Dive Training Blogs
A little bit of sunshine between dark clouds…
As you have probably guessed from the Deptherapy trip I wrote about in my last blog, I have discovered that scuba diving does absolute miracles for my mental health and the company of a guy who shall only be known as Scuba Steve!
Steve and I have got on since the moment we met; he has also helped me accept a lot of the things I was denying I was going through. ( I think my Neuropsychologist is reaping the benefits of me being more open!)
Well….we have been gagging to get diving again and it couldn’t come soon enough… As soon as we started speaking to Chris, we knew he was the right bloke to do our dry suit course with, and it was in sunny Liverpool. Steve and I started to get excited, like kids in a sweetshop, and to be honest, after recent events we both needed it.
Chris turned out to be as nice a bloke in real life as he was on Facebook Messenger. We got the formalities out of the way and met his long haired general and fellow instructor Patsy who was equally as nice and seemed to embrace the squaddie type banter. We headed upstairs into the pool area which was like a sauna once you put your drysuit on 🙂
We did the drills and skills you need to know to get your buoyancy correct and to get yourself out of the possible complications that come with wearing a dry suit. Then, Chris suggested we head to the Harbour… well, Steve and I snatched that offer out of his hand before he had finished his sentence!
Still as excited as kids, Chris explained to Steve and I the skills and dive brief we were going to follow. We saw some plaice (the stuff you see in the chippy!) and a mussel arc. We continued the dive with more skill drills and learnt how to make adjustments to our buoyancy. Then we finished the dive, got out with grins from ear to ear and fresh clear heads. Chris did a debreif and we couldnt thank him and Patsy enough…it genuinely did us both a world of good. Words can’t express what diving does to us and the feelings it brings with it. Tomorrow we should be drysuit divers!
Day Two
I wasn’t feeling my best and I think if it had been anything else I would have cancelled and just gone home with the fatigue, feeling down… But, this was not just about diving, this was my key to the kingdom, my access to UK diving, my access to the thing that can clear my mind and fix my mood just by blowing bubbles.
I got in the taxi, put my headphones in and tried to get rid of the fatigue, which could cause all sorts of problems in the water. Scuba Steve was stood at the entrance waiting for me, as he always does (he is a legend of a bloke). I met up with Chris Ridd and was joined by our new instructor Kerry Place.
Kerry gave the dive brief and asked about our injuries. Once the brief was over it was time to kit up. This is the first time I started to get the excitement back that had been sucked out of me by the rubbish day. For those of you that have ever been in a drysuit, it’s not an easy item to get into, you start with your legs, easy… then pull it up to your chest, a bit of jiggery pokery and that’s done.. this is the interesting bit.
As you might know my shoulder is in all senses of the word, screwed. I had hurt it during the kit on/kit off drills last night. Steve had to help me in…bad arm first, then good arm (Steve doing all the work). To get your head in I can only describe it as if someone was giving birth to me! There is a lot of squeezing and moving of your neck, all to push your head through a hole that is significantly smaller than your head.
Finally, we got in the water, completed our buddy checks and then we were off. Neck wet, stresses gone, chin level, anxiety gone, head underwater, clear and peaceful…
I know i keep ranting on about it but diving isn’t just good for my depression and anxiety; it works miracles on making the brain clear of negative thoughts. The dive was amazing and it did everything I needed that day.
Time for the theory. Chris and Kerry were really good at explaining the theory as per the manual.In fact, they were both absolute stars. Steve and I owe you a beer…..at least!
Did someone say Qualified Drysuit Diver?
Yesterday was a good day!
The first thing on my agenda was the Drysuit exam or knowledge reviews. Due to issues with my text book and learning materials being delivered late I hadn’t been able to revise… not like I’d be able to remember the information anyway!
I got to the diving centre at 10am and met Scuba Steve, Patsy and Chris. We headed to the classroom; Steve had already done the revision in the book.
