How to tell the DM you're not a disaster underwater?

[Coconut Monkey]

Not necessarily. I have seen students show up to an OW class with that. They must have done some reading online before taking the class. Or they had a really strong glass of kool-aid for breakfast...

Edit: to add: fake it, till you make it

This is the same thing as " i got a Ferrari as a present and i now want to learn to drive a car."

 

[gypsyjim]

Action, not words is how your experience and skill will be shown.

 

[TMHeimer]

I suppose the obvious is you could use phone calls/e mails to ask the dive op if you could be placed with the more advanced divers, but I suppose that may not work all the time. When I did my one week in Panama I asked all the questions I could think of but found that there were still a couple of surprises when I got there. When contacting a new day boat op I check if shell collecting is allowed so there is a clear understanding.

 

[Steve_C]

My very first time on scuba was a discover scuba in Hawaii. After the pool session I went with the instructor 1-1 to do a shallow shore dive. There was another diver tagging along. Diver went on and on about all his experience diving rivers in NY. Instructor tries to gently tell him that he had way too much weight. Diver told the instructor he had lots of experience and knew what he was doing. Instructor says nothing more. I wade in the water and put on my fins and turn to wait in waist deep water. Other diver is fumbling trying to put on his fins. Drops one and can not find it. I call out that there is a slight current running (my) right to left and he should look about 10 ft to his right. He does so and finds his fin. So we swim out and I am having an awesome time. Not necessarily great trim but enjoying myself. I look around and it is just me and the instructor. I indicate where is number three. Instructor points to the surface 20 ft above us where the other diver is swimming on the surface. Turns out he had already blown through his air fighting all that weight. Instructor and I dove for another 15 minutes or so and went in.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

There's nothing magic about being a cold water diver that makes them any better. I've seen just as many dangerous cold water divers as warm water divers, however typically, cold water divers are more invested in diving regularly, as opposed to warm water vacation divers. Cold water divers simply tend to have less time out of the water between dive outings, so they get more practice.

In my area, most students are taught on their knees and con ed is an exercise checking boxes. Fortunately there are a number of good instructors.

The only advantage of divers living in the coasts is that they don’t have to give up diving during the winter, so if they keep at it, their skills stay fresh or improve.

 

[Stoo]

I'm going to try to frame this question without it sounding like a humblebrag, so bear with me.

Any advice on how to tactfully but effectively ask to be paired with more experienced divers in these situations, so that I can have longer dives and better buddies?

In my experience, you will never "tell" a DM how amazing you are. Because frankly, many divers, especially newer ones often think they are much better in the water than they actually are. On top of that, divers who actually are experienced, likely don't want to be paired with a novice.

And, also not wanting to sound like a humblebrag, "packing 50 dives into 9 months" isn't all that impressive. I typically hit 150 - 160 dives annually, and of those, all of them but perhaps 25 are done in the Great Lakes, or one of our coasts. And I've been doing that for 45 years. Well, except for the two years I worked as a DM when I was logging 300 - 400 dives a year. Or the two summers I worked doing uw construction in filthy harbours. We just counted hours then, not dives.

It's nice that you're confident, and obviously some people are more naturally gifted in the water than others. If I may offer some advice, dive according to the DMs "rules" for a day or two and let them see that you are capable, but at the same time, recognize that (a) you are still an absolute novice diver and perhaps (b) you just don't know what you don't know and (c) until you've had the excrement hit the oscillator a couple of times, you don't truly know how you're going to respond in a stressful situation.

Cheers!

 

[NorCalDM]

I think this is key. So far, I haven't had a chance to do multiple consecutive days with the same operator. My warm-water trips have been a mix of non-diving days (with my wife who isn't certified yet), a shore dive here and there, interspersed with a morning boat dive here and there - usually with bigger boats with multiple DMs.

We're headed to the Big Island this summer and I'm hoping to do several days with a single small operator (Pacific Rim Divers) so hopefully that will make it easier - and maybe I can do some of the advanced/long-range trips.

You will like Pacific Rim they run a Sunday advanced trip with only like 6 divers onboard in fact I’ll be diving with them this coming Sunday. Kohala Divers is another favorite of ours as is Blue Wilderness they have a smaller RIB the use in the Puako area they also sell tank cards for shore diving as the Puako area has some great shore diving. If you use Jacks definitely go on their advanced trips as their regular trips are on bigger boats with lots of divers onboard.

 

[TMHeimer]

In my experience, you will never "tell" a DM how amazing you are. Because frankly, many divers, especially newer ones often think they are much better in the water than they actually are. On top of that, divers who actually are experienced, likely don't want to be paired with a novice.

And, also not wanting to sound like a humblebrag, "packing 50 dives into 9 months" isn't all that impressive. I typically hit 150 - 160 dives annually, and of those, all of them but perhaps 25 are done in the Great Lakes, or one of our coasts. And I've been doing that for 45 years. Well, except for the two years I worked as a DM when I was logging 300 - 400 dives a year. Or the two summers I worked doing uw construction in filthy harbours. We just counted hours then, not dives.

It's nice that you're confident, and obviously some people are more naturally gifted in the water than others. If I may offer some advice, dive according to the DMs "rules" for a day or two and let them see that you are capable, but at the same time, recognize that (a) you are still an absolute novice diver and perhaps (b) you just don't know what you don't know and (c) until you've had the excrement hit the oscillator a couple of times, you don't truly know how you're going to respond in a stressful situation.

Cheers!

I agree with this. It's also a bit disconcerting to have dived 14 years and never had that excrement hit the oscillator--well not to any serious degree. You get some experience and you think you could handle any situation without panicking. But you really don't know.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Because many young DMs and instructors have no clue what the L.A. County certification means, too often (for my taste)

With the greatest of respect, why should they? Do you know for instance the difference between a PADI/SSI Advanced Diver and a BSAC Advanced Diver?

The US seems to have a huge number of cert agencies we can't keep track of all of the worldwide agencies and the equivalencies.

 

[Edward3c]

To the OP.

After many years going on warm water dive trips I’ve learned the first day’s diving is most revealing. I won’t object to being with the inexperience divers, to be truthful, returning to warn water diving makes me an inexperience diver. It gives me the opportunity to confirm my weighting, allows me to foul-up trying to do my buoyancy with the dry-suit inflator (which is sitting at home) not the BC inflator. I also practice shooting my DSMB just to ensure everything is where it should be.

Most importantly it allows me to asses the operator, and whether I want to continue to dive with them.

After the last one, in March, I was asked if I wanted to do a wreak dive to 35m with accelerated deco. Apart from being warm the vis and current was like diving a UK wreak. I'm a BSAC Advanced Diver/Advanced Instructor.

With the greatest of respect, why should they? Do you know for instance the difference between a PADI/SSI Advanced Diver and a BSAC Advanced Diver?

The US seems to have a huge number of cert agencies we can't keep track of all of the worldwide agencies and the equivalencies.

Now that could start an argument.