Remember your first open water dive? More than likely, you were thrilled with your first venture beyond a confined water or pool dive,

but perhaps some what disoriented. Depending upon the dive site, you might have been surprised to find out that even though you were turned around,

your instructor knew exactly where you were all along.

Your instructor demonstrated underwater navigation, an important diving fundamental that, as you discovered on your subsequent dives,

you learn and apply easily through a few principles and practice.

The Navigation Dive in the Adventures in Diving program takes the rudimentary skills you’ve picked up,

and expands them so you can use them with greater accuracy and under wider circumstances.

“Hey, I find my way around. What do I need a “nav” dive for”? Good question.

Navigation can be one of those things that you don’t recognize the benefits of until you really, really need it,

or until you’ve followed a navigation ace who takes you straight from one place to the next with no wasted effort.

Almost any diver can wander around in a general direction and eventually end up in the right place,

but you’ll find that greater precision brings with it at least five distinct benefits.

If you’ve ever been disoriented underwater, you know it can create anxiety,

especially if you’re low on air and would prefer to avoid surfacing (due to boat traffic or chop for example).

You don’t know which way to go, which can be disquieting because you’re not sure where to head if you need to cut the dive short.

Or, you may have a general idea of where you are, but be confused about where you’re trying to go,

which can be irritating as your air supply drops wile you search. It’s really annoying to find your “hot spot” just in time to leave due to low air.

Navigation eliminates stress and confusion because you will always know where you are, which way to go, and how far you are from the boat or shore.

If you’re not good at underwater navigation and your dive objective is some distance from the boat or shore,

the only way to reach it without losing your way is to swim on the surface and then descend.

Likewise, if you get turned around during a dive, when you run low on air you have no alternative but to ascend

where you are and swim back on the surface.

Not only are surface swims more tiring and less interesting than swimming underwater,

but in some areas with high boat traffic, they may be more hazardous.

 

 

 

Navigation helps make a dive plan effective by eliminating guesswork about time and air needed to reach your objective and return.

For example, if you and your buddy plan to take pictures on a familiar part of the reef,

you’ll swim straight there rather than waste time searching for it.

Navigation means you use more of your time doing what you came to do and less trying to find your way about.

When you and your buddy plan a dive, navigation takes you together along the same path to an agreed upon destination,

minimizing the likelihood that you’ll be separated from one another.

If you stray apart momentarily, you both know where to look and are more likely to find each other within a minute.

This avoids spending time and air reuniting on the surface.

Anything that saves you time saves you air. Anything that helps you be confident and relax saves you air.

More air means more time doing what you like (taking pictures, observing fish, whatever),

and makes for relaxing underwater swim back to the boat instead of a not-so relaxing surface swim.

Although underwater navigation benefits all diving, it’s especially valuable for some specialized activities.

For example, underwater navigation helps avoid disorientation during night dives

and it’s easier to search for and recover a lost object when you know how to find your way.

 

 

Distance Estimation.

 

Natural Navigation Underwater.

 

Using Underwater Patterns.

 

Compass Navigation.

 

Useful hints for compass use.