How many dives before you cease to be a beginner ? [Poll]

[Mike1967]

The entire idea is so relative that it's barely worth the discussion.

100%

 

[EireDiver606]

I think skill in the water is much more important than number of dives you have. I've seen people claiming to have 2000 dives that can't get into proper trim, have rubbish communication, conduct cowboy dives, and have mediocre buoyancy.

I don't care if you only have "x" number of dives,I'll dive with you if you're both safe, skilled, and enjoyable to dive with. And.... no ego...

 

[EireDiver606]

There is a famous diver who died on his 333rd dive. Some people consider him a "guru" of diving for the depths he was reaching. Me, I consider him a novice dive. Why? Because as far as I can figure out, about 60% of these dives were training dives where he was under the instruction of someone else. Therefore, he only did about 100 dives or so as "real" dives. Zero to hero attempt but a big fail!

Are you talking about Brian (Edit: Dave) Shaw and his rebreather cave recovery dive to 270m, to my knowledgeable using a rebreather 30m past its MOD?

 

[dberry]

Dave Shaw?

 

[mnscuber]

Early in my (non-diving) career I marveled that someone had 30 years of experience. A coworker said: "yup - the same 5 years of experience 6 times".

 

[TMHeimer]

I think the water should be a lot deeper than 2m to qualify as a "column", but that's just my opinion. And everything is easier in the pool, no current, no swell, perfect vis, warm water....the list goes on.
And yes I'm aware that the pressure change happens lot faster over the last 10m than from say 40 to 30, but it's all but over at 2m. Can you remember as a kid ever having to equalise your ears to dive to the bottom of the pool?
Anyway, we're just going to have to agree to disagree.
Cheers.

I found for decades snorkeling with regular ear plugs (not Doc's, etc.) that maybe below 2m my ears would hurt. I actually didn't know about equalisation and this was my only fear about taking a scuba course. Problem solved of course. Agree that lack of ocean conditions in a pool makes hovering easier. Not sure about you saying the last 2m from the surface means the pressure change is "all but over". One of the things I like to do at the end of a shore dive is swim back about 1m below the surface, and occasionally hover there, sometimes just 1 foot below.
Physics people-- who's right? Is it harder to hover at say 4m that at 2m, or vice versa?

 

[JackD342]

Without having the time at this moment to read the many preceding replies, I'll will answer a slightly different question than what was asked.
I don't remember how many dives it was, but I got a huge injection of self-confidence once I completed the PADI Rescue Diver course. That's what I consider my first milestone moment.

 

[msinc]

How many hours does it take to be an "experienced" or good pilot??? I've seen pilots with thousands of hours I rather not fly with and some just out of flight school that are no problem. Same with divers...consider how many dives it would take to become an instructor. If you had the money and the time and just signed up and went thru all the classes and made few to no mistakes. You are now qualified to instruct...if you didn't know the guy would you consider him a beginner???
I just believe there is a lot more to it than doing a bunch of dives, or not.
The group I learned, certified and dive with had a fantastic couple instructors and we are not terribly experienced, but other divers make comments that denote they believe we have all been at it for years. Not bragging by no means, but we all learned and retained what we were taught and I guess it shows. We consider ourselves beginners, but there are others that don't know any different.

 

[60plus]

You can only be a beginner when you start, after that you are continuing, not beginning. The number of dives is not a good guide either. I know several divers who have far more dives than me but they have never dived from a boat and never been deeper than 18m.
I have done relatively few dives these being about 50% shore,50 % boat, 25% less than 18m, 45% over 30m and 40% included confined / overhead environments. I regard myself as reasonably competent, but inexperienced and still a learner.

 

[TMHeimer]

You can only be a beginner when you start, after that you are continuing, not beginning. The number of dives is not a good guide either. I know several divers who have far more dives than me but they have never dived from a boat and never been deeper than 18m.
I have done relatively few dives these being about 50% shore,50 % boat, 25% less than 18m, 45% over 30m and 40% included confined / overhead environments. I regard myself as reasonably competent, but inexperienced and still a learner.

Good definition of a beginner. I think number of dives is somewhat important. You have much more varied experiences than those you describe that have far more dives than you. So they will be beginners when it comes to boat diving, whereas you are not. They will be far more advanced than you with the type of diving they've done much more than you. And round and round.....