What have you learned in the last year, regardless of how long you have been diving?

[TheHobster]

I learned that :

- you can't make all divers happy
- combining rec and tec on a charter not a good idea
- listen to the inner voice
- my wife and kids hate my hobby
- the student can pass the mentor and you can still be friends
- diving is 80% social
- some old friends are lousy divers and still diving stab jackets bought in the 80's
- many of today's new divers are looking for the adventure of the moment as opposed to a adventure for life
- I am amazed that people consider themselves divers that dive one week a year
- people still PADI bash on these boards after being on boards since 1994
- the memory of my wife and I joining the 10' club in the pool 25 years ago still brings a smile to my face

 

[shark girl]

I've learnt that even in that 'one week a year' I can learn stuff- and a solid refresher course before my vacation is worth it's weight in gold.

I've also learnt that my 'one week a year' is addictive and is turning into 'three weeks a year plus extra local diving'

I've learnt that getting my own gear will really be worth it.

I've learnt that I'm not a bad buddy, but I can learn to be a million times better.

I've learnt that just because I don't constantly scull with my hands, doesn't mean I've achieved perfect trim and buoyancy control (far from it).

 

[jupitermermaid]

I have learned that wetsuits shrink when hung in the basement in the dark.

{After 17 years of being a UW/Nikonos/Ektachrome photographer I quit in 1982.}

I learned that after 25 years of not diving wih a camera, after picking up a simple point-and-shoot Olympus, my entire diving style and process automaticaly changed... for the worse.

I learned that any diver who wears gloves in the warmest waters of the oceans has a ready reason for doing so, always capped off with "I never touch anything".

The same applies to divers (notably photographers) that use "muck sticks". They fall into the same category as glove wearers above.

I have learned that with the availability, low cost and ease of using digital gear, that besides every newbie wanting to drag one along on their first dive, after-dive chats have disappeared. No longer do we sit at the bar talking about what was good and what went bad on a dive. We are no longer doing post dive debriefs and bettering our skills... instead~ we sit and stare at laptop screens and look at the digital images captured from lifetime logged dive #4.

I learned that divers will buy mask defog for $15 a bottle even though toothpaste before every dive works 100%.

I learned that Titanium, the word or the addition of the metal itself to my dive gear, will make me a better diver.

I have seen an increase in the number of people who want a vacation with some diving, versus simply a dive vacation. I have seen a downturn in the "lets get diving" mentality of aging divers.

And yes, from the week-in-paradise perspective, I have noticed that the diving audience is getting older and more in search of creature comforts.

I learned that any diver who wears gloves in the warmest waters of the oceans has a ready reason for doing so, always capped off with "I never touch anything".

I'm afraid I'll have to take exception with you on this point. I'm a fairly new diver and never wore gloves since I live and dive in Florida. However, I dove yesterday and today, and have tons of itchy bumps all over my hands (sea lice? jellyfish? spores? I dunno, but I know I'm going to invest in a thin pair of gloves purely to protect my hands from future abuses of the critters.

Right now, I need to pour some more vinegar over my hands.

 

[StevenN]

I've learned that I can maintain a clear head in an emergency situation. One of my dive buddies shot to the surface from 100' and I maintained a proper ascent and made a super fast swim to the shore to call 911 for a potential embolism. He turned out to be fine.
I also learned that when you call 911 in Carmel, CA you get super fast multiple responses.
I learned that you should keep your car key on your person instead of on your bc in case you have to ditch your bc.

 

[Santa]

- I learned to be an OWSI
- How not to conduct an OWD pool session.
- how to improve general control and air con
- That European standards on non-smoking have yet to make an impact on live-aboard top floors.
- That if you're young, male and reasonably fit you should be a little cautious about speaking too long with aging, single, British university professors on live-aboard top floors.
- Some about where to look for more special critters.
- A good deal about where not to look.
- How to loosen your tongue from the inflator mouth piece if it gets caught in vacuum whilst inflating orally at depth.

Overall a truly remarkable year.

 

[dive_lover88]

- That if you're young, male and reasonably fit you should be a little cautious about speaking too long with aging, single, British university professors on live-aboard top floors.

Thanks for the advice...so anything happened

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Next year learn how to use your inflator to herd these guys! Was that out of Alexander? [/LIST]

Herd them? Yes, that's Alexander
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Swimmers?! Who are they?

Evidently in a spring they are the bait that lets divers see the good stuff They sure are useless when you're about to turn a corner around a rock and run nose to nose with a gator you didn't know was there. Hellllooooo! It's 15 feet deep, dive down and tap me on the shoulder, yank my find, grab my ears but DON'T just hang out watching and thinking "I wonder if she knows there's an alligator in that channel she's getting ready to turn into"

I learned how to swim backward the hard way, it wasn't pretty but it sure was fast
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[mkutyna]

I learned that the remote door lock dongle on my wife's car keys is not nearly as waterproof at 60' as I would have liked.

I also learned that the next time I buy a new car, I will make it a condition of me purchasing the car that I get 3-4 spare door lock dongles for free since they are insanely over-priced to get them replaced after being lost/broken/waterlogged.

 

[Randy43068]

I learned quite a bit this year.

I learned how to:

1) replace seals on a drysuit
2) make simple mods like gluing pockets onto the drysuit
3) dive a drysuit
4) dive doubles
5) had a few "ah-hah" moments learning to keep decent trim and buoyancy