"How did I live 34 years without diving?"

[1_T_Submariner]

"Oh, and one more thing... how do ya'll focus on anything but diving once you've been "bitten" by the diving bug? "

Resistance is futile.....

Welcome to Scuba and Scubaboard....

 

[ziongyal]

Capt H,

Thanks for the question - let me clarify a bit and then you can tell me if we are on the same page......I see DM training as a learning process... I believe the way we improve our skill sets is through theoretical and experiental knowledge. i.e. you gotta understand the concept and then practice it to get good at it (a view I suspect you share). I do think that some parts of my background (BS in marine biology, beach lifeguard/EMT and distance open water swimmer) have given me a bit of an advantage in picking up diving. However, I certainly recognize I have limitations and I see DM training as a step by step progression through a process that will help me achieve the skill sets "divemaster" represents. PADI requires 20 dives to start Divemaster training.... what do you think the requirement should be and why?

 

[DandyDon]

Welcome to the Board and to diving. Love you enthusiasm but have a question; You were certified in July, have less than 50 dives and are doing DM now? Do you really think your qualified yet?

Yeah, or ruin the fun by jumping into too far too fast...?

PADI requires 20 dives to start Divemaster training.... what do you think the requirement should be and why?

Agency requirements are fodder for jokes, in a way. Many of us have been to sea with freshwater DMs and hoped they'd survive. But if you're not free to travel, then additional training and DM work may be the way to pursue the sport for you.

:14: Or you could check out the Dark Side, the DIR divers. We have a forum for them, altho I have never been in it.

And I can think of a few here on SB who have combined the above - DM training to get more out of local diving, DIR training to adopt some of their philosophies, and frequent ocean diving trips. How about keeping your plans open for a while...?

 

[ziongyal]

I agree... open plans are good and thanks for understanding some travel restriction realities of life.... I think the combo thing is right on.

 

[CAPT HOOK]

I agree that continued training and practice are necessary and the best way to learn.
But 20 dives for DM is IMO a joke; no matter how well you do in classes you need real world experience to be to be qualified.
You say this is all about learning, yet from reading your posts I get the idea you will want to BE a DM after passing the course. More power to you, but I want my DMs to have had to deal with more "problems in the wild", so to speak, and not just in the classroom.

Sort of got started on one of my rants about lack of adequate dive training, nothing personal.

 

[ohonu]

When i figure out how i did it, i will let you know.

 

[ziongyal]

Capt H:
I feel where you are coming from and I hope I didn't give off the vibe that I expect to be magically transformed just through the training course.... that's not the case at all. Just that my personal situation is such that I don't currently live by an ocean and I can't move right now.... so additional training is a way to stay involved until I can get my fins wet regularly. Until then I'll be counting down the days to dive trips like kids count down to Christmas morning.... (smile).

 

[Ocean One]

Ziongyal, "real world" experience is relative to where you actually live and how much money you got to get to places where you can dive. Real world for us is local lakes, Homestead Crater and the likes. Outside of my annual dive trips to the "real world", I spend most of my time at the Crater making my students the best divers I can with what I have to work with. As a DM you'll be faced with the same make the best of it!

 

[PoseidonsGirl1106]

[
Oh, and one more thing... how do ya'll focus on anything but diving once you've been "bitten" by the diving bug? I even wake up at 3 am with diving poems floating around in my brain! Think I'm joking?................
Submerged

I see hundreds of silhouettes gleaming above me
And feel the immense power of the cool current below

Weightlessly suspended
I become acutely aware of every breath


Inhale…..rise

Exhale….descend


Inhale….consume

Exhale….replenish


Inhale….rise

Exhale…descend ….



For a brief moment in time
I become one with her majesty
The Sea

Sometimes when dry
I feel deep waters run through my soul
And I glide on the hope
Of enlightened tomorrows


May you enjoy many blissful expiring ascents,

-Ziongyal


[/QUOTE]


Not strange at all.......I've written a poem because of diving too.