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

[_john]

Congrats!
If you haven't done deep and nitrox, do those. Best bang for your buck. And I saw someone had already said navigation. I consider these must-haves for recreational diving. I'm assuming, because you were diving open-ocean, that you are good with a DSMB. If you are not, that's another must-have.

If you are going to cave in the future, I would do drysuit, sidemount, and rescue if your wallet has the room. If your wallet is a little light, volunteer to be a victim for rescue. You'll get some good advice and see the skills demonstrated at least.

Definitely do long-hose primary if you aren't already. It's awesome in an emergency. (Get a rubber one. The miflex ones are cheap, but they rub the heck out of your neck.) And there's a lot to be said for a helmet when talking about caves and overhead environments.

For me, I have a very important rule that I personally follow, use it if you wish, discard it if you don't. I only add one new thing at a time. I focus on that one thing. I don't take a camera or mess with other stuff. My goal for that dive(s) is to master that new piece of gear. When I am comfortable with that gear, then I can worry about a camera or some other fun thing.

I also dive with better divers than me every chance I get. I get so much advice that way. It does come with a caveat. Sometimes they are a bit more cavalier than I am, and I have to dial them back a bit. Don't be afraid to say you aren't comfortable with something.

Get really good at frog kicks, helicopter turns, back finning, trim, and buoyancy control. Don't rush right into the caves. Build a wide variety of skills, and then think about caves.

I also like tech. I'm about to do deco and advanced nitrox. I'm most likely never going into a cave if I can help it. That's just me.

The entire time you are building new skills, keep practicing the old ones. Usually, I dive a dank, dark, and cold quarry, and people ask me why. It's a great place to practice skills, and when I go on these amazing trips, I can focus on what's around. And eventually, you will gather a nice collection of gear. Try to buy for the future if you can.

Most importantly, dive, dive, and dive some more. and have fun.

 

[grantmac]

Dive with divers who are better than you, but don't do "trust me" dives. It's a fine line but an important one.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

Dive with divers who are better than you, but don't do "trust me" dives. It's a fine line but an important one.

Also dive with divers who are less experienced - nothing pushes you more than “babysitting” someone less experienced.

 

[grantmac]

Also dive with divers who are less experienced - nothing pushes you more than “babysitting” someone less experienced.

Definitely adds significant stress. If I'm paying for a dive then it's not something I'll do, that's the DMs job.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

Definitely adds significant stress. If I'm paying for a dive then it's not something I'll do, that's the DMs job.

I forgot to add: not on a guided dive. The best experiences are from hitting the local quarry with an instabuddy from a Facebook group, builds up a lot of resilience.

 

[Cdncoldwater]

I forgot to add: not on a guided dive. The best experiences are from hitting the local quarry with an instabuddy from a Facebook group, builds up a lot of resilience.

I can honestly say I never had great dives with insta buddies, not all terrible but some of the worst and I did learn something every time. I’m not a pro but have dove with new divers and some were good but I spent my time watching them not enjoying my dive. Other “experienced” insta buddies were far worse than the new divers; usually from rusty skills or bad habits. Of those two choices, I’d gladly dive with a new diver before an insta buddy because a new diver doesn’t have time to form bad habits or have an ego that doesn’t match their skill.

 

[njl]

Congratulations! I would also recommend GUE Fundamentals. Even if you end up progressing in a different direction, the foundation you learn is solid and will serve you well in more advanced levels of diving.

 

[Nosmosis]

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.

GUE Fundamentals

 

[SelfDiver]

GUE Fundamentals

And on the eigth day, Lord Irvine created the Fundies. The cure-all magic answer to all things.
Since I am quite dumb and tend to drool when trying to think, do you happen to have a list of skills from the GUE fundamentals course that would improve the life of @christ0phe that can't be learned independently?

 

[DANDM]

And on the eigth day, Lord Irvine created the Fundies. The cure-all magic answer to all things.
Since I am quite dumb and tend to drool when trying to think, do you happen to have a list of skills from the GUE fundamentals course that would improve the life of @christ0phe that can't be learned independently?

I don't think anyone claims it has some unique skills that can't be learnt elsewhere. The GUE approach through it's SOP can be seen as rather unique, but ignoring that and focusing on the list of individual dive skills it is a normal list. That's why it's called 'fundamentals', it's back to basics. Fundamentals just provides a solid, well-selected foundational list and a knowledgeable instructor so you can learn those skills efficiently and correctly in a short amount of time. That's good value for money if you want to go through paid instruction, and/or good value for your time if you want to get those skills developed fairly quickly.