Massive Newbie Post - Depth, AOW/SSI, Mask, Next Trip Suggestions

[fred32176]

I am a new diver, certified in April. I have done 22 dives and plan on doing AOW sometime between now and May. I had a goal of getting at least 20 dives in before doing AOW. I have a regular dive buddy to dive with, I dive with the Facebook group - it's dive o'clock somewhere in central Florida and I dive on cattle boats in the keys with insta-buddies.

For me, living in Florida where we can dive year round, taking the time to dive between OW and AOW has been beneficial. Diving with my regular dive buddy (rescue diver) is great as I learn a lot from him and he gets me using good techniques. A dive with regular dive buddy is no stress diving with just the joy of experiencing the dive, sharing the experience with a friend and get getting better at diving as a side effect. Diving with the Facebook group is a social activity. I don't usually lean anything when diving with the Facebook group but it is fun and great to see folks you might not have seen for month or two.

For me, training is a means to an ends. Taking nitrox/AOW will let me go on deeper dives and see wrecks. My LDS regularly sponsors dives out of West Palm Beach, but I haven't gone on one since I don't want to be the guy that limits which dive is done because of certification/experience. After AOW I plan on doing my LDS dives, a few wreck dives in the keys, plus my regular dives with dive buddies, Facebook group... AOW just expands what diving I can do.

I chose to not rush into AOW because I wanted to gain experience, learn good habits, develop my skills and get a lot of joy out of diving before doing more training. Living in Florida, I have lots of opportunity for diving so waiting to do AOW made sense for me.

 

[CT-Rich]

My 2psi, Experience is more valuable than classes. Take the classes when they are convenient, but experience, a good buddy or a good mentor are super valuable (an instructor is just a pre-qualified, paid mentor). The AOW card just makes it so you can get on boats for more recreational dive options. Not having it will be limiting.

Diving is one of the lifetime of learning activities.

 

[inquis]

I went very slow down the mooring line and equalized from the very top to the bottom

Given your report, I'd suggest equalizing even before putting your face in the water. Some have also reported benefits from clearing several times per day on land leading up to the trip.

Visibility will be crucial for any difference in "feel" at 60 ft vs 30 ft. You're apparently going down a line at the moment, but a free descent will take up to twice as long to halt at 60 ft (depending on how often you add air to the BCD on the way down).

 

[DogDiver]

in regards to your opinion of the coral and reef health. I live in North Florida 98% of my diving are cave dives now. However I dove Pennekamp in the early 70’s. It’s been loved to death. The only decent dives there are the deep wrecks. Dwayne & Bibb perhaps the Grove too. They are too deep for all the knucklehead novice divers to trample them like a herd of cattle. I’ve noticed however that almost all my recent dives there I’ve seen multiple reef sharks. So if the higher food chain critters are coming back perhaps there is hope.

 

[jwarrenod]

Thank you for the response! The lagoon we were in for the 20-25ft OW dives was super low vis, and I was so comfortable going deeper in higher vis. I'm hoping the same applies from 30-60ft. I just didn't want to have unreal expectations or hold up a group if I ended up having anxiety. My next diving trip will probably be without my friend, so my buddy will be either a private dive guide or a pairing from the dive shop wherever I go.

I am definitely going to use other methods to equalize.

I'm a terrestrial biologist who wanted to be a marine biologist as a kid (I got somewhat close) so taking any naturalist/ID courses is extremely appealing to me.

I didn't know to try the mask on with a mouthpiece in--and it wasn't suggested at Divers Direct, probably because I was looking at a cheaper mask. I'll take your advice next time!

I heard Bonaire can be boring for non-diving partners, but I will look into it more!

In the Keys, we prefer spending time in Marathon, more to do both nearby up and down key. KL is going to have better diving than Marahon IMO. Rental car or your own wheels and he can find things to to in KL or w/in an hours drive from KL. So, do you want to drive to and from KL to your lodging or have him drive from KL to his place of entertainment?

Cozumel has wonderful diving and plenty of things for a non-diver to do. If somewhere else in Q. Too is of interest, Puerto Morelos has nice beaches and things do do and decent diving (not on par with Cozumel, but good). If you want more info on PM, drop me an email, jwarrenod@mac.com we have a condo we own there so I’m pretty familiar with the town and diving.

JW

 

[grantmac]

My 2PSI is do AOW immediately then dive like crazy. Weekly shore dives even if there is nothing to see, just work on the fundamentals.
This makes the really nice dives so much easier and ultimately a better experience.

 

[Chavodel8en]

Re
3. AOW. A big reason people take AOW is so that they can do certain dives where the operator requires an AOW card - generally more advanced, deeper dives. However, it sounds like you may feel that you may not be quite ready for these kinds of dives -- and that is fine. You can take things at your own pace. However, note that AOW will likely involve doing at least one deep (~80-100 foot) dive. And the idea is, that after you do AOW, you would be prepared to do such dives.

As mentioned before, just getting diving experience can be just as worthwhile. Its also OK to take AOW as a way to get some dives under supervision, even if you're not looking to immediately start doing alot of deep dives. Depending on where you take it, AOW may also involve a drift dive, if that is whats prevalent there. (for example, I took AOW in Monterey/Carmel - we just dont have much in the way of currents here. so I did not get exposed to drift diving, if I took AOW in Cozumel, it's probably include some drift diving).

5. Im in the same boat as you, my wife doesnt dive (although she does like the water to swim snorkel). If youre partner does not like getting in the water, I dont think Isla Mujeres would work. Its a very small island. I dont think there's any land wildlife or hiking. Lots of shopping. However, the mainland (Cancun, Puerto Moreles, Tulum) may be an option for dives for you, and topside activities for him. Im not familiar with any other Caribbean islands.

