Newly Certified and yet overwhelmed

[Chris66]

I recently completed the open water diver course, had a greattime and am an excited and exhilirated new diver.

I decided I wanted to use my next trip to Florida to spend a few days in the keys and get some diving done and now after reading and surfing I am overwhelmed. I do not have a dive buddy and am petrified that I will arrive at my boat trip and find that I am all alone with no dive buddy and no noe to help me or dive with me or worse that I will be taken into a situation for which I am not adequately trained. Next I thought that I would hire a guide but at $50/dive that is a little pricey, finally I thought to myself that if I did the Advanced Open Water diving course that I would get 5 dives in 2 days, an advanced certification, new skills and not have to worry about diving alone or feeling out of my depth. While I would like to do the Advanced course I dont want to do it jsut because I could not find a dive buddy and was scared of bieng overwhelmed.

Am I bieng silly or are these valid concerns

Chris

 

[KansaiKitsune]

I don't think boats go out unless they have at least two divers on it, maybe more -- they have to break even on gas, or else they'll call the trip.

 

[cruisegirl]

Chris, you have very valid concerns... Ones I can still remember thinking myself... I was cert. May 2005 and planned for a Hawaiian trip around diving....I was concerned about a buddy and being alone... But all the dive ops I've been with, they pair you up based on experience. And they guide you... both in Hawaii and Acapulco, we had guides..... And it wasn't extra.... But doing the class would be good for you and alleviate some of those concerns.... If you dive and don't do the class, be sure to explain to them that you are a newer diver. Most ops won't do anything stupid with a newer diver.... Don't do drift dives until you have more experience and remember, you can't go deeper than 60ft.... Now, go get wet and have fun......

 

[TeamWaldenDiving]

You have valid concerns, but usually there are others who have no one else to dive with. As for the AOW course, I feel that you should wait until you feel ready to go for that. It's what I did. If you go to the Keys and find that you're diving with someone new then talk, talk about their certifications, theier dive style and their usual dive profile. Make sure you cover hand signals, and out of air situations. Depending on the depth of the dive you should have a relatively good time. Remember, don't do a dive if you're not comfortable with everything, from the depth, to your buddy. It's your life, no sense in risking it if you're not certain and comfortable with what you're doing.
I have only 52 dives and am accustomed to doing 70+ foot dives due to where I do most of my diving. I almost always dive with a DM and always talk to them about my exp, profile and style.

 

[crosing]

Talk to your instructor, they usually have dive masters who would be willing to take you out on mentoring dives. Also check to see if there are any dive clubs in your area. The more you dive the more you will feel comfortable.

Good Luck!

 

[idocsteve]

I think that taking an Advanced open water course is a good idea. You will be under the watchful eye of a dive instructor, and you will learn new skills which will make you a safer diver and boost your confidence level. There should be nothing in the AOW course that you cannot handle and most of the diving in the keys is not too difficult. If you choose not to do the AOW course, you don't need to worry about hooking up with a buddy on the boat. There are always divers available, and the divemaster will usually assist you in pairing up with other single divers. I don't think that you should expect too much help. You should be fairly self sufficient and be able to gear up and handle the basics of diving now that you are certified. If you do not feel comfortable with the basics then consider more training.

 

[texdiveguy]

Chris,,,, my advise would be to work on the skills you learned in O/W and get in some additional diving prior to taking AOW. Have fun and just dive,,,don't rush the cert. level thing. I persl. think to many times shops/instructors lead newly certed divers into the next level of skills way ahead of the game...I have seen this happen on more than one occassion. Work with your LDS on going ad just doing skill and fun dives for now.....you will know when the time is right to take the next step.

 

[Jason Ooi]

Welcome to Scuba Board...Chris
Congratulation!!!.....
take more dives before next level....
:wave-smil :wave-smil

 

[Don Wray]

As already stated, don't stress it...be honest with the diveop...they will ensure you're pared with someone to dive with....enjoy the experience

 

[namabiru]

Naw, don't stress. When you're shopping for a dive shop, just be honest. Tell them you're newly certified, and you have no buddy, and you're interested in working on skills while seeing beautiful things so you'd like tourist diving (nothing too overly challenging yet, term not used in a negative sense as I love tourist diving), and can they hook you up. As it's been said, usually there's a divemaster who can dive with you. They're not instructing, so yeah you ARE expected to have a basic idea of what's going on (review your OW manual before you go diving again, just have a quick reread), but it doesn't mean you can't ask questions casually in the sense of learning, or observe what others are doing. A divemaster told me they didn't find me verifying that I had set up correctly on the first day for the first dive because it's better that I'm comfortable in the water and that I have no problems, which can cause problems for them. So asking without constantly asking (if you get that) isn't a crime either. It's how we learn, and how we are safe divers in the water.

Have fun--I wish I could go to the Keys, or I'd be your buddy gl