Are You An Experienced Scuba Diver? 5 Ways to Self-Assess

What makes an 'Experienced' Scuba Diver? Experience is relative, right? In a sport like Scuba Diving, where you don't score points, how do you measure performance? I go diving with two super-experienced deep exploration divers and chat about gaining experience in diving, PLUS for Open Water divers, we're talking 5 ways you can self-assess your skills as a diver!
Subscribers, sorry for the audio quality on this one! I was losing my voice. I cleaned it up as much as possible, but it's pretty rough. More hot tea. Ok. Bye.
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Are You An Experienced Scuba Diver? 5 Ways to Self-Assess
Though we are based in Florida, Hawaii, California, and Michigan have 100 ft and 300 ft ocean and lake underwater coral reef, shipwreck, cave diving, freediving, scuba diving, and closed circuit rebreather trips. To learn full face mask, beginner scuba diver, advanced scuba diver, tech scuba diver, cave diver you can reach out to a professional scuba diver. Everyone should get scuba diving insurance with Divers Alert Network.
We support all types of diving that can be found at PADI, DALLMYD, Dive Talk where they talk about cave divers react, Waterline Academy and BlueWorld TV.

[@earlgrey2130]

I thought i was experienced when i hit my 100th dive. And then i met this old british army diver on the boat who just did his 8'000th dive. I asked him if diving doesn't get boring at that point? And he laughed and said: "Never my friend, i still have a lot to work on". And at that point i realized that "experienced" is not like a point on a map that you can reach and then you're there. It's like going north. You'll never arrive. But it's the direction you move in. No matter how "experienced" you are, the mindset should always be "i'm making an effort to be better this dive than i was the last dive". At least that's my personal opinion.

[@DiversReady]

I completely agree! Thanks for watching EarlGrey!

[@rey_nevan]

"A mentor really helps" this can not be overemphasized in any profession. As always - Thank you James!

[@ilciavo]

Thank you James! I think this is one of the best vídeos I‘ve watched 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽, and I haven’t even finished the footage. I certainly have to relate to “if you never had that day when everything goes south…”. I just hope I can continue improving my diving skills and be able to dive for the rest of my life👌🏽 ❤

[@JMBlank1]

Truer words have never been spoken, in my mid 20's (now 58) I learned to dive in the north east, (Long Island NY) passed my open water in May, and logged about 40 dives thru November, that winter I went to vacation in the Bahamas, and had my first taste of warm water tropical diving! Magical! Imagine not wearing a 6-7mm farmer John wetsuit with a suffocating hood! I still dive but not as much during the Long Island summer months, (maybe 8 dives this summer) but I am heading down to Florida Nov 27th thru Dec 1st. with my son to get some bottom time. James, I thoroughly enjoy your videos, keep up the excellent work!

[@watercooled81]

Totally agree with nearly everything in this video. I consider myself an experienced diver, yet I am very competitive with myself, so I always want to be better. One of those is reading, the other courses but the last which you hit the nail on the head, learning from more experience divers. I also love it when I dive with people who I consider more experienced/better divers, as I get to challenge by own thoughts and skill set. One of my favourite phrases I heard was 'At 50 dives I thought I knew everything, at 250 I knew how wrong I was'. There are so many different disciplines/skills in diving, from the basics such as mask clearing and breathing, to proper search and recovery, award winning photography, detailed archaeological survey, navigation (including top side ie charts not just underwater). You can't be an expert in everything and even if you are at the very top of that discipline, there is always someone who will know a little trick/fact that you don't. We also need a culture where we can talk about incidents, as things do happen. We need to be able to discuss what went well and what didn't go well. Every dives I come out of, I can always list a couple of things I could have done better/been safer. Thanks for the video...

[@omegadivingacademy7937]

I think you would like the DAN annual reports that are published, www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/report/ it is great now that the reports going back 20 years have been scanned in. Makes for good reading and comparison from 20 years back, well for me anyway.

