What training/experiences make for better scuba divers

[ballfrog]

The main thing is don't ever, ever dive outside of your training. If you do, your final ascent could be in a bag with one of us at your side.

I somewhat disagree with that premise.  I think it's much more important to not dive outside your experience,comfort and abilities.  I'll admit that training may provide some experience and give some clues to ability.  But with that said, I've had the experience of "partners" bolting for the surface or even not being able to connect a regulator to a valve even though they held a certification, meaning they've been trained. 

Fortunately the panicked buddy didn't hurt herself playing "flying fish" and I went on to finish the dive solo after she got back on the boat.  The other incident the divemaster tossed the "equipment challenged guy" off the boat and told him to try again after a refresher. 

I can agree that people shouldn't dive without training, but they shouldn't assume that the training has prepared them.


I spend thousands of hours a year under water and I still do stupid stuff like lose weights, run out of air, get into overhead environments and entanglements, etc.  Since I seldom dive deeper than 20 feet I'm comfortable with those situations - other than the overhead.  Bogs and I have an uneasy truce.  But since I have to worry about nitrogen loading and no decomp thresholds and air consumption, I'm not comfortable with working at 40+ foot depths even though I've been trained and re-trained for that at different certifications.