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Dody

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Location
Amstelveen
# of dives
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Is it a matter of expertise, an absolute value of dives, your specialty certifications or the different situations you faced? A bit of all but I believe the latter matters the most. So I would like to ask my AOW instructor (that I really trust) to elaborate a training plan and dive me through the below predicaments so that I am prepared the day I go on diving trips with people I don’t know. I like challenges and I love diving but I am very cautious and (uncontrolled) risk averse. What do you think I should add the list?:

1- Diving in strong currents (if possible vertical in addition to horizontal and washing machines) and getting out of it.

2- Drift diving and surfacing at the agreed place at the end (orientation).

3- Comfortably diving to 39 meters and mastering all the what if emergency situations.

4- Shore entries with rough surf.

5- Water entry and exit when sea is rough.

6- Negative entries (I tried several times and got minor barotrauma. Until I can equalize faster, I will pass on that one).

Note: I am not interested in Rebreathers, Tri-mix (Nitrox is good enough and diving below 40 meters will never happen on purpose), Night diving (I can’t see much in the dark), cave diving (too risky for me), Dry suit (I don’t want to dive in cold waters).

7- Preparing gear and diving with two cylinders.


Thank you for your answers.
 
I suggest adding diving from small boats: RHIBs et similia. Space is at a premium, kitting up can be complicated, and getting back on the boat is not always super easy.
I recommend anyway to take a rescue course with any major agency: it is fun and you will acquire confidence in and out of the water.

EDIT: where I dive (Scandinavia) it is very common to dive with limited (very) visibility. I don't know where you plan to dive, but I believe that being prepared for a low viz situation can be very helpful
 
There are lots of views on this. The term "recreational" diver is also a very broad term and covers skill less divers that passed OW, but paid no attention to anything to highly skilled and aware OW divers that could probably show up some DMs. Your cautious and risk averse is (to me) a great start. For much of your list, you may just want to call the dive if entry or sea is rough or currents strong, and many rec divers never reach 33 meters/100' - and plenty of rec boats will have limits. I personally love it below 100' as the sounds and colors change. For training however, my deep dive class was in cold dark quarry in full wetsuit - almost nothing like the warm water that I generally hit those depths - but the coverage of issues at depth remind me to pay more attention at depth. And night diving on reefs is really a treat, don't discount it.

Hopefully your AOW instructor will have some good advice for you - most of your list however, I haven't had or seen a class for. The deep diving and rescue (PADI) courses are good for the depth and emergency situations(some anyway). Most will just be getting out there and diving - calling a dive when it looks beyond your skill set and getting used to more and more as your skillset grows (and those cases where it looked fine but turned out to be not as fine). I've used doubles before but can't remember if that was in my deep class, my wreck class, or just a fun outing with the LDS (I also had a great instructor who became a friend back then).

Happy Diving!
 
I'd take a look at

0) dive lots but get your bouyancy, trim, and propulsion to very good level. These are foundational things that can be improved every dive

1) using a dsmb properly and it being second nature

2) navigation

3) mastering leading dives (controlling ndl and remaining gas in your tank and buddies)

4) how to handle failures. Broken bladder, inflator, mask, etc.

5) self reliant/solo skills. Gas planning, executing your dive, being able to handle problems by yourself, equipment with redundancy

6) if your using 2 tanks, you should always be able to use a AL80 stage slung as its avaiable everywhere. You may also want to be able to use a smaller pony like AL30.

Hope that helps.
 
I suggest adding diving from small boats: RHIBs et similia. Space is at a premium, kitting up can be complicated, and getting back on the boat is not always super easy.
I recommend anyway to take a rescue course with any major agency: it is fun and you will acquire confidence in and out of the water.

EDIT: where I dive (Scandinavia) it is very common to dive with limited (very) visibility. I don't know where you plan to dive, but I believe that being prepared for a low viz situation can be very helpful
Thanks. I have dived several times from small boats so I am comfortable with it (in fact, I have never dived from a "real big boat"). I plan to do "Stress and Rescue" in January after I complete AOW later this month. I have already done "React Right".
 
Much of your list pertains to getting in and out of the water.

What seems to be missing is what you're doing while in the water: navigation, improving buoyancy control and trim, shooting DSMB's, buddy communication and lost buddy procedures, managing your depth/time/NDL, controlling ascent rate, etc.

Also, if negative entries cause barotrauma, work on equalization is indicated. It may be as simple as starting the moment before you splash.

Finally, I'd re-arrange your list from least to most difficult.

Best wishes,
 
You mention you don’t want to dive in cold water, yet you live in the Netherlands. You are restricting yourself to only diving on holiday, it seems.

Or will you dive locally at the height of summer?
 
you mention diving in strong currents: that's very site-specific. We face low viz and strong tidal currents in the Lillebælt area between Jylland and Fyn here in Denmark. But it is very different from diving in a kandu in the Maldives and using a reef hook, or on a wreck in the Florida Keys, in the Gulf stream. It is better to achieve good buoyancy and be a balanced diver, and then rely on local expertise, using a dive guide there to learn all the tricks
 

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