I had always speculated about why I preferred diving with a group, but had actually never dove without our own travel group except on my very first dive vacation! As a newbie I’m sure I was an irritant and a source of entertainment to some of the divers and crew on that boat!

Our 3rd week in Bonaire enabled me to experience first hand why it is definitely advantageous to be part of a dive group and why it is my preferred way to experience dive travel. We were fortunate to be non group divers at a very organized dive operation and in a destination we have been to several times. We had familiarity, competent dive staff and our own professional training on our side.

At the risk of sounding like a dive group snob, I am going to cover some of the benefits of and why I prefer group travel when it comes to diving.

First of all, when diving with a group there is no worry about making sure you sign yourself up for dives. This may seem trivial until that one day you actually forget to sign up (like we did) and there are no spots left on the boat… no boat diving for you.  Another perk of group diving, if the dive shop is wise, you will  typically be on the same boat  with the same crew every day.  This alone offers a number of advantages that most of us never even think about (I know I didn’t)  and makes for a more enjoyable and safe dive trip.

When you dive with the same crew all week they get to know you. They set your tanks in your preferred spot for you, they learn your peculiarities and habits and recognize if you are behaving out of character.  They become familiar with the ability levels of all divers and can choose dive sites accordingly.  This enhances your dive experience and makes their job more enjoyable as you are more likely to get to go to a larger variety of sites that might be considered too challenging to take a large group with varied and unknown skill sets. The sites we went to in our groups most of the non-group divers never had a chance to see.   When you have a competent trip leader he/she will help make decisions about dive sites and you may be able to have input and make requests.  Also, your boat should be less crowded because your trip leader should have taken into consideration the size of the boat and ideal number of divers to create the most enjoyable experience for all.  Typically the crew is happier because their job has been made easier and more interesting and they are more likely to go out of their way for you! Unless, of course, you are part of a really rude or obnoxious group, then….not so much.

Other perks are that you typically know or get to know all the divers on your boat so that you can feel comfortable diving  with different buddies if yours happens to skip a dive.  What? Who does that?   You form friendships that can last a lifetime or at least until you do the last dive of your life. You can work on certifications quite seamlessly if your leader is an instructor or there is another in the group. If you are a new diver, travelling with dive pros minimizes your risk of injury as they should be monitoring your skill set and giving you pointers to improve your experience and even working on skills with you to help you become a more competent diver.  You shouldn’t be left to fend for yourself.

Our last week in Bonaire Mike and I dove on the “cattle call” boat most days.  We were fortunate to have the same crew some days, but when we didn’t have the same crew we did not  have a regular “spot”,  we didn’t know the other divers or their ability levels and it often took the first several minutes of each dive before everyone settled in and were “ready” to dive.  This wasted a lot of time!  Some divers blew through air very quickly forcing earlier turn around times so that you didn’t get to explore as much of the reefs.  Many inexperienced divers tend to chase marine life when they see it or flail about and scare marine life so that you never get a chance to see it.

There is also a thing called boat etiquette that most group divers are very aware of, afterall, they want to be invited back to dive with the group in the future! I found that this basic etiquette was lacking on some of our boats in that 3rd week. The crew can only do so much to keep the chaos to a minimum, understandably… they are trying to make some tips and don’t want to insult anyone!

Finally, the topic we don’t want to think about while on vacation…dive accident/incident.  Another bonus (that most people don’t consider) when diving with a group led by one or more dive pros is that, as professionals, we are trained to look for potential problems on any dive. This happens before we enter the water. We make sure we keep an eye on what is going on at all times above and under the surface.  We are proactive and often do things to prevent unfortunate events from occurring  which reduces risk to ALL the divers.  If I were a non professional diver on a trip, I would appreciate the extra professionals diving in the group that are trained to deal with crises above and under water should they occur. A crisis is a lot for one dive guide and one boat captain to handle. Prevention is key, the more eyes you have on things the safer you are.

All in all, I found non group diving to be pretty disappointing. We returned to the same basic dive sites frequently. In the afternoon, we often dove the same sites we had dove in the morning because the other group hadn’t gone there yet.  There was always a level of chaos that made the dives less relaxing and I certainly didn’t see the number and variety of marine life that I saw when diving with our groups the first two weeks.  I do have to admit that there was a certain level of entertainment each dive that kept me laughing in my reg. We still enjoyed ourselves but the diving was not at the same level we had experienced the first two weeks in our groups. It was a bit of a let down.

Chartering a private dive boat may be the way to go the next time we aren’t with a group or maybe we could suck it up and doing some shore diving instead. Better yet, I think I will strive to always be a groupee!

This short post doesn’t even cover the non-diving benefits of being part of the travel group…don’t get me started!