How many dives does it take for one to be competent?

[Raphus]

I think if you are dedicated and your aim to become a better scuba diver you need less then 100 dives.

I felt confident with around 30 dives. And most of my skills(buoyancy, trim, staying calm. .) were really good with around 50 to 80 dives.

Yes of course I had improvement since then, but much less then in my first 50 dives.
I know people with under 100 dives with technical training and an awesome skill set.

And I saw people with much more dives, still very bad.

You registered in SB and you ask questions how to improve. This gives me the impression, that you probably don't need 100 dives to become "competent".
Of course it depends on water experience and overall body control.

 

[jale]

You will be a competent diver once you have "survived" reading 100 SB's threads

 

[100days-a-year]

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . . Really, I wanted to know at what stage you'd be able to start every dive feeling excited, as opposed to nervous ("am I gonna make it back safely?" "am I gonna mess something up today?", etc )

Along the same lines of what @johndiver999 said, I do start most dives feeling "excited"--that is, with enthusiasm--but at the same time I find myself with fleeting thoughts of "am I gonna make it back safely," "am I gonna mess something up today?" The feelings are not mutually exclusive. I suppose that could be true for any sport.

 

[Marie13]

Yes, we all have bungee strap fins. My problem is I always flip on my back like an overturned turtle.

Just as a buddy for a shoulder. There’s no shame in asking for help, unless you have an excess amount of testosterone and asking for help is a shameful thing. Just mention what you need before you get in the water. Even with spring straps, I’m still not very flexible. Add in dive sites with sloping walk-in entries with very soft and/or rocky bottoms (some combine the two) and the unsure footing can mean you’d fall easily if you’re unsteady.

 

[Hoag]

View attachment 667258

And don't forget to bring a towel.

 

[Wibble]

Along the same lines of what @johndiver999 said, I do start most dives feeling "excited"--that is, with enthusiasm--but at the same time I find myself with fleeting thoughts of "am I gonna make it back safely," "am I gonna mess something up today?" The feelings are not mutually exclusive. I suppose that could be true for any sport.

Those are good feelings. They make you think and stop you from becoming complacent.

 

[Wibble]

Just as a buddy for a shoulder. There’s no shame in asking for help, unless you have an excess amount of testosterone and asking for help is a shameful thing. Just mention what you need before you get in the water. Even with spring straps, I’m still not very flexible. Add in dive sites with sloping walk-in entries with very soft and/or rocky bottoms (some combine the two) and the unsure footing can mean you’d fall easily if you’re unsteady.

The colder the dive, the less supple I get -- not least because of the layers of underclothes.

 

[Joris Vd]

Untill about a year ago I used to get one of these what I call 'humbling' dives every 10-20 dives or so.
By which I mean a dive where something went wrong and I felt like 'I still have so much to learn'.

I don't get em that often anymore, but sometimes I still do, and I'm sure at a certain point they will come back in a bigger frequency if I progress more in my diving.

I feel like a big learning point for me was those dives between 100 and 150-160
. When you start to do somewhat more challenging dives with often even less experienced people than you and you start to have somewhat of a leading role. It forces you to take an entirely new look at diving.

I'm still only at 210 or so, so yeah, if you'd ask me in ten years, I'd probably answer the question differently.

 

[boulderjohn]

Really, I wanted to know at what stage you'd be able to start every dive feeling excited, as opposed to nervous ("am I gonna make it back safely?" "am I gonna mess something up today?", etc )

Here are two contrasting stories.

1. I met that definition on my very first Discover Scuba dive.

2. During a long boat ride out to a dive site, I was seated next to two gray-haired gentlemen and could not help but overhear their conversation. Both were highly skilled and experienced divers. One of them said that despite all the dives he had done over so many years of diving, he still began to feel worried as soon as he started gearing up for a dive. His friend said, "I begin to get worried every time I see you gear up for a dive, too."

In other words, each of us is different in this regard. I was worry-free before I was qualified to be worry-free; others still worry after many hundreds of dives.