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I think the problem here is that I thought participants would read the OP.I'll give to the OP a direct answer to his simple question: An advanced diver is one who has the equipment knowledge, dive skills, and the experience to independently plan and carry out a safe recreational dive without professional supervision or coaching. That definition does not refer to a certain class or experience level- it is tied to competence. There are divers who choose to limit their diving to escorted dives, or independent diving under very controlled conditions, and that's just fine. Other divers race from one certification course to another without any "real diving" experience, and have a certification that is not always descriptive of their competence level. I'll stick with my definition. The skills that an advanced diver has mastered include buoyancy control, of course, AND navigation.
DivemasterDennis
halemanō;6135998:OK you advanced scuba divers; looking into your past, when did you think you had earned the title "advanced diver?" If you have ~1,000 or more dives, when do you now think you were "advanced?"
You go out on a liveaboard and find that you are more competent than most of your fellow divers, so you figure you're "advanced."