ok, so we went on several dives(from a boat) and everything was great! Then came the dive from hell....reef dive in the gulf in 50ft. The actual dive was ok, until the time when we returned to the boat.I know that when we entered the water we were headed north, so of course when we return we would head south...... i did that , according to my compass, and somewhere between the safety stop and surface- i ended up coming up on the "other" side of the boat and had to swim back.How embarrasing it was for me to have everyone on the boat looking at me and asking how i could hAVE MISSED THE ANCHOR ROPE!!!!:upset: yeah well i can't be the only one this has happend to....am i?someone please help me out here,any pointers?;-0
the navigation thing
- Thread starter hitomi316
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animian2002
Contributor
I don noe abt the others, but when I took my AOW 2 weeks ago, I find that Navigation is not as easy as it seem on land. ;-0
Instead of solely depend on the compass I make use of natural references.. which can be petty helpful at time...but then if I ever get to dive in area when natural references are the same everywhere ..then I think I will have problem too...cos I'm still a green horn when it come to using the compass....hopefully...It will get better as I dive & practice navigation
any idea how to improve navigation ??? pls advise
Thks in advance
Instead of solely depend on the compass I make use of natural references.. which can be petty helpful at time...but then if I ever get to dive in area when natural references are the same everywhere ..then I think I will have problem too...cos I'm still a green horn when it come to using the compass....hopefully...It will get better as I dive & practice navigation
any idea how to improve navigation ??? pls advise
Thks in advance
Dive long enough and you too will make the "Swim of Shame." In our part of the Gulf we often have two boats tied into the same wreck. The ultimate navigation error is to board the wrong boat!
Tradition is that if you do, it's a case of beer for the crew... of both boats - the "wrong" boat for "rescuing" you, your own boat for embarrassing the captain.
Beneath all the good-natured ribbing and embarrassment, we have two objectives in how we handle these incidents. First objective is to make it a "lesson learned" for the intrepid navigator who's made the mistake and for everyone else by making it a high profile event. The second, perhaps even more important, is to keep everything surrounded with good humor and in a positive light, to encourage the "navigator" that everybody still loves 'em and wants them to keep on diving and enjoying it.
Rick
Tradition is that if you do, it's a case of beer for the crew... of both boats - the "wrong" boat for "rescuing" you, your own boat for embarrassing the captain.
Beneath all the good-natured ribbing and embarrassment, we have two objectives in how we handle these incidents. First objective is to make it a "lesson learned" for the intrepid navigator who's made the mistake and for everyone else by making it a high profile event. The second, perhaps even more important, is to keep everything surrounded with good humor and in a positive light, to encourage the "navigator" that everybody still loves 'em and wants them to keep on diving and enjoying it.
Rick
as long as you came up in your intended line of travel you probably didn't do anything wrong with the compass. Current may have taken you past the boat. You may have been waatching the compass too closely and missed the boat because of that. Depending on the viz its easy to miss an achor rope. In places I dive frequently I have missed a rope by by as little as 2 feet and never saw it.
The one thing most divers have with the compass is keeping it level. This mostly due to lack of experience with a compass whether on land or UW. Many new divers are still lacking skills in body position awareness and this causes them to "lock" the compass needle when the compass is not level.
Initially you can practice several times on land and make it a point to use the compass on every dive you make.
The one thing most divers have with the compass is keeping it level. This mostly due to lack of experience with a compass whether on land or UW. Many new divers are still lacking skills in body position awareness and this causes them to "lock" the compass needle when the compass is not level.
Initially you can practice several times on land and make it a point to use the compass on every dive you make.
I don't want to give away all my navigation secrets... after all, I sell 'em in my nav specialty class... but here's one:
When navigating by compass near the bottom over a distance that's greater than the prevailing visibility, sight over your compass to an object you can see that is aligned with your compass course. Swim to that object, then do it again. By going object-to-object you accomplish two essential things. One, you take care of the problem of currents moving you off course, and two, by actually picking out and using objects you're familiarizing yourself with the course you've taken, and it will be easier to retrace your steps coming back.
Rick
Stone
Contributor
Never wear a magnetic bracelet on the wrist of the hand that holds the compass.
Tip #4
If you can't find the anchor rope, determine whether you really need a safety stop. Three minutes at 15 ft in even mild current can put you so far away from the boat that it is impossible to swim back.
Tip #4
If you can't find the anchor rope, determine whether you really need a safety stop. Three minutes at 15 ft in even mild current can put you so far away from the boat that it is impossible to swim back.
kwesler
Contributor
I am going for the "most likely to never ever EVER successfully navigate with a compass" prize. It is strange...while I NEVER get disoriented in wrecks, in terms of up and down etc., regardless of the orientation of the wreck itself, I CANNOT keep the geometry in my head for navigation. I can do a reciprocal course and that is it. BTW-I flunked geometry and was in the 2 percentile for spacial relations in standarized testing.;-0
Using all the recommendations above, the best time to practice navigation is when you don't have to use it. Practice on a wreck, well-defined reef, or wall. Somewhere that you don?t really ?need? to navigate. This way it is easy to check your accuracy and adjust or correct deficiencies while not getting lost in the process.
diving in these two places or diving wrecks are a little easier it seems. My biggest problems are in some of the lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. so some one suggested that i start to use a reel to mark my path and stick to it until i am comfortable enough to wander away from it a little. what do you think??:crawl:
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