How Do You Mix Biginners And Advanced Divers?

All boats with divers have a minimum of two crew members. One is an in-water Divemaster and the other crew member remains on board to assist divers. On the 1st dive of all 2-tank trips (the deep dive) we will have a Divemaster in the water to assist other divers and to lead portions of the dive. At your second (shallow dive) the Divemaster may or may not enter the water (depending on depth). However, if you requested, he/she will lead a dive here as well.

At Stuart Cove's we respect the effort you put into earning your certification card and respect the qualifications you earned. As such we expect that all divers who present themselves as certified divers are capable of executing and successfully navigating a dive as a buddy team without any assistance from an in-water Divemaster. If you are not confident in these skills, then we would recommend hiring a private Divemaster who will guide an navigate your dive for you.

All of our dives start with a briefing where our Divemaster will share with you a description of the site, local area, environment, and emergency procedures.

Our in-water Divemaster is there to assist divers observed in distress and to lead a dive for any buddy teams who desire to follow him/her. He/she is a Divemaster to everybody and buddy to nobody. His/her role is to enhance the pleasure of the dive by using his/her first hand knowledge of the area.

Divers who are experienced and comfortable with their own navigation are welcome to go off on their own. During the dive briefing a suggested profile will be described along with a "be back" time. If you perform your own navigation, all we ask is that you are back on the boat by the specified "be back" time.

Divers who want to perform their own navigation and where both buddies have a computer, are welcome to go where they want and determine their own profile as well. All we ask is that you go no deeper than 130 ft and are back on the boat by the specified time.