Novice, Intermediate, Advanced

Looking up dive sites in the keys and looking at some of the sites I see the terms Novice, Intermediate, Advanced. I'm curious at to what those terms mean I know what they gernerally mean but what makes a novice diver a novice. Is a novice considered a crash course diver that did the 3 hour class in the back of a building? Advanced meaning a veteran diver that went diving during a hurricane? I'm by no means a advance diver but I feel that I can control my self and understand whats going on to control any situation calmly. Here is the site I'm looking at:

Dive Sites Florida Keys

Reason I ask is because I really don't want to get into something that may be over my head (no pun intended) or something that I may not enjoy. I bet there is alot of people that get vly by training of diving and may be considered Novice is this true?

I think it was Thal that posted a good definition for different levels of experience. Hopefully he will come back and add it to this discussion.

racedude1984:

Looking up dive sites in the keys and looking at some of the sites I see the terms Novice, Intermediate, Advanced. I'm curious at to what those terms mean I know what they gernerally mean but what makes a novice diver a novice. Is a novice considered a crash course diver that did the 3 hour class in the back of a building? Advanced meaning a veteran diver that went diving during a hurricane? I'm by no means a advance diver but I feel that I can control my self and understand whats going on to control any situation calmly. Here is the site I'm looking at:

Dive Sites Florida Keys

Reason I ask is because I really don't want to get into something that may be over my head (no pun intended) or something that I may not enjoy. I bet there is alot of people that get vly by training of diving and may be considered Novice is this true?

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you are a Novice if your profile is correct, 0-24 dives, especially if all your dives have been in Fla keys.

Most people consider anyone less than 50 dives as a Novice, especially if all dives have been done in clear, warm water with little current or other stressers.

Intermediate I consider anyone over 50 dives IF those dives have been recent (not 5 dives per year for past 10 years, LOL) and if they have done different types of diving, like some deep, some low vis, some night all within recreational limits of 130'. I think most divers fall into this category.

Advanced diving, in my opinion, is someone who has done 250+ dives, a variety of types of diving like cold water, low vis, ripping current, deep, etc. and not only survived but was fully capable of handling all these things and still maintaining good air consumption rate and safety. The general vacation diver does NOT fall into this category, IMHO.

robin

It all depends on the diver. I did the Speigle Grove in three to four-footers and a stiff current with only 10 ocean dives under my belt with no problems and had a hell of a good time. Next person might need 50 to do the same thing or may never be able to do it at all. It's all subjective.

racedude1984:

Looking up dive sites in the keys and looking at some of the sites I see the terms Novice, Intermediate, Advanced. I'm curious at to what those terms mean I know what they gernerally mean but what makes a novice diver a novice. Is a novice considered a crash course diver that did the 3 hour class in the back of a building? Advanced meaning a veteran diver that went diving during a hurricane? I'm by no means a advance diver but I feel that I can control my self and understand whats going on to control any situation calmly. Here is the site I'm looking at:

Dive Sites Florida Keys

Reason I ask is because I really don't want to get into something that may be over my head (no pun intended) or something that I may not enjoy. I bet there is alot of people that get vly by training of diving and may be considered Novice is this true?

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I think the reality of the situation is, everybody on ScubaBoard could offer you their definition of the three terms, but you really need to ask the people that have ranked the sites that way. They are the only ones that know what they classify as an intermedite site (etc.). Are they ranking the site or the diver? The site would be much more likely simply because there would be fewer variables than when classifying every single diver into three groups (IMO at least).

The description is kinda accurate on the sites i know. If you start getting a little over your head then just backoff on the dive a little. One example would be the busche which if your kinda "intermediate" level and dont like or havent tried overheads there is a decent amount to see in the 60-100ft range and if you take a decent light could atleast look into the overhead areas without entering. The thing with diving descriptions that makes them questionable is there are alot of variables to dictate how hard they are. I have been on 30-40 ft dives with lots of ledges, strong current and tons of fire hydra which would make me rank it as a slightly harder dive, and 100ft dives with little physical hazzards and little current that just makes bottom time management your more critical focus.

It would be awsome to break down dive characteristics on 1-10 scales by how critical Bouyancy is, how critical bottom time management, physical risks in the site, overheads found through site and recommended additional equipment (reels, lights, sharkshield, ...)

I would recommend maby looking at the dive depths and using your average depth to compare with some of the sites you might want to go, if you post that and what your average dive time at that depth is we might be able to help you a little more

I have yet to dive the keys. I've been to venice about a dozen times and been to bradenton. I try and hit all the springs I can just the things I like to see. I know venice is prolly the worst viz I have had yet with 3' of viz.

I was wondering if the keys would rank different because of all the travelers and people that seem to come and want to learn to dive quickly would that make them a novice diver also?

A novice diver is someone who is just starting to dive and is just starting to learn about diving
An intermediate diver is someone who has been diving for a while and has learned quite a lot about diving.
An advanced diver is someone who has been diving for a while and is just starting to learn about diving.

The best advice I can give you is that it is a general guideline about the dive site compared to other dive sites in the area and the general feeling of the people ranking it. Even then, it is for a typical day.

Monastary (in Monterey, CA) is marked as an advanced dive site. The vis is often poor and the water is cold. The surf zone is very strong, pounding divers on entry and exit with rough pebble sand. However, there are some days when the area is like glass and the vis is 30 or 40 feet. On those days, a novice with experienced assistance could dive there.

Talk to someone who dives where you want to go and discuss with them your prior experiences.

A novice diver is someone who is just starting to dive and is just starting to learn about diving
An intermediate diver is someone who has been diving for a while and has learned quite a lot about diving.
An advanced diver is someone who has been diving for a while and is just starting to learn about diving.

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I like that!