What makes a Diver?

[Teamcasa]

What makes a diver or What makes a good diver?
The only thing that separates most divers is competency.
(I tend to avoid the divers that can’t stop telling me how great they are.)
Their enthusiasm for diving is more important to me than their skill level. Generally the diver that is truly excited about diving will dive when conditions are not perfect or the water is colder than expected but will call the dive when the conditions exceed their skill level.

Cards and classes are great, but diving is not about the card collecting. It is about taking the class because it is fun, so we can learn something new and expand our diving horizons.

I just enjoy diving with divers that enjoy diving, they generally make good divers.

 

[mrlipis]

I ask these questions, rhetorically, because I know most instructors do not do this with their advanced students. In fact, most instructors call this an experiential course. There is little coursework and the divework is just there to give you a sampling of five different specialties. Honestly, this sounds more like a program than a certification course.

Agreed, a program that IMO does not have a pass or fail. I suppose you could fail if you didn't complete the dive but to me it is nothing more than a money grab. Does one get experience on a deep dive? Sure but I just got charged $50.00 to have an instructor take me to 80 feet or $50.00 to go swim through some hoola hoops and now I am certified in Peak buoyancy. I guess the thing that bothers me about the AOW, is it becomes a required cert in order to make a deep dive with a dive op regardless of someones experience. If it was part of OW (should be) and cost an extra $100.00 I could live with it. Rescue was awesome and a great learning tool. Learned a ton from DM and loved the physics and physiology. Sooo much more to learn.

Bruce

 

[Thumpers]

I have always felt that AOW should have a 25 dive requirement or even better a minimum underwater time limit of 20 hours of diving. The problem however is that dive shops make money instructing and when you have someone standing there holding out $100 or $200 for a couple it is hard to say go away and come back if you ever get in 25 dives. Most divers never reach 25 dives.
I went on an ocean dive with a rescue diver that was terrified. It was his first ocean dive and he spent more time checking his guages than he did enjoying the dive.
I would think a 25 dive minimum before AOW would really help.

 

[scubajcf]

Diver retention is a MAJOR issue.

The percentage of customers who take a course, complete their initial dives and do not come back is signficant. Drop off continues throughout the first two years. Those who do stay involved with customers end up moving their business to the Internet or travel direct to destinations, bypassing the LDS.

Fact is that LDS's depend on influx of new divers or they would go out of business depending on repeat customers.

LDS's also depend on selling a customer while "they are hot". This includes the AOW.

AOW is a great concept, because it gives customers a reason to almost immediately get back in the water. The more diving they do; the more comfortable they are -- the more likely the LDS will retain that customer and further their business with them. However, while great in concept it can be flawed in practice. While people enjoy the dives, many find the education lackluster. Since this is most people's first foray into continuing education, it usually leaves them with a poor impression of how good furthering one's diver education can be.

FOOTNOTE: As an instructor, we are the most influential people in the industry. Only we can change the perception of continuing education. Only we can increase retention. Shops and Agencies are there to support our efforts. We as dive professionals have to step up and take responsibility for bettering our industry/sport. We can't just show up, grab our class list and teach from a stoic lesson plan. Leaving the soapbox now.

 

[The Logic Theorist]

Divers are definitely made by a whole lot of really expensive equipment.

 

[captain]

A diver is someone who is one with the sea. It doesn't make any difference if he is OW, AOW, tech or not even certified. He has a life long love of the sea and will go to it every chance he gets. He gets just as much joy exploring a barren sandy bottom, a beautiful reef or a wreck. He lives for the freedom of a truly three dimensional world.
It may be days months or years that he is away from the sea but it is never out of his thoughts and he will eventually return to it. To the true diver the time spent on the sea's surface are just as rewarding as the time spent below it's surface.
Everyone tries to quantify what a diver is by training, experience, technique, etc, None of those really matter, anyone can learn them. A true diver is a state of mind.

 

[InTheDrink]

Very Zen, and I agree. As I do with Teamcasa.

I'm a fairly crap diver but I love it. I'm always first up in the morning though I drink and smoke and stay in bed more than most otherwise. The thought of a dive fills me with the best kind of fire. I love being able to fly. I love walls with drop offs and that lovely feeling of vertico before realising that you're a bird and you can fly. Gravity is now only a minor consideration.

One thing I would like tho is more communicative skills from guides and instructors. I'd like to be told how I can improve, what went right, what went wrong. I do feel this doesn't happen enough - a clear and open dialogue about one's dtrengths' and weakness (yeah, I know, the former would be a short conversation).

But there's never any substitute in life, as in diving, for genuine enthusiasm.

 

[InTheDrink]

Diver retention is a MAJOR issue.

The percentage of customers who take a course, complete their initial dives and do not come back is signficant. Drop off continues throughout the first two years. Those who do stay involved with customers end up moving their business to the Internet or travel direct to destinations, bypassing the LDS.

Fact is that LDS's depend on influx of new divers or they would go out of business depending on repeat customers.

Speaking from a position of ignorance in terms of diving but not in terms of commerce, this is clearly true. It would be great to spend endless hours training ppl to amazing standards. But that effort would cost a lot more. And that would drive up prices. And that would kill most operations.

It's that triangle thing again. The biggest seller is DSDs. So operations need to focus on this to survive. So the focus is on the lowest common demoninator rather than achieving best skills. It's a simple matter of supply and demand. I can't imagine most dive ops wish to have to hand hold DSDs. But it's a financial fact of life. That's where most of the money is. No-one's fault. Just life.

What's the ratio of DSDs to Rescue Divers? 50:1?

 

[bill-da-ho]

just finished OW cert. Cant imagine taking AOW without having first gotten comfortable with the training I recieved so far. Must have experience to move on. I know people are different, but having been "trained" to go to 60 feet,, I cant imagine getting to that depth till I've had 30 dives or so. I go along with the folks on here that say the certificate lets you dive, the diving is what gives you the experience. The way I see it, IMHO, the c card allows you to get your tank refilled, the experience and comfort level will come from diving within your limits.

 

[DOkie]

What makes a diver? That very first scuba class. I've seen folks get out of the water and just know it's not for them and folks get out of the water just beaming thinking that it was the most awesome experience they've ever had.

As a dive community, I think we have a tendency to judge just what we think would qualify as a "diver". I've caught myself doing the same thing. Over the years I've seen guys after their first class brag about how their going to become commercial divers, or folks who have 1 AOW dive and consider themselves "Advanced". Took me a while, but my thought is that they just want to belong to something that they consider to be an elite experience and that in itself makes me proud that they share their dreams with me. Sure I offer caution and adivice, but then again, the guys that have been diving a lot longer than I have do the same to me. In a world where we work everyday, take care of our kids, pay our bills, and lives by the rules, dreams are an important thing to have....