Gemma turned up and knew that I had not received my book but just in the same relaxed way they had all week, the Glacier Dive Team helped me get to grips with the knowledge I needed in a format that my brain would accept. We sat in the classroom and talked about diving and the the things that ‘may’ come up on the exam.
We then went into the exam, wrote down our answers and once finished, Kerry spoke through each of the questions so that I knew where I had done good (and not so good).
Steve and I both passed with flying colours! Thanks to everyone for an all round awesome experience, especially Scuba Steve and the team at Glacier Diving. I feel reinvigorated and I can’t wait to go diving next time!
Jon Beever blogs at: https://jonbeever.wordpress.com
Find out more about the work of Deptherapy at: http://www.deptherapy.co.uk
Article by José Pablo Mir
Pictures by Cezary Abramowski
The world of technical diving is exciting. It opens the door to new sites, depths, and bottom times. More importantly, it opens our minds to a new way of planning, facing, and experiencing dives, even those not purely technical.
Becoming a technical diver is a process, and like in other aspects of life, we should find the proper entry point that suits us best based on our knowledge and experience. The Introduction to Technical Diving course from TDI -the world’s largest and most recognized technical diving teaching organization- is the best option for divers who have yet to gain experience in the fundamental aspects of this new practice. The course’s content and its embrace of new techniques and technologies make it possible to acquire a solid foundation to learn and gain experience in this practice properly.
Becoming a technical diver is not something that happens overnight, whether deciding to become one or receiving a certification card stating we are now technical divers. It is a slow process extending farther away than any introductory course. It requires effort and dedication. But it will bring us satisfaction from day one -or two.
It is a matter of mentality
First, we must understand and accept that technical diving, involving greater depths, longer bottom times, exotic gases, virtual or real ceilings, and more, comes with higher levels of risk than the sport diving we have been practicing until now.
Although this discussion usually starts with a warning about risks, as I’ve done in the previous sentence, our practice is not a game of chance.
Technical diving is a rational activity that requires maturity and good judgment, and we will put everything into ensuring that each dive is a successful one -meaning we return from it safe and sound. With this understanding, we will strive to establish a mental attitude more aligned with our practice and its realities.
This new “technical diver” mindset we will develop will lead us to be more cautious in our executions, more analytical in our plans, more rational in our strategies, and more detailed in our procedures.
Experience will keep teaching us to know ourselves better, to keep our anxiety and other emotions under control, and to manage our impulses. Over time, our senses will sharpen, and we will be more attentive to the particulars of the situation we find ourselves in.
Strategies and procedures
Our strategies, those broad guiding lines tracing the path to follow, from how to approach planning to where, with what, and how we are willing to get there, will be more specific and more practical. Not because they magically become so, but because we will consciously and deliberately frame them that way.
We will establish clear, concise, and realistic procedures. Not only for the undesirable situations that may present themselves but also for those that are part of our dive objectives.
Even though, as technical divers, we often use equipment different from what we were previously accustomed to, it is essential to note that the gear does not make the diver. In a way, we could consider such equipment as the necessary tools to implement what our goal seeks to achieve, according to our strategies and procedures.
Technique plays an important role
We must put our greatest effort into learning and perfecting the different techniques we will be acquiring. Buoyancy, trim, propulsion, cylinder handling, deploying DSMBs and lift bags, valve drills, and more are essential skills we must begin to master to progress in our art. What we cannot do, when we need to do it, can harm us.
Our techniques must be effective and achieve the purpose for which they were devised. But they must also be efficient and require the least resources possible, including the time they take and the effort they demand. Effectiveness and efficiency will prevail over beauty and other considerations that may come to mind, although none of them should be mutually exclusive. A technique executed efficiently and effectively tends to have an inherent beauty.
Refining techniques is a lifelong mission. Some of them will be easy to master from the go; others, on the other hand, will be our life mission and will require many repetitions just to resemble the idea we have in mind of how they should be executed.
We must consider the environment
Our learning, the needs and musts of the practice we engage in, the experience we gradually gain, our strategies and procedures, and even our equipment and tools change with the environment.
