I dive with "noobs" all the time. I've met a lot of great people by posting dive trips on my website and here on the Board. It's great comparing notes after the dive!
no one wants to dive with a newbie!
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Newbies are prone to make mistakes, that's partly due to nervousness of inexperience. Hey, if they can't rely on us veteran divers to help them build confidence and experience, then why the heck are we diving with others?
I hate it when a new diver feels intimidated by a diver's experience. It should be up to the veteran to say "Relax, we're here to enjoy the dive. Why don't you take point on the dive for the trip out and I'll take point on the return portion or vice versa." Helping them develop their skills, of course that idea wouldn't be practical in a situation where a new diver isn't familiar with the dive site.
Personally, I'd rather have a newbie lead just a little, so I'm not stopping and looking over my shoulder the entire dive. The only problem there is that your newbie has to know and understand that it is his/her reponsibility to check on your location every once in a while to make sure there isn't a lost buddy or out of air issue.
I hate it when a new diver feels intimidated by a diver's experience. It should be up to the veteran to say "Relax, we're here to enjoy the dive. Why don't you take point on the dive for the trip out and I'll take point on the return portion or vice versa." Helping them develop their skills, of course that idea wouldn't be practical in a situation where a new diver isn't familiar with the dive site.
Personally, I'd rather have a newbie lead just a little, so I'm not stopping and looking over my shoulder the entire dive. The only problem there is that your newbie has to know and understand that it is his/her reponsibility to check on your location every once in a while to make sure there isn't a lost buddy or out of air issue.
Come out to Regina or come down to Coz with me.....99% of who I dive with are newbees as I train them..
I actually love to take out new divers..probably because I felt the same way at one time...heck ,at one time someone with 40 loged dives impressed me and they would not dive with someone with 20 dives as they were still "new"....go to post on why experienced divers are getting killed.
Ron
I actually love to take out new divers..probably because I felt the same way at one time...heck ,at one time someone with 40 loged dives impressed me and they would not dive with someone with 20 dives as they were still "new"....go to post on why experienced divers are getting killed.
Ron
frankc420
Contributor
I'm sure that most experienced divers have no problem diving with newbies, as long as they are safe, there's no question there. But, when a n00b like myself is diving with someone that has say, 100+ dives under their belt, I guess it can be a little intimidating at first.
jpsexton
Contributor
I've had no problem at all. I just jumped in on my local forum here on ScubaBoard and the experienced divers welcomed me to tag along with them. The advise I've gotten and just observing what others are doing has really taught me allot. I'm very greatfull to them.
When I become a more experienced diver I will never hesitate to dive with newbies.
When I become a more experienced diver I will never hesitate to dive with newbies.
I feel it is a privliege to be asked by a new diver to dive with them
BSea
Contributor
frankc420:
It's all relative. 100 + dives isn't a tremendous amount of experience. If you think about it, if a person goes on a couple of trips a year & only dives warm water, they could have over 100 dives in 4 or 5 years and never been deep or done any advanced training. So they are newbies for allot of conditions. I've made almost 200 dives, but probably less than 10 night dives. So for night dives I'm definetly a newbie.
For the most part, I like diving with different people, and I don't mind coming up with 1000+ pounds of air. The exception is when I'm on a vacation, and I want to do something that a potential buddy isn't geared for, or trained for. For example, If I'm diving deep on nitrox and using a computer, I don't really want to be buddied with someone without a computer diving on air. Now, if it's on a local dive that I have done several times then no problem.
Looking through this thread it seems like most divers are more than happy to dive with a new diver. If new divers are getting the impression that more experienced divers don't want to dive with them, I wonder if it's because of the dives.
I don't spend much time at resorts but I don't know that I'd want to be with a new diver on a dive that I have a bunch of money tied up in if I think the dive might be a bit much for that new diver. My wife and I genuinely enjoy diving with new divers and even actively working with them to improve their skills if that's what they're interested in. I may not be willing to pay a lot for the privilage though.
In that regard, I think it's up to the new diver to seek oportunities and make themselves available for mentoring before the "big" (and probably expensive) vacation dive. Then they can get on that charter feeling confident in their ability to do the dives at hand without feeling intimidated or feeling like they are imposing. By contrast, the new diver who tucks that new card in their pocket, skips the boring local dives and expends little of their own effort prior to getting on that charter probably should feel intimidated.
