I love new divers

[RJP]

From my time in surgery, a) some people accumulate "experience" faster than others

I heard a good quote recently, and it pretty much applies to most things I think...

Learning brings you to the point that you can do something right. Experience takes you from there to the point that you can't do it wrong.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

You know, I was going to post about when someone is a newbie or not, and how being new to something doesn't always mean being a newbie....


but then I realized there is something to be the not-newbie. For example, I'm a member of a paintball forum, and have been registered since 2k1. If you have been registered less than a year, you get NO respect, at ALL. I don't ever post there really, my passions have changed somewhat (scuba is a tiny bit cheaper than paintball, if I dive state parks actually, even at expensive dive sites it's cheaper...), but since I'm from 2k1, I get respect. Since I have trader feedback, I get respect. And I enjoy that! So I won't sit here and blab about how I'm really not a super newbie, kind of a quasi newbie. However, I have friends who have only gotten into paintball in the last year, they have less overall experience than I have, but they are a team and have placed in local tourneys, and have jobs at a local field. Now, I might understand much more about paintballhistory, have much more experience and can fix my own gun, but they are not really newbies, despite being "new" to thes port. As far as scuba goes, I'm pretty darn new, certified less tahn 6 months. I have only 8 dives (atleast 9 as of tomorrow! depends on how many dives I get in). However, two of the three people I dive with have less dives than I do. Not only that, but I am the only one of them that has joined a forum like scubaboard and have endured the scorn of some members and have looked like an idiot several times all in the pursuit of knowledge. I have read incessantly and probably know much more about diving than those two. The third buddy has more dives but isn't necessarily the safest diver. He tells me stories of dropping down to search for a few more bugs at 80fsw with 750 psi, surfacing with maybe 250. Surprisingly, when we race to see who can kit up fastest (comeone, we are teenagers, we have to race! Actually, I bet him I could beat him after he was talking smack about how fast he could get ready.), I beat him everytime. Yes, I'm a newbie, and I admit that. But, I'm not stupid, and I won't tell you I am. I'll learn from you, and I'll respect you, but you might have to earn my respect. Yes, I might be overweighted, but don't tell me that until you have your weight right. I might be younger at scuba, but you've got to prove I'm the newbie.

 

[Grounded]

Hmmm....

My three year old daughter is just learning to use goggles to collect pennies on the bottom of the pool. Upon surfacing, she reminded her mother that "when I am bigger, daddy and I will catch lobsters together."

Tomorrow, we are going to the Miami Seaquarium to look at the dolphins and the manatees (she loves manatees- "sometimes they are called 'sea cows,' daddy").

She knows that a quick twist of the K valve blows air in her face.

Watching a child grow into becoming a diver is truely a wonder....

 

[1_T_Submariner]

TandSM Sorry to get back to the original post but, I had the opportunity to dive with an OW class. The quarry does get kind of stale sometimes but, watching the students was really fun. I also too another unexperienced (PC Term for Newbie) on an underwater tour of the same quarry the look of amazment was really cool when we ran into the sunken dump truck for the first time. Right on TandSM great post.

 

[do it easy]

Was that at Haigh? That dump truck is hard to find sometimes.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Lynne, I feel exactly the same way. I dive with my sister a few times a year. She just hit 50 dives recently, but still gets excited everytime she sees a sea star. I've seen enough that they don't excite me all that much. But it does excite me to see her get so excited about them. It does make me think of the early days...a whole 3+ years ago. Now, almost 400 dives later, I have different things that get me excited underwater, but it's still great to see newer divers get excited over stuff that used to excite me.

BTW, I just recently certified my mother and it was so wonderful to see her get excited over just the tiniest little fish.



Wildcard, get a grip. Everyone is a newb to someone else. I'm a newb to someone with a thousand dives. A diver with less than 50 dives is a newb to me. It's all in the perspective. Lynne may be fairly new to diving in terms of time, but she certainly isn't new to diving in terms of her experiences. And that's what it's all about. In less than 400 dives I've earned my full cave certification and instructor certification. I've penetrated several wrecks and even more caves. I've got a lot more learning to do, but who doesn't. Chill dude. It's all good.

 

[Diver Dennis]

My Tech instructor in the Philippines, several thousand dives and a student of John Bennett, said he felt pretty good when he penetrated a cave in Florida 2,000' for the first time but that pales in comparison to the guys who go back in 20,000'. "So yes," he said, "I do have a lot of experience but I never talk down to my students because my mentors never talked down to me."

No matter how experienced you are, or think you are, there are a LOT more experienced divers out there. I think mentoring can be a very important part of diving but it's important to remember we all started somewhere and to treat new like peers not as a your student unless your their instructor.

 

[ScubaRev]

As a bona fide "newbie" no matter how you define the term (16 dives since August OW cert), I greatly appreciated the sentiment of the original post.

Having come into scuba somewhat "later" in life at the age of 49, I'm very aware of my lack of skills and experience in view of experienced divers, some of whom are half my age, though I'm eager to learn. I'm grateful for all the experienced divers who have offered their advice, dropped me in their pools to demo equipment and skills (thanks Al!), and especially to my dive buddies who put up with my being the last to don my gear and the first to drain my air.

I'm pleased to know that my wide-eyed "wow" beaming from behind a half-flooded mask gives a little something in return.

 

[do it easy]

Another thing that I like about diving with newbies or new buddies is that it keeps me on my toes. When I dive with my regular buddies, most things are routine and I know how they will react and when they will want to turn, etc. With new buddies, I don't even know their SAC rate, so I have to go through the underwater mental math to re-plan the dive so that we can return to the exit and avoid a surface swim. I also try to read them to make sure they are comfortable in the water, but with my regular buddies, I already know what their usual disposition looks like.

 

[down4fun]

I think it is awesome anytime a more experienced diver is willing to dive with a newer diver. Both divers will end up learning something. I am truly greatful for the divers who took me under there wing early on. Now that I have some dives in, I hope to be just as patient and helpful to those just learning as other were with me. And at the same time I hope those with more experience than me continue to share there knowledge and mentor me as I continue to learn. But most of all I hope I never lose that sense of wonder when I see the critters who live below. I still get all googley eyed at the sighting of a turtle, a ray, a shark, a blenny, a wreck just about anything underwatergle: .