 

[Doc Harry]

Go for AOW right away. Your OW certification is barely enough training to keep you safe. By continuing with AOW you'll get more dive experience under the supervision of an instructor. In my opinion AOW should be the minimum for a basic dive certification. But practically that would stop a lot of people from trying scuba because of the up-front cost.

Deep diving is different. You use more gas faster, so gas planning becomes more important. At 100 feet (~4 atm) you're using gas twice as fast as at 30 feet (~2 atm), so you need to monitor your SPG twice as frequently. You will also have less time in your NDL so you have to monitor your dive computer much more frequently so you don't go into deco. At 30 feet you'll never run out of NDL time, but as you go deeper it becomes a reality. Deco sneaks up on the careless and inattentive. Deep diving is all about gas and nitrogen management.

Look at Ramon's dive resort on Ambergris Cay in Belize. They cater to new divers there. No really deep dives (70-80 feet max), short 45 minutes dives, and almost no current. It's an exotic resort in an exotic destination, the beach resort there is nice, and it's not expensive. Fly into Belize City and catch a puddle jumper to Ambergris Cay.

 

[glennster]

having reached the status of old geezer and have 52 years of diving, i will pass along my limited knowledge.
1. as far as depth, depending on water temp, the colder the water the shallower you will notice the depth. warm water diving , generally 60 to 70 ft. not really a big deal. most of your diving is generally 40 to 60 ft. i was in Bonaire for thanksgiving and dove with buddy dive. typical depth is 50 ft. you can dive air or nitrox, and nitrox is no charge. the dive and drive package is nice, it comes with a small pickup truck and you can shore dive anytime you like.

2. as far as equalizing, it seems new divers may experience problems. i suspect, although i am not a physician, it is from lack of practice . can you equalize on land? i would suggest you start equalizing as soon as you hit the water and continue (GENTLY) until you reach your working depth. also, take care of your ears!!! after each dive place a few drops in your ears. my home brew is 50/50 alcohol and white vinegar. the alcohol will dry the water out and the vinegar with give the ear canal an acidic environment to prevent an ear infection. no worse way to ruin a dive trip than an ear infection. and don't dig in the ear canal with a q tip. the wax helps prevent infection.

3. regarding advanced ow. if you are going to stay diving, i would recommend the advanced ow, and nitrox certifications. most dive operations now require a certain certification to dive with them. also, the nitrox certification allows (in my opinion) the charter boats to run shorter surface intervals between dives. it does allow a longer bottom time with a longer no decompression limit, but, your maximum depth is limited depending on the oxygen content of your breathing mix.

4. i would not trim the mask skirt. if it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. next time you are in key largo, stop at Scuba Quest Outlet. they are on the north end of Key Largo. they have a massive selection of dive gear and a wall of different masks. good prices, good people to deal with.

5. next trip? wow. Bonaire is nice, easy diving. i was rather disappointed in lack of large fish when i was there thanksgiving. Stony Coral Tissue loss disease is plaguing most of the Caribbean. the disease started in the Miami Dade area, (think international port) and spread counter clockwise through the Caribbean, against the gulf currents. (think ballast water from shipping). Ramon's Village on Ambergris Cay in Belize is good diving and an excellent facility. Little Cayman Beach Resort is also a great facility. it is, however remote. Brac Beach resort on Cayman Brac is also a great facility. If you go back to the keys, Check out Conch Republic Divers in Tavernier. They are a smaller operation (think no cattle boat) and the entire staff are instructors. Ashley, the owner and her entire staff does an excellent job. you can upgrade your certification's there too, They dive the southern end of the reefs including Islamorada. if you want to experience nurse sharks, have them take you to shark rock. it is a shallow dive, 30 ft max. at any time there are half a dozen nurse sharks that hang with you. and if you are looking to help with reef restoration, I.C.A.R.E out of Islamorada does reef restoration and coral planting with Conch Republic too.
we will be spending January and February again this year diving with them. Hope to see you there!!

if you are looking at Curacao, we rent a vrbo in Westpunt at Marizul dive resort. the actual dive shop we use is Go West Diving. We fly in to Willemstad, pick up a rental car, buy groceries ad drive to Westpunt. its about an hour dive and not a lot of amenities there. Go West has nice boats, good dive shop and an amazing house reef.

 

[Belzelbub]

3. My friend and I are thinking about doing AOW this winter. We have different specialty interests, so we likely will go through it separately. Is going straight into AOW wise? I read mixed thoughts on pursuing AOW right after OW. Some people advocate hard for it, others say to just enjoy OW for a while. I'm not looking to drastically increase the depth at which I can dive (see question 1, I've only been to 30ft). I'm really interested in Underwater Navigator, Underwater Naturalist, and Nitrox. Drift Diving and DSMB are also of interest. Does anyone have thoughts on these selections or experience to share? Should I consider SSI?

One thing to note. If you consider SSI, there is no AOW class, or certification card. SSI will automatically give you an AOW card (or e-card) upon recognition of completing 4 specialties. Many shops will often bundle some specialties at a discount called an AOW bundle. The SSI shop I use most has a bundle with Night/Limited Vis, Deep, Navigation, and an elective specialty. You don't have to do this way, but it's definitely a bit cheaper that way.

So, since you mentioned that you and your friend have different interests, individual specialties may be ideal. Navigation is good, Nitrox is also good. Not sure of Underwater Naturalist. Drift Diving and DSMB may not be ideal as specialties, as these are things you can learn without a class most likely. I definitely had to practice DSMB in most courses I took.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I'm of the opinion that getting some dives in between OW and AOW or other specialties is useful. You don't necessarily need to wait as long as I did, but getting some dives in and getting comfortable at OW level will make the next steps easier.