That may sound harsh but I've certified and seen certified MANY new divers who headed home after class rather than accepting the invitation to do more dives. Without an exception that I can remember, I always set aside the entire weekend when conducting OW training dives and encouraged students to do the same so they could DIVE. Never did I pack and run after the required dives were finished. It was really great when PADI made provisions for "excursion dives" between training dives. then we could do extra diving on both days! If only the students would have devoted the time to go on the dives with us! How often we did those extra dives by ourselves after all the students headed home. What a HUGE majority it was who were getting certified to dive the tropics and were not going to spend a minute longer than necessary diving locally. ok, we don't have coral or funny colored fish but we have fish. Once in a while we have decent vis and it's water! Now, I feel that my students were pretty well prepared by the end of class, especially as compared to what the industry generally puts out, but more diving is better than less no matter how good the class was.
I spend lots of typing time critisizing the agencies over the certification process but the fact of the matter is that I saw a real lack of interest for anything but seeing pretty colored fish and coral on the part of new divers. The VAST majority want to get certified more than they wanted to learn diving. As I see it so many of our new divers are taking the shortest and least expensive path to certification and willingly neglecting to invest any of their own effort toward making themselves the kind of divers that more experienced divers want to dive with.
So, I'd answer the question of the original post with some questions. That is, why is it that new divers seem unwilling to do the dives that more experienced divers are eager to do with them? How do they expect to gain the experience? Why do they want to skip practice and coaching and expect not be put on the bench on game day?
I don't spend much time at resorts but I don't know that I'd want to be with a new diver on a dive that I have a bunch of money tied up in if I think the dive might be a bit much for that new diver. My wife and I genuinely enjoy diving with new divers and even actively working with them to improve their skills if that's what they're interested in. I may not be willing to pay a lot for the privilage though.
In that regard, I think it's up to the new diver to seek oportunities and make themselves available for mentoring before the "big" (and probably expensive) vacation dive. Then they can get on that charter feeling confident in their ability to do the dives at hand without feeling intimidated or feeling like they are imposing. By contrast, the new diver who tucks that new card in their pocket, skips the boring local dives and expends little of their own effort prior to getting on that charter probably should feel intimidated.
That may sound harsh but I've certified and seen certified MANY new divers who headed home after class rather than accepting the invitation to do more dives. Without an exception that I can remember, I always set aside the entire weekend when conducting OW training dives and encouraged students to do the same so they could DIVE. Never did I pack and run after the required dives were finished. It was really great when PADI made provisions for "excursion dives" between training dives. then we could do extra diving on both days! If only the students would have devoted the time to go on the dives with us! How often we did those extra dives by ourselves after all the students headed home. What a HUGE majority it was who were getting certified to dive the tropics and were not going to spend a minute longer than necessary diving locally. ok, we don't have coral or funny colored fish but we have fish. Once in a while we have decent vis and it's water! Now, I feel that my students were pretty well prepared by the end of class, especially as compared to what the industry generally puts out, but more diving is better than less no matter how good the class was.
I spend lots of typing time critisizing the agencies over the certification process but the fact of the matter is that I saw a real lack of interest for anything but seeing pretty colored fish and coral on the part of new divers. The VAST majority want to get certified more than they wanted to learn diving. As I see it so many of our new divers are taking the shortest and least expensive path to certification and willingly neglecting to invest any of their own effort toward making themselves the kind of divers that more experienced divers want to dive with.
So, I'd answer the question of the original post with some questions. That is, why is it that new divers seem unwilling to do the dives that more experienced divers are eager to do with them? How do they expect to gain the experience? Why do they want to skip practice and coaching and expect not be put on the bench on game day?
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Let's say I am learning to play tennis. I would not expect the best players at the club to spend a lot of time with me. I would have to find a partner at close to my level and put some time in first. Most things are just like that...
MikeFerrara:
Ditto. I love diving with newer divers, we do it all the time at home, but when I've paid for airfare, rooms, and space on the boat, I kinda get upset when I see people walking on the reef, crashing into me repeatedly, and harassing the marine life.
MikeFerrara:
Amen, then we can all enjoy our trip.
MikeFerrara:
You're right. The only reason that quick and dirty training exists is because there's a market for it.
MikeFerrara:
Well stated. As I said before, I love diving with new divers at home, regardless of experience or air consumption. I love helping them figure out their minor issues, and seeing the light come on when it all clicks. It's a joy to watch them work to improve, and to see them attain their goals. Just PLEASE do this at home so that we can all enjoy ourselves on vacation.......
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