How do so many folks have so many dives

[bowlofpetunias]

Skill in the water is really the only thing that matters IMHO. Some inflate dive numbers up to them there are no scuba police checking log books. As long as people are honest about their self assessment and competence to do the next dive they are planning who really cares about the numbers?

Fun to mark milestones perhaps but as long as entry and exit numbers match, you are having fun and respectful of the environment I really don't think it matters in the scheme of things. I personally get more of a kick out of tallying bottom hours. These numbers really only mean that we have been lucky to participate in an amazing sport X number of times for Y number of hours!

Last time I checked Scuba was not considered a competitive sport:doh:

 

[Doc Harry]

We are land-locked, but we get to dive a lot because we have several reservoirs nearby and because we have one of these:

 

[R-balljunkie]

We are land-locked, but we get to dive a lot because we have several reservoirs nearby and because we have one of these:

Is that a moonshine distillery?

 

[tstormdiver]

Is that a moonshine distillery?

Better than moonshine! Waaaaay better than moonshine! It really helps with those nitrogen fixes we divers need from time to time.

 

[PhatD1ver]

I'm a bit perplexed at looking at some folks profiles and seeing the amount of dives listed. I wholly understand dive instructors.....they are in the water doing pool sessions, guiding students week in and out. What I dont understand is folks in the midwest who have 2000 dives.


Granted, im closing in on 5 years of diving. Surely a lot of folks eclipse me by many fathoms, year wise. Ill admit in relative terms, I am a new diver.

However, I have access to diving 365 days a year. For the most part, I have dove (minimally) every single weekend for the last four years.

Question posed. How do some folks have so many dives without access all of the times? Diving in January in Des Moines is not a reality.

I know my dive total pales in comparison to others, but I've only been diving for four months... I've got 39 dives total, soon to head off to Saipan on a trip, right now, 12-15 dives scheduled, end of Oct, 4 dives in TW, end of the year, a week at PG, we have 25 dives scheduled not counting any shore dives, so potentially I could be coming up on 100 in less than six months...

I live near the ocean, but in a country where that means squat as there is no dive culture along the China coast line... but I'm working with my LDS to try and change that by scouting and finding dive locations that China divers can use (instead of just running off to the 'clear water' locations)... but I guess at my age and family situation it comes down to this...

I can golf for $150 a round, and potentially $900-1000 a month to keep my sanity, or I can take that money, and my wife and I can go to the Philippines and stay for $500 each and get 8-10 dives in over a long weekend.

Maybe we will burn out, but as long as we stay excited, I figure we can get 100 dives a year in, and if I can develop the local dive sites with our club, I could probably double that.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

One reason some instructors rack up large dive numbers is short dive times. I took a PADI specialty that required 4 dives. I already had the intro dive. We did three 20 minute dives on one tank. We didn't get out of the water. Debriefing and rebriefing were done at the surface. When we got done the other student and the instructor had to leave. I dove solo on my second tank because neither one would stay and I didn't have anyone else to buddy up with.

You got robbed ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

---------- Post added September 18th, 2014 at 05:32 AM ----------

Watch a diver put their gear together, get in their wetsuit, and drop in. That'll tell you all you need to know about "how many dives" they have.

Happened when we were in Raja Ampat last year. On getting to the resort, Cheng couldn't find her c-cards. We told the guy who was taking us on our checkout dive that she had them somewhere, but had misplaced them. He said don't worry ... I'll know once I see you in the water whether you're as experienced as you say you are." She eventually found the cards, but didn't need to.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

---------- Post added September 18th, 2014 at 05:35 AM ----------

I know my dive total pales in comparison to others, but I've only been diving for four months... I've got 39 dives total, soon to head off to Saipan on a trip, right now, 12-15 dives scheduled, end of Oct, 4 dives in TW, end of the year, a week at PG, we have 25 dives scheduled not counting any shore dives, so potentially I could be coming up on 100 in less than six months...

I live near the ocean, but in a country where that means squat as there is no dive culture along the China coast line... but I'm working with my LDS to try and change that by scouting and finding dive locations that China divers can use (instead of just running off to the 'clear water' locations)... but I guess at my age and family situation it comes down to this...

I can golf for $150 a round, and potentially $900-1000 a month to keep my sanity, or I can take that money, and my wife and I can go to the Philippines and stay for $500 each and get 8-10 dives in over a long weekend.

Maybe we will burn out, but as long as we stay excited, I figure we can get 100 dives a year in, and if I can develop the local dive sites with our club, I could probably double that.

Have you considered Taiwan? I have heard that the diving on Green Island is pretty nice, and have been to Kenting. It's not very far from Shanghai ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TN-Steve]

I'm new to all of this, but I've seen the same syndrome in a number of other activities where there is some number that can be used for 'bragging rights'.

I don't think that a 'big number' translates to 'good diver'. Somebody can have bad buoyancy skills, lack situational awareness and not understand the basic principles of diving and still make a lot of dives. If I made 250 dives, but each one was to the same type of location, same conditions, same gear (let's say a shallow reef, warm water, good vis, 70 foot max depth), go down, look at critters and then surface, am I getting much better? My skill set isn't growing, I'm not being challenged, I'm not working to improve.

OTOH, lets take a diver with only 50 dives, but has had excellent instruction that stressed good fundimentals, and actually tries on each dive to work on and perfect their skills. They have dived a few type of locations, maybe some quarries, low-vis, pretty reefs, and are always evaluating their performance.

I don't think it's the number of dives in the book that matters, it's the dives IN that number that matter. Yes, more dives gives a certain base comfort and experience level, but it's not a direct measure for competency.

As for me, I do a Common Sense Test. Sometimes we will surface, talk for a few minutes to figure out what to do next (generally shallow quarry dives), then descend again. My Mares Puck takes anything with a more than 3 minute SI as a new dive but I put it all together when I log it. It's not 3 dives, it's one dive.

Just my .02

Steve

 

[BDSC]

Last time I checked Scuba was not considered a competitive sport:doh:

Last time I checked it wasn't even considered a sport. Maybe things have changed.

 

[gypsyjim]

You got robbed ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

---------- Post added September 18th, 2014 at 05:32 AM ----------



Happened when we were in Raja Ampat last year. On getting to the resort, Cheng couldn't find her c-cards. We told the guy who was taking us on our checkout dive that she had them somewhere, but had misplaced them. He said don't worry ... I'll know once I see you in the water whether you're as experienced as you say you are." She eventually found the cards, but didn't need to.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

---------- Post added September 18th, 2014 at 05:35 AM ----------



Have you considered Taiwan? I have heard that the diving on Green Island is pretty nice, and have been to Kenting. It's not very far from Shanghai ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I scanned my more important C cards, as well as things like my passport, driver's license, DAN card, etc.

By sending the files myself as an email attachment and saving them to a file in my email account, I can then retrieve copies from anywhere in the world where I can get Internet access, if they are lost or misplaced while traveling.

---------- Post added September 18th, 2014 at 10:50 AM ----------

As you say, watching a diver set up tells you more about them and their experience level than a piece of paper ever will, but sometimes the lawyers make that piece of paper important.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yup ... we both have our C-cards scanned into our laptops now ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)