[@peterjulianphotos4659]

One of my pet hates - I get on a boat and the 'crew' want to set up my gear, as the Aussie band the Angels say....... No way, Get F...d, F...Off. I will set up my gear and check it, then I will get my designated buddy to do a gear check (and I will check his/her's). I will make sure I'm safe and check my buddy is as well. i should be able to assemble and disassemble my dive gear in zero vis.

[@fishingexchange3742]

Your channel is ultimately my source information! I just want to recommend more underwater footage. This might be my second commend on this video! I watch it over and over! Lol 👌🏽

[@bmckayw]

Hi James. This has been one of my favorite videos from you. I would love to see more underwater footage in your upcoming videos.

[@trevorporter5838]

Fintastic James loving your content truly a joy to watch learn & adapt... evolve... I dunno can easily say most helpful & insightful knowledge.... Feel the force is strong with you. So getting around to this vid today reminded me of both my O.W & Adv Padi's Instructor Steve on 2nd day took me n young Italian guy (stud muffin) & he says to Steve who is best of us pointing at me Ha, Steve points at himself & says for your safety only know Im better by no means am I in contest the best! Wow what a dive see him continue to show off, barrel rolling... then fall asleep missing his last dive... Pleasantly Reminiscent Thanx again James Sharing the love

[@berlinunraveling3101]

After seeing that footage and often wondering why one would get into tech diving, I now understand why you'd want to get into tech diving. Time to get back in the water and improve my skills. I still have along way to go before I can see something that cool that deep.

[@kenatwood2861]

James, I really appreciate you brother. I am learning a ton from your videos. I hope you and your family have a blessed night! Thanks again

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

I have 47 dives so far and I know that I am a novice with so much to learn.

[@billgilroy6008]

Very upbeat clear and concise video - Thank you - I am now a 5 pointer too

[@ReconMarine61]

James! Love your videos, keep up the really great work!

[@1DrElectric]

I like your philosophy. Wish I could dive more.Have not used my dive computer in 2 years.Can not remember all the functions but I always take out battery.Enjoyed video

[@pijushbhattacharjee3700]

Great video. Big help as I continue to improve my skills.

[@thejahfox]

I love diving pompano. Amazing videos by the way

[@UltraReefReseller]

I agree on your opinion regarding doing your first dives in cold water with bad vis. That's how I started and it made me a better diver when after about 100 rough dives I got to finally dive in Cuba, in some nice water. Actually, I was so gung ho, I forced the whole class to do our final open water dive at the end of Oct in zero vis water, which was also not so warm. I was in a hurry to go diving in a cold lake during the thanksgiving holiday. It was around 50 degrees F in the lake and our first dive was a night dive, we had a blast!

[@alanwigley181]

Thanks Jason. Brilliant stuff and and end of day its all to do with the flora and fauna down there. It’s not how many dives it’s how you use the time down there.

[@Nasosdag]

That looked AWESOME! New PADI OWD here, currently doing my EANx cert, and I know that I don't know anything yet. But like EarlGrey said below... I'll keep going north.

[@stevenlovell3466]

Sometimes an Instructor, always a student.

[@antoniojudson6474]

i know Im randomly asking but does any of you know a tool to get back into an Instagram account?? I stupidly forgot my password. I love any assistance you can give me

[@antoniojudson6474]

@Bryant Milan I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and I'm in the hacking process now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@antoniojudson6474]

@Bryant Milan It did the trick and I now got access to my account again. Im so happy! Thanks so much you saved my account !

