How to build or refresh skills if we only dive the tropics once-twice a year?

So, looking at calendar and constraints it may end up being a year again between dive trips, at least for my dearest buddy. We would both like to refresh and improve safety practices so that we are calm, confident and correct in an emergency.

The options appear to be investing in 7 mm suits and vests and diving the St Lawrence more regularly (not an appealing prospect to the guy who grew up swimming against that wretched current off Brockville; he'd be really tough to talk into that), or finding a good teacher/coach in a Caribbean location we can reach in one flight for one week from Ottawa or Montreal.

The TDI "Enhanced Diver Skills" course we took 1.5 years ago was terrifically educational if also humbling. We took a PADI refresher once in Bonaire: that was plain silly. We don't need it THAT basic. If I thought self-coaching was enough, we could go someplace that lets us dive our socks off for the week in conditions where we can, as a buddy pair, wander off from the group and practise our skills. But the right level of instruction could be really helpful.

Suggestions?

In the winter I dive in the indoor pools. The LDSs that I frequent offer individual pool time when they have their training. While many say this does not really count as a dive all I want to do is get wet and stay comfortable with my skills. You may still have to do a refresher course to get credit with dive ops .


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Are there any quarries or lakes nearby that you can dive? I can understand not wanting to fight river current, but realistically, you cannot get or remain good at diving without diving. PM gitterdun here on SB and ask her -- she will know.

"That wretched current off Brockville" Your options are to pick up drift diving and take advantage of that current or to dive sites where there's less current... the Kinghorn and Robert Gaskin or the Rothesay or Centeen park (for skills practice) from shore come to mind. Morisson's quarry is another option if you don't mind trading the current for thermoclines.

You could also get on a charter out of Kingston in lake ontario.

I used to be in the same situation but Toronto. I just found a local dive shop and went diving with them. The first time I took a refresher course in their pool. We did some class work and had the opportunity to work with their equipment. Next was getting in the pool and practicing the 20 basic skills. The next time I found a shop which offered time in the pool. They rented a fairly nice pool for their DSD and OW classes but in order to keep it affordable they let customers from the shop use the pool. There was always a few people at the pool to practice with. A few times the DM and instructor students would work with us (we could be guinea pigs for them).

Maybe you can find a local dive shop which you could join them and practice your skills in the pool.

FT:

The TDI "Enhanced Diver Skills" course we took 1.5 years ago was terrifically educational if also humbling. We took a PADI refresher once in Bonaire: that was plain silly. We don't need it THAT basic. If I thought self-coaching was enough, we could go someplace that lets us dive our socks off for the week in conditions where we can, as a buddy pair, wander off from the group and practise our skills. But the right level of instruction could be really helpful.

Suggestions?

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Here's a couple of annoying but true facts:
1. Practicing in gear you won't be diving might not be useful as one might think, because working out trim and buoyancy issues is for most people "the" thing. While I can see why people encourage local diving, once you get kitted up in local gear, and then go on vacation with other gear, you will be shaking the gear out on a dive.

2. Pool time is useful only to the degree you do not get caught up in a typical OW on the knees class. (I wonder what someone who gets to practice the 20 basic skills gets to practice, since that is usually a decription of the divemaster skill set demostrated kneeling and massively negatively buoyant.) But it is far more likely that you will be using dive trip like gear in the pool than you will in cold climate diving.

3. The instructor matters. When I teach a PADI Scuba Review, it's taught midwater hovering or in motion. When most teach it, it is the same OW course, kneeling throughout. I have even seen it done as just an intro dive.

Why not go back to the TDI "Enhanced Diver Skills" course and just take that again, since you do know it found some weak spots for you?

There's no substitute for time spent underwater.

One more for "There's no substitute for getting out and diving".
One thing I can say is, warm water vacation divers will have a tougher time acclimating to cold water diving, whereas to cold water divers going to the tropics they will find it a cakewalk.
If you start diving locally then you can easily convert yourself into a cold water diver and the tropics will be a cakewalk compared.
Skip all the refresher nonsense and just start diving.
If you want to dive year around you might want to look into a drysuit.

in a Caribbean location we can reach in one flight for one week from Ottawa or Montreal.

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It looks like those options are Cancun, MX, Punta Cana, DR or Guadeloupe (the island) from Montreal. Priced from low to high (550-650-850CA$) mid-September. I couldn't find anything non-stop from Ottowa. Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, FL are non-stop from Montreal also. The advantage there might be cheaper costs to stay and you can shore dive.

Or you can do the bag drag/ferry over to Cozumel from Cancun. Lots of dive operations in either area to choose from.

Here's what I used to figure it out: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Eric Sedletzky:

One more for "There's no substitute for getting out and diving".
One thing I can say is, warm water vacation divers will have a tougher time acclimating to cold water diving, whereas to cold water divers going to the tropics they will find it a cakewalk.
If you start diving locally then you can easily convert yourself into a cold water diver and the tropics will be a cakewalk compared.

Click to expand...

As a tropical instructor/guide, I will say that local divers tend to have an inflated sense of how their abilities translate to tropical waters. And thinking that the diving itself is easier, rather than the prep or gear needed, is possibly a part of it.

Diving in warm clear water is mentally easier, and requires much, much less hassle in setup, but other than those factors any kind of diving requires experience in those conditions to know much about it. And the ocean (and Boats!), as opposed to lakes and quarries, can be immediately unforgiving of mistakes in the way that lakes and quarries are usually not. And boats are easier right up until they are not, when a ladder bounces off the head of a diver who is not paying attention in 5 foot seas.

On the other hand, the willingness to put up with the hassle of local diving does show some more commitment to the activity which often translates into more thinking about diving. And as noted, there is nothing like time underwater to get used to being underwater. Of course, I can spend way more hours of a day in the water in the tropics, and so can divers. I have spent most of 8 straight hours underwater in the tropics, and live aboard divers in warm enough waters can dive 10 dives a day.