Just how important is Navigation to the Recreational Diver

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Having done a number of very long surface swims, and an ascent from 100' using a wreck reel, I think that navigation is pretty darn important. Each one of those times I can cite exactly what happened - failure to follow the compass heading, doubting of compass heading, getting turned around with natural landmarks, and doing a short spoke from the mooring line only to be drifted off course by current and consequently losing the mooring line.

Realizing you don't know where you are in the middle of a dive can be a very stressful experience. The basic navigation taught in open water classes should be enough to ensure that a diver knows where s/he is relative to the beach or boat. Use of a compass or clear natural landmarks underwater should be taught to every diver whether or not they plan on diving only with DMs or on their own with their buddies.

Even if you are not the "leader" in your group, it's just as possible for the leader to get turned around and look to you and ask "where are we?" and you respond with a shrug. It just takes a few extra seconds to PAY ATTENTION! and make the dive more enjoyable!
 
I'm working a a presentation right now dealing with this very subject. I'm about 3 pages into it and it is titled "UW Navigation and It's Importance to the NEW and Not So New Diver". I was fortunate enough to be mentored early on by a diver whose nav skills were downright scary! He was that good. On my 3rd or 4th dive post OW cert he took me on a tour of our local training lake. 1 hour dive, at least 7 different headings, 30-50 feet, and even though there are lines in the lake he did not use them. Vis was 15-20 feet tops. We came back to within feet of where we started. I've been trying to get that good ever since. Not there yet but I'm pretty proud of my skills when it comes to finding my way around and most important back safely. I agree with Thal, it should be considered a critical skill for the competent, independent (not saying solo) diver and their buddy(s).
 
I understand that a GPS could be useful in some circumstances such as search and recovery maybe but I think it would become a crutch-kind of like some people never doing any pre-dive planning and just counting on the old computer.

Navigation is important-and not that hard. Everyone should learn how to do it. Of course, it would be nice if it was taught in the basic course instead of having to take a specialty/advance course to get a focus on it. I was lucky-coming from an Army background, I had a pretty good idea of how to get lost with a compass.
:)
 
For those who stated "critical", why do so many recreational divers just play follow the leader?
 
I am very, very fond of coming up where I went down.........it's a big ocean out there.
 
Since DEMA there has been more chatter about UW Navigation systems like GPS for recreational divers but really, how important is it?

Here in SoCal most dive charters do not provide a DM or guide and we are expected to do all our own navigation and the same applies to shore diving. You went in as a team; you find your way out as a team. For those gifted with that innate ability to navigate this is not an issue but for those who tend to get lost in the mall, they might have an entirely different perspective.

Navigation is indeed a skill that can and should be learned but for the majority of recreational divers that will not dive without a DM or guide or, they dive inside a confined space like a dive park, quarry or lake, just how important is it?

Even DMs can get turned around and off course. Wouldn't it be great if the DM turned and looked at the group and gave a signal as if to say, "anyone know where we are", and you could smugly point and do the "follow me" signal? What if the DM took off, or you lagged behind, and you were separated? Or if another diver had an emergency and the DM had to leave the rest of the group?

Even in a "confined" space such as a lake or quarry..it's much more efficient and makes for a better dive if you can find your way out and back, completing the dive without an unecessary ascent and descent and possible surface swim. In a lake there can be boats. A diver without a flag is at great risker when they need to surface.

Navigation is another technique that helps develop your diving skills, gives you a good "mental exercise", and is worth doing "just for the heck of it", even if you will never need the skill in practical application.

Anecdotal story- I camped out overnight at Jellystone campground in Cooperstown NY last summer. I took my dive gear, figured I'd take a swim in the central lake just to see what I might find.

So after setting up camp, I donned my gear and in I went. Apparently the lake is artificial, because it was about 6 feet deep, everywhere. I worked my way across the lake in about 6 inches of visibility, at times I couldn't see my gauges even if they were right in front of my face. Great practice in zero vis conditions, but the dive was BAD.

