Novice Diver ?

[Gidds]

*puts on bright green novice diver badge*

In your opinion should novice divers dive with other novice divers or with experienced divers?

Situation 1: Two novice divers go on a guided fun dive under DM supervision: good or bad?

Situation 2: Same as above but take away the DM: good or bad?

Situation 3: Novice diver buddies with an "experienced diver" who has lots of dives, knows the area, and is Rescue certified: good or bad?

Where does a novice diver like me find an experienced buddy who won't find thier greeness annoying?

How does a novice diver like me distinguish from an experienced diver and somebody who is talking through thier hat? I mean some nonsense I can catch but there might be some things I wouldn't know to ask or recognize as a red flag.

Thanks for all suggestions and input

 

[RumBum]

If you find a dive buddy who is safety concsiencious and is patient with your comfort level then you have a good dive buddy. There are poor divers at all levels. There are some DMs who are not safe divers or who may push you beyond your comfort level. Just remember that if you are not comfortable with a dive then you should back off, if your buddy keeps pushing you beyond your comfort zone then you should consider finding another buddy.
I started out as a nervous diver... I spent some time snorkling in my bath tub to get more comfortable with putting my face under water! Don't be ashamed if you are not comfortable with something this unnatural right away. There's nothing wrong with shallow dives or preferring clear, warm water.
red flags = if you are nervous or are discussing safety issues and a diver blows you off or acts like you are stupid to be bothering. If you want to go up and they blow you off. If they don't stay next to you while diving with you!
Go slowly and enjoy!

 

[pearl4diving]

Aloha Gidds!

I feel like everything I learned in diving I learned by diving with advanced divers...I am very thankful for them.

Situation 1: Two novice divers go on a guided fun dive under DM supervision: good or bad?

Very Good - a Divemaster is going to be more than happy to provide answers. The whole PADI divemaster training is training to being a Diver "role model", therefore, dive with them as much as possible and try to learn as much as possible from them.

Situation 2: Same as above but take away the DM: good or bad?

I don't know that I would say this is bad, except if you are always diving with other novice divers, you may never have that advanced diver to learn from. A lot of the time getting your skills "dialed" in come from just watching other divers. You would not have that opportunity in this situation...

Situation 3: Novice diver buddies with an "experienced diver" who has lots of dives, knows the area, and is Rescue certified: good or bad?

Again - great opportunity for you.

Where does a novice diver like me find an experienced buddy who won't find thier greeness annoying?

Scubaboard! These forums are a great place to find dive buddies. You also have an opportunity to get to know the person from how the post and comment in scubaboard. Another thing to think about is maybe joining a local dive club that dives regularly. That group setting is a good opportunity to meet new people and potentially find someone you really click with.

How does a novice diver like me distinguish from an experienced diver and somebody who is talking through thier hat? I mean some nonsense I can catch but there might be some things I wouldn't know to ask or recognize as a red flag

Good question, because we all know those people are out there. Or a person may not know better, think they are right about something when in fact they are not. Not sure how to screen those out. But use your common sense and when in doubt - you could always post a question to a scubaboard forum to see if others agree to what you had been told.

My 2 cents.

And don't forget to have fun out there!!

 

[spectrum]

*puts on bright green novice diver badge*

In your opinion should novice divers dive with other novice divers or with experienced divers?

Situation 1: Two novice divers go on a guided fun dive under DM supervision: good or bad?

If the novices need that sort of gudance they are better off with than without. I'd rather see them getting that sort of basic reinforcement than jumping into AOW because they need more mask time with an instructor. If diving in a new area a DM can providee a valued orientation dive for anyone any where any time.

Situation 2: Same as above but take away the DM: good or bad?

If they dive witin their abillities and were well trained that is exactly what they should be capable of.

Situation 3: Novice diver buddies with an "experienced diver" who has lots of dives, knows the area, and is Rescue certified: good or bad?

Depends totally on the experienced diver, how good of a budy and mentor he/she is. I was mentored on 1 dive by a seasoned diver, with a few sentences he helped me sort out my trim and improved my bouyancy control by an order of magnitude. I've swam with other very qualified divers and spent my time chasing their fins.

My best scuba dives out of my 43 this summer have been with novice divers that I felt were of roughly equal ability. We're working to improve, taking our time and enjoying the underwater world.

Where does a novice diver like me find an experienced buddy who won't find thier greeness annoying?

Dive with your local shop if they do dives, post here on scubaboard in our regional forum, put in a word with your instructor, dive shop anyone in a circle of divers.

How does a novice diver like me distinguish from an experienced diver and somebody who is talking through thier hat? I mean some nonsense I can catch but there might be some things I wouldn't know to ask or recognize as a red flag.

Watch out for bravado, don't get taken out of your comfort zone and follow your gutt. Stay in those limits and even a sub par buddy will simply be a 1 time buddy for you. Relax, the odds of needing this buddy in a life threatening situation should be slight if you dive within you abilities and remember that you can call a dive anytime for any reason so if you see he's non supportive end it right there,

Thanks for all suggestions and input

 

[H2Andy]

my dive training has consisted of:

1. class

2. go dive with someone my level for a while

3. class

4. go dive with someone at my new level for a while

etc.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Where does a novice diver like me find an experienced buddy who won't find thier greeness annoying?

