Newbie Q: what do you need to do when going for your first dive?

[superkingkong]

hey guys...

hehee .. silly question,

i haven't been diving since after my classes. but planning do go diving soon. In the course, the instructor tells me what to do, what is the depth you need to go, ask you to get ready... bla bla bla

but now that i'm "not with my instructor" anymore, so, on reaching the dive center, do i need to do my planning with my RDP? and stuff? how deep i need to go, how long until i have to go up?

or do i just bring my stuff onto the boat, get ready, and dive.. (fo
llow the crowd)? dive until no air, then go straight up

EDIT

PEACE to all...

thanks for the advices and information. now i've some knowledge on the flow/operation.. and feel much comfortable to tell the shop, i want dive. but i still need some more information

hehee... a bit of update here ..

when we dive with a dive group (with the dive op), does the DM plan for you? or you plan your own? and when is the moment you plan? before the trip? before boarding the boat? after DM briefs you?

well, since DM will tell you how deep you're gonna dive, longest time you'll be down there, i guess that's already a plan? you go down to the deepest depth that DM told you, slowly ascent, and at 5m, a 3mins safety stop, all within the time range the DM told you.... no?

would appreciate if you could enlighten this newbie

 

[TheTrickster]

Well, if you are diving with the dive shop, they will do a dive brief before commencing the dive, outlining the dive site, what you (and they) are going, the recommended dive times, depths and any special item of interest (entry, exit points etc).

Perhaps when you arrive at the shop, tell them you haven't dive in a while, they will more than help in regards to helping setup, dive plan (but only suggest) and perhaps even buddy you up with a DM or Instructor, so you can have an enjoyable dive.

Diving until you run out of air is not the way to dive...remember your OW training? Plan your dive, dive your plan....

Safe diving..

 

[Lonefox]

If you've done your advanced course, then I'd hope that you would have learned the discipline to know how to dive unsupervised. I recently got my AOW certification and have additionally developed my own ideas on how to dive safely. I have some concerns on your ideas on diving, and you may need to address them so that you can enjoy safe dives.

1) Never "go straight up". Dive to a plan, monitor your air consumption and perform your safety stop (Deco stop and Safety stops are not the same thing). Aim to leave the water after the dive with no less than 40bar in your tank.

2) Invest in a good dive computer that monitors your no decompression time, and remember that at depth your air consumption is increased, and your no deco time becomes less. It's scarily easy to enter deco time if you don't keep an eye on your depth. Watch a dive computer at 30 metres counting down the no deco time, it's scary. (You and buddy should each have your own computers, don't share)

3) Dive multi-level, don't yo-yo your dive profile, start at your deepest planned depth, and ascend over time 'multi level diving' (This makes your dive more relaxed, less chaotic and reduces the possibility of deco time).

4) Make sure you always dive with a buddy you feel comfortable with, so that you can help one another monitor your dive profile and perform adequate buddy checks. (Not a glance and yeah you look ok, full buddy checks are a must).

5) Have a practice dive with a buddy in a quiet location where you can get used to your equipment and that of your buddy, at your own pace, e.g an inland lake at a depth of about 7 metres and average visability is ideal, arrange a friend for surface cover. (Our first dive after getting our O.W cert was an orientation dive with a LDC, it was bad for the following reasons....
a) My buddy's regulator fell apart in the water and LP Hose beat him silly (Same LDC serviced it the week before)
b) The Instructors from the LDC were impatient and rushed us in to the water as they had other things to do

6) If you get bad feelings about the Dive, or your equipment is playing up, call the dive, either buddy can call a dive at any time, and there should be no pressure to continue, there's no place for macho bravado in diving.

7) Know your equipment, get used to it, take the right items for the dive you are doing and ensure that you are streamlined and not dangling lanyards and items all over the place. You can get tangled up in your own equipment if it's not tidy.

8) Some dives are instructor led, and some it's optional to go do your own thing, it's worth talking to your guides before you join a group dive. Also be aware that some people may be diving Nitrox, and as a result have longer bottom time than you, following their dive profile could cause you problems.

9) If diving outside of organised clubs, Scrutinise tide tables and gather local knowledge on areas you plan to dive, find out about bottom topography, obstructions and hazards, currents and rips. Learn about slack water times (These differ from low and high tides depending on the area). Snorkel the area first if possible to get an idea of the topography.

