I'm open water certified but never have taken any advanced certifications. I dive several times per year and have well over 50 dives. When I dive with a buddy, we like to explore and follow things that look interesting before returning to the boat. Sometimes when underwater, it's difficult to determine which way is back to the boat. They say you are supposed to swim out in one direction, and back the way you came. However, as I mentioned prior, we seem to zig zag out in one direction and sometimes more zig than zag. I have the new Apple Watch Ultra which is certified for scuba diving and has an Oceanic dive computer app available. However, it doesn't do much other than the stats your typical dive computer provides. You would think there would be some type of app that would allow you to set a pin to show you where to started your dive at. Anything out there I might not have found to help with such? I'd hate to have to surface to find the correction direction back to the boat.

note underwater landmarks and use your compass. watch for currents that may drift you off course.

Awesome idea - I've thought the same when diving in mucky water, but water stops radio signals which means GPS will not work so no pins to be dropped. Most folks who dive regularly without a DM will dive with a compass. You take a bearing in the direction you intend to travel, and reverse the bearing when you come back to the boat. With a bit of practice, that should get you close to the down line.

I highly recommend taking an advanced open water class. At 50 dives, you likely have decent buoyancy control and would get a lot from the class. As part of it, you'll cover underwater navigation much more in depth than basic class. The PADI class generally cover compass use, natural navigation, under water search patterns, use of lift bags, etc. There's also other topics like deep, night, boat, that may be covered. AOW will get you "certified" to 130' with most dive ops.

I believe the Advanced Open Water courses cover navigation. I plan on doing that next summer and practicing in a murky lake.

And I think the Garmin Descent MK2i has a breadcrumb feature. I was thinking about that watch for my next computer/hiking watch.

Took two semesters at TAMU NAUI instruction under Dr. Mickey Stratton.
They just taught us with a dive compass. We would take a heading leaving the boat then go to our dive area and deploy a air buoy and then take a heading from it as we explored.
Pretty gorilla but got us back.
Gotta be some better technology available now.

Gunny456 said:

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Took two semesters at TAMU NAUI instruction under Dr. Mickey Stratton.
They just taught us with a dive compass. We would take a heading leaving the boat then go to our dive area and deploy a air buoy and then take a heading from it as we explored.
Pretty gorilla but got us back.
Gotta be some better technology available now.

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This. I have a compass on my gauge console. If I am diving somewhere unfamiliar, I take a bearing directly to the wall from the boat and a bearing directly to shore. As long as I have some idea if where I am relative to those two locations, I have a pretty good idea of which way to swim to find the boat. More importantly, I take the time as I am going through the dive to look around and pick a few landmarks so that I kind of know where I am relative to those landmarks and which direction I should need to go to get back where I came from. I dive mostly in 100+ foot visibility on Little Cayman lately, and all the diving is from moored locations there, so navigation is pretty simple.

I've never dived in that clear a water except one time in Landa Park in New Braunfels... many years ago when they allowed it.
Bet that is really something.

No advice but here is one of my favorite movie scenes involving water.

Gunny456 said:

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I've never dived in that clear a water except one time in Landa Park in New Braunfels... many years ago when they allowed it.
Bet that is really something.

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Not sure if you still dive, Prince Solms Island/Landa Park is still open for diving. It's one of my favorite summer dives. Cold, clear water. Tons of fish. Prizes to be found from the tubers and the tube chutes are always fun in dive gear

Night dives there are also awesome. Tons crawfish hang on the concrete river channel like crickets in September.

I usually park at Texas Tubes and float down to the chutes, swim back up and repeat a few times. One tank lasts a long time in 6-12' of water

Wow. Did not know that. Thanks!

Gunny456 said:

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I've never dived in that clear a water except one time in Landa Park in New Braunfels... many years ago when they allowed it.
Bet that is really something.

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It is amazing. If you have the means, it is 100% worth it.

Cool! Where was that?

Turtle Reef (Macabuca) night dive off West Bay, Grand Cayman.

Saw a very similar shark to yours at Tarpon Alley earlier that day.

If the boat is anchored, you can tie a strobe on the down line about half way down, or about 30-40' off the bottom. You'd be surprised how far away you can see the strobe.

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If the boat is anchored, you can tie a strobe on the down line about half way down, or about 30-40' off the bottom. You'd be surprised how far away you can see the strobe.

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I always go with an outfitter. I'm surprised outfitters do not do this.