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divemed06

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This may be a repeat but... What course (I don't care about the agency) can I take that will:

1) improve my diving skills
2) improve my diving knowledge
3) make me a more confident diver

DIR-F?, DM?, Specialty courses? Thanks
 
I'm going to jump in and suggest DIR-F.

They now require BP&Wings, and long hose to take the course, but my instructor did rent them for a reasonable cost for those who didn't already own them.

The diving portion of the course focus' on basic skills, bouyancy and propulsion techniques. Along with this there is an emphasis on Buddy, Team and situational awareness.

Every dive is taped and the instructor goes over the tape in class, it's an exceptional teaching tool.

GUE also has a very small number of instructors and as a result the quality is very high.
 
Well you're not really giving us much info on your diving to date so I'll assume you're a new diver.

Take the peak performancy buoyancy course to improve your skills in that dept. Other than that, dive as often as you can. The skills come naturally with experience. Don't rely on courses to improve your diving. It'll cost you a lot of money that could be better spend on actual time in the water.
 
jiveturkey once bubbled...
Well you're not really giving us much info on your diving to date so I'll assume you're a new diver.



I'm AOW with about 40 dives in past 2 years, so yes, I'm a new diver.
 
i would love to see everyone go as far as rescue, for PADI you have to have at least 80 dives for DM.

steve
 
Hands down.

Yes... diving experience is important... but refining bad habits is not progress.

You can spend no better money than taking a DIRf and it will accelerate your learning curve and diving skill like nothing else.

No exaggeration... and no apologies made for being adamant about it.
 
DivemasterSteve once bubbled...
i would love to see everyone go as far as rescue, for PADI you have to have at least 80 dives for DM.

steve

the requirements, DM only requires 20 dives. 100 to become an instructor.

Both of which I believe should be increased.

----divemed06----

With only 40 dives (not meaning to sound condescending)...experience first. Do more dives before you spend money on extra courses. Find divers more experienced than yourself, that you respect on land and dive with them. Watch their techniques.

Do they perfom a buddy check (BWARF) and discuss the dive, signals, emergency procedures before the dive?

Do they swim with a horizontal trim to be more efficient and stay off the bottom or are they feet-down, stirring up silt, breaking coral, making a mess?

Are they relaxed in the water? Are they cocky?

Do they have situational awareness?

Find people that have these traits/procedures and try to emulate them. Find someone that you can buddy-up with that will critique you in a positive way to help you get better.

When you have a few more (20-30 more) dives, take a Rescue class.
 
Back in the 80's (before I went dry for a LONG time), I had a few years of only doing about 20 dives per year. With those few dives it is hard to do much more than stay even. So I agree that the three most important things you can do to improve is dive, dive, dive.
However, Uncle Pug makes a great point in saying, " refining bad habits is not progress". I dive with a guy who insists that being over weighted makes him a better diver, and he's getting pretty good at it. He wants to be an instructor and says the he'll need the extra weight to pull students down. Ok...
Still, I'm doing 3 to 6 dives per week, and UP's comment has made me ask myself, What bad habits that I'm not aware of am I refining?
Bottom line is, I believe you (we) all need both experience and continued instruction.
Dive a lot. Take classes. Not a bad way to spend your free time!
 
jbichsel once bubbled...


the requirements, DM only requires 20 dives. 100 to become an instructor.

Both of which I believe should be increased.

<snip>

Well...sort of.

In the PADI system you need 20 + resucue diver and a first-aid/cpr course to enter the DM course. You need 60 dives before you can be certified as a DM.

Same goes for instructor. You can start with 100 dives but you need 120 before you can be certified IIRC.

I agree with you, however, that these should be higher. If I had my way there wouldn't be any DM's out there with fewer than 200 dives and no instructors with fewer than 400. Expanding the boundaries of the prof certfications like this would give PADI the room to add a couple of water skills courses to the mix.

Frankly, we need it. What UP said rings true, "refining bad habits is not progress". The courses are so fast that most/all students do most of their "learning" unsupervised and it would really be helpful to give instructors some formal opportunities to evaluate and correct poor water-skills.

----divemed06---- as for your question. I'd suggest Rescue now and another 100 dives. I haven't take Dir-f but I hear some good things about it. You might look into that. There are also some things you can do to improve your water skills on every dive. Do your safety stop hovering, for example. Motionless if you can. Look behind you as you go. Are you churning up the bottom? Why not try a frog-kick? Don't know it? Why not get someone to show you..... that sort of thing. Do frequent buoyancy checks. Work on your trim until you can hang horizontal and motionless for as long as you like. debrief every dive. Ask your buddy if he noticed anything. Find experienced people to buddy with and read voraciously and intelligently.

R..
 
Diver0001 once bubbled...


Well...sort of.

In the PADI system you need 20 + resucue diver and a first-aid/cpr course to enter the DM course. You need 60 dives before you can be certified as a DM.

Same goes for instructor. You can start with 100 dives but you need 120 before you can be certified IIRC.

R..

Oops. You're right. I concentrated on just the # of dives and not all the other.

Guess you'll have to take away my birthday. Thanks for clearing that up.
 
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