How does a novice diver like me distinguish from an experienced diver and somebody who is talking through thier hat? I mean some nonsense I can catch but there might be some things I wouldn't know to ask or recognize as a red flag.

Didn't you just start classes again for a new semester? Are our ScubaBoard musings making it difficult to study tonight?

<just giving you grief!>

Actually, I think pearl4diving pegged it. Aside from your LDS or the university, (which might have a scuba club - dunno, but I taught at Michigan State U while I was a grad student and it had a very active club) likely the best place to find a buddy or buddies might be Scubaboard. Select a site pretty close to you, let people know what you're looking for, and I'll be you'll find one or two (or more) off the board here who would be happy to dive with you. (After you're done studying, of course!) As far as the second question, most people here are pretty straightforward and SB is a fairly transparent environment - people you meet off the board generally have enough going for them that they won't deliberately mislead you. (Some might pontificate too much, however,...)

Take it easy, and good luck with both the semester and the diving!

 

[TSandM]

Gidds, I'm just a little ahead of you in the process, and I can tell you what I have done and how it has worked for me.

When I finished OW, I did not feel at ALL competent to dive with anybody short of an instructor. So I did AOW to get five more thoroughly supervised dives. At the end of that period, I was feeling somewhat better, but still by no means confident enough to hare out into the wilds with another novice.

I found out that the shop where I certified has an e-group, and I joined it, and sent out a message asking for very experienced divers who would be willing to take out a novice diver. I got a lot of answers, to my surprise, and almost everybody sounded pretty reasonable. I went diving with a very nice woman who was very patient with me, and hooked up with one of the DMs from the shop as well. Then, I showed up for a "Big Buddy" dive organized on Scubaboard by NW Grateful Diver, and met him, and have had a chance to dive with him as well, and also to dive with another novice under his supervision. All of this was experience that allowed me to take responsibility for my dive a piece at a time.

Thursday of this week, I went out with a classmate from my OW class, someone who actually had FEWER dives than I did, and had not been out a single time outside of class. We did great -- went someplace we both knew, dove a dive I had done before which was pretty simple, and had a really good time without any problems. I do not think I could have done that even a few weeks ago, or at least certainly not without significant anxiety.

So -- the shop where you certified may be a good source of dive buddies; Scubaboard can be a good source of dive buddies, and I heartily recommend doing some diving with experienced people so you don't have to load yourself with responsibility for navigation, tracking a buddy, monitoring your depth and air, and maintaining your buoyancy all at once.

Worked for me -- my skills have steadily improved, and my anxiety has steadily decreased, and I haven't scared myself at all. BTW, today was my 25th dive, to give you an idea of where I am.

 

[herman]

I agree with all that has been posted above. I do think you are better off diving at least some of the time with experienced.......make that good divers, there is a big difference between a good diver and an "experienced" diver. I have seen some "experienced" divers who may well of had hundreds of dives but still looked like a novice underwater, poor trim, BC full of air and churning up the bottom. Avoid anyone who tells you how good he/she are, really good divers will show you.
As for finding divers who are willing to dive with you, it may be a lot easier than you might think. Most all of us are more than happy to dive with new divers IF you don't put us in a bad spot. Don't get on a expensive off shore trip and expect to find a happy experienced buddy unless you came together. That's the one place I will refuse to dive with an unknown buddy. I had a trip ruined a while back because I had to basically hand hold 2 poor (inexperienced ?) divers who where in way over their comfort zone. I spent the entire SHORT dive keeping them together, I need a leash for him as he had no idea what buddy skills were and waiting on her to panic at any moment. I was not a happy PAYING camper when we got back to shore. On the other hand, I spent all day yesterday diving with a new diver I met in his OW class a couple of weeks ago. I was headed to the quarry to do some simple nav/mapping work and invited him to come along, we both had a great time. Pick your buddies AND the dive site carefully.

 

[Diversauras]

Gidds,

1 and 2 are good (IMO)

3 has the potential to be very bad.

The skill you need in order to be safe in condition 3 is to know that you can call the dive and you must have what it takes to do it when that inner diver starts yelling that this is not where you want to be. As for distinguishing between experience and bull, learn the theory, trust your knowledge and make everybody explain the things you don't understand, and do so until you do. If that is too much work on their part find another experienced dive buddy.

 

[BarryNL]

*puts on bright green novice diver badge*

In your opinion should novice divers dive with other novice divers or with experienced divers?

Situation 1: Two novice divers go on a guided fun dive under DM supervision: good or bad?

Situation 2: Same as above but take away the DM: good or bad?

Situation 3: Novice diver buddies with an "experienced diver" who has lots of dives, knows the area, and is Rescue certified: good or bad?

Where does a novice diver like me find an experienced buddy who won't find thier greeness annoying?

Personally, I don't mind diving with new divers but I keep it simple. There's plenty of good diving to be had without going below 8m - in fact, with any new buddy I don't want to do anything more complex than this until I know them better, even if they've got 1000+ dives.