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

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.

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

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

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...

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.

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.

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

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

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

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...

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

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.

Sometimes an Instructor, always a student.

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 👌🏽

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Great info.

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.

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

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🤘

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

Hi James good haircut
Excellent video great advice!

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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 :(

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!

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.

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

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?

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

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!

What kind of scooter was used in the dive?

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

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!

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

Mikhail sounds like the top G here :)))

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!

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👌🏽 ❤

Fantastic advice. Many thanks 👍🏼