DreadnoughtNH
Contributor
This is a little veering off-of-topic, but...
I know after my OW certification I was NOT ready to dive without supervision. I was a menace, to myself, other divers, and the environment in which I was diving.
Now even with my AOW / Nitrox / PPB / etc. / and about 100 more dives, I still feel more comfortable with the knowledge there is a DM/instructor in the water with me. Or at the very least a more experienced diver, or a diver with better knowledge of the dive site. My recent Cayman Aggressor trip was the first time I did some diving without a DM or guide, and I realized that I was becoming a better diver than I gave myself credit for (neutral buoyancy was easy, I navigated solely on compass and nearly pounded the hull of the boat with my forehead on my return, and I still had 1200# in the tank after 65 minutes in the water).
Maybe it's a personal thing; I maintain that there is always going to be someone who is better at the [INSERT ACTIVITY HERE] than I am, and I feel it is important that I learn what I can (if I can) from that person. Yes, I'm diving in beautiful places to relax and enjoy the sport I love, but skill improvement is how I enjoy that sport more.
What drives me nuts is that my improvement over the past years have zero to do with PADI's system. Frankly, I think PADI was nuts for certifying me even for OW, and this feeling is only solidified every time I see a dive boat full of cruise ship divers, or one of the buses with hulls running out of Key Largo. Destroying the reefs, running into each other, and lacking any courtesy. I'd say more than half of the OW divers I encounter cannot dive safely (or well) and they have no desire to improve beyond that entry-level.
I only got better by taking it seriously, wanting to be better, and telling DM and guides that I wasn't just diving for fun. What can you teach me? What am I doing wrong? How do I do that thing you make look so easy? And when they gave me tips or instruction, I paid for that knowledge (however small) with a big tip / dinner / booze / whatever currency they operate in.
Maybe that's the disconnect: the people who vacation dive every 2 years or so, and the people who genuinely are nuts for diving and do it whenever they can. The latter are going to be better divers. My question, as a warm water diver (who lives on the frozen shores of NH), how do find those outfits and liveaboards who cater to those who want to continue to improve, and not to the kicking masses of OW divers?
I know after my OW certification I was NOT ready to dive without supervision. I was a menace, to myself, other divers, and the environment in which I was diving.
Now even with my AOW / Nitrox / PPB / etc. / and about 100 more dives, I still feel more comfortable with the knowledge there is a DM/instructor in the water with me. Or at the very least a more experienced diver, or a diver with better knowledge of the dive site. My recent Cayman Aggressor trip was the first time I did some diving without a DM or guide, and I realized that I was becoming a better diver than I gave myself credit for (neutral buoyancy was easy, I navigated solely on compass and nearly pounded the hull of the boat with my forehead on my return, and I still had 1200# in the tank after 65 minutes in the water).
Maybe it's a personal thing; I maintain that there is always going to be someone who is better at the [INSERT ACTIVITY HERE] than I am, and I feel it is important that I learn what I can (if I can) from that person. Yes, I'm diving in beautiful places to relax and enjoy the sport I love, but skill improvement is how I enjoy that sport more.
What drives me nuts is that my improvement over the past years have zero to do with PADI's system. Frankly, I think PADI was nuts for certifying me even for OW, and this feeling is only solidified every time I see a dive boat full of cruise ship divers, or one of the buses with hulls running out of Key Largo. Destroying the reefs, running into each other, and lacking any courtesy. I'd say more than half of the OW divers I encounter cannot dive safely (or well) and they have no desire to improve beyond that entry-level.
I only got better by taking it seriously, wanting to be better, and telling DM and guides that I wasn't just diving for fun. What can you teach me? What am I doing wrong? How do I do that thing you make look so easy? And when they gave me tips or instruction, I paid for that knowledge (however small) with a big tip / dinner / booze / whatever currency they operate in.
Maybe that's the disconnect: the people who vacation dive every 2 years or so, and the people who genuinely are nuts for diving and do it whenever they can. The latter are going to be better divers. My question, as a warm water diver (who lives on the frozen shores of NH), how do find those outfits and liveaboards who cater to those who want to continue to improve, and not to the kicking masses of OW divers?