So I make my way to the other side of the lake, and I surface in front of a father and son, doing some fishing. They were impressed, and asked me what was "down there". I replied, "ah, not much but a bad dive still beats a good day at work". I turned around, and off I went...into even more much because I was reversing course over the silted up bottom. I couldn't see my compass...so I guestimated for a minute or two...heck I was only at a depth of 6 feet so surfacing to check my position wasn't a problem...lol

So I figured I'd swam far enough and popped my head up..and there was the father son fishing dual right in front of me! I said "um...hi, I guess I missed you"...and turned around and gave it another try. I guess it's true..when you're lost..you go in circles...lol
 
I don't think navigation is hugely important on many of the local dives that I do but not all of them so it is a good skill to have. A lot of the shore dives locally are pier dives where you swim up and down a pier so navigation is easy as. As long as you are under the pier you are hardly any distance from an exit point. If I am not at a pier on a shore dive I hardly cover any ground at all as I spend a lot of the time taking photos so don't move much, which means no long surface swim at the end of a dive All the boat dives are live pickups so you never need to worry about finding your way back to the boat (which on many dives would be impossible as slack water would be over and all the stops are done drifting) as wherever you end up you put up an SMB and the boat comes to get you. Navigation really is not that important for 95% of my local diving.

Anyway, because this constitutes the majority of my diving I didn't learn how to navigate properly for probably close to 150 dives (did a course in it but didn't seem to help much). I never had any troubles when I got lost (with one exception but it wasn't a huge problem) and never really had any long surface swims but I'm not always diving locally so I got my buddy to teach me :) He mainly taught me by cutting off navigational support :wink: I am quite decent now but it is still not something that I enjoy at all and I still defer to others when there is a disagreement as I tend to doubt my abilities, but these days I am finding more often that I am actually right so I'll have to start trusting myself more.

I have to say, I really hate navigation though, I find it very boring and annoying to have to worry about. So if I could buy an underwater GPS that would just tell me where I was all of the time I'd get one :wink: Now that I know I can navigate myself in case it should fail...
 
Dave,

I think you answered your own question in your first post.

I fully agree with everyone who says a diver should have good navigation skills.

Having said that...

I also know that the reality is that when I dive on vacation, navigation skills are usually not required. Maybe I'm descending a line to a wreck. It could be a drift dive. It could be somewhere like Bonaire, where you are required to navigate but any idiot can do it. It could be a dive where you need local knowledge in addition to navigation skills (like many I did in Thailand where we had to take a series of twists and turns to reach the destination), so a local guide is essential. It could be a dive where they routinely put a DM in the water to make sure you get back. It could be the sink holes I dive in New Mexico--deep, circular holes in the ground where it is impossible to get lost.

That list comprises by far the majority of recreational dives I have done, so the fact that I have navigation skills is irrelevant.

On the other hand, there are places I visit, similar to the one you mention, where you really do need to have the required skills to find your way back. I'm glad I know what I am doing when I am there.

So the answer is that it all depends on where you dive.
 
Its importance varies with location.

If you're doing a beach dive in a lagoon somewhere with no boat traffic and you don't keep track of where you are, you may be in for a long surface swim and possibly a walk. Annoying, but not life changing.

On the other hand, if you are in the middle of the ocean with currents, boat traffic, etc., or at a site where your ability to get out of the water is predicated on your return to a specific area, it becomes a much bigger deal.

There are quite a few wrecks we frequently dive in the San Pedro/Long Beach bay... directly in the path of the shipping channel. In addition to the fishing and pleasure boats, you may surface with 4 enormous cargo freighters in your vicinity, ships that are far too big and understaffed to see you floating in the water.

For those who stated "critical", why do so many recreational divers just play follow the leader?

The leader (purportedly) is navigating...?

In many cases, the leader will have experience in the area while the followers will not. He probably knows where the good areas are, or how to find certain things of interest.

I'd follow the leader in those circumstances, though I'd actively keep track (is that "navigation"?) so I could independently find my way back.
 
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