Beginner divers - different dive types and conditions to acquire the main skills

[ystrout]

I dive the same places pretty frequently, and do awesome new countries a couple times of year on vacation. I enjoy diving local, especially running into and interacting with the same friendly sheephead multiple weekends in a row. My dives are to have fun, not to intentionally "get better". So I would rather keep diving the good places I know that have lots of fish (and other good places along the coast) than make a trip specifically to do some boring lake dive with no visibility.

But we all do this hobby for fun, so I guess if it's fun you to build skills than enjoy the scenery, more power to you.

 

[Neilwood]

My thoughts are that experience is good but it is worth nothing with out the right attitude.

Two divers diving the same spot with the same number of dives can have completely different levels of experience and that all comes down to attitude:
1) Buoyancy - look to improve your control each and every dive.
2) Trim - am I stable or do I need a slight adjustment here or there? Minor trim issues during a dive can be adjusted by having an active approach to it with regards to hand/leg position (how far in front your hands are or what angle your legs are at can change your "pivot point")
3) Gear configuration - can I improve the way my gear is? Do I have danglies?
4) Skills - have I practised my skills lately such as mask clear & remove and replace, DSMB etc?
5) Buddy skills - am I being a good buddy? Discuss with them after the dive if there were any issues to improve on.

Diving in different conditions is always good though so long as you are within your comfort zone.

Don't try a wreck dive if you are not confident about your buoyancy, trim and mental attitude to tight(ish) spaces - if you feel you might be claustrophobic then don't get yourself in to that situation. Did a dive as two pairs on a trip with wreck dives. One of the other pair didn't like wrecks so we took it in turns to swim outside with her while we did the penetrations. At least she knew not to get herself in to the situation where she pushed her limit too far and bugged out about it.

sometimes learning how to dive properly in a situation involves learning the "rules", why they are there and why you might want to break them and do it safely.

Learning how and when to fin in surge is a definitely a lesson worth learning for anyone diving in the sea.
Learning that perfect trim is not always the best way to dive is another lesson - on a drift dive on a wall do you really want to crane your neck up for 45-60 minutes or do you want to orientate yourself facing the wall (either vertically or rotated to face it)?
Diving with sharks, you most probably want to be in vertical trim looking at the shark.
I will often go head down, feet up to check on my buddy if I know they are behind me - good practise for recovering a drysuit from "floaty feet" as well.
Some wrecks might mean that good trim is actually 30-40 degress of level if that is the way the deck lies- why try to be perfectly level if the ship isn't? Perfectly level trim just means problems at doorways, hatches etc.

 

[Chavodel8en]

Excellent topic.

My own case as an example. Most of my dives are local shore dives, so Im very used to surf entries. I need to understand that some folks may dive alot off of boats, but don't do surf entries. It surprises me how much difficulty they have w/ surf entries & exits, and I often am not patient enough with them. Likewise with folks who complain about the long surface swims through kelp matting.

On the other had, I had 10+ years of diving, 100+ dives and had never experienced current/ drift diving and had never deployed a SMB from depth. In anticipation of a trip to the Yucatan, I practiced deploying a SMB in local waters. Man, was I inept. Several unsuccessful tries, including one where I entangled my fin strap in the line and had to cut myself free -- lol. Luckily, I was able to successfully deploy in the Yucatan, and the drift diving was great.

So some localized conditions:

Surf entry/exit
Long surface swim
Kelp mats on the surface
Drift diving
SMB deployment.