[@bryantmilan6443]

@Antonio Judson Glad I could help :)

[@bugman9787]

I had an example of checking your equipment before a dive trip. I went diving at Beaches in Turks and Caicos. I made 7 dives there, 5 were for there advanced open water class and the last two was a two tank dive in the morning. When I got to my room I wanted to check my computer and look at the dive log and check my dives. I turn on my computer and I get an error message. Same thing when I turned it on a few hours later. The next day it would not turn on and had water vapor under the glass. Took it back to the dive shop when I got back home and I ended up getting a new computer from the manufacturer. By this time I was close to going to Cancun and was going to dive again. Get on the boat and hook everything up, and my computer would not pair with my transmitter. Luckily I had a pressure gage as a back up. The second dive same thing, they would not pair. Made the second dive with my backup pressure gage. I get home and hook my reg up to my tank and my computer paired immediately with the transmitter. As I thought back, when I first got my computer, it took a few tries to get it to pair. Since I had never used a computer before, the last timed I dove was in 1975, I thought I was doing something wrong. The computer that I took to Cancun was the same kind of computer that I had in Turks, but the one I had in Cancun was a replacement and was new and never used before. Moral of the story, check your equipment before you go diving even if it is brand new!

[@TalonJasra]

Great videos! I would love to go for a dive or two with you one day. Cheers

[@carllafrance5510]

Hi James good haircut Excellent video great advice!

[@SimonAmazingClarke]

It's funny, I did my open water in the red sea, I've since done some diving in the Caribbean. When I was doing my DM course I had to dive in a cold pond in the uk. Drysuit instead of shorty and 4 C instead of 25 C.

[@Scuba_Bro]

@4:55 ...THIS!!! so much THIS!!!!! this is probably the only good thing from learning to dive in New England (mainly cape cod and Rhode Island for me) is that you really have to master buoyancy since you either dry suit dive or use a thicker 5mm to 7mm wetsuit so you really learn about weighting, buoyancy and trim rather quickly up here because of having so much wetsuit material to deal with. Also diving with about 2ft to 20ft visibility is quite common as well so I didn't know it at the time but diving in New England made diving in the keys and the Caribbean a much easier time for me and actually felt like such a simplistic pleasure not needing a wet suit and as much weight to have me sink to overcome thick wet suit positive buoyancy.

[@gee4526]

Hello James, I just found your channel. Great stuff, full of valuable information. I guess your just getting started on these videos, so let me wish you luck in your journey. Just keep up the good work. As a diver I am always seeking updated or new information and any thing that will make my diving enjoyable and safe, so Thank you for your time and work.

[@DiversReady]

Thanks Gee! Thanks for subscribing too! We have a lot of great stuff planned!

[@gee4526]

Hey James, I am commenting on this video about your 5 star Padi scam, because my PC. Quit on me. And my cell will only let me respond on a previous comment. ( hope that makes sense to you.). Any way...... I was Padi certed.. My dive center is also a 5 Star dive shop. I suppose I am fortunate in that my dive center is turely what I expect from a 5 Star shop. I get quality service, and my instructor actually takes time to be certain you understand the theories and procedures for your course. The shop will not only make suggestions on equipment, but if your on a budget ( which I definitely am). They will offer discounts and other alternate choices that will serve the purpose and be budget friendly. I have been in other 5 Star centers where their bottom line was the dollar, and will sell you anything even if they know it isn't something that would be beneficial to your need. So thank you for pointing out to the "unaware" that not all 5 Star shops are really deserving of that rating. Lesson learned.......Do your homework. Thanks James for another 5 Star video.

[@stevedarling2663]

Just started watching the videos. Great tips well balanced on both sides of an opinion. Always very positive and humorous. Keep up the great work. Hope to see some videos on CCR(the dark side)

[@DiversReady]

Hi Steve, Thanks for watching! CCR is in the plans for the future, for sure. So many videos to make, not enough time! Dive safe, James

[@wallybrown9509]

Absolutely, learning to do different kicks is something people that want to be experienced must do. Please NO bike kick. LOL And yes, a flat body position is a must. Etc.

[@stefanod8360]

Interesting choice of music for a video about assessing skills in scuba diving. "Save me, save me, you gotta save me"

[@DiversReady]

😉

[@dredd183]

Great tips ,good job and keep the bids coming

[@DiversReady]

Thank you! Will do!

[@brucebeattie4851]

Checklists are a must but there are two parts. The first part is in making sure that everything needed has been packed and the second part is making sure that all of it actually gets into the car and makes it to the dive site. I learned this lesson the hard way.

