Dive Training

So you’re thinking about trying scuba diving, but you’re not sure where to start. It is actually not difficult to get your entry-level certification to dive, easier than getting a driver’s license. Look in the Yellow Pages or in the Directories section of this website for a shop near you, or inquire at the local college, university, or YMCA, which may run classes that are open to the public.


Diving in the Caribbean is wonderful. The weather and the viz are practically guaranteed, and the reefs will be right there where you left them last time. You can plan a whole vacation months in advance, safe in the assumption that it will almost certainly work out, or at least it won't be the weather that does you in.

If it were only like that here. Diving in New Jersey can be a very hit-and-miss proposition. There really is a lot of great diving here, but nothing in the North Atlantic is guaranteed. A week's worth of bad weather, or a month, or a whole summer of sunshine and glass seas, there's just no telling.


Beneath the Waves

Stolt Dagali
Diver Roy Sorenson swims over the wreck Stolt Dagali

By Steve Nagiewicz & Herb Segars
Photography by Herb Segars

We have all watched television and marveled at the presentations of renowned underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau, or the movie fiction of Peter Benchley's "Jaws" or "The Deep." they have given us a glimpse into the strange underwater world that few of us get to explore. Yet how many of us have sat along the water's edge and wondered what mysteries must lie beneath the waves?


stop

Here is a description of recreational dive planning. The purpose here is to demonstrate basic dive planning and use of Dive Tables for non-divers who are interested in becoming certified but are worried about the complexities and math involved. Learning to use dive tables is usually the single most daunting classroom task for a student diver. It's really not all that hard.

The purpose of dive planning is to manage the Nitrogen gas that is absorbed into the tissues of your body while breathing air at higher-than-normal pressures underwater. If you absorb too much Nitrogen at depth and then ascend to normal atmospheric pressure, the gas will form bubbles in your blood and tissues. This is called Decompression Sickness, commonly known as "the bends." Decompression Sickness can vary in severity from barely noticeable to fatal, depending on your dive profile and other factors. The goal of no-decompression dive planning is to plan your dives in advance so that under no circumstances* can ascending to the surface result in Decompression Sickness.


divemaster

Moving on to the professional level, the lowest professional rating is Divemaster. I would hardly recommend doing this unless you are really interested in turning Pro - Divemaster is the longest and most arduous rating of all to get. The Divemaster course is like graduate school - a year or more of indentured servitude. On the other hand, pitching in with classes and other activities can be a lot of fun. Divemasters are the sergeants and mules of the diving world and carry out much of the tour-guiding, tank-filling, and grunt work at resorts and on dive boats. Beyond Divemaster, there is Assistant Instructor, which is basically gold-plated Divemaster, and then increasing levels of Instructor.


cave diver
A cave diver. This doesn't look very "minimalist" to me. In fact, this pile of junk would probably get you killed in the North Atlantic.

"DIR" or "Doing It Right" is a system of diving developed by cave divers which involves extremely rigid gear configurations and methodologies. To its adherents, DIR takes on an almost religious significance. For the true follower of DIR, no deviation may be tolerated, because DIR is perfection.

GUE

DIR is designed for cave diving. The usual object of cave diving is to go in and come back out alive. In line with this goal of accomplishing essentially nothing, DIR espouses an absolutely minimal equipment kit: "When in doubt, leave it home." DIR also espouses teamwork, mutual interdependence, and close lock-step buddy diving, things that are pretty much unavoidable in the confines of a cave anyway.


Here are a series of excellent articles regarding the buddy system, reproduced from their original sources before they "wink out", as so much good web content does. With regard to the Buddy System that is so entrenched in dive training, these articles are all negative. I feel no need to present counter-balancing positive arguments since you can get that from any dive instructor with any of the major certifying organizations.

When you first get certified, you will have had the buddy system drilled into you. At this point, you still have basically no idea what you are doing, so just do it that way. A lot of what is in the basic open-water certification is silly and even unnecessary, but it won't get you killed.

As a newly-certified diver, you are a danger to yourself and everyone around you. Be glad that any operator will take you out, and don't rock the boat. If they want you to dive with a buddy, dive with a buddy. As crew, I've spent numerous dives paired up with newbies to make sure they have a good time and get back to the boat OK. Shallow-water shore diving can get very tricky, and things can go very wrong, and if you are not experienced, having a buddy can be a lifesaver.


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