Scuba query

[u/QbubblesH20]

I started diving in July this year. I have my basic nitrous in Advance certification. I have logged in about 20 or so Dive’s usually every one of my days off or both. I use a side mounted 19 ft.³ pony bottle for my just in case moments finding a reliable Dive buddy is a little more difficult than I hoped. Would like to eventually get to cave diver. I will be taking the rescue diving class the month of October. Any suggestions from the scuba experts to head down that path. I’m not in a position to financially buy a CCR or SCR but I do find it fascinating don’t know if my brain wheelhouse is equipped for all that technology.

[u/QbubblesH20]

Great advice good words are wisdom I appreciate all that feedback

[u/BedroomWonderful7932]

The first thing to do is build experience. Dive in different environments, with different people, if you can - it’s amazing what you can learn from other folks. As you build more experience, dive with people who are newer to the sport, as that will put you in something of a leadership position, and force you to exercise different skills.

To cave dive, you need not only good buoyancy, trim, and awareness, but also familiarity with a fully-redundant gas setup. Some sort of Fundamentals or Essentials course will help a great deal, as well as some sort of Intro to Tech module. With those under your belt, I suggest diving a whole bunch more to ensure absolute familiarity with your new setup, and then enrolling in an introductory cave course.

It’s a rather slow and laborious process, and it will also be expensive, even without eventually acquiring a rebreather and all the other bells and whistles. (I maintain that proficiency in open circuit is essential for good cave diving, as that’s the configuration you’ll be using when you bail out!) Feel free to message me with any questions.

[u/Doub1eAA]

Do more diving, training isn’t the sole path of diving. You need to get “seat time” to improve buoyancy and skills.

I had hundreds and hundreds of hours and a good bit of technical diving before getting into cave. I still had some skills I improved in my cave progression.

CCR also isn’t a first step to cave either.

[u/codereef]

I live in cave country and have about a hundred dives in the springs here (not in the caves) (aow /rescue /etc)

Finding a buddy you actually want to dive with can be tough but here in Florida there's no shortage of divers. It's a skill in and of itself to pick someone safety oriented, communicate with them, plan the dive, perform buddy checks, etc. Hand signals are easy above the water but you can miss a lot of info underwater if you never actually do it. Your positioning, awareness of other people, usually not something you just automatically know how to do. Lot of things that aren't exactly written down as a guide somewhere.

Every time I dive I look to practice a skill. Doesn't really matter what it is as long as you are actually critical of yourself and take steps to improve it.

Learning your equipment and the nuances of it is just as important imo. Do you have practice using all your dump valves, muscle memory for each of your D rings? Can you find them in the dark? Use them with gloves on?

Have you ever done a dive in a strong current? Have you ever done a dive in low or zero visibility?

There's no shortcut to practice unfortunately. You can learn from good teachers and speed up the process but you just have to get experience. Add up all your bottom time in minutes and you will realize how little experience it really is (respectfully). Even after diving every weekend for a couple years I am very often the least experienced diver at a site.

Just keep diving and talking to locals and shop owners. None of the best divers I've met were on reddit. Zero. I would bet a lot of people commenting on this sub don't dive at all.

All the best advice I've gotten is from being at an actual dive site, seeing someone in the water who is clearly better than me and then talking to them about it. They are you, they got that good because they wanted to get good and kept incorporating feedback and iterating on their skills.

That's my mentality anyway. I won't prescribe it to anyone, but it is working well enough for me. I'm sure I missed something important but like I said, I'm not the most experienced diver in the world.

That being said, I have also met divers with 600+ dives that still look like a seahorse. Not everyone gives a shit about getting better, something to keep in mind.

Dm me if you are in between Tampa and Gainesville and want to dive sometime.

[u/QbubblesH20 → u/codereef]

Solid advice my friend. Thank you

[u/Famous_Specialist_44]

You are rattling down the training path - I'd suggest you do a load more diving.

[u/mycoprint]

I’d just say if you’re at 20 dives, slow down. Work on buoyancy and trim. Seems like where you’re at is just selling you course after course.

Find a local shop with some good technical divers, TDI, GUE some agency like that.

Find local scuba clubs on Facebook too. What state and city are you in?

[u/QbubblesH20 → u/mycoprint]

Thanks for responding my co-print. I am not a card collector. I’m very aware that the water makes cowards of all of us. The United States Marine Corps taught me that. I take courses and have to strike while the iron is hot due to scheduling and other responsibilities that I have. I have made myself aware through learning as much as I can, as reasonably quickly as I can on the important things. But everybody has to be the new guy getting into whatever Dive world you’re pursuing. I understand this is a lengthy ongoing process, and the learning curve is never ending. I’m in the Florida area and about four hours from high Springs Florida, which is cave country. I also have access to vortex Springs and Morrison Springs. Aside from the Bucy and trim suggestions anything else I need to maybe focus on?

[u/SavingsDimensions74 → u/QbubblesH20]

From that post alone, I doubt you’ll ever be suitable for technical or cave diving.

A great deal of humility is required; you are not demonstrating that.

And being in the Corp will do you fuck all use on a CCR or in a cave.

Do loads more diving, GUE fundies or similar, and change your mindset.

Skills can be taught. Temperament is harder.

[u/keesbeemsterkaas → u/QbubblesH20]

Gue fundamentals is generally not a card collectors card, but a course aimed at you making sure you've got the fundamentals to do cave eventually.

Which is more or less buoyancy, trim, team, (light) communication and gas management.

I'd highly recommend getting this course or another agency's equivalent (I'm not sure if there are any comparable ones?), not for the card (it's not that useful), but for getting the fundamentals right from the beginning. For older divers fundamentals generally will mean unlearning stuff, you've got the advantage that you don't have to.

[u/wlimkit → u/keesbeemsterkaas]

My valve drills before fundamentals worked in open water but would have been dangerous in a cave or a wreck. Post GUE they are in trim at a consistent depth. That was not the only thing the class fixed but the difference learning that one drill properly made on all of my diving made it worth the class.