Just how important is Navigation to the Recreational Diver

[ligersandtions]

I think navigation is an important skill for all divers. Sadly, navigation is not my strong point. I can read a compass, I can go out and back in a straight line (though not overshooting my starting point can be tricky sometimes...), I can navigate in a square....but really, that's not the way I dive. So I struggle....navigation is not natural to me. I'm the type of person who will go to a restaurant, walk into the bathroom, leave the bathroom and wonder if I'm supposed to turn left or right getting out of there....

I don't know of a really good way to work on my navigation skills, but if I could find a good class (i.e. not my crappy AOW class) that would help, I would seriously drop some money on that. But I suspect "taking a class" is not the answer.

I'm working on it....I promise. Just be aware that if you buddy up with me, it might not be pretty

 

[TSandM]

Nicole, come up to the PNW, and I'll give you a crash course in navigation . . . in ten foot viz

I was amazed, on our recent trip to the Red Sea, to share the boat with a couple who had NEVER in their diving careers (and they were not novices) done a dive that wasn't guided. They were actually challenged and excited to be allowed to do their own dives off this boat. Of course, the navigation consisted of keeping the wall on your left on the way out and on your right on the way back, but still, they were very pleased and proud to have done it.

I would say that, for people like that, navigation has not been an important skill. Rather, they have substituted "equipment" (the dive guide) for that particular diving skill, and it works for them, because it's the industry standard.

Here in Puget Sound, where our navigation can be quite challenging, the boats never put a guide in the water. You get off the boat, and you are on your own. I have had frustrating dives where I never found the structure we were there to see . . . but over time, I have learned better navigation skills.

Underwater GPS intrigues me because we have had occasions where we have tried to anchor the boat on the coordinates of a site, only to find when we submerged that we weren't exactly on it. Knowing in which direction it lay would have saved several rubble inspection dives

 

[BIGSAGE136]

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

Because it is easy. Too many diver have not met that one mishap that creates a serious chain of events. For instance the close to shore school of thought may have never encountered a ruptured air hose or just being short of air. Add a sudden strong current and things can get dicey. Add the D@*n where am I? and a got shot of adrenalin, and you a have a situation.

Plan. Dive the plan. Alays know where you are. It keeps the fun in the experience.

 

[lmorin]

If you are oriented and have an idea where you are then you are a more relaxed diver and a relaxed diver is a safer diver. I don't see how anyone can call themselves an advanced diver without at least an orientation to underwater navigation.

I think this is completely true, based on personal experience. It's so much more enjoyable doing a dive when you always know the exit point and can continue looking for underwater goodies, rather than puzzling over the way back. A major focus of worry is absent.

 

[Teamcasa]

I think navigation is an important skill for all divers. Sadly, navigation is not my strong point. ....
I'm working on it....I promise. Just be aware that if you buddy up with me, it might not be pretty

Nicole, I'd be happy to show you some simple navigation tips.

 

[Sas]

Nicole, I'd be happy to show you some simple navigation tips.

Well I don't know ligersandtions personally so this is just a general comment towards those who offer help like this, it is really nice to get tips and things like that but, no amount of advice really helped me learn. I understand it all on an intellectual level but putting it into practice never really worked as I always knew my buddy would know where we were. So basically he just wouldn't tell me anymore and that worked. Anyway, just a tip for those who are cursed with extreme navigational laziness like me, get your buddies to refuse to tell you were you are

 

[Teamcasa]

I think this is completely true, based on personal experience. It's so much more enjoyable doing a dive when you always know the exit point and can continue looking for underwater goodies, rather than puzzling over the way back. A major focus of worry is absent.

I agree, knowing where you are and how to get back is very comforting and makes diving much more pleasant.

Fortunately I was blessed with the ability to navigate, no matter the circumstances. That coupled with sailing and doing a significant amount of orienteering taught me good compass skills. So, in short, navigation is no issue for me. However, I find that a large number of divers, even very good divers, have no clue, even in some that teach it. Hence my question.

 

[fisheater]

In NorCal, vis is routinely less than 10-15' (often WAY less), so by the time you kick your fins twice you are either "lost" (if you have no nav skills) or "not lost" (if you do).

Local divers learn to navigate or limit their diving to vacations in the tropics real quickly here.

 

[princessaprilia]

.... I have had frustrating dives where I never found the structure we were there to see . . . but over time, I have learned better navigation skills.

...

I can't tell you how happy I am that you said that. There's hope for me yet!!

 

[boulderjohn]

I have told this story before, so for those who have been around, I beg your forgiveness.

I was diving in Curacao, and I spent several days with a dive group from the central U.S., all of whom were there together. It was just they and I, and we got along fine.

The dives are sloping wall dives with mild current, so you go to your maximum depth, head into the current, turn, and head on back to the boat. The navigation technique I normally used was pretty simple. I noted the depth of the boat mooring (in this case 15 feet), and when I returned, I made sure I got to 15 feet well before reaching the boat mooring. You can't miss.

On this dive I was more or less bringing up the rear, peering into recesses and letting the rest of the group lead the way. As we were heading back, I grew concerned that they were staying at depth too long, and I finally decided that they must have been using a different navigation strategy. Specifically, I assumed they had identified a key marker at a specific deeper depth so that they could find it and follow a compass heading from that to the boat.

I finally made a decision to follow my own strategy rather than theirs, and I started to ascend. I had not gone long before I saw they were not far behind me. Eventually I reached the 15 foot level, and not a moment too soon, for there was the boat mooring. I looked back, and they were all there, too.

Later on, as we were chatting on the boat, one of them asked me how I had been able to find the boat. I briefly described it, and then I asked how they were planning to do it.

"We were following you," she said.