Why jump in the water and then float around?

[scarefaceDM]

good lord man..

I wait on the surface a few seconds or a minute or two...open the P-Valve on my suit( drysuit) just to PEE...then decend and the others can follow the golden trail...
find me on the bottom, smiling.

have you ever seen some divers smiling and say nothing..think about it. Splash a few feet away upstream...not down...:14:

 

[scubapatton]

If you are relaxed, you are doing something wrong.


The OP does bring up a debateable point, but I would rather make sure the group (even a buddy and I create a group) are ready to go before going on.

I have heard too many issues where 2 buddy teams went diving together. One duo took off and the other duo waited for whatever reason. The 2nd duo starts to come down and then some issue arises for them. Taking a moment to make sure both duos are squared away before going under makes sense to me... But then I am a sensical guy... sometimes.

 

[bolantej]

what's the big rush? diving is supposed to be relaxing. I like to stare at the horizon before I descend. it's purty.

 

[fairybasslet]

On one of my trips to Grand Cayman, I started to get into the habit of making a negative entry. On one dive, as I decended past about 10 feet, I ran into a small jelly fish and got a sting. If I had paused at the surface and looked down before descending, I would have seen it. But because of the momentum I had from jumping in negative, I was on top of it before I had a chance to take any kind of action.

It seems to me that you might be overweighted if you descend that quickly. I often splash without any air in my bc, especially on a drift dive, but I still can signal OK to the crew and make a controlled descent at the rate I want. I also descend slowly because I often have trouble equalizing.

I also don't see the point of taking note of the current on the surface because it could very well be different at depth. Hell, it can even change during the dive.

 

[dbulmer]

In the UK most wrecks do not have fixed anchor points. On the ones that do, you'll be dropped off the boat and expected to swim to the shotline which has a large buoy to mark its location. Going underwater immediately means that you may head off in the wrong direction and miss the shotline because of the vis.

Secondly on the fixed anchors you may have divers coming up the shotline - personally I don't like busy shotlines and would rather wait a minute or two for descending/ascending divers since I usually like to test my backup reg on the descent and keep an eye for bubbles on my buddy's kit - I find it more relaxing.

Thirdly, on entry to the water you have an opportunity to relax before the descent and fix any problems such as a light not being on or a dislodged mask. Fourthly, being positive on the surface reminds the diver to regain positive buoyancy on the surface after the ascent is complete. (Might come in handy one day)

Fifth, in club environments with a wide range of skills it enables the weaker diver to calm down - not all swims to the shot are short relaxing ones depending on the tide(usually you enter at slack but sometimes it isn't slack.)

I had a full drysuit flood (pierced by my movements kitting up on aboat in heavy seas)a couple of weeks ago - since I was on the surface my buddy asked Go or No go? Communication with your buddy is usually easier and carries less risk of being misunderstood - I said Go and we did the dive.

 

[Ana]

Wow... "hot entry" "negative entry" "angry diver" "rush diver" I guess this is IT. Well good, at least now I know why the behaviour remains.

I was expecting answers more on the line of: we are used to do it in calm waters and just do the same all the times, hence get caught off guard when surface currents are present. Instead is more on the lines of: someone die/got-hurt on a "hot entry" one day so "hot entries" are bad.

For the record I happen to be an angry person but as a general rule not in a hurry. Ear problems made me require very slow descents in order to equalize, however my "hot entries" don't take away from my control as far as speed or direction

 

[wjefferis]

I wait on the surface for my dive buddy (if i'm first in). I dive in the gulf and most charters but a line to the down line (anchor line) or put a tag line out if we are tied in from the back. I don't like to spend alot of time on the surface, but a little doesn't hurt.

 

[dbulmer]

Ana,
On a drift dive in the UK you go in one direction and then maybe another but the sea gods are in control - the diver is but a spectator

 

[sharkattack]

Situation will dictate when you decend. I'm always the 1st off the boat. I wait off to the side for my buddy to spash in. We then make our way to the anchor. Humping a set of doubles, an 80 sling, and a dry suit to the anchor line can take the wind out of you pretty good especialy against a little current or through some kelp. I'm going to stop and rest a minute prior to decent. Defenately when my dive plan is 180' for :20.

In Cayman, I have no problem riding my gear down and making my adjustments on the fly

 

[Charlie99]

There's times and places where either hanging out on the surface or immediate descent make sense.

Hanging out for a few moments lets my buddy splash in behind me so we can start our descent together. I don't bother putting any air in my BCD since I'm very close to neutral on the surface, even with a full tank. (Particularly true on the first dive of the day when my gear is dry when entering).

Immediate descent makes a lot of sense when doing a live drop on a wreck, particularly solo. When doing it with a buddy, immediate descent risks buddy separation, and I prefer that the 1st guy in wait on the surface the 3 or 4 seconds it takes for the 2nd guy to jump in --- the 2nd guy can start immediately and wait at 10' to do the quick check.

If the divers are relatively inexperienced, then even 30 seconds is reasonable to hang out on the surface is that is what it takes for them to run through their checklist, and mentally review what they are going to do. It's not a race.

=======================

Many times I find that it is helpful to PAUSE at major transitions in the dive ---- entering water, start of descent, getting to the anchor/bottom of downline, major direction changes, start of return, start of ascent, etc. I'm not talking about hanging out on the surface for 5 minutes, or hovering around the anchor for a full minute, but just 5 seconds of pause can help a lot. For example, upon hitting bottom depth, a short pause gives one the time to look backwards at the anchor or mooring point so you know what to look for when returning, it's a moment for both buddies to check buoyancy, to take a look at your buddy to make sure that he's not having to race to keep up, etc. At major changes in the dive, a few seconds lets you change mental gears and lets buddies reposition and resynch.

It may sound like something trivial, but a short pauses can make a big difference. On one wreck dive, I didn't do these pauses figuring the fit, athletic buddy half my age could keep up. He kept up physically, but the rapid changes caught up with him and he ended up with a bad narc at 105' that caused us to abort. Another 5 seconds at a few critical points and we probably could have avoided the problem.

Charlie Allen