New diver excited for first trip

[Damselfish]

Yes, you never know about instabuddies, and there's maybe a higher chance a photographer will pay less attention to you. (I'm married to a photographer, and ... never mind ) Anyway hard to guess if they will be swimming off in pursuit of something, or going real slow looking for stuff and waiting for the perfect shot. If you hook up with one of the latter it might work out and you may get to see some interesting stuff if they're a good spotter.

But when you're new to the sport is exactly when it's better to not be messing with a camera. You want really good buoyancy control before using a camera. You want all your skills to be solid and second nature before having the distraction of a camera. And cameras can also increase your air consumption. I would suggest not taking a camera on your first dives. If you're interested you won't get over the need, but you will be better prepared later.

 

[Phillipus2005]

Hi folks - I have always wanted to dive and never made it happen until I was in Australia on the GBR with my wife last year. We were going to snorkel together and I decided I would try the "intro dive." Two 25 minute dives - first to about 25 feet and the second to 40. It was really great and I told me wife - it changed my life!

So I came home and got my open water certification. My first certified dive is coming up in May - I will be in Miami for a business trip so I am tacking on some time for diving before the biz event. I booked two morning charters that I understand will be a John Pennekamp park at Key Largo in about 25 to 35 feet of water. My wife won't dive, so I will be a single diver on the trip. I wish she would but she's not that comfortable in the water.

I have a question but will gladly take it to another part of the forum if that is better manners - it concerns being a single diver and getting paired up with strangers because I'm not hiring a dive guide - the charter outfit said people do that all the time and other divers expect it - but is it considered annoying to more experienced divers to have a beginner getting paired up with them? I don't know how conventional this is, and don't want to be 'that guy' if it is really kind of uncool to do so. She kind of discouraged me from bothering to hire the guide at $60 additional cost. And I don't mind saving the money if it's not really necessary for such a shallow dive.

I am 55 years old, in excellent fitness, and have a pretty natural comfort level with scuba. I don't think I will be a burden to anyone, but it will be my first 'real' dive. Any tips are welcome!

Thanks! And I look forward to learning more about this incredible sport and meeting new people involved with it.

Hi @escinkc. Welcome to diving

I've had a similar experience and essentially only dived with insta-buddies for many years, including on the GBR. I often went on guided dives - so I would benefit from their experience and spotting abilities... i didn't really consider going out with just a buddy (certainly an instabuddy) with only a few dives' experience.

However, on the GBR, the boat operators encouraged us not to take a guide unless we really really needed one. By that time, I had 50-60 dives and had my buoyancy/ weighting and air consumption fairly well sorted. I found myself in the unusual position of being the more experienced diver, coming up with air to spare, and navigating a bit. Was a fantastic experience and really helped boost my diving confidence.

Enjoy. Let us know how you get on

 

[RyanT]

I've learned every sport has subtle and often unspoken rules that a new person should make the effort to learn when pairing up with strangers.

You're going to fit in well in this sport. Given that you have such a good outlook, I'll go ahead and give you a little insider's advice. The unspoken rule on the dive boat is that if you see a middle-aged balding guy on the boat with a set of short doubles, you should carry all his gear for him and buy beers after the dive!