Deco Musings: What is an experienced diver?

[VikingDives]

TLDR: What really is an experienced diver, because I don’t feel like one.

The reality is that the extensive briefing was masking my insecurities, I felt that he was going to rely too much on me and wanted to transfer as much of the responsibility back to him as I could. Having him lead in, and check arrows to make sure he knew where he was. That way if something went wrong at least he could have a decent cave map in his head, which I feel makes it easier to deal with emergencies.

Because I don’t feel like an experienced diver. On every dive I see and learn something new, even when going to areas that I’ve been to dozens of times before. I don’t feel like an instructor that probably has done these dives thousands of times and as such it is routine. That they have the experience to be the safety net that new students need.

I'm not sure how many dives I have, but I can tell you that I have many more than you. . .

That said, you have many more cave dives than I have, and 100% more cave dives than I have in Florida. If we were diving in your home territory, or anywhere cave, I'd consider you to be the stronger team member, all things being equal. I'd expect you to be expecting things that I don't have the ability to see.

As a guy who regularly conducts extensive briefings with people who aren't up to my level, I'm going to give you a pass. You can call it masking insecurities, or you can call it ensuring that your teammate is adequately prepared for a dive that will challenge him/her. It is all frame of reference.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Whenever I think about experience in any fashion I think about someone who knows their limitations. How far they can push the envelope and at what point should they pull back. I think it's the ability to see ones own shortcomings, to be self aware.

I always see room for personal growth because not every dive is perfect. Not to mention I can always compare myself to tons of people on here that have been diving for decades and then I question if I'm even a diver at all!!

Every time I get under it's me and my thoughts. Tinkering, problem solving, reaching for understanding. It's such a personal experience. I take some heat for diving the same silly spot, but diving is my happy place. I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for but it really is just around the next corner.

I think your post was deep. It doesn't scream "how great I am". It says "This is how far I've come, but there's still more to go". That might not be perfection, but that is absolutely experience.

 

[jadairiii]

Early 90s, that would've been in the early days of Billy Deans teaching trimix.

I took IANTD Tec Nitrox and Tec Deep Air in '95, in class my instructor told us that trimix was for dives below 250'. I would see guys on his boat doing trimix classes (one of the instructors was Tom Mount) on the Hydro or Lowrance and they would be simulated trimix dives, diving Air with travel mix.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I don't think it is imposter syndrome, more trying to understand the measuring stick. To me the idea of an experienced diver seems more toward the end of a career then in the middle of it.

I always see room for personal growth because not every dive is perfect. Not to mention I can always compare myself to tons of people on here that have been diving for decades and then I question if I'm even a diver at all!!

Yeah the measuring stick is probably part of it. I watch people like my instructor effortlessly glide through the water.

I think your post was deep. It doesn't scream "how great I am". It says "This is how far I've come, but there's still more to go". That might not be perfection, but that is absolutely experience.

Honestly I feel that introspection is required to perform at a high level in any career, sport, or hobby. You need the confidence to perform when needed, but the hubris to realize that you aren't perfect nor the best.

As a teenager and was flying in college I watched the Right Stuff and this scene really made me understand that idea.
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I took IANTD Tec Nitrox and Tec Deep Air in '95, in class my instructor told us that trimix was for dives below 250'.

Amazing how times have changed.

 

[arkstorm]

OP's is refreshing in his (her?) humbleness and self-awareness.

A few observations:

"Experience" can be measured in quantified terms, i.e., 50 dives, 500 dives, 1000 dives, etc. But the better method to determine whether one is "experienced" is quality of experience, not the quantity.

When the OP was leading the "less experienced" diver, he was actually becoming a better diver because "teaching" forces you to focus and organize your own thinking which, in turn, makes you better.

Good on you for having such a smart outlook on your own experience, goals, and accomplishments.

 

[Lorenzoid]

As I see it, a diver who pursues additional knowledge and challenges at a steady rate would pass from “inexperienced” to “experienced” earlier than halfway through their diving career. The relatively few doing the big dives and exploration are experienced but also off in an entirely other realm. If we are the types who read industry blogs and journals or live in an area where we actually run across some of these people, maybe our sense of where they lie on the experience scale gets skewed.