Things a new diver learns resort diving

[LaCroix42]

My wife and I just got back from a Sandals vacation in Jamaica and went diving a few times while we were there. Thank you to all who've answered my questions about Sandals in particular, and Jamaica in general over the past few months. As a new diver, I thought I might share some of the things we both learned down there.

1) If you can, bring your own gear (generally goes without saying, but still). The wet suits were alright if you don't mind PPI suits.

2) If you're not of average body build, bring everything you can. We were in contact with the watersports director at the resort we were going to ahead of time, and his answers were less than satisfactory to both of us. We made sure we took a weight belt that would fit her, as well as a wetsuit (she's 4'11" and had issues with the wet suits in training). If you need a piece of specialty gear, get it ahead of time and make sure it's with you.

3) (this doesn't usually apply to more experienced divers I think, it's mainly us newer divers) If you're diving with your SO or "normal" dive buddy, regardless of the boat's usual operations, do your buddy check. We had her tank strap come undone on one dive, my tank was turned off after gearing up on another and had a slight leak from her inflator hose on the another dive the tank strap came undone.

4) Vis? Vis is nice.

5) It would seem that kicking the coral is "no problem, mon" and "erie ting awright mon" when you let your fins hit a 5' tube. (that was sarcasm)

6) Know your weight needs in freshwater and insist that you get more than that when you're in salt (my fault on this. I wear 8 lbs in fresh with a 3/2 and they handed me 8 on the first dive, I insisted on 12 after that dive and didn't have a buoyancy issue thereafter).

7) Stay the hell away from resort trained divers. I lost count how many times I found someone running up on my fins, bunching up and suddenly stopping, etc. In other words, make sure your situational awareness is up to snuff. I found mine failing a few times.

8) Don't expect long dives... 30 minutes bottom time was the norm. One 60 foot dive I went down with 2900 and came up with 1600 and we were at depth for about 20 minutes.

9) I take great pride in the fact that I try not to kick up the bottom. I didn't see many others who did. Is this the type A side of me coming out uniquely? I thought the point was to not kick up crap and kill your fellow diver's vis.


All in all though, I went without expecting a lot and did get in a few salt dives with vis, which was nice. The dive guides were friendly and helpful and did seem to enjoy there work, even if it was usually "follow the leader" diving. Blaze and I made sure after the first dive (tank strap on her and my buoyancy were both on that dive) that we buddy checked each other, even if we were the only ones on the boat who did. Aside from a PADI master diver and a couple who were OW but had a few dives under their belts, we were the only ones checking our guages routinely, which came as a bit of a surprise to me. Oh, yeah, and the night dive we did was damn near all Texans, which made us feel at home.

[LCF]

(this doesn't usually apply to more experienced divers I think, it's mainly us newer divers) If you're diving with your SO or "normal" dive buddy, regardless of the boat's usual operations, do your buddy check

I'd revise this. No matter how experienced you are or aren't, or who you're diving with, do your buddy check.

It's amazing how often even experienced people will forget something, or have something twisted or not fully connected . . . An ounce of pre-dive prevention beats the you-know-what out of having to cope with a problem at depth.

In my experience, this is honored FAR more often in the breach than in the observance. I'm a bit of PITA about it, myself; even my DIR buddies grumble over having to do equipment checks for a 30 foot artificial reef dive

[LaCroix42]

It was actually unique to a few of us. There were no insta-buddies set up on the boat. My wife and I decided awhile back that if we're diving together and there isn't a more experienced couple we could cross buddy with that we'd buddy each other. And after the events of those dives, we made sure we buddy checked each other every dive.

Now then, if I was on the boat alone, I checked my gear as if I were solo diving, I did my own buddy check. I may have put it together (nobody puts my gear together for me, at this point) but I still went through and double checked every piece of it before I got wet.

[Diver Kat]

Doesn't sound like a good op to dive with ... friendly is great, but when it comes to my safety, friendly doesn't cut it!

[Warren]

Originally Posted by Diver Kat

Doesn't sound like a good op to dive with ... friendly is great, but when it comes to my safety, friendly doesn't cut it!

I'm with Kat.

Anyhow, thanks for the great report!

[scubastud]

Sounds like you had a bad experience. 30 min dives? What outfit were you dealing with?
Did my first resort dive last week and the staff were all first rate. We researched the dive operations, and these people were highly recommended.
Agree with using your own equipment, a hassle to bring along especially with flight restrictions and customs and making sure gear is clean totally dry and all before packing,but I like equipment that works and fits-and the thought of using a used wetsuit is .. well yucky.
One thing I noticed , a lot of resort trained divers went out and bought real expensive watches instead of computers, don't understand that, they could have gotton a nice computer for half the cost. I guess not as fasionable?

[Zenagirl]

When we got certified, one reason we bought gear immediately after was a planned trip to the Caribbean. We've heard far too many horror stories about "well used, poorly maintained" rental gear in Mexico and the Caribbean that we weren't about to trust our lives to the unknown.

Personally, I don't care how much it will cost me to take an extra bag on a flight. I'll simply figure that into the trip cost, perhaps eat a bit cheaper or even do one less dive. It's THAT important to ME to have my own gear that I know, trust, and feel comfortable in.

[coral cowgirl]

One of my first trips after certification was to Cozumel. The dive op we were with provided me with not 1, not 2, but 3 malfunctioning regulators before I got one that did the job. It's worth the extra effort to have your own gear.

[MDDIVER]

How did you get a hold of the watersports director at the resort. I have been trying for my trip to the Bahamas with no luck. Sandals just keeps giving me the run around

[warscout2]

Thats the reason you should only dive where is cold and dark theirs no resort divers here