PADI said I was in August of 2004. Right after my instructor took me on a few dives beyond basic OW limits, showed me how to use a lift bag, how navigate a square and triangle, and how to open a combination lock at 90 feet. Then I found Scubaboard and realized I didn't know shiite. And while he never actually told me I was an advanced diver I was never told I was not. That is the important thing. It was marketed to me as an advanced course yet gave me little in the way of skills that are used on what are commonly considered "advanced dives". I thought I was an advanced diver when I did my very first ocean dive into the well deck of the Spiegel Grove with millpond like conditions. Then five days later did the same dive which was also dive number 100 for me in a ripping current.
But I did these dives on a single al80.
Was I an advanced diver or just a stupid one. I did not plan those dives with as much care as I do a shallow solo dive in our local quarry because I did not know to. I do consider myself experienced. Ocean - both coasts, Bonaire, Jamaica, Puerto Rico. Fresh in the great lakes to 160 feet in 38 degree water, with mixed gas and deco, St Lawrence wrecks, lots of quarry and lake dives, but now my definition of advanced has changed. As it always does once I reach a new level.
The Doria is still where advanced divers go, as is the Empress of Ireland. But while 150 feet in Lake Erie may be an advanced dive, it's not AS ADVANCED as it once was for me. And I'm not as advanced as the people I look up to in Scuba. I kinda hope I never am as that will take some of the fun away. As it is there is always something new in my areas of interest where scuba is concerned to shoot for. That is I guess what advanced really is for me. It is not being content with the knowledge I have now. I always want more. An advanced diver to me is always looking for that next challenge and next level of knowledge.
