Best trips to log dives?

[BoundForElsewhere]

Quality not Quantity.

I would hope that any shop or instructor would care more about the types of dives you have done, experiences you have had, and situations you have faced than what you remembered to log in your book or app.

Oh, and about that spousal permission.... better to beg forgiveness than ask for permission.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Quality not Quantity.

I would hope that any shop or instructor would care more about the types of dives you have done, experiences you have had, and situations you have faced than what you remembered to log in your book or app.

Unfortunately, I don’t think instructors care that much about the quality of prerequisite dives—it really is about the number. As I see it, the reason to make sure you’re doing quality dives that you feel give you experience in the kind of dives you hope to lead once you’re a DM or instructor is for your own personal satisfaction and your future clients’ benefit.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Unfortunately, I don’t think instructors care that much about the quality of prerequisite dives—it really is about the number. As I see it, the reason to make sure you’re doing quality dives that you feel give you experience in the kind of dives you hope to lead once you’re a DM or instructor is for your own personal satisfaction and your future clients’ benefit.

That's whack.

 

[hilljo88]

Liveaboards usually offer 4-5 dives per day
You can easily get 4dives a day in Bonaire, Curacao, Grand Cayman
Makes sense to do “real” diverse dives rather than quarry “bounce” dives.

 

[stuartv]

NC wreck dives are the reason I got into nitrox.
Ok you've totally talked me into Blackbeard's. That's definitely making my to do list.

NC wreck diving is my favorite wreck diving,

For the record on Blackbeard’s, our dive times were never limited by anything but NDL and gas consumption. However, be aware they only have air. No Nitrox. But, between the number of dives we were doing and the relatively shallow depths of most of them, I didn’t really miss having Nitrox. Only 2 or 3 dives were limited by NDL.

Quality not Quantity.

I would hope that any shop or instructor would care more about the types of dives you have done, experiences you have had, and situations you have faced than what you remembered to log in your book or app.

Oh, and about that spousal permission.... better to beg forgiveness than ask for permission.

Quantity and quality both matter.

Especially to an instructor that is evaluating you to determine if you meet the prerequisites to start DM training.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

NC wreck diving is my favorite wreck diving,

For the record on Blackbeard’s, our dive times were never limited by anything but NDL and gas consumption. However, be aware they only have air. No Nitrox. But, between the number of dives we were doing and the relatively shallow depths of most of them, I didn’t really miss having Nitrox. Only 2 or 3 dives were limited by NDL.



Quantity and quality both matter.

Especially to an instructor that is evaluating you to determine if you meet the prerequisites to start DM training.

true.

 

[willo]

Regarding moving to DM/Instructor, I'm sort of an oddity. I was lucky enough to certify through a university program that's a full semester long with 4-6 hours of pool time and 3 hours of lecture weekly. I then was a TA (teaching assistant) for several years. I even re-enrolled the class after about 10 years just to help up the enrollment numbers when I was staff at the uni. The class is a blast and is my reason for pursuing certs so that I can teach in the future.
I've been diving in Belize, North Carolina, Arkansas, Hawaii, BVI and Missouri in all sorts of different conditions. What I've failed to do over time is to keep proper logs across the years, so while I'm going to reproduce what I remember and have records for, I don't feel that it shows a sufficient number of dives with good info to meet the # of logged dives. I'm also very interested in challenging myself here - I sit at a desk all day and diving is really a main reason kept in shape at the uni.

So now I'm seriously trying to plan a blackbeard's trip... and my wife already wants to go too.

 

[Marie13]

Regarding moving to DM/Instructor, I'm sort of an oddity. I was lucky enough to certify through a university program that's a full semester long with 4-6 hours of pool time and 3 hours of lecture weekly. I then was a TA (teaching assistant) for several years. I even re-enrolled the class after about 10 years just to help up the enrollment numbers when I was staff at the uni. The class is a blast and is my reason for pursuing certs so that I can teach in the future.
I've been diving in Belize, North Carolina, Arkansas, Hawaii, BVI and Missouri in all sorts of different conditions. What I've failed to do over time is to keep proper logs across the years, so while I'm going to reproduce what I remember and have records for, I don't feel that it shows a sufficient number of dives with good info to meet the # of logged dives. I'm also very interested in challenging myself here - I sit at a desk all day and diving is really a main reason kept in shape at the uni.

So now I'm seriously trying to plan a blackbeard's trip... and my wife already wants to go too.

I will fully admit you came across as “number hungry” - just about the worst type of DM/instructor wannabe (aside from the zero to hero types) - with little experience, but want to teach others, which makes a lot of us cringe. If you’ve got this other experience, that’s great, but that definitely is NOT how your earlier posts appeared.

 

[MichaelMc]

Regarding moving to DM/Instructor, I'm sort of an oddity. I was lucky enough to certify through a university program that's a full semester long with 4-6 hours of pool time and 3 hours of lecture weekly. I then was a TA (teaching assistant) for several years. I even re-enrolled the class after about 10 years just to help up the enrollment numbers when I was staff at the uni. The class is a blast and is my reason for pursuing certs so that I can teach in the future.
I've been diving in Belize, North Carolina, Arkansas, Hawaii, BVI and Missouri in all sorts of different conditions. What I've failed to do over time is to keep proper logs across the years, so while I'm going to reproduce what I remember and have records for, I don't feel that it shows a sufficient number of dives with good info to meet the # of logged dives. I'm also very interested in challenging myself here - I sit at a desk all day and diving is really a main reason kept in shape at the uni.

So now I'm seriously trying to plan a blackbeard's trip... and my wife already wants to go too.

Yes, this is a very different picture. Your plan for more experience is good. I also image you could reconstruct the dive count for those classes and present that to an instructor. If you were a 30' etc. scientific diver (AAUS, 100 hours of instruction, 10 dives, roughly NAUI MSD + Rescue + DAN) and helped TA that a few times, that is a significant cert. (30' + multi year TA myself)

Very different picture than the appearance of 'I need dives for my DM quick'. Good luck.

 

[Nemrod]

Cozumel is probably among the very most cost effective dive/dollar ratio available. It is possible on many days to do a two tank boat dive in the morning, a wreck or night dive the afternoon and shore dives in between and after. So you could stay wet all day if you had such a mind to do so. The shore diving is rather bland but it counts. N