Navigation help

[BabyAnnaRe]

Hello. I just returned from a Blackbeard's cruise (Sea Explorer) out of Miami. I realized I need help with my navigation. I would like either some names of books or cd's that could help me out so when the next time I go diving I can practice them. I can not afford another class and open water time. I find that I worry too much under water about getting back to the mooring line and not about what it is I am looking at and I know that I am missing alot. I had a great time but I need to relax and so I figure by the time I can go on vacation again (next year) I can learn a thing or two. I can only go diving about once a year so every time I go it is fairly new to me. So if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. Thanks.

 

[Rick Inman]

I can only go diving about once a year so every time I go it is fairly new to me. So if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. Thanks.

No local diving?? Too bad. But if you can only dive once a year, I wouldn't worry too much about the nav skills. Your best overall bet is to just stick with a DM and enjoy the dive. If you only dive once a year, diving with a DM is a good idea for a bunch of reasons, IMHO.

 

[Stirling]

Hello. I just returned from a Blackbeard's cruise (Sea Explorer) out of Miami. I realized I need help with my navigation. I would like either some names of books or cd's that could help me out so when the next time I go diving I can practice them. I can not afford another class and open water time.

The Phoenix main library has a video on Underwater Navigation (in the Video section on the ground floor, call number 797.23 Un2). At 30 minutes, it will provide a fairly light treatment of some basic navigation skills. There are also a number of books available on underwater navigation skills (I still have an old Dacor book from the 1970s), and I would expect some LDS to carry other videos or instructional materials, although I am not familiar with any others currently available off the top of my head.

 

[Mark Vlahos]

A couple of useful tips to use.

Write down on a slate the depth under the boat. This is useful because if your dive site is on a sloping bottom you need to get back to the correct depth, not deeper, not shallower, and then look for the boat.

Also, if you head off in a particular direction write it down on the slate. This will allow you to swim back in the opposite direction to get back to the boat.

These two things while not perfect should help you to find the boat. You might also want to write down on the slate any particular things like the size or shape of a particularly distinctive coral formation, or rock. One minute spent at the beginning of the dive describing the area under the boat can save you lots of time at the end of the dive. You should also make a habit of looking back at the area under the boat when you get 20 or 30 feet away, since this will likely be the view you will have when you are returning, also look back during the dive to spot landmarks to help you get back.

Mark Vlahos

 

[WVDiver]

I agree with Rick and Stirling and I will add to that the fact that you can practice your compass skills at home around the yard. Practicing on dry land will help a lot with your compass skills and also help you to relax when you are underwater. Basic compass books can be found about anywhere and are relatively easy to understand and use.

Also work on the kind of topography skills that you will need while diving. Do some wreck dives in the begining, to help you get accustom to things. Wrecks are fairly simple to navigate as you will start usually at the bow or stern making your return much easier until you get some practice and become more experienced with your navigation.

 

[triton94949]

No local diving?? Too bad. But if you can only dive once a year, I wouldn't worry too much about the nav skills. Your best overall bet is to just stick with a DM and enjoy the dive. If you only dive once a year, diving with a DM is a good idea for a bunch of reasons, IMHO.

Exactly.

On anchored boats, you normally go down the anchor line or down a drop line with the D/Ms, form up into groups, swim into the current, make a big arc, end up back at the anchor line, ascend it, and do your 3 min 15 ft stop.

Navigation on a boat dive like that normally means staying with the D/M.

If you want to understand and keep track of where you are, here is what you would do:

Descend down the line (anchor or drop line), adjust your buoyancy, and get neutral, as you wait for the group to form up.

Turn yourself into the current, bring your arm to the square in front of you, and set your compass with the single dot alligned with the magnetic needle. This is the direction that you would follow during the beginning of the dive.

Watch your compass as the D/M takes you through the dive. You will see the magnetic needle slowly veer off the single dot and towards the double dot. The double dot means that you are heading back in the opposite direction.

If you take your compass out in the back yard, in Arizona, like the others have said, and play with it, as though you were at the beginning of the dive, setting the compass, walking around your back yard in a large arc either to the left or to the right, and then ending back where you started from, you can visualize what will take place underwater. Practice it a few times, first in an arc to the left, and then in an arc to the right, it will help you with your navigation.

 

[jbd]

Hello. I just returned from a Blackbeard's cruise (Sea Explorer) out of Miami. I realized I need help with my navigation. I would like either some names of books or cd's that could help me out so when the next time I go diving I can practice them. I can not afford another class and open water time. I find that I worry too much under water about getting back to the mooring line and not about what it is I am looking at and I know that I am missing alot. I had a great time but I need to relax and so I figure by the time I can go on vacation again (next year) I can learn a thing or two. I can only go diving about once a year so every time I go it is fairly new to me. So if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. Thanks.

As Rick hinted at, you should try getting in some local diving. This will afford you the best possibility of practicing navigational skills as well as honing and refining your diving skills, which will make your trips more enjoyable.

There are many books available on using a compass on land which is pretty much the same as using one UW. The big trick UW with a compass is to keep it level so the needle will move freely. This is something that requires some practice. Another thing, that I have noticed is that one of the first things to go out the window when one first starts using a compass UW is buoyancy control the other is buddy awareness. Here again practice helps.

 

[Stirling]

As Rick hinted at, you should try getting in some local diving. This will afford you the best possibility of practicing navigational skills as well as honing and refining your diving skills, which will make your trips more enjoyable.

Local diving around Phoenix will definitely get you practicing navigational skills! First, there's the whole "where's the water?" thing. And then, once you find one of the lakes and submerge, you're going to want a compass and a slate so you can track your progress under water and note the exact location where you saw the fish.

 

[Chad Carney]

I recall SSI as having a well written text for their Navigation Specialty. It's been about 8 years since I was a current SSI instructor, (I switched to SDI/TDI), but underwater navigation skills really don't change much over time.

They sent me a copy to review before they printed it, and I helped edit some of it. They even included a section in it that I wrote about dead reckoning underwater. Here's their website http://www.ssiusa.com/ to find a dealer near you.

Chad