Diving in the ocean, everything about us must be suitable for ocean dives. Conditions there rarely emulate those found in a pool, lake, or river. Variable winds and currents, greater depths, visibility conditions, other divers with uncertain skills around us, marine life, maritime traffic, distance from the coast, and many other factors add complexity and uncertainty.
It is never necessary to master the pool on the first day, but planning and aspiring to gradually cope with the ocean’s conditions is essential.
The cost of good training
We are aware that our resources are often scarce in relation to the possibilities of use we could give them if they were not. To a greater or lesser extent, we are part of the economic reality in which we are embedded.
Fortunately, the cost of good technical diver training is not an entry barrier. Comparing training and equipment costs, we see that the former are generally lower. Yes, lower cost for personalized service, essential to our future
performance and safety, than for a series of mass-produced products that are mere, albeit necessary, tools for an end.
The value of good training
The value of the training we received encompasses a range of characteristics, from emotional and methodological to technical and technological. TDI and its Introduction to Technical Diving course offer a deep and modern approach, with a teaching strategy that aims to create thinking divers, not merely obedient ones.
As technical divers, our knowledge is our primary tool. In this type of activity, what we don’t know can harm us.
Is this course optional?
Unfortunately, the fact that this Introduction to Technical Diving course is not a prerequisite for any subsequent training is an invitation to consider it optional. And we all know what usually happens to “optional” under budget constraints.
However, this course should be seen as optional only by those divers who are somehow familiar with the use of technical equipment, who have a mindset more in line with the requirements of this type of diving, who plan and execute the dives the proper “technical” way, who know their gas consumption rate, who are not intimidated by non-decompression tables, who feel comfortable using their dive computers, and know the techniques and have at least an acceptable level of buoyancy, positioning, and propulsion. Those can go straight to a more advanced training course, such as TDI’s Advanced Nitrox.
We must ask ourselves whether or not we are in that group.
Remember our goal: to have fun
Recreational diving is our passion. Jumping into the water carrying heavy equipment and having properly dotted our I’s and crossed our T’s have only one ultimate goal: fun. This is the activity we have chosen as a hobby. We must enjoy it; it must give us pleasure and make us vibrate.
Having a good time is not optional!
Dive Friends teaches the Instructor Development Course (IDC) several times a year to students who are eager to share their passion for diving with the world.
Dive Friends is known for the personal approach throughout the course. Their in-house course director will lead the students through every essential step, mentoring them to achieve their fullest potential as a dive instructor.
Applications for the following IDC start dates are now open:
- 12 April
- 5 July,
- 20 September
- 29 November
Partnership with Casita Palma
If the student opts for the IDC-Deluxe or IDC-Supreme package, their accommodation will be arranged for them at Casita Palma. This small and quiet resort is within walking distance from Dive Friends Bonaire’s main dive shop location and has everything you need to relax after an intense day of IDC training. Breakfast is included, so the student will always be fuelled and ready for their day.
Contact Dive Friends Bonaire’s Course Director Eddy for more information: coursedirector@divefriendsbonaire.com.
-
News3 months agoHone your underwater photography skills with Alphamarine Photography at Red Sea Diving Safari in March
-
News2 months agoCapturing Critters in Lembeh Underwater Photography Workshop 2024: Event Roundup
-
Marine Life & Conservation Blogs2 months agoCreature Feature: Swell Sharks
-
Blogs1 month agoMurex Resorts: Passport to Paradise!
-
Gear News3 months agoBare X-Mission Drysuit: Ideal for Both Technical and Recreational Divers
-
Gear Reviews2 months agoGear Review: Oceanic+ Dive Housing for iPhone
-
Blogs2 months agoDiver Discovering Whale Skeletons Beneath Ice Judged World’s Best Underwater Photograph
-
Blogs3 months agoThe Thrilling Encounter with Tiger Sharks at Beqa Lagoon’s ‘The Colosseum’ with Coral Coast Divers