I am where I wanted to be

[HJeffreyM]

I agree with those who have reccomended the Rescue Diver course. I am taking it now and, aside from basic OW, it's the best training I've done so far.

However, I believe the OP was also referring to the mad rush people seem to go deep, tech, wreck, etc. You may want to look at this http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...20-whats-wrong-being-recreational-diver.html? for more insight on this issue.

 

[Garrobo]

To further explain why I needn't get the Rescue cert, I was on a boat dive with a young fellow who was getting his. I was the guy at the end of the rope signaling that I was in trouble. Poor guy had to dive in, no fins, and bring me back to the boat. I thought he was going to flounder and it took him a good quarter hour to get back his breath. I thought he was going to pass out at any time. The guy seemed to be in good shape and about 30. I'm 71 and I know fer shure that I'd have a heart a attack or something if I tried that stuff. Forget it.

 

[tomboyy]

you really shouldn't have to futher explain why you don't want to take another course

BOTOH that rescue course would be real good for ya .. that way other people would feel better about diving with ya

 

[orm]

Disagree with OP.

You may think you're where you want to be, but you don't know what you don't know.

I think that people who dive, as in people who call themselves divers instead of people who pop on holiday and do a couple of dives once a year in their hotel, need to ensure they are masters of their sport (to the best of their ability.)

We should be seeking to improve ourselves with experience and knowledge gained by reading, research and training.

I think that the Divemaster (and equivalent) is the most rounded and trained diver out there.


Of course you can gain this knowledge by reading books and the internet. You can gain experience through diving, but you'll miss that professional guidance you get with the DM course.

If you consider yourself where you want to be and can quite easily advise people on your dive boat about:
Ear problems and diving
Coastal current implications
Gas laws and how the pertain to diving
The workings of a diaphram vs Pisiton 1st stage
Why reverse profiles are supposed to be bad

Then you can quite comfortably rescue an unconscious diver that is floating in the water.
You would know excactly what to do when you turn around and your dive buddy is face down at 90ft and not breathing.
Recognise the early stages of stress in your buddy on a boat and deal with it effectively through knowledge and experience.

When you can safely say yes to all of the above, I think you can say you have mastered your sport to the best of your ability and then I think you can probably say that you are where you want to be and don't want to go any further.

Just my opinion.

 

[oldogre]

I regard myself as an ordinary warm water Recreational Diver ( AOW, Nitrox, Deep), but regard some Rescue Skills ( non-responsive buddy recovery, rescue tow & breathing CPR, O2 admin., & some First Aid) as minimal. My local club will not let me dive without them.

 

[PatW]

I would strongly suggest Rescue Diving. Even that is not enough training to do cave diving with any sense of safety. There are all sorts of caves to dive here in Florida. I read about cave divers meeting their end all the time. A cave diver I know told me that the first mistake you make kills you. That might have been an overstatement. But cave diving is very, very unforgiving.

 

[Gatorshark]

Disagree with OP.

You may think you're where you want to be, but you don't know what you don't know.

I think that people who dive, as in people who call themselves divers instead of people who pop on holiday and do a couple of dives once a year in their hotel, need to ensure they are masters of their sport (to the best of their ability.)

We should be seeking to improve ourselves with experience and knowledge gained by reading, research and training.

I think that the Divemaster (and equivalent) is the most rounded and trained diver out there.

Of course you can gain this knowledge by reading books and the internet. You can gain experience through diving, but you'll miss that professional guidance you get with the DM course.

If you consider yourself where you want to be and can quite easily advise people on your dive boat about:
Ear problems and diving
Coastal current implications
Gas laws and how the pertain to diving
The workings of a diaphram vs Pisiton 1st stage
Why reverse profiles are supposed to be bad

Then you can quite comfortably rescue an unconscious diver that is floating in the water.
You would know excactly what to do when you turn around and your dive buddy is face down at 90ft and not breathing.
Recognise the early stages of stress in your buddy on a boat and deal with it effectively through knowledge and experience.

When you can safely say yes to all of the above, I think you can say you have mastered your sport to the best of your ability and then I think you can probably say that you are where you want to be and don't want to go any further.

Just my opinion.

