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.