When should I stop referring to myself as a beginner

[Neilwood]

As I was packing for a trip that wife is going to get certified at Ginnie Springs, I read this thread, and was like, I have cold water dive dives, no vis dives, dives off the end of my pier to fix a pump, and 3 trips with oogles of dives at Bonaire.

I thought I was pretty experienced

As I was trying to get the regulators in the confounded cases, and basically stuffed them in like a bunch of Christmas lights in Kmart plastic bag and forced the zipper closed.

I think I will meekly ask my wifes instructor how to do it while I am with them on the dives. I will do out of earshot of other certified divers

We can always learn something.

DIscuss it with the instructor prior to the dives to see if he is willing to "keep an eye on you" to see if you have anything to sweeten up. He might tell you that he needs to concentrate on her during the course but you might be able to add a dive at the end with him as a buddy and get feedback that way.

By this time next year I fully expect to be well over 50 dives (liveaboard, Cozumel trip, and probably another dive trip between now and then). I'll have "shore dives, ocean dives, boat dives, quarry dives, drift dives, etc" but I have no plans to have any dives in zero vis, or water colder than I'd use a 3mm wetsuit for, etc. In fact, I don't currently plan on doing any dives needing anything more than that at all. There are literally thousands of places I can dive that are warm, decent/good visibility locations. Now, I may decide to get into other types of diving at some point in the future, but there's no reason I'd have to. Never using a dry suit wouldn't make me a "bad" or "inexperienced" diver, it would just be one type of diving/gear that I don't have experience with.

While I think it's great/preferable if a person teaching an OW class in 3 ft vis in 40F water is very experienced in such conditions and with the gear required for that kind of dive, I don't think that means lacking such experience means the instructor teaching the same class in Bonaire is a "beginner" if they've never put on a dry suit. A 747 captain isn't a beginner pilot just because there are lots of other planes they have no experience flying after all.

A good comment about the pilot - pilots generally get type approval. Just being a qualified pilot is not enough - if they change plane type, they are expected to do training on that type prior to being allowed to fly as crew.

By the same token, a diver can be very, very experienced in their type of diving eg blue warm water where a rash vest and shorts are the order of the day) but not have the slightest clue about other types. such as cold low vis diving (where a drysuit is a sensible choice). Trying to do a drysuit or even a thick wetsuit dive with no training and the same skills could be very difficult if not dangerous.

 

[smudge13]

I'll chime in again seconding the idea of providing helpful information about your dive desires and comfort levels. Particularly in new environments.

My most memorable experience related to this was an instructor candidate who had towards 800 dives and considered himself an experienced diver, talked a great talk and had tons of dive stories.

However, he had never descended using a visual reference in somewhat low visibility (6ft) and was not comfortable in a full wetsuit. The pond we dove to 35ft was entirely beyond his ability to cope.

The resulting panic and bolt to the surface left us suprised and himself shaken.

A few better descriptive terms would have been helpful in his case.

Regards,
Cameron

The above very clearly (no pun intended) illustrates the point I would make. I learned to dive cleaning hulls with my brother in and around North Florida. The St. Johns River, Intercoastal and many of its creek and canals. On my first ever dive not in a pool I couldn't see my fingers at the end of my outstretched arm. For the next 6 years I never recreationally scuba dived. Only for work. There are divers on this site with many, many hundreds if not thousands more dives than me in ideal conditions. Comparing our raw numbers I would likely look like a beginner next to them. My buoyancy control is likely less precise, but put us both in the water behind a boat in zero vis with a 2 kt current and tell us to change the prop and zincs and I'll look like the expert next to an instructor who has never dove outside the Caribbean. Put us in the water together in Grand Cayman to tour a reef and I might look a little clumsy next to a DM.

 

[Dogbowl]

Good points. I do not enjoy cold water low viz diving, like we have up here in various quarry-like places. However, I wanted to be a well-rounded diver so we went to get dry suit certified in the kind of environment I really do not enjoy. My husband got certified and I quit mid-course cause I was REALLY not liking it. I’ll most likely re-do the course eventually, and participate in diving in less than ideal conditions cause I still think being a well-rounded diver is good for me.

Cave and wreck are also in my future, if I’m able.

 

[nolatom]

36 dives? Not a new diver.

35 dives? new diver.

Please write it down this time, so we don't have to keep going over it.

 

[Neilwood]

Good points. I do not enjoy cold water low viz diving, like we have up here in various quarry-like places. However, I wanted to be a well-rounded diver so we went to get dry suit certified in the kind of environment I really do not enjoy. My husband got certified and I quit mid-course cause I was REALLY not liking it. I’ll most likely re-do the course eventually, and participate in diving in less than ideal conditions cause I still think being a well-rounded diver is good for me.

Cave and wreck are also in my future, if I’m able.

I would say that, to extend your season to a decent length, you will have to learn drysuit. There is no need to learn how to use it in crap conditions though. You can learn during the summer in decent vis and get used to it then. That way when vis gets worse, you are only dealing with one new thing.

Have to say I am finding drysuit diving to be a trial after doing all wetsuit dives.