Vacation Diver Poll

[CanadaDan]

I dive year round but I've done pool sessions with friends who are vacation divers as an experienced buddy. We go over gear assembly & donning, entry and exit, mask drills, reg recovery... standard stuff. If they have their own gear it also allows for a fresh water weight check (especially if their body or gear has changed). They prefer to do that as opposed to dusting off cobwebs on an expensive warm water dive.I only 'charge' a drink or two after the session lol.

 

[AfterDark]

I fit your criteria. I usually dive once or twice per year when I am on a warm weather vacation, aka "resort dives". My kids are 8 & 9 so I did not have the time or money to go diving the last 9 years or so. Growing up we had an in-ground pool so I am very comfortable in water. I don't have any issue clearing my ears either.

We usually go to the same resort in Mexico and they have a dive shop on-site. I am very comfortable with the instructors and trust them. I rent my gear, but now that I have 30+ dives I am looking at getting my own stuff. My oldest will be 10 this year, so I will get him certified and his brother is only 14 months behind. Once they are both certified I am looking forward to diving more often. My wife got certified with me, but she has trouble clearing her ears and probably won't ever go again.

To answer your question, I just show up, get the pre-dive instruction and just go. These are recreational, low risk dives. I got SSI certified for EAN on our last trip a few weeks ago.

IMO there is no such thing. This is the mentality the diving industry wants instilled in all divers. Diving is like hiking, bicycle riding. Except of course when it's not. We play in an environment hostile to human life, that shouldn't be brushed off. No offense meant @1967Goat. I'm real comfortable in the water myself, but never overly so.

 

[markmud]

My first vacation dive is always a refresher, but only in how I gear up. Once I hit the water everything is second nature.

I guess it depends on the interval between dives; weeks, months, or years.

And on how many dives you already have done. If it are 100 or maybe 2000.

The posts above are all right on. For me, I liked to dive for fun at Tahoe, or Monterey, or some other waterway. I did not need a check-out or refresher dive between vacation diving.

However, while living in Ohio, those opportunities are few and far between. So we vacation dive more often.

Problem solved!

We have three weeks of vacation diving planned for 2020 already. We might do more.

Ohio has been a boon for our vacation diving. Also, becoming a gubmint worker has been a boon for our vacation diving--3 1/2 months of paid vacation per year--are you freaking kidding me! Taxpayers get hosed again--sucks to be you!


m

 

[Graeme Fraser]

The posts above are all right on. For me, I liked to dive for fun at Tahoe, or Monterey, or some other waterway. I did not need a check-out or refresher dive between vacation diving.

However, while living in Ohio, those opportunities are few and far between. So we vacation dive more often.

Problem solved!

We have three weeks of vacation diving planned for 2020 already. We might do more.

Ohio has been a boon for our vacation diving. Also, becoming a gubmint worker has been a boon for our vacation diving--3 1/2 months of paid vacation per year--are you freaking kidding me! Taxpayers get hosed again--sucks to be you!


m

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a gubmint and how do I become one?

 

[markmud]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a gubmint and how do I become one?

Ronaldis Magnus (Ronald Reagan) pronounced government "gubmint", and I think it was meant pejoratively. He always said that the most feared phrase in English is: "I am from the gubmint and here to help."

m

 

[Ben_3]

I am active year round so I do not really need a refresher. I do like reading up on the diving spots in advance.

 

[Angelo Farina]

My scuba life is made of 4 distinct periods, reported here along with my age:
- 16-24 years old: recreational diving, either locally and on summer holidays, training for becoming DM and later instructor
- 25-29 years old: the 5 years I worked as instructor and DM, collecting more than 200 dives/year, packed in short periods of 2-3 months
- 31-49: purely recreational diver, and only during summer holidays (3-4 weeks, in August, collecting 10-15 dives each year, with my wife and my sons)
- 50-61: in these eleven years I made just something as 25 dives, and only for work (scientific experiments). With gaps of 2-3 years.
Even after such long gaps, I did never need any refresh. Also because my equipment is mostly exactly the same I purchased in the seventies, so setting it up, or servicing the regs, is still fully automatic.
I think most problems for occasional divers come when you rent equipment very different from the one you are used to. But you can do very little about this, just getting some time for making you accustomed to it in very shallow water or in a pool, if available.
In most resorts they are aware of this, and provide a free "accustoming" dive, often from the shore, with a DM supervising and evaluating your skills (and providing hints, when required).

 

[drrich2]

I think the answer changes over time. I mainly dive on 2 roughly 1-week trips/year by historical pattern. Early in my diving, I'd watch my wife assembling her gear to job my memory or how to do it. I was fairly nervous. But some things have changed...

1.) Been blessed with a number of trips and more dives.
2.) So more practice assembling gear (not so much on live-aboards, but Bonaire shore diving? Oh, yeah).
3.) Time to go through screw-ups that are educational. Jumped in with air off? Yep. Without fins? Check. Been unable to get 1st stage off tank and learned to hold 2nd stage purge valve down while trying, and if need by twist the 1st stage to yoke connection a bit, turning to loosen it up? Check. Walked off dive boat back to cruise ship and forgot my fins? Uh-huh. Discovered the cover on my 2nd stage was missing at a dive site? More than once. Had an o-ring pop off a loose connector on the 1st stage where a hose worked free? Did that.
4.) I've seen and discussed an option or two with other people.

So now, while there's always the 'new dive jitters' that first time out after being dry awhile, I don't feel the need to practice assembling my gear at home before the trip.

Richard.

 

[MrBigfins]

I probably don't fit the term "vacation diver" although the majority of my diving is done on trips. Weather allowing, I dive semi regularly in quarries at home in between trips. We average 3 trips a year for a total of about 4.5 weeks a year and I dive alot when we are on a trip. None of the selections really fit for me so I didn't vote.

 

[wgw04024]

I know people that love to do 'pool sessions'. ugh.... As long as your gear is in good shape and serviced, the rest is like riding a bike. Don't take that as being overconfident, always vigil.