Be a better Diver
So you have decided to be a diver and start your exploration to this fantastic new world!
We welcome you aboard and wish you fantastic underwater moments.
You are now on your first steps but I am sure that your goal is to become a good diver, as good as possible. How can you do that? What is the path to be a good diver?
Well, the big question is: what makes a good diver?
Is it good knowledge of the diving theory? Is it your comfort level in the water?
Is it discipline to the protocols and ecological consciousness? Is it high level equipment?
To look cool in the water? What is that characteristic that will boost up your diving and increase your skills and self-confidence in the water?
Well, I know divers with high theoretical level but poor performance in the water and of course the opposite. I know people with respect on protocols and procedures and of course the opposite. I know divers with high certification levels that look like rookies and of course the opposite and of course I know divers who owe great diving gear but they can not use it correctly and optimally.
Who is a good diver after all?
Well, every characteristic mentioned is a part to consist a good diver but not the most important.
You see, theory is not enough. You might have great musical theory but bad technique and so you can not play a musical instrument. You might be a virtuoso with very low theoretic level. You might have a great instrument but you can not reach its 100% of its potential.
Can someone work in all fields and be as good as possible to all aspects of a topic?
Of course but that requires time and will.
- Theory is something that you can study and deepen even after your certification. Nowadays the sources are almost endless, so with a systematic study you will be there soon.
- Certifications are just plastic representing one achievement. If you are an Advanced diver and you can not make a simple dive plan (including a gas plan and a backup plan) then you are a driver with a bus license that can barely drive a small Fiat.
- Equipment is a soulless tool that takes life because you give it. A guitar is a dead object until the time that the player plays it. Then it becomes important.
- The most important characteristic of a good diver, the one that is mostly connected with the operational side of the diver are skills and capability in the water.
That characteristic is the most important element of a diver.
How do you get good in the water?
Well, as a diver you have received the basic training but that does not represent the real world at all. You have not been trained or experienced harsh environmental conditions, different systems, materials and equipment configurations, you haven’t been trained in problem solving because everything in your course was served ready…
So practically you need to work in all of those aspects. Slowly in the beginning and escalate progressively. You don’t have your instructor now, you are a certified and autonomous diver.
Try easy dives with different environmental conditions (cold water, low visibility, current, waves). Try new systems and equipment (tank materials, weight systems, Buoyancy control systems etc.), try different dives (boat, shore), practice your skills in every opportunity but most of all dive!!!
Number of dives really makes you better. And in combination with everything practiced through this dive, in relatively short time you will be in your target.
To be a good diver.
We call it experience and this is what you need.
Keep on Diving and keep on learning!
It will be my pleasure to meet and share some underwater time together!
And if I can, I will be happy to put an advice or a tip and make you better!
Looking forward!
Yannis – H2O Senior Instructor
