Navigation

[scurt85]

I am just getting into diving and am very frustrated with navagation. I am coming from the boating world where the gps tells me where I am and how to get where I am going. Now I am relying on a compass? There must be something better. I assume the gps signals cannot penatrate the water. Are there any other advanced systems on the market? Maybe some kind of sonar device?


thanks,

 

[String]

Why not learn to use a compass ? its not exactly hard.
Even in boating you cant legally rely on a GPS alone (commercially at least).

 

[DeepSeaDan]

I am just getting into diving and am very frustrated with navagation. I am coming from the boating world where the gps tells me where I am and how to get where I am going. Now I am relying on a compass? There must be something better. I assume the gps signals cannot penatrate the water. Are there any other advanced systems on the market? Maybe some kind of sonar device?


thanks,

...a note of angst from the technically savvy younger generation!

Just what is it about the antiquated, but time-honoured compass you find so !@#$ frustrating?

I use mine all the time - always get where I want to go. Have you a method you prefer to measure distance u/w? If your target bearing is small, it really helps to have an approximate idea of swim time needed to get there.

As Mr. String suggests, try to master the compass.

The batteries will never fail you!

Best,
DSD

 

[String]

The batteries will never fail you!

Unless you buy one of the new pointless electronic ones built into a computer

 

[DeepSeaDan]

Unless you buy one of the new pointless electronic ones built into a computer

! Is nothing sacred? !

 

[Garrobo]

I'm one of those people who loses all sense of direction as soon as my head hits the water. I can get lost in a one chair barber shop.I tried it with a cheap compass, didn't work. So I bought a $100 compass, didn't work any better. So I either buddy up with someone who can find our way back to the boat or I dive with a shop which puts a DM in the water with each group of divers. Couldn't care less if I can't navigate. Problem solved.

 

[Grish]

I hated the darn compass after my advanced open water dives...I felt completely lost. I'm the kind of person, though, where if I can't get something, I will do it again and again and again till I do. I went back with my instructor and did some more navigation work with a different kind of compass (one you wear on your wrist instead of a console mount) and nailed it. The best thing you can do for yourself is get comfortable with that thing. believe me, I know where you're coming from. I'm so reliant on my gps in my car that half the time i don't know where I am if I don't have "b****ing betty" (my name for my gps) in my ear to tell me. But getting comfortable using a compass will really be an asset for you under water.

 

[dkktsunami]

If you decide to actually learn how to navigate with a compass one of the best ways to do this is in a body of water with limited visibility, a lake for example. Find some underwater features, either by asking someone or by searching, determine headings to and from a starting point, and swim this course several times to get used to your speed, your yawing back and forth, and your depth (it will be tricky to maintain depth with limited visibility). Eventually you learn to judge distance by swim time or by kicks. Your objective is to get close, then swim a square pattern until you see your target. Trying to do this in Caribbean clear water is somewhat pointless. This becomes challenging and is pretty easy once you have practiced. Good luck.

 

[nereas]

Here are some compass pointers (no pun intended):

1) For beach diving, set your compass while you stand on the beach, before you go into the water, with the 2-dots beside the north-needle, for an out-bound azimuth as you stand looking out to sea.

2) Check your compass again, when you are in the water and before you descend. The compass needle should read between the 2-dots when you point it out to sea, and the single-dot should show the direction back to the beach.

A) For boat diving, wait until the current has turned the boat on the anchor line, then set your compass pointing into the current, like above with the 2-dots.

B) Before descending, check the compass to make sure the needle points into the current with the 2-dots. The single dot should show the direction down-current, in the opposite direction.

A compass will help you orient yourself when you are underwater and cannot see the boat any longer. A compass tells you which way is out, and which way is back.

Also note that around a metal shipwreck, the compass won't work very well.

Your open water instructor was supposed to cover this in your basic certification course. If you have forgotten, then you should review your basic scuba manual, or buy a new manual and re-read that.

 

[Grish]

If you decide to actually learn how to navigate with a compass one of the best ways to do this is in a body of water with limited visibility, a lake for example. Find some underwater features, either by asking someone or by searching, determine headings to and from a starting point, and swim this course several times to get used to your speed, your yawing back and forth, and your depth (it will be tricky to maintain depth with limited visibility). Eventually you learn to judge distance by swim time or by kicks. Your objective is to get close, then swim a square pattern until you see your target. Trying to do this in Caribbean clear water is somewhat pointless. This becomes challenging and is pretty easy once you have practiced. Good luck.

That's pretty much what I did...only I didn't have to do any square patterns...I was dead on every time. Shocked the heck out of my instructor haha.