My poll on what people expect from a dive guide has resulted in near unanimity that the dive guide should be responsible for the navigation.
I can remember being a new diver. I did a lot of dives with NW Grateful Diver, who was my mentor. I let Bob lead, and I ceded virtually ALL responsibility for navigation to him, while I worked on buoyancy control, trim, and kicking techniques. But the sites we were diving were sites where, if I lost Bob and couldn't work out my route home, I could surface and swim in. It might not be comfortable, but it was eminently possible and safe.
On the other hand, I had a rude awakening in Southern California a few years back. I got in the water with two new-to-me buddies, who were both experienced off that boat and at that site. We took off in a train of three, and I was busy looking for critters and enjoying the relatively unfamiliar environment -- right up until the point where the leader signaled to me that I was to take over the lead on the dive. I had only the most rudimentary idea of our course, and where the boat was . . . I was immediately very stressed and anxious, and as it turns out, managed to muddle our way back to where sheer fortune gave me a glimpse of the anchor chain. Not one single time since then have I done a dive where I didn't pay attention to where we went and how we were to get to safety, whether that was shore or boat.
So I'm wondering, given the results of the poll, what new divers feel they would need to take more responsibility for their navigation. Did you not get enough practice with a compass? Did you not get good information about natural navigation? Do you just not have the bandwidth to manage everything you need to do to dive, AND handle navigation? Or did no one ever make you think about what would happen, if you followed a guide to somewhere unknown and then lost them?
How could dive instructors or mentors make navigation a more manageable task for new divers?
I can remember being a new diver. I did a lot of dives with NW Grateful Diver, who was my mentor. I let Bob lead, and I ceded virtually ALL responsibility for navigation to him, while I worked on buoyancy control, trim, and kicking techniques. But the sites we were diving were sites where, if I lost Bob and couldn't work out my route home, I could surface and swim in. It might not be comfortable, but it was eminently possible and safe.
On the other hand, I had a rude awakening in Southern California a few years back. I got in the water with two new-to-me buddies, who were both experienced off that boat and at that site. We took off in a train of three, and I was busy looking for critters and enjoying the relatively unfamiliar environment -- right up until the point where the leader signaled to me that I was to take over the lead on the dive. I had only the most rudimentary idea of our course, and where the boat was . . . I was immediately very stressed and anxious, and as it turns out, managed to muddle our way back to where sheer fortune gave me a glimpse of the anchor chain. Not one single time since then have I done a dive where I didn't pay attention to where we went and how we were to get to safety, whether that was shore or boat.
So I'm wondering, given the results of the poll, what new divers feel they would need to take more responsibility for their navigation. Did you not get enough practice with a compass? Did you not get good information about natural navigation? Do you just not have the bandwidth to manage everything you need to do to dive, AND handle navigation? Or did no one ever make you think about what would happen, if you followed a guide to somewhere unknown and then lost them?
How could dive instructors or mentors make navigation a more manageable task for new divers?