[@DiversReady]

Thanks for sharing! Dive safe.

[@grene1955]

Fantastic video! I have over 250 dives, and I am always trying to learn and improve. Case in point...when I got my dry suit cert, my instructor went in the water without zipping up his suit! Not kidding! He flooded immediately of course, and I finished the dive with another diver. As embarrassing as it was for him, it was a great lesson for me (though I don't think he intended it !). He had thousands of dives and made a stupid mistake. Don't get complacent!

[@christopher399]

That honestly happens a lot 😂

[@dmitryshevchenko6815]

Mikhail sounds like the top G here :)))

[@adriancjones]

Great info.

[@sayittrue9570]

I agree with you with diver 2 I dive the UK lakes and east coast also dive Egypt reef and drift dive I reakin I'm probably more experienced than those that just dive warm waters or vice versa

[@tericlem6015]

Scubatyme, 👍. I dove with them in May 2021.

[@vinniescarlata1278]

Great videos. What is the correct response when your primary reel jams during deployment. I imagine it's to promptly let go so it doesn't take you up with it. Deploy your secondary, and go find/collect the primary on the surface later? Thanks.

[@RelicsandRust]

So jealous right now bro! I dive in black water mostly and need some south Florida in my life soon! It was nice meeting you at DEMA and I look forward to diving with you in the future. 🤙

[@DiversReady]

Let's go, DEAP! You know where we are!

[@RelicsandRust]

I’ll be reaching out to you soon to plan some dives. I’d like for you to come visit and get on some of these Megalodon teeth! 🦈🦷

[@GregInHouston2]

I've seen a few videos now and put in a few comments. Then I come to this one. I'm not sure how many dives I have; I'm not that great about logging lake dives. I do lake dives to keep my skills up for the Caribbean. I say that to tell you that I'm interested. Then I hear you talk about going down to 60 meters. My first that was, "Are you in Europe?" No, Miami. Miami Florida! What's with this meters business? When I watch about diving in the Red Sea, I expect meters. In the USA, I expect feet.

[@Tikki86able]

Hello James! I have a question about the frog kick and breathing rythm..I usually breath out as I initiate a kick and breath in in between the kicks..is this most efficient or is there a better way? Thanks in advance! Btw I love your videos! They are very educational🤘

[@janinacooper4199]

Thank you for the video, this is very helpful! I got certified in May and went on four dives since. Brand new to all this :-). Luckily we have a neighbor who let's me tag along and I am so thankful. I do my best possible before during and after the dive concerning preparation, organization and being the best diving buddy that I can be. But I also see that I still got a long ways to go to get to where I want to be. I hope that as I start buying my own stuff and not using slightly different rental items every time it will help make everything a little more consistent. :)

[@DiversReady]

Hi Janina, Thanks for watching! Absolutely! I'm a strong advocate for owning your own gear, even though I don't retail dive gear! Consistency builds confidence. It sounds like you're on a great track. Keep diving! James

[@omegadivingacademy7937]

Hi Janina. I thought I would just drop a little bit of advice in which I have gained over the last 30 years of diving. Do not sell pool diving short for experience gathering you would be surprised how much your skills improve and a lot of the time the activity can be done in a very short space of time. Many divers do not have a lot of free time and organising a dive trip takes a little more time and finance than a pool session. Find a LDS with facilities that are suitable and even ask if you can join on pool training dives as sometimes an odd number of students can use an extra body to fill the gap(buddy pairs). I have found many new divers struggle to get experience as the focus is only on dive trips. Not saying the focus should not be on trips but one can easily get a number of experience hours under your belt before your next dive trip (note : not dives experience hours) and drastically improve your comfort and buoyancy levels while creating the opportunity to build a relationship with a dive organisation(LDS).

