Hi Everybody,
Thank you for this interesting and educational post. I agree wholeheartedly with you on this.
I am a new diver, just over a year with 51 dives behind me. I am a PADI Div er ( is it ok to admit that
)I have done a few courses and now need to finish up for my MSD. My partner & I do training dives, that is, we do some dives just for the experience. We dive with all our kit, smb, knife, torch etc, everything. We do some 30m dives, we do dives in dark water (with plans & buddy lines) we take hangtanks, we practice, mask & kit removal underwater. The object is to know how the equipment and we work in all circunstances.
We get funny looks, comments etc, but it is our lives and so we do it. My motto is to minimise the risks and manage those that are left. Simple.
I would like to turn this thread around a bit and say this. I am a technical learner. I like to learn and the more the better. While starting to dive, I watched a number of friends going through training and I watched the instructors. I started looking for instructors that would add some "body & passion" to the training. Boy did I get flak.!!
On my deep course, when I started putting a hangtank together for the simulated deco dive, the instructor told me not to as even though we dive to 30m, we are only going to simulate going into deco. Now I may be wrong but to me, hang tanks are an integral part of deep diving.
Another instructor was bragging about how he was qualified to instruct on 17 specialities, but that he himself had only completed 3 as a student. Doesn't really instill me with confidence.
I have found that a large number of instructors do just enough to cover the minimum required in the book. I am not looking for book training, I want to learn from their experiences.
Other instructors and schools are not there because of their passion for diving, it is the lifestyle & money that drives them.
My partner and I have both decided to make this year an experience year and to do DiveMaster qualifications, both to learn more and to help more.
Have fun & be safe