Enjoying diving again!

[JRK44]

I haven't posted in a while, and I'm happy to report that I've got in with a new crowd (BSAC) and I'm enjoying diving again.

I was so tired of being sold the next "super duper" course while not actually gaining experience.
I'm looking forward to getting a few thousand dives under my belt before deciding whether to "go tec" or "go pro".

Safe diving x

 

[DarR]

Courses are great but they're no replacement for getting out there and dive.

 

[Searcaigh]

Courses are great but they're no replacement for getting out there and dive.

Absolutely, I agree 100% with this.

 

[JRK44]

Courses are great but they're no replacement for getting out there and dive.

Had my first saltwater dive today in the North Sea.

Jesus, didn't expect the bouyancy to be that different!

 

[JRK44]

Courses are great but they're no replacement for getting out there and dive.

Absolutely, I agree 100% with this.

Yes, I agree 100% too.

I'm in diving to dive, not buy course after course and then eventually buy an instructing course so that I can then teach/sell other people course after course.
For the next couple of thousand dives I'm not even going to focus on another qualification because, to be frank, I genuinely feel that driving somebody through 'qualifications' exaggerates their prowess if they don't have the experience to back it up.

 

[happy-diver]

So the issue is not those without whom most would not be diving, but a modification of direction by you.

I can not stand courses conducted by those whose claim is that they read the material before you or after

 

[JRK44]

So the issue is not those without whom most would not be diving, but a modification of direction by you.

I can not stand courses conducted by those whose claim is that they read the material before you or after

Of course, I have no issue with instructors (if that's who you mean?).
Instructors play an incredibly crucial role in our community by introducing new divers and providing further structured training to those already in the sport

My issue is when the level of training becomes incongruent with the level of experience.

 

[Wibble]

There's training and there's the associated practice required to properly sort the skills you were taught.

There are also fundamental differences between commercial organisations that gain a lot of income from courses but don't do much mentoring, and the more "community" organisations which work together be it in a club or even some agencies.

Go diving. Absolutely the best thing to do. It's lovely out there!

But do keep practising your skills, especially the core skills of finning, trim and buoyancy. You can never be too good at those skills!

 

[MarkA]

Had my first saltwater dive today in the North Sea.

Jesus, didn't expect the bouyancy to be that different!

That’s because you didn’t take the super duper how to weight yourself for the sea course (Only kidding).

This was covered in my original BSAC course. It’s just maths. Sea water is approx 2.75% more dense than fresh water. So if you displace 100kg of fresh water you will need to add 2.75kg for the sea.

 

[Green Frog]

I’m sitting here nodding my head as I read this. You must get a certain level of training in order to know what you need to do in order to be safe and function well with the environment and other divers (and in fresh vs salt water!) After that, there is no substitute for doing the water time to apply what you have learned. Sometimes I think it would be good to put a minimum number of dives required to take another course (not really, but application and experience are vital.)