Hello from Colorado

[SetheryJ]

Hello everyone!

Long time lurker here. I figure it's long past due introducing myself. My name is Seth and my wife and I got certified a little while back. Needless to say diving has fast become our favorite hobby and we can't get enough. We have managed to visit Cozumel a couple times, Akumal, Belize, Bonaire, and we dive locally in between trips to keep our skills up. We are in the process of making the jump into the technical realm of diving and I'm looking forward to learning a ton! We were supposed to be in Cozumel again a couple weeks back, but instead we took our turn with the 'rona lol. But, if all goes well we will be in the Red Sea this spring and we leave for Guadalupe Island in two weeks!

You all have been a huge resource since we first started looking into getting certified, so I'd like to say THANK YOU!

Seth

 

[drrich2]

Welcome (though you were apparently already here...). Sounds like you guys have been getting a nice range of recreational diving experiences. What sort of diving are you getting into technical training to do?

 

[SetheryJ]

Welcome (though you were apparently already here...). Sounds like you guys have been getting a nice range of recreational diving experiences. What sort of diving are you getting into technical training to do?

There are actually a few reasons we are crossing over into the tech realm. For starters, we want to be the best divers we can be for each other and that means working on honing skills and learning more. Thus far, we have both been very underwhelmed with recreational dive training and the majority of recreational instructors we've been around. Lastly, I'm tired of the agencies trying to cram continuing education courses down your throat just so they can make more money. Why do I need a C-card ($$$) for perfect buoyancy when I could pay less money for private instruction and just ask the instructor to help me with my buoyancy? Or, being told, "Just do Fish ID and Coral ID and then you'll be AOW through SSI". Is any diver really "advanced" when all they did was five dives past OW? I don't agree with that.

I've learned more about specific skills (trim, buoyancy, propulsion, attitude, etc.) and decompression theory from youtube than in all the coursework we've done thus far (DAN Tech conference on youtube and a few others). We haven't run into any of these issues when talking with technical diving instructors and they've all been much more knowledgeable. We ended up doing a couple of specialty courses while in Bonaire and we were taught by a tech instructor. Let me tell you, it was night and day different than anything else we had experienced up and to this point. I realize there are great rec instructors out there, so please understand I don't mean to be harsh, these are just OUR experiences.

Aside from the learning/skills component, we both have a desire for more bottom time and to some extent, deeper objectives. On almost all the dives we've done, we push up against our NDL before we run low on air. Our NDL is almost always the limiting factor on our bottom time. So, we want to work towards being able to accomplish decompression dives with the proper training and skills. As to the deep side of diving, we both have some bucket list dive sites like Truk, Bikini, the Mighty O aircraft carrier, great lakes wreck diving, and more. I'm also very interested in making the jump to CCR...The wife isn't so sure yet. I have no desire to go deep just for the sake of a number. The example I often use is: We dove the blue hole in Belize and had 6-7 minutes on the bottom. I would have liked to have 20-30 minutes on the bottom to really look at the formations and explore.

Sorry to be long winded and thank you for the warm welcome!

Seth

 

[drrich2]

Sounds good. I'm told some people pursue GUE Fundamentals training pursuing the advanced dive skill level you seek via technical training. I imagine some pursue the Dive Master cert. path (e.g.: demonstration quality skills) for similar reasons. But you want to do decompression diving.

Have fun at Guadalupe!

 

[SetheryJ]

Sounds good. I'm told some people pursue GUE Fundamentals training pursuing the advanced dive skill level you seek via technical training. I imagine some pursue the Dive Master cert. path (e.g.: demonstration quality skills) for similar reasons. But you want to do decompression diving.

Have fun at Guadalupe!

Thanks!

We looked into GUE and it's a bit to rigid for our liking. It's a great agency with good philosophy, but as a trainer myself (in non-diving disciplines) I don't believe in the "there is ONLY one way" methodology. I understand the importance of standardization and protocol for high stress environment reactions, but there is very rarely only one way to solve a problem.

Seth

 

[Tripp]

Welcome to ScubaBoard and Howdy from Texas! You 2 have certainly been bitten by the bug! Have a great time in Guadeloupe and remember, we all LOVE pictures!

 

[SetheryJ]

Welcome to ScubaBoard and Howdy from Texas! You 2 have certainly been bitten by the bug! Have a great time in Guadeloupe and remember, we all LOVE pictures!

Thank you!