I can't safely say yes to all of the above. I don't need or care in the least to know about diaphram piston stages. I get my gear serviced regulary, dive within my limits, and am EXACTLY where I want to be. I enjoy this HOBBY immensely (considering rec SCUBA a sport is a stretch in my opinion) and I am sure this is what the OP was referring to in terms of $$ driven pressure for training/gear

 

[tomboyy]

Disagree with OP.

You may think you're where you want to be, but you don't know what you don't know.

I think that people who dive, as in people who call themselves divers instead of people who pop on holiday and do a couple of dives once a year in their hotel, need to ensure they are masters of their sport (to the best of their ability.)

We should be seeking to improve ourselves with experience and knowledge gained by reading, research and training.

I think that the Divemaster (and equivalent) is the most rounded and trained diver out there.


Of course you can gain this knowledge by reading books and the internet. You can gain experience through diving, but you'll miss that professional guidance you get with the DM course.

If you consider yourself where you want to be and can quite easily advise people on your dive boat about:
Ear problems and diving
Coastal current implications
Gas laws and how the pertain to diving
The workings of a diaphram vs Pisiton 1st stage
Why reverse profiles are supposed to be bad

Then you can quite comfortably rescue an unconscious diver that is floating in the water.
You would know excactly what to do when you turn around and your dive buddy is face down at 90ft and not breathing.
Recognise the early stages of stress in your buddy on a boat and deal with it effectively through knowledge and experience.

When you can safely say yes to all of the above, I think you can say you have mastered your sport to the best of your ability and then I think you can probably say that you are where you want to be and don't want to go any further.

Just my opinion.

WOW.... So you know whats best for the OP.... Really ??

Since when is it not ok to be content and happy. A diver doesn't have to "master" the sport to be in a good place, but oh wait you know what the person really needs huh ?

This is why people don't post or get involved. When someone is feeling good and posts something like this, they are happy and letting their "friends" on SB know how their feeling. Then someone like you comes along with a post like yours.

WOW.... ever here of a atta boy or good for you or I'm glad for ya buddy ? No you post "Disagree with OP ( you ).

You may think you're where you want to be, but you don't know what you don't know.

Jeeessshhhh

 

[TSandM]

Well, I think the question may come down to, "What do you need to know to be a "good" diver?" (Which, of course, then poses the question, "What IS a good diver?") There are a lot of people who come out of their houses every morning and get in their cars, and drive carefully and conservatively and defensively, but may not have any clue how a distributor works. They can operate the vehicle when it is working correctly, and recognize when it is not. They are safe drivers -- for their purposes, it's not necessary to know a great deal more.

Someone who is going to race their own car is likely to have to know a great deal more about driving, and about automobile design and maintenance and repair, than a commuter.

I don't think you have to be able to regurgitate the ideal gas law, or even name the various parts of it, to be a good diver. You DO have to have a good understanding of compression and expansion with depth. You don't have to understand m-values to plan and execute a safe dive, and you don't have to be able to field-strip a regulator, so long as you are willing to lose a dive now and then when something doesn't work. I know people who don't know anywhere near as much as I do about the physics and physiology of diving, but they are good divers and they know FAR more than I do about critters and marine ecology.

I think the OP was talking about being happy at having gotten the training and experience that allows him to do the dives he enjoys, and not feeling any need to go deeper or scarier or underground, and that's admirable. One of the best instructors I've been fortunate enough to work with told us, "Do all the diving you can do, with the certification that you have, and when you get bored, then go get more training." I remember, when I first came on ScubaBoard, there were articles on the front page, and one of them was, "What to do when you're tired of blowing bubbles." The authors thesis was that eventually, most people will get tired of just swimming around and looking at fish, and that when and if that happens to you, you have to find something else to invigorate your diving. That might be teaching, photography, or technical or cave diving, or REEF surveys, or any number of things. But until you get there . . . blow bubbles and enjoy it!

 

[on_two_wheels]

Based PURELY on this one post as it is written....statistically speaking, he is a statistic waiting to happen. After AOW he feels he can wreck dive, drysuit dive, deep dive and wants to dive caves BUT doesn't want to take anymore courses? Darwin is rolling over in his grave.