How to categorize yourself.

If you're diving less than 5 times per year and you have less than three years experience, if having a divemaster with you underwater is still a comfort, if you're of normal fitness and would consider yourself as lets say a, normal person, then you may in fact be safer to consider yourself a novice, and avoid the dangers of letting macho control your thought processes. Having a c-card that says advanced diver on it has very little to do with being an advanced diver. Advanced divers do need this training, but they also need a great deal of experience to be truly advanced. Novice divers may have excellent training, but until they have dived enough to turn all the training into reflexes, they should not assume they can handle anything.

There are certain types of dives we are not going to recommend to novices, to intermediates, and even to advanced sport divers... We are not going to suggest novice divers visit the dive sites which have the biggest fish, biggest reef profiles, and biggest currents on them, because they tend to be deeper and have greater challenges in successfully enjoying them. Too many challenges will equal an uncomfortable dive experience.

In virtually any dive destination in the world, as the unspoiled wilderness quality of a site increases, so do the challenges associated with safely enjoying them. The best dives may realistically be the most difficult to experience safely, and this distinction must be understood.

Most dive sites at any dive destination will be novice sites, because there are more novice divers, and this is where most dive boats will make their money. Even so, there are tremendous differences between novice sites, and these differences are what you will need to know to find the experiences you'll like best. There are great dives that novices and advanced people can enjoy together, but lumping disparate groups together in our descriptions will not address finding the perfect site for you. We will address as many distinct groups of diver ability as is feasible, and if you'd like something that would match your situation better still, e-mail to us your own category by the following criteria, and any other you'd care to add:

To: dlv@gate (Dan Volker, Editor)

Your E-mail address

To: South Florida Dive Journal, I am requesting advice on dive sites and operators, and the fact that I am sending this e-mail to you signifies I waive all potential liability to South florida Dive Journal and any corporations, partnerships or individuals connected with it. Futhermore, I feel strongly that as a certified diver, any decisions I make are educated decisions, and that no dive operator or divemaster or other diver has any responsibility to alter my behaviour or direct me as to safety, and that I make these statements knowing full well that frivolous lawsuits by incompetent divers threatens my enjoyment of scuba diving in the future. In sending this e-mail, I not only waive all liabilities, I condemn incompetent divers for not taking responsibility for their own actions. In answering the following questions, I am hoping for information which can help me ask dive operators better questions, and in this way find a better dive experience. Any e-mail reply I may recieve from the South Florida Dive Journal will be considered by me to represent an opinion, with no qualifications as to safety or judgement.

My name is . I have done : dives in the last year

The average depth of my favorite dives was ,

and the comfort level and skills I used in dealing with each of these

dive environments was

On my favorite dives I would like to see...Turtles..(Y or N response) :

Spectacular Reefs (Y or N response):

Fish--types/sizes:

Wrecks (Y or N response):

Macro photo Opportunities(Y or N response):

Wide angle photo Opportunities (Y or N response):

And most importantly I want to see...:

My experience with Drift Diving is:

and the places I have experienced Drift Diving are:

My level of aerobic fitness is (described in running, cycling,

or swimming terms) is:

The speed I like to swim at on my dives is:

The kind of attention I want from the dive boat

that takes me out is:

If there was a ready made category that would help to describe me,

such as novice, intermediate, transitional to advanced, advanced,

transitional to technical diver, technical diver,

I would be considered:

In the way of Hotel accommodations--price, amenities, proximity to boat

vs. cost, on the beach or in town, family

oriented with kids programs or executive or just cheap,

I am looking for...:

If I was to choose who I would want to dive with

(i.e., a group of yuppie types, with fun types, with

serious types, with Rambo type, with environmentalists,

or with video or photographers) I would choose :

I am interested in diving the South Florida area:

Summer

Fall

Spring

Winter

Very Soon

No plans at present.

Additional information about my interests in diving include:

Please enter your phone number below , just in case your e-mail address does not function as expected ;)
---(your phone number)