- Messages
- 94,448
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- Location
- On the Fun Side of Trump's Wall
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You can get "Advanced" certification at nine dives ... having done no dives outside of an instructor's supervision.I've got ~50, and I still think of myself as new. That's what sort of makes me laugh about some of the cert levels.
You can get advanced after what, 25? Master after 50? I forget exact #'s, but I wouldn't consider myself a few classroom hours away from really being a "master diver" but I could certainly pay my $400 and get the card that says so...
Of my 50, maybe a little more than 1/2 have been open ocean dives. Others have been local lake (which here means large pond at 30', I don't mean large lakes). I have learned something from every dive but I can't, and wouldn't, really claim my experience level to be "master"ful...
I frankly think the experience bar should be higher for advanced levels of certification. This may help to quell the know-it-all 50 dive guy.
JMHO.
But it's not really about certifications. Some folks obsess about them, others get an OW card and never give it a second thought. It's about attitude, the desire to improve your skills, and developing an awareness of what "else" there is to learn about.
Not meaning to pick on the "50-dive" types out there ... it's just one of several plateau points that tend to lead to people overestimating their skills and getting complacent with the level of diving they attempt to do. And like all stereotypes, it applies more to a class than to individuals.
Like I said, human nature makes us pretty predictable sometimes ... speaking strictly as someone who's "been there" ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)