I hope this helps, I don't profess to be an expert, and only have 19 dives logged. 5 Unsupervised with regular buddy. But all of this is a combination of training you should have received by the time you acquire your AOW, Common Sense and gut feeling. Don't treat the training as the complete guide to diving, treat it as a minimal introduction to diving safely. The rest comes from experience, I personally found that diving is most stressful when you are assumed by your instructors to be compentent and know what you are doing. When you do your courses people are double checking things for you, when you've passed you are expected to know what you are doing.

 

[TheHobster]

hey guys...

hehee .. silly question,

this has gotta be a troll

i haven't been diving since after my AOW. In the course, the instructor tells you what to do, what is the depth you need to go, ask you to get ready... bla bla bla

no instructor I know would teach an AOW like that

but now that i'm "not with my instructor" anymore, so, on reaching the dive center, do i need to do my planning with my RDP? and stuff? how deep i need to go, how long until i have to go up? and do the deco stop?

gotta be a troll

or do i just bring my stuff onto the boat, get ready, and dive.. (follow the crowd)? dive until no air, then go straight up

if not a troll we may be reading about this person on the accident forum

would appreciate if you could enlighten this newbie

read the board & become educated on how serious folks here take diving - if this is not a troll, you need to audit/retake an entry level class and re-do AOW as you didn't learn squat.

 

[dry heat diver]

hey guys...

hehee .. silly question,

i haven't been diving since after my AOW. In the course, the instructor tells you what to do, what is the depth you need to go, ask you to get ready... bla bla bla

but now that i'm "not with my instructor" anymore, so, on reaching the dive center, do i need to do my planning with my RDP? and stuff? how deep i need to go, how long until i have to go up? and do the deco stop?

or do i just bring my stuff onto the boat, get ready, and dive.. (follow the crowd)? dive until no air, then go straight up

would appreciate if you could enlighten this newbie

Take responsibility for your own safety. Just following along with no understanding and/or involvement in planning and managing the dive is a fools game. This has to be a prank question, right? If you've really done the AOW certification and don't know better, call the police. You've been robbed.

 

[PePaw]

Sorry, but i'm thinking along the same lines !

 

[Ice9]

After reading this, and your nitrox thread, I have this suggestion for you:

You should probably take OW again. Pay attention this time.

Not trying to diss ya, but some of the things in your post are down right scary. After day 1 of OW you should know these things. You telling me you made it through AOW and still don't know what you should be doing?

 

[fallcreek196]

whats a troll?

 

[Doc Intrepid]

A troll is someone who asks a question or makes a comment that is designed to incite controversy or heated arguments.

But I'm personally not convinced that the OP is a troll.

Given the current state of instruction, where you can watch a videotape, take a test, do a few hand-hold dives, and poof you're a diver, all over basically one week or so, I can easily see where someone could go through this evolution successfully yet not have really grasped "how to plan a dive". And AOW is sold these days as a number of dives you can complete just after OW...and taught in the same format...

Think about it.

In your recent OW class, or those you've watched recently, have you ever seen any students sit down and Plan a Dive (that they then go and execute)? I suspect rather that they scurry around and try not to forget things while the instructor tries to herd cats. Then its into the water, do the skills, out of the water, into the cars, back to the dive center, unload, etc. etc.

I can easily see a guy coming out of that environment, doesn't dive for a year or more, then decides to dive again, and is left trying to remember what he learned about dive planning only to discover that he really didn't learn much about dive planning because they were all planned for him - and very rapidly.

So, lets not assume this guy is a troll just yet, and see if some other soul on the board might give him some steps to think about before he "jumps in the water and follows the crowd until he runs out of gas" - which, when you come to think about it, isn't so far from how its done on a whole bunch of vacation charters........

Sheesh...it's a tough crowd in this room...

 

[diver 85]

Whoa, they must teach an OW cert. class different now(& I have assumed this for a while now)...ie, when we were cert. in '85, we were ready to 'go diving' after the course, knew what to do, when to do it, etc.....As we were taught, plan your dive(that's where the tables come into play) & dive your plan....very easy....the other couple rules were don't ever hold your breath, don't come too fast, & watch your pressure guage for air remaining....On the other hand, maybe we had a good instructor cuz we immediately started diving by ourselves in Toledo Bend & 4 months later made 6 deep dives off Belize then 3 months after that made 8 deep dives off G. Cayman.Looking back, none of us were ever worried about what we were supposed to be doing(correctly)....(Taking the (private)class was myself, my wife & our 14 YO daughter)...My advise, if you're not sure of what you're supposed to be doing, retake the class, you shoud know right now about diving 'good' dives.....good luck.....