What I’ve learned in 100 dives

[Landau]

Did my 100th and 101st dives today. Here’s a bit of what I’ve learned that is a bit different than you might think from reading Scubaboard.

Most instabuddies are OK to dive with. Some are really good. At least on a general rec dive. I’ve never had a buddy that I would not dive with again and have only seen one diver not my buddy that I would not want to dive with.

Your equipment choices won’t kill you. Most equipment is well designed and works. Even split fins, jacket style BCDs, non-longhouse + bungied secondary setups and conservative Zoop computers.

Most divers with backplate and wing setups won’t interrupt conversations in person to tell you why a BP/W setup is best for everyone, always. Me: “Hey Joe, what pub should we go to after the dive?” BP/W diver (not Joe): “You really need to ditch that back inflate BCD and get a back plate, wing and harness made of a single piece of webbing” Happens all the time here but not so much in real life.

Even at a large LDS that serves lots of students the instructors can be caring, thourough and really want to help their students to master the sport. Not just issue cert cards as fast as possible.

And most importantly, though scubaboard says the same thing: I love diving and there is lots more to see.

What did you learn in your first 100 dives?

 

[MargaritaMike]

Don't remember specifics that far back, but I do know that I learned that I LOVE diving. I learned to relax underwater so much that I have actually taken naps at the deep end of a swimming pool on SCUBA! I am not recommending sleeping underwater, but learn to RELAX!

Cheers - M²

and

 

[NorCalDM]

I learned that I had a lot more to learn!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

At fifty dives I thought I had my skills down pat. At one hundred dives I realized that I knew nothing at fifty dives. At five hundred dives I learned that I was still a newb at one hundred dives.
A good diver is always learning.

 

[Streydog]

The more I dive, the more fun it is. Warm water clear water is much easier to dive in. Task loading can really humble you.

 

[TMHeimer]

I felt pretty good with buoyancy at 10-15 dives having discovered it's not rocket science to add/release small bits of air with the LPS. I learned I don't want to bother with squeezing my gut to keep a weight belt up and bought suspenders. Or tightening the tank band so tight that it wouldn't slip--so I bought the Apollo Bio Tank Lock I still use. By 50 dives I had taken Rescue and a few other courses to get MSD. At 75 I began diving shallow solo shore sites. Throughout this time I did a charter here & there at home and in NW FL. Varied climates, mostly ocean/gulf, but occasional lake/river. After 100 dives I think it was about the time I started to consider the DM course.
After that I mostly learned DM stuff. My personal diving has not changed much since that time, so I have only learned little things to improve on--to make things safer and simpler.

 

[Coztick]

At fifty dives I thought I had my skills down pat. At one hundred dives I realized that I knew nothing at fifty dives. At five hundred dives I learned that I was still a newb at one hundred dives.
A good diver is always learning.

I have learned that the old saying "you get back what you put in" holds true...

I'm at 100 now with 75 of those in sidemount and have challenged myself to improve every dive. I'm very happy with my progress and have been mistaken for someone with cave training by dm's with cave training.
That said, I know I'm just getting started.
I learned i can manage a drysuit in cold water last summer so that's the next challenge once the ice is gone. I would like to do some west coast shore diving someday.

That's why scuba is addicting to me. The more you learn, the safer you become, the more comfortable you get, the further you can go, the more amazing things you see...

I agree, I'm still a newb with so much more to learn and see. As I told the dm, my body might look ready for a cave but my head has a long way to go first.

 

[KevinNM]

I got like 5 dives last year due to various issues, but i still found that I was in much better control than I was a few years ago on my last dive a week ago in Maui. Bouyancy pretty much just worked, etc. It made the dive a lot more fun.

 

[RayfromTX]

We are at 97 dives. I have learned that the knowledge that you can filter out here on Scubaboard will allow a person that can filter well to progress very quickly compared to vacation divers that just play follow the leader. I have learned that the instructor makes all the difference in the world and we called our AOW instructor this week to thank him for what he gave us as divers and as a buddy team. I learned that in the world of divers the rules won't always save you and breaking them won't usually hurt you but you are the only one responsible for you so keep your eyes open and your mind focused. I also learned that a cold dark 100' is more challenging than a blue clear 120' and I love both. Many thanks to the members here for what they give and many heartfelt thanks for the friends I've made here, one of which we dove with yesterday and it was marvelous. Lastly, we know very little of what there is to know and we learn on literally every dive. We all have things to offer and holes to fill. I learned valuable things from Scubaboard this week. Oh, and you never know who you are talking to or what they have done. Listening is good. The journey continues.

 

[Blasto]

All I learned was that 100 dives is nothing.

But yes, IRL a lot of stuff is far less important or black and white than it appears to be on boards dedicated to discussing stuff. Be it equipment, DC choice, etc. This doesn't only apply to diving; there's way more hair-splitting going on in car, AV, any other hardware forums.

I still don't get why jacket BCD exist, when a simplistic harness+wing is easier to don and doff, more comfortable, lighter for Al or soft ones. What little cost it adds, its one-size-fits-all and longevity easily offset in a rental situation vs maintaining a stock of BCD in five sizes. But you still can dive with a jacket or with nothing at all - rec diving just isn't a difficult or particularly demanding activity, it's easy by itself once you get the hang of it.