How many dives does it take for one to be competent?

How many dives does it take to be competent?

  • 100+

    Votes: 76 61.8%
  • 200+

    Votes: 26 21.1%
  • 300+

    Votes: 8 6.5%
  • 400+

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 500+

    Votes: 13 10.6%

  • Total voters
    123

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Wot i lerned wen divin....

  • The more I practice, the better I get.
Self-evident, but keep practicing. Hard things get easier. Mastering something, such as finning, means it's so much easier to dive and more efficient too.

  • The more I dive, the less I know I don't know.
I remember uttering the pathetic words once: "I'm advanced, I'm good in the water" as a know-nothing useless novice who didn't even know I hadn't a clue about diving. I'd like to blame PADI for their stupid course name, but it was the Dunning-Kruger effect in action. Often see this when people are bragging.

Now, with many hundreds of dives over many hundreds of hours and hundreds of dives with trimix, I know I don't know everything and all my skills can be improved. In a word, humility.

  • Every 'challenge' is an opportunity to learn and improve
When you're wrapped up in your SMB line and just manage to throw it off you before you're dragged upwards it seems bad. OK, that was a near miss. Then you chill for a bit and think how can to improve so it doesn't happen again. Learn from your mistakes. You will get better.

Same with hard things. Buoyancy is a learned skill as is back-finning. Practice and it's so easy. Of course it seems impossible in the beginning, but so was riding a bike.

You're eventually rewarded with Zen-like calm.
 
Wot i lerned wen divin....

  • The more I practice, the better I get.
I ingrained bad habits that had to be broken later. So it all depends on the foundation one has. Most are like me in that their initial foundation is poor.
 
I ingrained bad habits that had to be broken later. So it all depends on the foundation one has. Most are like me in that their initial foundation is poor.
Bad habits like not diving with a snorkel? :popcorn:
 
On average, how many dives does it take for someone to be comfortably self-sufficient?

(by that I mean, you can sufficiently navigate new sites, go wreck divings without being nervous, go night diving without getting lost, etc)
Hi Alex,

Lots of good advice here, but like most social media reading comprehension isn't a high priority for all respondents. You did self-define what you're after. It's not being a competent diver, or perfect diver, but "comfortably self-sufficient." Then you go on and specifically mention several objectives.

The obvious answer is "it depends" and folks have really delved into that. But for what it's worth, here's what it took for me to achieve each of those.

Being comfortable in the water: Once I finished Open Water, the Dunning Kruger Effect was in full force. Since then, specific diving situations made me nervous. E.g., first night dive, first time diving the Blue Hole in Belize (because I didn't know we'd go to 130', and had a buddy who just finished open water), first dives to depths over 90' or so, etc.. Still, the training I initially had gave me the tools I though I'd need to get our of bad situations so I figured nothing could go wrong I couldn't handle. Equipment advances since then have made diving even safer.

Can sufficiently navigate new sites: It took me maybe 30-40 dives to realize my compass was smarter than I was. Once I figured that out, I was fine. I still occasionally need the reminder lesson that yes, the compass is STILL smarter than I am. (But that's diving sites I thought I was very familiar with and thought the compass MUST be off.)

Go wreck diving without being nervous: I'm assuming here you mean "penetrate wrecks" not just dive around the outside. I'll let you know when I get there. We don't have a lot of wrecks around here, though we do have abandoned storm sewer outfalls that are easy to swim up and swim back. Even so, the overhead does make me a bit nervous: If you swim 100' in, you've got 100' to swim out before you can go up. Long runs from entrance to exit in "real" wrecks still make me nervous. But it's likely lack of training, lack of experience and, if I'm being honest, not taking the equipment to dive wrecks properly. (We were loosely taught how to dive wrecks in my lengthy YMCA open water class decades ago. These days, I'd strongly suggest take a Wreck Diving class or three if you haven't.)

Night diving: Maybe by the 3rd night dive? By the time I did my first night dive I'd learned to trust my compass so the "not getting lost" wasn't too big a deal. And although I feared the first night dive, psychologically when I'm night diving my world exists only in the beam of the light. I don't fear what I can't see.
 
I have a couple hundred dives between 1970 and 1980 in California. I have a few over 2000 dives in a wide variety of locations since 1997.. I think I learn something on nearly every dive that makes me a better diver. Often it is something small, nearly imperceptible, sometimes it is something much more substantive. I spend much of my time diving solo, I have a lot of time to think about how I am diving, and I have a lot of time to enjoy what I'm doing. I'm going to Malpelo in a couple of weeks, we'll see how I do.

I couldn't vote in the poll, I could not place a line when I am still becoming a more skilled, competent, diver
So, this thread is still going since my June post.

My trip to Malpelo was fantastic, and challenging at times Trip Report - The Magic of Malpelo, July 9-18, 2021 on the Ferox I guess, that after all of this time, I have become moderately competent. I'm going to go practice some more with a 2 week trip to Bonaire with my wife, starting next Wed :)
 
I have been diving since the late 70's (and, boy, am I tired - boom tish). I normally dive every weekend and sometime during the week, too. I always feel comfortable in the water and my buoyancy is good.

I was out of the water for 3 months (94 days, 25 minutes and 32 seconds) due to COVID restrictions in Greater Sydney. Diving was allowed but you couldn't travel more than 5km out of your local government area and I was too far from any dive sites.

I did my first dive back on Monday. I was not at all comfortable for the first 30 minutes or so and still not great for the whole 115 minute dive. My buoyancy was atrocious at the start of the dive and I was kicking up sand all over the place. I came good with my buoyancy after 20 minutes and was fine after that.

I dived again on Saturday and everything was back to normal. I was relaxed, comfortable, and had a really enjoyable dive. Sunday was very surgy with current but I coped fine despite the conditions.

I was amazed how much I could lose in such a short time but also pleased to bounce back so quickly.

I really don't know how vacation only dives can do it.
 
Worse! Much worse! Jacket style BCD! Fortunately not split fins. I'd be dead.
That's me. Jacket BC and split fins for 15+ years. And rarely a snorkel unless unfamiliar site witch may have bad current, then one goes in the pocket. Hope I live to make it to dive # 1,000.
 
That's me. Jacket BC and split fins for 15+ years. And rarely a snorkel unless unfamiliar site witch may have bad current, then one goes in the pocket. Hope I live to make it to dive # 1,000.
Do dead people know they are dead? Hence you have no idea.
 

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