So are you saying the vacation diver who only does those dives but if comfortable and proficient with "all the skills they need" for that environment counts as experienced?
Nope.
You said "comfortable and proficient".
I said ""instinctively/unconsciously".
Those are very different levels.
For example: A 'good' diver might have very good buoyancy control or navigation skills (proficiency). They might work on those skills, consciously adjusting and refining what they are doing. But an experienced diver won't even think about buoyancy, or navigation... it just happens. Like breathing or blinking or scratching your head if you have an itch. This difference is even more acute with contingency skills, such as; air-sharing, rescues, gas management etc.
The difference between proficiency in a skill...and a skill being automatic and unconscious is often measured in hundreds, if not thousands, of hours spent underwater. It also depends on the frequency that the skill is utilised. Buoyancy, trim and breath control being the most frequently used. Navigation, rescue etc being less frequently used...and consequently slower to develop to an instinctive level.
Would your self-classification be situation based experience(depending on location/ type of dive/ etc.) or general experience(all diving included)?
Both.
1) Being "
absolutely comfortable and familiar with the underwater environment" is
situational dependant. Cold versus warm water. Depth. Currents etc. A diver may be experienced in one, or more, environments - but not others.
2) Performing
all of the skills they need instinctively/unconsciously is
task dependant. A diver can have instinctive level skills in open water, but may only have intermediate skills for wreck diving...and may have no skills for CCR, Sidemount, Altitude diving etc etc. So experience can only be judged
in context with the specific skills demanded for a given activity.
To define someone as an "experienced diver" would encompass the full spectrum of diving tasks and situations. I've met some truly great divers in my time, but not yet one who had a full spectrum of skills in every equipment, every situation, every environment and task.
Of course, there are many
generic / transferable skills. Buoyancy, trim, propulsion etc. Some people might use those 'core skills' to judge a person's experience. But I don't see it that way. I prefer to look at it from the perspective of the specific skills needed for a given activity/environment.
Personally, I measure my experience by those yard-sticks. I am aware of the level of
'task loading' that a specific skill or environment causes me on a dive.
On a tropical, open-water, recreational dive doing navigation and supervising other divers I have virtually
zero task loading. It just happens automatically and without error. If I returned to dive in the UK (
despite having hundreds of dive experience in cold water - it's been a while since I did that), I'd have to think more during the dive about what I was doing. The same applies for technical diving - there are some attributes that I'd need to consciously control. Put me in a CCR or Cave and I'd have to think about
everything I was doing.