beginner tips

[BlueTrin]

near stoney cove, probably doing dives near cornwall/plymouth

Join a club, get some diving buddies and dive a lot.

Instead of buying gear when unsure, ask the club/buddies to try if you can find someone with the kit you want before to buy.

Btw Cornwall is nice and Plymouth has some nice wrecks, but you’ll need to be able to dive below 20 for many of the Plymouth wrecks.

 

[jadairiii]

As others have said, dive. With that, log all of your dives. Be as detailed as possible, including what you did right and what you could do to improve. That is, treat EVERY dive as a "training dive". Not to sound old, but.....my first dive class was in 1975, I still look for issues to fix, where things I've become lazy about.

And take classes, not to collect cards, but every class you take will improve your skills, no matter what, plus you will meet new divers that could later become life long friends. My first trimix class in '97, one of the students and the instructor, that I had never met, are now some of my best friends. You never know.

Oh, and have fun, that is the purpose of it all!!

 

[J-Vo]

Book a weekend of coaching with a well regarded technical instructor to teach you fundamental skills(shouldn't be too hard to find in your area). After this you will have the knowledge of how to practice and every dive will naturally be practicing skills properly.

I don't know anything about your OW instructor, but I generally tell people that in open water most people are taught how not to die, they are not taught how to dive.

 

[rongoodman]

Adopt the goal of being able to lay flat in the water without moving, then proceed from there. It will take a while.