AFTER THE FACT...what things have you learned about scuba training that you wish you'd known beforehand?

So hindsight is 20/20 and arm chair quarterbacks can strategize a perfect game on Monday morning.

 

So taking this advantage into consideration ...what have you learned about SCUBA INSTRUCTION that you wished you'd known before you got certified? Took a particular class? Or chose one shop over another? Opted to go with a shop instructor or an independent instructor or even how you chose one instructor vs another?

 

We don't need any name referencing but please share your experiences in a general way so as to help others and of course as a reminder to what you'd do differently if you had to do it all over again!

 

Thank you for sharing and we invite ALL skill levels to participate in this discussion including new divers.

I'll start off with something simple BUT important. (Just to show that NOTHING is off limits to this topic!)

 

So when I first got certified eons ago... there were only 3 colors for gear choices....

 

• Black
• Black
• Black

 

LOL!!
 

Actually they had:

 

• Black (go figure right!)
• Blue
• Pink

 

Even yellow/green was not readily avail yet so most of the guys chose blue and most of the girls chose pink.  So guess which color I chose? YEP...the proverbial stereotypical 'pink'.

 

BUT IT GETS WORSE....

 

Not only did I choose this color but I made purchasing decisions SOLELY on this color!

 

So if it was not 'pink' I did not buy it...even if I needed it.

 

BUT WAIT....IT GETS EVEN WORSE THAN THAT.....

 

Not only did I choose gear based upon its color but I chose functionality and safety based upon it's color. 

 

So I would choose a lesser quality item and even knew it was lesser quality ...but chose it anyway because it was PINK vs the true reason for the item. Since so few women were in the sport back then...suppliers threw some pink on their worst selling lines and offered them up to women and we bought them because they were pink! (Ok so maybe they did not add color to their worst lines/brands but it sure seemed the pink items were inferior to the black items that could be had from the same company.)

 

In any event... I now know that FORM (or COLOR) FOLLOWS FUNCTION!!  Buy something because its the best...it does the job...its safe... ifs the best deal/value...but DO NOT BUY IT STRICTLY BECAUSE OF THE COLOR!! 

Hmm something I didnt know before getting certified. I could have just went with my instructor on a trip, and had him certify me on the trip in warm, beautiful blue water instead of being certified in a cold lake with -4 ft viz. Im probably a better diver for this, but I can say it was a little scary the first few times in that lake. I did get to use wetsuits and practice proper weighting so there were pros and cons. I just wasnt aware that I had a choice ! Lol

Hmm something I didnt know before getting certified. I could have just went with my instructor on a trip, and had him certify me on the trip in warm, beautiful blue water instead of being certified in a cold lake with -4 ft viz. Im probably a better diver for this, but I can say it was a little scary the first few times in that lake. I did get to use wetsuits and practice proper weighting so there were pros and cons. I just wasnt aware that I had a choice ! Lol

Probably best you did NOT know there was a choice. LOL! The saying goes...if you can dive in a lake...you can dive ANYWHERE!!! Sadly many divers who learn in perfect conditions...can only dive in perfect conditions. Even the ocean is not always perfect so it does matter. We had less than perfect conditions last week in Roatan. Still perfect by lake and quarry standards...but not ocean perfect. But we had great dives...just has to be more cautious of the ladder and waves and reduced vis.  BUT THERE ARE TONS OF WORK AROUNDS FOR THESE...so as you say... lots of pros and cons.

 

I do know of a number of people who had such a bad experience in a cold lake they never dove again. And I know several who couldn't muster the nerve to even try the cold lake So YES OPTIONS ARE THE BEST!!! There is no 'one size fits all'.

It would have been nice if someone told me that I will not enjoy my first dozen dives.  I will think I enjoyed them.  But after a few dozen dives is when I REALLY enjoyed diving.

 

1. It takes time and diving to get familiar with dive equipment.
2. As time & dives accumulate, I figured out what type of equipment I liked and then bought it (slowly.)
3. It takes a while to learn what type of diving and where is the most enjoyable for you.
4. There are two kinds of divers - those that pee in their wetsuit and those that lie about it.

Completely beyond learning to dive ....

 

I took a couple of regulator servicing classes, getting certified to service them.  I never serviced a regulator, but felt better knowing all that stuff and that the ONLY person to service my regulators was the right person.

 

Tank visual inspections: I never did them completely on my own, but learning how to do them was another thing that made me appreciate the necessity.

It would have been nice if someone told me that I will not enjoy my first dozen dives.  I will think I enjoyed them.  But after a few dozen dives is when I REALLY enjoyed diving.

 

1. It takes time and diving to get familiar with dive equipment.
2. As time & dives accumulate, I figured out what type of equipment I liked and then bought it (slowly.)
3. It takes a while to learn what type of diving and where is the most enjoyable for you.
4. There are two kinds of divers - those that pee in their wetsuit and those that lie about it.

Completely beyond learning to dive ....

 

I took a couple of regulator servicing classes, getting certified to service them.  I never serviced a regulator, but felt better knowing all that stuff and that the ONLY person to service my regulators was the right person.

 

Tank visual inspections: I never did them completely on my own, but learning how to do them was another thing that made me appreciate the necessity.

This is great stuff and I totally agree! However, I was told this about my first 10 or so dives. I was told that "I would probably like them, but until I started getting really comfortable I wouldn't be getting the full experience." I didn't understand this though, because I was so obsessed as soon as I took my first breath under water. When i dropped in blue water I was complexly mesmerized (and if I'm honest I still am)   . Then!!, at about dive 12-15 I realized I was not thinking about my buoyancy, breathing, finning, etc all that was becoming more natural and no longer needed my constant attention. I realized how much more I was seeing! and how much more I was "enjoying" my dive. It makes me very grateful for my instructor, and that I was blessed enough to have him go with me on my first vacation, which helped with my comfort and confidence in the water.

Also, I got the equipment specialty to have a little more understanding about my gear and ended up with an even greater appreciation for those who service mine!