The compass could become your best friend
Among the equipment of autonomous diver, there is an instrument that everyone scares : the compass. Using a compass underwater is not obvious. Between frustration and fear of making mistakes, how to choose a compass ? The diver tends to ignore this device. The Open Water training does not allow to see in detail his involvement in the life of a scuba diver.
Different kinds of compass
The compass can take many forms :
- In the form of a bracelet, you wearon your wrist.
- Disconnected instrument, the compass is often attached by a wire or a clipto your
- A console instrument, the compassis grafted on the instrument console, in addition to the pressure gauge and depth gauge.
- The compass can also be attached to a notation slate.
Whatever the nature of the compass, it is important to keep it as horizontal as possible. Just as the needle is no longer in balance, and therefore you may simply block the needle. So be careful when finding your direction and particularly during your swimming check that the compass is flat.
New technology
New technologies improve our daily lives, not for only in the daily life but also for scuba divers. It is increasingly common to find digital compass feature on dive computer.
Personally, I have a digital compass on my dive computer. This choice gives me two benefits : I do not burden me with another instrument, and I’m not likely to forget it, unlike my computer is left on my wrist.
Choosing a digital compass has some drawbacks : If the battery of your dive computer is empty, you also lose the compass feature. You should also calibrate frequently your compass if you travel a lot. The visibility is not optimal as far as to show the compass function, you must often switch the functions of your dive computer.
A compass is just a tool
As with the dive knife, I do not often use my compass as I know the dive sites. When I’m fun dive, I use the compass to set a global direction, my eyes are not stuck to the needle. The compass is often dreaded by new divers because of its complex use. The PADI Open Water course is an introduction to the use of the compass. Other courses such as PADI Underwater Navigation specialty or PADI Search and Recovery speciality allow to understand in more detail.