Underwater orientation

[knowone]

I sent cyber diver off to buy some milk so I can be truthful now. Before I jump in I look at landmarks current and the sun, the moon and the compass pointy thing and set the reciprocal heading. Down there I look at the spg, behind at the rocks between my legs, or may be I just turn my head because Hansel and Gretels landmarks look different from that perspective and sometmes the compass. I am not a shipwreckologist and don't have to map anything but generally find the exit point or to within a few metres, without surfacing, sometimes in the dark without a torch. If current cannot be compensated the exit point changes. Plan your dive and go where the dive takes you. Courses schmourses. Look at your books, find a pier practice half way along it. Its easy to lose a pier but harder than losing a rock. Go home look at the books again and then again before you go back to the pier or boat or shore or helicopter. If you get stuck you could ask here or better still ask someone at the pier or the person you have been following. Sometimes they like to be able to enjoy a dive with their hands in their pockets.
A person that drives without looking beyond the tailights of the car in front will never be situationaly aware and if thats how they drive they can't be taught.

 

[Deefstes]

Wow, thanks for all the responses. Among some other things, one thing I've learned here is; don't post a question on ScubaBoard and then only check back the following morning, you'll be swamped.

I guess most of what you guys have said will probably only make sense once I'm forced to rely on it. I find it hard to imagine how I could visualise a bread crumb trail on a map while counting my strides when I'm poking my head into all sorts of nooks and crannies looking for nudibranchs or trying to get a better camera angle on the turtle that's cruising past.

It leaves me with a bit of a dilemma. I could either use up some dives (which cost me a fair bit I might add as I don't live near the ocean) during which I ignore the nudibranchs and fishies and simply focus on navigating or I could continue enjoying the dives for the critters and put off the navigating until I really need it - at which time I'm sure I will curse myself for not having acquired the skill earlier.

When I dive in the local quarry there's very little else to see so I usually focus on skills and situational awareness is one but then there are no currents, surge, waves, ridges in the sand etc.

When I dived the Florida Keys the boat took us out to the reef and simply said "enjoy the dive, see you back here in an hour". I was very daunted by the idea of having to find my own way around and then find my own way back to the boat. As a result we never strayed too far from the anchor line (which was a pity) but we still enjoyed the dives. The visibility was quite good though and the dives really shallow so we knew that we wouldn't really get lost. In other words, those dives weren't much of a navigation challenge. But one day we might be diving elsewhere where navigation skills might be crucial so maybe it's worth sacrificing some pics of nudibranchs and sharks so I can acquire those skills...

 

[gcbryan]

I don't think you have to do one or the other...just be a little more aware on your next dive even if there is a DM. See if you know where you are at various points along the way.

It's one of those things you learn naturally by getting better and better each time. If I'm at a new site and someone else decides to lead my sense of orientation isn't quite as good as if I were leading either.

For me its mainly just a matter of getting my bearing at the beginning of the dive and moving in a more or less constant direction. If you do that you'll get back somewhat close to your starting point.

After you get disoriented and if you didn't get some general bearing it's more difficult of course.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Everything I described is what I teach in the UW Nav class I wrote. There is an intro to it in AOW and we also do more than just a reciprocal in OW class. Taking a good course will in fact give you the basics of UW Nav. Taking a really good or even great course will still give you the basics but also throw in some extra info, practice, skills, and techniques. The one I offer is 6 dives, using compass, natural, and lines and reels. There is a min of 6 hours of classroom. During the course we also make a map of the area that is added to on each dive. Emphasis is on buoyancy, trim, precise turns, and observation for the first 2 dives as well as holding the compass. Second two I add natural features in combination with more emphasis on the natural. 5 th dive is using a reel for multiple legs and distances and includes selection of tie offs and noting details and not just blindly following the reel. A line could break.

Final dive uses all three methods. The students need to keep note of depths, features, times, air pressure, and headings on every dive. THis is where requiring them to make a map reinforces the idea of this. It does not need to be a work of art. What it does need to be is functional. Ie so that if they handed it to another diver who knew how to use a compass they could take it and follow it.

I feel this is a very good perhaps great course but again it only lays down a foundation. One that could be done by any competent diver on their own over time and with the desire to do it.

Instruction just helps shorten that time and give a bit more insight. But none of it will be worth much if the diver does not actually take the info and use it afterwards. On every dive at some point or another. Taking my course and then just following a DM around for year and not actually using the skills they learned will be of limited benefit. And the more you practice locally the more confidence is built and when it does come time to adjust to a new environment it is not such a shock. What the course and practice also do is make you more aware of the effects of sites on what method to use. There are times when the site says hey this is not the time to be using this or that and to choose another method or simply stay close to the boat.

Nav is about judgment as well. And I try in my course to relate Nav to every aspect of the divers skill set. Someone whose trim and buoyancy control are off will have a hard time. It will help those areas but could detract from the nav portion. I expect students to do some skills as well.

 

[Mike Boswell]

I'll tell you how I do it ... and I don't teach it as a separate specialty, it's part of my AOW curriculum.

First, the classwork ... we start by talking about the compass ... how it works, and how to use it. ... Bob (Grateful Diver)

In one of our classes, the instructor began by telling us how to follow a compass heading out and then back along the same line, by adding or subtracting 180 degrees.

One of the students - an adult -then asked why we use 180 degrees.

The instructor patiently explained that +/-180 degrees was the reverse course and that there were 360 degrees in a full circle. He held up his compass to show the dial.

It turned out that the student had never seen a compass before.

One of the things I learned in that class is that you can't take anything for granted.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

In one of our classes, the instructor began by telling us how to follow a compass heading out and then back along the same line, by adding or subtracting 180 degrees.

One of the students - an adult -then asked why we use 180 degrees.

The instructor patiently explained that +/-180 degrees was the reverse course and that there were 360 degrees in a full circle. He held up his compass to show the dial.

It turned out that the student had never seen a compass before.

One of the things I learned in that class is that you can't take anything for granted.

A great many entry-level divers have never used a compass before ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)