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6/20/2024 3 Comments Never Become An Advanced Diver!I am going to tell you something that NO scuba instructor in their right mind would ever say to you. NO dive shop will ever tell you what I am about to say. It goes against everything the entire scuba industry has been working towards for over the last 50 years.
Never become an Advanced Diver! I know what you’re thinking. “But James, how do I get better? I need to take my advanced open water!” Most divers receive an invitation for their advanced class at the same time they are getting the congratulatory handshake for completing their basic open water dives. All it takes to be an advanced diver is 9 dives. But does that card really give you the confidence of being an advanced diver. What really does that term, advanced, even mean? I see divers of all different levels in the water and they all seem to struggle with the same few things. The Essentials of Buoyancy, Balance, Trim, and Propulsion. Which ultimately affects their confidence. These basic skills are the core to your foundation underwater and most certification card models are built around bypassing these foundational skills. Rather than building a strong base to build your confidence underwater, most divers are sold the idea that it is advanced specialty classes that will make them better divers. So, why then do I teach the Essentials to scuba instructors? Divemasters? Advanced Divers? To divers who are already certified technical divers? What is it that they are missing? It is not a high level secret skill. In fact, it is much simpler than that. It is a mindset. It is a commitment to keep the beginners mind. The problem we fall into with scuba is that we are tricked into an idea that we need to keep giving and receiving positive reinforcement. Handshakes, and shiny gold certification cards, and elegant wall certificates; instead of a prescription of long-term foundational practice. Deep rooted instinct and rote memory from a drowning repetition of our core fundamentals is the way to become an advanced diver. Not by taking quick classes that teach a few new fancy tricks to try at night, or while deeper, or while identifying fish. That is the fools way of advancing your diving. If you need training to dive a little deeper, you should get it. But keep your beginners mind. If you want to learn how to dive at night, yes… take a class. But keep your beginners mind. Never let your certifications let you think or feel that you’re better than you really are. Your proof will be in the water. When you don’t get anxious about a safety stop. When you don’t wonder if you’ve got enough air. When you never worry about where your buddy is. When you don’t have to hold on to something or kneel on something to stay still for a picture. When you don’t leave a trail of silt behind you. When you are truly ocean friendly. This is when you know you are advancing yourself, but you won’t need a card to tell you that. Because it can’t. It’s how you present yourself to the underwater world that shows how advanced you are. The True Advanced Diver will never let themselves admit to being advanced. They will never think that they don’t need to work on improving their fundamental skills. They know that it is not the advanced card that makes them advanced, but rather a calm and a comfort in the Essentials that makes them safe and confident. And that, makes them Advanced.
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6/6/2024 1 Comment Fully EngageLife is stressful today. We are always under pressure to do more with less, and the stress seems to keep building year after year. Luckily for some of us, we have diving. A way to get away from it all. No emails. No cell phones. Just being underwater blowing bubbles. In our happy place. Free from it all, where our problems go away….
*Record Scratches* But wait! What if you run out of air? What if an O-ring fails?? What if you lose your buddy??? What if… sharks or something???? The reality is that we are always playing poker with the fates when we breathe underwater. You can open any scuba accident and incident report from any year and see that they are filled with fatalities from very shallow waters and well within NDL limitations. Dives that start off as a way to get away from it all, that ironically end with that very thing… literally. Dead. I challenge you to rethink your “get away from it all” mentality underwater, and instead to “fully engage yourself.” Go all in. Go 100% into what you are doing underwater. Things happen when we are diving. Weird, unusual, and unexpected things happen all the time. Usually, at the worst time. The accident isn’t even caused by that weird thing, but rather how the diver reacted to the situation because they were turned off and just blowing bubbles and enjoying the moment. They were not fully engaged with being underwater. Unfortunately, as divers, we can’t just quit and give up when things go wrong like you can in a driveway basketball game, or a bike ride, or family reunion cornhole match. For a diver, if the stress starts building underwater and the urge to quit and bailout of the game rises, it means there is a likelihood of a serious injury and possible fatality. Every foot of depth and minute of time that passes for a diver puts them further into a place where no matter how bad it gets; they must remain calm and clear headed. It’s a conundrum that divers face, where the time they could have an anxious moment that leads to panic will most certainly come at the worst possible time for a panic situation to occur. Even the most mundane and recreational of dives will have most likely invited some type of a decompression obligation that requires them to stay underwater and not do what they want to do which is quit and go to the surface and get out. In "The Essentials," I teach divers how to fully engage and how to take ownership of their diving. To know what your gauges will show before you look at them. To know exactly where your buddy is before you look for them. To start every dive always assuming the worst, so that you are ready to bring out your best. It is the opposite of every other class you’ve taken. It is the opposite of buying expensive computers and gadgets to make your diving easier and safer. Instead, it is learning to fully engage into the dive so that you are safer because you are fully present and aware. |
James Mott
James has been a PADI instructor since 1998 and was one of the original 10 instructors for UTD Scuba Diving in 2009. Archives
June 2024
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