The Tale of Tater: A Dive History

They call me Tater!

Hello again Team Manta!

I’m back again to continue sharing my journey towards becoming a PADI Divemaster.   Previously I mentioned that I was certified a while ago.  Things were different back then in the SCUBA world.  Equipment was way different (perhaps I’ll discuss that some other time) and so were the certifications.  My course was 12+ weeks of 3 hour class/pool time and in addition to basic skills, included discussions of Boyles Law, fitness swims and CPR certification.  Despite the level of training and University credit, my certification was BASIC SCUBA DIVER which meant that I could rent gear and dive on my own, but only in inland lakes or in the ocean with supervision.  PADI now calls that level of training “Scuba Diver” certification, but I wanted the full Open water certification so the first order of business after my refresher course was to bring my certification up to modern standards and become an Open Water Diver.  That was the start of my new SCUBA training.    The checkout dives went fairly smoothly but I did learn I’m not fond of ‘performing skills’ as opposed to just relaxed diving.  I got that completed before my vacation to the Bahamas (Eleuthera) just in case there were any issues recognizing my 30 year old certification.  (Speaking of which, maybe sometime I’ll share why they call me Tater).

Diving is often compared to driving a car and while not a perfect analogy, I think it is a decent comparison in several ways.  Driving isn’t terribly difficult once you get the hang of it, BUT if you make a mistake at the wrong time, drive in conditions above your skill level, or think you are more capable than you really are, you can get yourself injured or killed.  You need experience to go along with the training.  If you want to drive a race car or a fire truck you need more training and more experience.  I view SCUBA the same way, getting certified only means you can dive, it doesn’t make you good at it.  If you want to dive deep, night dive or dive in conditions that aren’t ideal, you need more knowledge and experience.  When I went to the Bahamas’ I knew I loved the diving, but also that I had a lot to learn.  

The following dive season I signed up for AOW.  This course gets you a bit more exposure to different types of dives/skills. It is intended to give you exposure to skills and perhaps get you interested in particular types of diving but it also gives you a chance to learn more, get in some practice and still be under the supervision of an instructor while you expand your skills.  I liked the fact that you are pushing into new things, but only a little at a time.  My dive buddy and I did Navigation skills at Lake Andrea, Wreck and Deep dives at Pearl Lake and Peak Performance Buoyancy dives.  We chose those dives because we wanted to stick to dives we thought would not only interest us but also to make us better divers.  They were all fun too.  Mike and Lisa do a good job of combining real training with having fun.  OK, maybe the weeds in Lake Andrea weren’t a blast, but I had fun anyway.

One of the nicer aspects of the AOW dives is that they count as the first dive towards a specialty certification if you choose to pursue it.  As I described already, I had pretty much made up my mind which dives and specialties I wanted to pursue so it was sort of a ‘no brainer’ to combine the AOW with the specialties I was interested in.  That summer I pretty much did one specialty each month.   Some of the specialties overlapped a bit but I did what, at the time, felt like a lot of training.

Peak Performance Buoyancy:  In my opinion, this is one of the more important specialties for two reasons.  First, just about everything you do in diving is related to, improved by, or more enjoyable because of good buoyancy skills.  Air consumption, wreck diving, cave diving, reef diving, quarry diving and photography are all dramatically affected by buoyancy.  The second reason is that it is something that divers work on their entire careers.  Not many think their own buoyancy is perfect and many more think that other divers buoyancy is definitely not perfect.  Taking the class will not automatically give you skills, but it will help a lot and it will give you tools that you can work on while you are on just about every dive you ever do.

Search and Recovery:  This specialty for me was one of the most enjoyable specialties.  Part of that was the class itself.  As divers we have all seen/read about recovery operations in the news.  Unfortunately they are usually associated with finding accident victims.  Another facet that is not so depressing is finding lost items such as rings, car keys or (sometimes ghost) boat anchors.  The search involves different strategies, skills and drills.  The recovery involves still other skills and equipment such as knot tying and lift bags.

Knot exactly what he expected....

Tater doing some lifting.  Odd choice of gym......

I can say that doing work underwater is way more fun than working on shore.  I can also tell you that diving with a specific purpose is different than just touring around.  Our particular class was made special by the location, the group we were with, and the things we found to recover.  

I also have taken some winter ‘non diving’ classes for specialties in Nitrox and the Equipment Specialist as well as a previously unmentioned Emergency First Responder course.  All good courses but not a lot I can add to give you a feel for what they were like.  OK I could, but this is already getting long winded and I want to spend some words on one more specialty.  

 
One of the most important specialties I took over that summer was Rescue Diver.  Rescue Diver is probably one of the best PADI classes in terms of making divers more complete.  You learn the rescue skills and practice in water rescue skills, but it is more than just a class on how to rescue divers.  It is a class on being prepared and knowing what to do before you need to know.  Yes it is challenging and you will definitely work, you may even get a gulp of water during some drills, but there is a big payoff.  As mentioned in the driving vs. diving analogy, accidents can and do happen.  The reward for taking the Rescue Diver Specialty is being more aware of potential problems, more observant of other divers, more aware of what has to happen and knowing how to take leadership if events thrust you into that role.  It is a specialty that I hope I never have to use to its full extent, but that I do use to some extent every time I dive.  I’m still a noob, but less of a noob after this course.  This course also happens to be a requirement before you can move on to Divemaster or Master Scuba Diver. 

 
Ok, that’s it for the Tater Dive history rehash.  Next time I’m going to discuss my personal decision to head down the path of Divemaster training.  From reading on-line forums, I’m far from the only one who has had a personal debate on what to do.  Yes I am.  No I’m not.   You already know the result, but I will share my decision making thoughts in case someone else is thinking about it.  And if no one cares about my thoughts, for blogging about it maybe Lisa will cut me some slack on scoring all those DM skills we have to do.     Right Lisa? ….  Lisa?