There's no need to rush

[Steve50]

This is a timely post for me as I am taking my second trip to the Keys next week ( I was OW certified three weeks ago). I'm going next week because I really want to dive, but I really feel like I need more instruction. I had arranged to do two AOW dives next week, buoyancy and navigation. But then I got to thinking...when will I be able to dive after this ? I live in Boulder Co and really dont relish the idea of diving cold water (Blue hole, NM) or the Crater in Utah. So maybe next week is the only opportunity I will have in the next 4-5 months to dive again. I'm thinking of as many AOW dives next week as I can, but am wondering if I'm in too much of a hurry. For me, its not so much the certification as it is getting the instruction while everything is still fresh. After the OW dives I did two dives w/o instruction and to be honest, diving was more fun without the pressure of performing, but at the same time I know that instruction will make me a better diver (I hope !)

Get in all you can - you'll be surprised how much you can improve with the repetitive dives.

 

[gwells]

thanks for giving some perspective to a new diver. my wife and i did a discover dive in cozumel and loved it and last weekend finished the confined water portion of our OW class. two weeks from tomorrow, we'll arrive in belize to finish the OW certification and dive as much as we can at turneffe.

it's funny, one of the things mentioned several times is one of my primary goals that week. as complete neutral buoyancy as i can achieve. i hit it for brief moments on my discover dive and that was one of the highlights of the dive for me. floating weightlessly to the sound of my own breathing and watching the world go by (and my then fiance swim with a large turtle). i did ok with it in the pool and look forward to floating in the waters of belize very soon.

my only short- to medium-term goal will be AOW so it opens up some other dives for me at deeper depths, along with maybe some workshops on other basics like buoyancy. beyond that, i just want to get in the water.

 

[OldNSalty]

No need to rush!?! Yes there is.

I MUST WIN!!!

 

[Buoyant1]

This is a timely post for me as I am taking my second trip to the Keys next week ( I was OW certified three weeks ago). I'm going next week because I really want to dive, but I really feel like I need more instruction. I had arranged to do two AOW dives next week, buoyancy and navigation. But then I got to thinking...when will I be able to dive after this ? I live in Boulder Co and really dont relish the idea of diving cold water (Blue hole, NM) or the Crater in Utah. So maybe next week is the only opportunity I will have in the next 4-5 months to dive again. I'm thinking of as many AOW dives next week as I can, but am wondering if I'm in too much of a hurry. For me, its not so much the certification as it is getting the instruction while everything is still fresh. After the OW dives I did two dives w/o instruction and to be honest, diving was more fun without the pressure of performing, but at the same time I know that instruction will make me a better diver (I hope !)

(I'm gonna hijack this a little)


I felt the same way about cold water diving, and only felt that it was worth diving in the Keys! All that did was waste a year of diving for me! I could have been a little more ahead of the curve if I did more local diving!! Get yourself a 7mm, a hood and gloves and get in that cold water! It's fun! Dive with people that can make you a better diver! I look at it this way...the more I dive, the better at it I get. Why not do your AOW in a quarry, at your convenience close to home, and can spend your vacation dives on a great reef, or a nice deep wreck...

What did I do? I GOT the 7mm, hood and gloves, and did more local quarry diving, THEN I got my AOW, at home, then I took a cool wreck course when I got to the Keys! (it got me four dives with an instructor on two cool wrecks!) This past trip, I did some great deep wrecks, and some awesome reefs! (and networked with a bunch of people from SB!)

Please don't discount your local cold water outlets! get as much experience as you can! If you dive more, then you'll learn more and THEN you'll see where you want to take this! When you're sitting at home, 4-5 months away from another Key's vacation, you'll be thinking....I could be DIVING!

 

[Gombessa]

Yep, cold water can be fun, you should give it a shot. the upside is real - if you get competent diving in cold water with a thick wetsuit and a lot of weight, warm water vacation diving suddenly becomes a breeze!

 

[fnfalman]

No truer words spoken. I enjoy every dive, even the crappy one with massive currents and surges.

 

[mintaka]

Hey... you wouldnt happen to be the same Fnfalman thats on the Aprillia Tuono forum would you ???

No truer words spoken. I enjoy every dive, even the crappy one with massive currents and surges.

 

[mintaka]

Thanks for all the cold water encouragement. I do plan on diving the local reservoirs in the summer, but they are pretty much out of the question in the winter. Guess the 6 hour drive to Blue Hole in New Mexico might not be so bad.

 

[ligersandtions]

A very wonderful and very wise instructor said to me a couple of years ago, "Go and do all the dives you can do with the education you have, and when you are bored, come back and get more training." That is such a golden nugget.

This is probably the best advice I've read....and I fully intend to follow it. Thanks for this post, Lynne! Hopefully it will help other new divers realize that there's no need to be an instructor with less than 100 dives, or venture into overhead environments right away, or feel the need to be on a rebreather right this instant. Enjoy what you can do now, and when you need something new to keep it interesting, go from there.

 

[jeckyll]

Great thread.

In a way I'm coming back to diving (I took about a year off) and it's interesting in kind of a stressful way Mostly because I know what I used to know. And now I'm having to work at it a bit more.

I also think that it's excellent advice to enjoy those early days. And for those who've been diving for quite a while, perhaps it will serve as a reminder to take another, longer, look at that starfish