Why, when & where do we do a checkout dive?

[DavidFL]

I'd be fairly annoyed with a dm more than half my age

More than half my age would be pretty open-ended...

 

[chillyinCanada]

LOL oops, allow me to rephrase: "less than half my age"

 

[diversteve]

it was kind of fun actually, there was sort of a muck dive there right off the boat dock so I muddled around while waiting my turn.
A few years later Doc mentioned the same area as a good macro site.

 

[Dan]

I don't mind a shakeout dive at beginning of trip to check weights and gear and make sure my head's in the game but at this stage in my diving avocation, I'd be fairly annoyed with a dm more than half my age insisting I do a mask check. Perhaps that's wrong of me but that's how I feel.

I was asked to breathe without mask & do a mask replacement in one of the checkout dive. Perhaps after reading this incident where a diver drown after losing a fin & a mask, you will appreciate why the DM is insisting for you to do that: Lessons to be learned-Death in Palau

 

[chillyinCanada]

Nope, sorry DanT. Been there, done that.

 

[Vicko]

I can only talk for me, on my island all dives are required to be guided, and if something happens to you or the environment while I'm guiding I can be held responsible. If your last dive was in warm water, or you have not dove in a few months I will ask of you to come do a checkout dive with me or find another dive center. Granted, my checkout dive location is a very good dive with a 20meter deep wall and a cavern, and you will probably enjoy it, but you will still have to take off your mask, clear a regulator and show at least that you can do a neutral bouyancy pivot or a hover. And that is a standard I keep for all people, no matter the cert or the fact that they have been diving for longer then I'm alive.

 

[redacted]

I can only talk for me, on my island all dives are required to be guided, and if something happens to you or the environment while I'm guiding I can be held responsible. If your last dive was in warm water, or you have not dove in a few months I will ask of you to come do a checkout dive with me or find another dive center. Granted, my checkout dive location is a very good dive with a 20meter deep wall and a cavern, and you will probably enjoy it, but you will still have to take off your mask, clear a regulator and show at least that you can do a neutral bouyancy pivot or a hover. And that is a standard I keep for all people, no matter the cert or the fact that they have been diving for longer then I'm alive.

Good to know. Where are you located and what is the name of the dive op?

 

[TMHeimer]

I understand the need for shakedown dives, having read about them for years on SB. Interesting that local dive ops in the US (& the one I patronized in Canada) have never done them in my experiences. Of course this I assume is because tropical ops encounter many who haven't dived in a while. If I were in that category I would do a refresher, or at least a dive or two before starting up again on a trip. Then you'd not have to have the shakedown. Going to a new environment should just mean getting a good orientation, which would not include mask skills. People going diving without basic skills...well, guess that's just the way it is. But that's just me.

 

[DevonDiver]

Firstly. 700 dives isn't 'expert'. That's only a few months diving for a full-time pro.

It is however, firmly into the territory where complacency and normalization-of-deviance can occur. (I'm not saying this was true of the casualty referenced by the OP).

The concept of checkout dives is important. What comprises a checkout dive isn't set in stone, because a checkout dive can be undertaken for a myriad of reasons.

After a layoff from diving, or diving at a particular 'level' then checkout dives form part of the process for incrementally progressing your diving.

I dive frequently/routinely... but I use CCR and deeper trimix less frequently. Even if diving daily, I'd "checkout" very cautiously and patiently 're-aquire' specific competencies when doing those particular level of dives after a break of weeks or months.

This assumes that the diver acknowledges that skills can fade if unused for a period of time. Check out dives refresh those skills.

Medical conditions and physical fitness can also decline over a layoff. Checkout dives help reestablish an awareness of these physiological factors.

Some medical conditions, especially cardiovascular, are known to present more in hyperbaric circumstances. Check out dives keep the diver in a more 'rescueable' situation. For the first few dives after a layoff, this can be a prudent step....especially if age, BMI, fitness or other predisposing factors put the diver into a risk group for cardiovascular maladies.

When changing equipment, the diver can lose ingrained familiarity. This has a direct impact on their accuracy a few speed of response to issues that may arise. Checkout dives help reprogram that familiarity with new equipment or configuration changes.

In new, or unfamiliar, areas there may be different environmental factors of diving procedures that the diver isn't aware of, of comfortable with. Checkout dives help ensure these are known before more aggressive dives increase risk of mistakes.

 

[Centrals]

Some operators will insist on check out dive for stranger! Card, log book etc etc has no meaning because they want to see with their own eyes.
Equipment might get damage during transit and was not noticed on assembly, unfamiliar with the operator, fellow divers, personal physical condition etc etc. So for me the first dive/day is always a EASY one