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

[Subcooled]

Aside from more dives, which is a given, what are ways I can continue to grow my skills?

I assume you can reverse with fin kicks or hands or both...
but can you swim sideways?

Sometimes you need to adjust you position three feet to the left, OK?

Can you hover at the exact same depth for x minutes? Without excessive movement?

Sometimes we forget that diving is the art of swimming under water, in 3D.

Do yourself a favor, and become a freediver. It's a great contingency plan that gives you plenty of calm in times of distress.

Try low visibility diving. It needn't be deep diving, just extreme low visibility... dive by touch... This gives you a lot of confidence when that little silt cloud tries to annoy you. Others will panic, you'll feel slightly annoyed. You'll know which one is better...

 

[DCN]

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.

Considering the content and quality of instruction, we would argue that the cost per hour for fundamentals is very low.

 

[happy-diver]

Yeah allowing for air and petrol about FOURTY shore dives worth
diving with divers, also chatting on here, with the only stipulation
to mostly surface from dives smiling, wearing gear of your choice

Having gained watermanship experience only coming from diving

That skill only comes from throwing yourself in, then climbing out

I would suggest that the benefit of shorediving is the very highest


Let go of that hand

 

[gage_patton]

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.

I always thought that honing rescue dive skills would be really valuable as a development step in my dive career!

 

[EFX]

I didn't read all the posts in this thread so please forgive me if this has already been mentioned.
With 100 dives you can now pursue solo diver if you have rescue. You can get this cert from either PADI or SSI. The skills you will learn are gas planning and how to dive and manage an alternate gas supply as well as building confidence and independence as a diver.