[@wallybrown9509]

Great video brother

[@DiversReady]

Thanks Wally! We appreciate you, buddy! James

[@Teampegleg]

So the classic experienced local diver vs the experience traveling diver. Let's take that out a little bit. Let's say diver 1 is a DM in Cozumel, that DM has 2,000 dives all in Cozumel, other than an instructor rating has no special certifications. Diver 2 is an experienced technical diver, full cave, cave ccr, stage cave, and all the way to hypoxic trimix on CCR and OC, along with the ability to teach all the certifications. Diver 2 has 2,000 dives also all around the world. Caves in Florida, Caves in Mexico, sump diving in the UK, the Great Lakes, Palau, Coz, etc etc. Diver 2 arguably is the more well rounded and experienced diver. But if I was going to Coz I would want diver 1 as my DM and not diver 2 because diver 1 knows their area the weather, the currents, where to find stuff, etc. But if I were looking for instruction I would probably want diver 2, as his wide amount of experience can give me perspective on what works not just in my area, but in other conditions found throughout the world.

[@georgesalubre7832]

diver 1 should be stupid enough not to have taken any skill upgrades...

[@rabukan5842]

Nope, I am a tech dive instructor certified in rebreather caves, trimix, etc. Diver #2 is best to dive with because he/she is so well rounded he/she can handle almost any situation calmly, and knows each and every limit for every diver. A DM is only knowledgable to a certain level of recreational diving, and he/she does not have the skills to handle situations beyond his/her level. I became a much, much better, and safer, diver after I went technical. The higher the rating, the more conservative I became. As a DM, I think I was safe, but I did not know what to look for in terms of potential problems beyond recreational limits because I did not yet experience those problems. Anything a recreational diver can do, a technical diver can do, but the other way around is definitely not the case. Technical divers are trained to see problems before they happen, and to deal with them underwater when they do. They read the danger signs and know what they are because they've had to deal with them, especially in caves. We recently lost a diver in this area because the boat was full of recreational and recently certified technical divers that did not know how to deal with a diver who'd passed out at the surface and then sunk to 140' in surge conditions. An experienced technical diver or instructor would have been prepared to go down to bring the diver up and possibly resuscitate him, or he/she would have seen the potential before the diver passed out. Often, the most dangerous dives are not at depth, but on the ascent or near the surface, like when currents and weather changes. Finding good dive sites in a new place isn't that difficult. Returning from a dive when the weather suddenly goes bad is.

[@scubaclient355]

@@rabukan5842 I agree. The technical diver has learnt from experience. There are good Divemasters who can handle problems concerning recreational divers. Otherwise they wouldn't be working for too long in the industry.

[@watercooled81]

Depends what sort of dive in Cozumel my preference I would go with the technical diver for 3 reasons. However if it is a basic shallow dive looking for a few creatures to photograph I would probably go with the DM. 1) There broader experience. I can say after diving a location hundreds of times the vast majority of the time it is the same/very similar. This does lead you into a false sense of security as well slipping into auto pilot. A bit like driving to the same location every day vs driving somewhere you don't know. It can be to the point where you can't actually remember the drive. 2) Skill set will much higher then the DM's 3) A Tec Diver with that much experience will most likely research the dive site to great depths before even arriving, as that's what their training and experience has taught them to do. That research will continue while there at the site and will include talking to local guides/divers.

[@omegadivingacademy7937]

Apples and peaches fellows, I know a couple techies I dive with who have no clue how to talk to a customer and are uncomfortable (by choice) with a single cylinder basic BCD to 20 meters but are very well qualified and dive experienced. Then a couple of my DM's with way less experience qualified enough to run dive tours I would choose first since my techie friends would not even have the slightest inclination on what to do with a customer ,comparisons are so vast in nature they should just be ignored or a lot of chest beating just starts up. Ever seen a race horse pulling a cart?

[@ozjohnno]

great Video......

[@DiversReady]

Thanks John! Appreciate you, buddy. James

[@bidlymovies987]

I don't know how to use all the functions of my Oceanic computer and I read the manual frequently. I do however consider myself an organized diver.

[@myoceanadventure3367]

🌊💯🦈

[@stevenlovell3466]

Better to be on the boat, wishing you were in the water, than in the water wishing you were in the boat.

