

All along, my thought is that I'm hoping to at least get them on one or two of the dives down a little deeper than the typical stuff there (reported as like 15-25ft mostly)
It's been a very long time since I dove that area but I remember some pretty shallow dives there

Just to set a somewhat arbitrary goal, I'm thinking at least 33ft...maybe even like 40ft or so
It's been a very very very long time since I worked with students in my Divemaster training...so I'm second-guessing this idea.

My very first dive out of certification was something like 45-50 ft deep in zero to two ft vis...so I'm not the best person know I suppose...

Did my first post-cert dives in Puerto Rico. It was a good choice as there are several wrecks available in less than 50 ft of water and the fish life is fairly diverse. Wherever you go, definitely tell the divemaster it's your first time. I've found most DMs are very attentive to newbies.

Have fun!!!!