Is basic navigation taught in OW?

[Progen]

I was lucky in a way, Dr Tracy, because both the ones I did during the Advanced Open Water and Deep Diver were in poor visibility in unfamiliar waters so I really had to make sure I stayed on course. I couldn't help grinning when I ended up near the instructor because I knew then that I had done it right. For the quick one at the surface during the Open Water course, it was a good thing I didn't follow my buddy and stuck to what I thought was right because I ended up at the boat whilst the instructor had to go retrieve him about 20 metres away and in another direction.

 

[SPARKMEL]

Dont worry, being new to diving i have learned very quickly that things can go wrong and you must know how to deal with the situation. We have practised using the compass so when we go to spain we can demonstrate how to navigate properly. Spain is a long way to go and not get certified all because of a conpass. Really enjoyed the OW confined aspect of the padi course lets you practise all the skills you read and learn.
MARK...

 

[Captain Bil]

... most people who dive in a cave aren't surveying ... they're following a line, based on a dive plan they developed while looking at a map.

Let's keep things in perspective, shall we ... not everyone explores virgin caves. In fact, on the whole, those who do comprise an almost miniscule percentage of divers ... even among those who dive in caves ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I was just responding to your blanket statement about caves and compasses. Didn't mean to rile you up, just doing my part to clear up misconceptions OW divers have about cave diving.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2

 

[fisheater]

My OW class included compass work.

I did an "out & back" reciprocal course. I also did an exercise that required a combo of compass and natural navigation.

This was in low vis at the Breakwater in Monterey.

 

[dmoore19]

Kind of funny, my certification dives included the same as Fisheater"s, but not in Monterey. My certification dives were the only ones that I have done in water that cold (50 deg) and visibility that poor. Natural navigation included the toilet and the grocery cart. I went on to do AOW in Cozumel which included much more than OW training. Can I navigate? I can. I often look at my compass when I splash and see which direction we as a group are heading. Most of the time if there is no current I can spend my time looking around at what is within sight of the boat and don't even need to do that. Taking headings and paying attention to surroundings is not rocket science.

 

[tracydr]

I was lucky in a way, Dr Tracy, because both the ones I did during the Advanced Open Water and Deep Diver were in poor visibility in unfamiliar waters so I really had to make sure I stayed on course. I couldn't help grinning when I ended up near the instructor because I knew then that I had done it right. For the quick one at the surface during the Open Water course, it was a good thing I didn't follow my buddy and stuck to what I thought was right because I ended up at the boat whilst the instructor had to go retrieve him about 20 metres away and in another direction.

That's excellent!
I was an unusual one, since I didn't take AOW until about 150 dives. Maybe more. Long story but between med school, residency, Army and Ex-husband who was anti-education, it wasn't in the cards to take dive courses.
It was a wonderful thing to end up marrying a dive instructor on the second try! I've now taken a bunch of courses and, assuming I heal from my osteonecrosis able to get back to diving, I hope to get into tech diving soon. If I'm unable to do that, I hope to at least keep doing "pretty fish" and west coast diving. My husband and I have hopes of going to Truk when he graduates from his PhD and I would like to do some cave diving eventually, just some "light" cave diving, not the hard core stuff like some of the guys that live in Florida and dive caves every week.
I really believe if you want to be a self sufficient diver you must learn compass skills and navigation. Especially for diving low visibility and at night.

---------- Post added June 18th, 2013 at 10:47 AM ----------

A good way to practice compass skills when you can't dive is to go out in a big field in the dark, when you're camping is a great time to do it but if you have a safe park or rural area, football field or schoolyard that works. Just make up a little map that you can do on land. I was in charge of the Expert Field Medical Badge training for Fort Sill when i was the III Corps Surgeon. We did a lot of land nav and the night land nav was much harder than day time because you couldn't use landmarks. Failure rates were more than 50% for the medics, unless they took our intensive training course, taught by one of my guys, a specialist in teaching navigation.

Any of the military guys ever notice how different the diving compasses are? Drove me crazy for awhile!

 

[Malpaso]

We went through four stages of navigation training in my OW course:
1. Classroom basics of how a compass works, and how to use a dive compass in the water.
2. On land before the first day's checkout dives. We use a state park, and there is a large open field. Each student places a towel over their head so all they can see is their compass and their feet. You go out a specified distance and need to return to the spot you started at.
3. In the water during the first day's checkout dives. Go out in a specified direction. Do your controlled ascent/descent skills. Return to the original spot.
4. Second day's checkout dives. You are now in the ocean. No underwater nav skills, per se, but instruction on underwater land formations such as sloping toward shore, wave patterns in the sand, where the sun is in relation to your initial direction, etc.

I didn't realize how much I had learned, and how different it is under water until I did my first solo dive this past weekend. I have done a lot of on land map and compass, so my basic skills are there. But this weekend, with a dive spot I'd never been to and poor viz, I was able to do 30 minute dives and get back to my shore spot within a couple yards.