[@dennybe]

Okay a few questions, 1st is that stereophics we're rockin' out too...if so, great choice. 2nd the camera you're using...because my footage comparatively speakin' is shiite, 3rd are you color-grading your footage in video post-production? Anyway, not watching videos in any order but have watched a bloody lot of them. You've probably seen my comments before...great diving in the Philippines(says the boy from Texas), hope you travel this way some day. Peace.

[@jndivetrips3765]

I jumped in the water without my reg in my mouth. At least my air was on.

[@wandatjahjadi9299]

it.s so funny when you said a "drunk orangutan", i'm from indonesia and i know how 'orangutan' looks like. lol

[@jlkegl01]

I bicycle kick to upset people when I know I don’t need to reserve air. I’m definitely new, what is a bad day in diving. I’m not saying dangerous or incidents, generically what is a common bad day in diving? I forgot my computer once. Weather, cutting it short due to unforeseen circumstances?

[@UPGardenr]

What kind of scooter was used in the dive?

[@adeitsch]

Wait, what? Flailing about like a drunk orangutang is not good? Just found your channel. Great stuff.

[@DiversReady]

Welcome Andy!

[@marvinbai]

What’s the bgm name of the lyric of ‘save me’?

[@never2old-sd638]

Great video 🤙

[@paulburgess9573]

Hi James , loving your stuff and learning and learning . Just a quick question , in the videos I've seen you dont wear a snorkel , As a newly qualified diver I was taught to use and wear one . Any reason you dont ? Best Regards Paul

[@DiversReady]

Hey Paul, glad you like the content! Great question, we will have a video on this soon. Stay tuned and if you havent already subscribe to the channel.

[@moodbeast]

What does "Hot Dropped" mean? Is there a Cold Drop then?

[@huibert1358]

😀😀👍👊

[@scubamarilu]

It depends on the attitude, not cert. level or # dives.

[@giulianogiordano100]

I recall seeing a video in which James shows all the different types of fin kicking, but can’t remember where to find it…. Anyone please?

[@DiversReady]

Go to our website, it should be under beginner videos.

[@angie12039]

If I am experienced? Lets See. Just startet the Video. I would say, I am on a Good way

[@DiversReady]

Thanks Angie!

[@angie12039]

@@DiversReady yip, doing those 5 Points automatically Starting with my OWD But struggled with forgetting my computer all the time when I started, LOL Then the IDEA: connect it on a D Ring from my BCD Still doing it after 6 years :D

[@Fronabarger1]

I would love to come dive with you

[@DiversReady]

Let's do it, Eric! You know where we are!

[@Fronabarger1]

@@DiversReady interested in diving Bermuda in a couple months?

[@MrGibbs-sb3rq]

Pfft I wish I don't even have a certification.

[@larlario289]

these days all u need is to flash a fancy c card!

[@garlicbreth3]

Can you put a white border around the text next time? Im sure im not the only one that had trouble reading it

[@JayBandersnatch]

Anyone else watching this video 2-weeks after your obtaining your initial open-water cert.?

[@raymondclark1785]

A website I'm on changed my experience level to Expert, OMG the definition of expert in scuba is you are about to do something stupid :( I was on a boat in Cayman and instructor with all of his dives in lakes jumped off the stern and took his student down current :( In the Galapagos our tour leader with thousands of dives streamlined his gear by taking off his sausage. He didn't stay with the DM and it took a few hours to find him. :( Me, I did a long surface swim to a wreck and then figured out I hadn't worn my weights :(

[@marthaaguirre762]

The introduction was too long in my opinion, but at the end it was great information

[@mariobonilla7675]

Any divers in the Ft Lauderdale area that want to meet up for diving ( guys or girls ) send me msg ? I love watching all his videos. So informing...

[@d_mosimann]

Very poor sound quality. Besides that, great video, thank you.

[@pucioy]

Instructor on specialty course turn to me (student) asking if I can turn him on. :) It was so.... cute :)))