Just hit my 100th dive—besides diving, what’s next for skill development?

[rongoodman]

Being horizontal is what you do while you are doing something else that is interesting to you.

If that something else requires moving from place to place and you're not horizontal, every fin kick you make is going to try to change your position in the water column. That might or might not be what you want to have happen.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

Thanks! No doubles yet—do you have any thoughts on doubles vs side mount, w cave in mind for the future?

Very strong opinion on doubles vs. sidemount, especially if you plan to keep diving cold water wrecks, don’t live in Mexico/Florida and don’t have a trust fund to spend months in cave country. So I would look for gear commonality (aka doubles) between the diving you can do at home all year round and that one or two weeks in caves every other year.

Some divers and posters are confused about what "skills" means. It is important not to confuse the journey with the destination.
Some seem to think Fundies is a destination....but it is reallly just a waypoint that might be useful depending on what you want to do underwater.

This. Fundies are a brilliant starting point but what will help you is to have few targets in mind. You can probably dive an amazing number of wrecks near your home, with just doubles and a single deco stage. Something like TDI ANDP or GUE T1 will help you achieve the goal but have some wrecks in mind. Look at your local charters and think “I wish I could dive that” - U352 maybe?

 

[rongoodman]

There are caves that require sidemount, but you're a very long way from thinking about them. If and when that time comes, switching over to sidemount will be no big deal. For boat or shore dives, and a large portion of cavern/cave dives, back mounted doubles will be less hassle to deal with and work just fine.

 

[tursiops]

If that something else requires moving from place to place and you're not horizontal, every fin kick you make is going to try to change your position in the water column. That might or might not be what you want to have happen.

I'm not arguing against Fundies or being horizontal. I'm arguing against being horizontal as an end-goal; I am arguing for looking at one's end-goals and doing the things you need to do to get there. Fundies may well be one of those things; horizontal might be too. But don't confuse the journey with the destination. If it were a cooking class, one does not want to be obsessed with how to shake the pepper perfectly....the point is a dish that tastes good.

 

[gregbenson314]

I'm not arguing against Fundies or being horizontal. I'm arguing against being horizontal as an end-goal; I am arguing for looking at one's end-goals and doing the things you need to do to get there. Fundies may well be one of those things; horizontal might be too. But don't confuse the journey with the destination. If it were a cooking class, one does not want to be obsessed with how to shake the pepper perfectly....the point is a dish that tastes good.

I wouldn't say Fundies is the destination either, but it's definitely a great waypoint whilst on that journey.

I don't think being horizontal is "THE" end goal, but I would definitely say it is "A" goal to have.

If one can get their platform stable (buoyancy, trim, propulsion, situational awareness), it makes all of their other goals such as photography etc much much easier.

To build on your cooking analogy, a recipe is much easier to learn if proper cooking fundamentals such as knife skills, temperature control etc are solid.

 

[Badger7]

I kinda like the cooking analogy too. For me, fundies was learning to steam vegetables on one burner, while avoiding the rice boiling over or burning the roux on two other burners.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Just got back from hitting my 100th and 101st dive, and feeling proud and excited about how much I can still learn. Took about 4 years, with half of my dives on North Carolina wreck charters, a quarter in Cozumel / Yucatán, and the rest spread across quarry, lakes, and random dives like black water in Kona.

I’ve really grown to appreciate the diver that NC conditions have made me. Honestly, it blew my mind how much chiller it was in Cozumel the first time I went. I didn’t even realize following a dive guide was a thing. NC charters take you out 1-2 hours to a site, dump you in the water in pairs, and say see ya later. Thankfully the charter season is about to open back up, so I’ll be right back at it!

Aside from more dives, which is a given, what are ways I can continue to grow my skills? I intend to go tech at some point in my career, and I feel cave calling my name, so I’m also curious about any courses that will help focus and refine my growing skills.

Everybody has made great points. Drysuit (hopefully spring for a made to measure), doubles, kicks are all stuff you can get / get better at.

I agree with @tursiops. Diving is a journey.

I think diving in different places doing different things can add to that, but really cold water diving (hood, gloves), I personally think make a better diver (and obviously appreciate warm water stuff better!).

 

[Jaan]

We got a lot out of the rescue course, and found it gave us more confidence for doing our own thing shore diving and generally looking out for each other as a couple/dive buddy team.

One other thing I'd add is that finding a good instructor can also make all the difference. We did some courses, where it seemed to be a 'do the minimum' and 'get the card' where as other instructors were passionate about the topics and really inspired us (and challenged us).

 

[VsubT]

Aside from more dives, which is a given, what are ways I can continue to grow my skills? I intend to go tech at some point in my career, and I feel cave calling my name, so I’m also curious about any courses that will help focus and refine my growing skills.

How's your frog kick? Pretty simple skill to figure out the basics, sets you up well for later tech training, and you can practice it on nearly every dive. Taking your time in the glide part of the kick cycle will give you a lot of kinetic feedback on your buoyancy + trim too.

Lance

 

[ontdiver]

We got a lot out of the rescue course, and found it gave us more confidence for doing our own thing shore diving and generally looking out for each other as a couple/dive buddy team.

Couldn't agree more. Understanding and being able to perform rescue is, IMHO, key to a safe dive career. On my first and only rescue at about 90 feet, the training kicked in and fortunately everything worked out.