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

[34109411]

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.

Do rescue and self reliant, practice navigation.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

sky-diving

 

[christ0phe]

sky-diving

Ha I was just talking w my partner about how I need to get over my fear and try this once. I think I’ve convinced myself.

 

[Jaan]

To keep it dive related. Parascuba. lol

Thread 'Parascuba and Helicopter Deployment--the Ultimate in Solo Diving'

Dec 6, 2016

I was posting in another solo diving thread about divemasters who say, "if you dive alone, you die alone," and talked about my solo diving over the years. I also said that if some divemaster challenged me about solo diving, I would ask if he (almost always a "he") had ever made a parascuba jump out of a HC-130 onto an Apollo capsule. If he had not, he had nothing to contribute to my perceptions of solo diving, as parascuba is the ultimate in solo diving (and yes, we did dive after the jump many times). We were taught to be self-sufficient, and if we could not do that, we could not make...

• John C. Ratliff
• Replies: 27
• Forum: Solo Divers

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[BoundForElsewhere]

Ha I was just talking w my partner about how I need to get over my fear and try this once. I think I’ve convinced myself.

you'll love it. and don't worry, you can't hear yourself screaming.

 

[grantmac]

I find it interesting how people who say trim doesn't matter are always the ones who post pictures of themselves on a tropical reef looking like a seahorse with gear dangling all over.

 

[Badger7]

I find it interesting how people who say trim doesn't matter are always the ones who post pictures of themselves on a tropical reef looking like a seahorse with gear dangling all over.

 

[bradStyle]

Another +1 for doing GUE Fundamentals when you can, and traveling to Florida if necessary to do it. It will give you superpowers over time.

Also a +1 for skydiving. I spent half of my life doing that before I became a diver. It also gives you superpowers.

 

[tursiops]

I find it interesting how people who say trim doesn't matter are always the ones who post pictures of themselves on a tropical reef looking like a seahorse with gear dangling all over.

Who in this thread said trim doesn't matter?
Do you simply mean some people are not immediately agreeing that GUE Fundies is the only valuable course one can take?
Or maybe you mean that some people feel that perfect trim is not necessarily the only goal of diving?

 

[christ0phe]

More accessible to me in the immediacy is a respected SDI shop in NC, so I’m considering Intro to Tech and Advanced Nitrox, and looking for an opportunity to layer doubles on top. Not necessarily doing these all at once, but I feel like these will lead nicely into a short / medium term goal of spending longer or going deeper on the hundreds of great NC wrecks. There are a lot at technical depths that I would love to experience.