What do you know...?

[lottie]

This question is more for you guys and gals out there that have been diving for a number of years...

What do you know now that you wished you knew when you first started diving?

[rubber chicken]

How much money it was going to cost me!

[Diverdaniel]

that i would fall in love with it, meet my wife underwater and, put more money in to it than i could imagine, that i would put so much time,money,effort,love,and other feelings in to it.
all good things to be sure.

[dalehall]

I'm kinda along the same lines as Daniel.. How much I would love it, how awesome "Planet Ocean" is, and, how many good friends I was going to make due to becoming a diver. If I would have known all that, I would have started much earlier than age 40.

[acelockco]

I wish I knew that Ikelite's Lifetime Warranty is only good for the Lifetime they feel the product should have, not Real Lifetime. Apparently once they come out with a new design, they no longer support their old product nor is it covered under the lifetime warranty.

Don't support a company that sells lies to their customers!

[Papa Bear]

I would have had a camera a long time ago! I would have documented more and not just been an observer! I would have fit more dives into my life and more divers! This would equal more stories and more memories and of course more pictures! But, never look back or regret the past, only improve the future! "I would rather regret those things I have done, than those I didn't!" A very wise man!

[cudachaser]

I wish I would have documented (images or words) my early dives

[seasnake]

I agree, I wish I would've gotten a camera sooner ... I wish I would've went to the caribbean (or any warm water diving) sooner in my scuba life ... I also wish I would've sought out a better instructor and better instruction in the beginning instead of having to learn it on my own ...

[Nemo]

I had a bad first instructor too and had to redo everything with another instructor who actually made me do the skills. The first just didn't have me do any skills at all. He just said ahh, you look fine in the water.... your buoyancy is good you don't need to do any skills, you pass. PADI didn't agree and recommended me redoing it so I did.
It's really intimidating at first because you know nothing. I've seen many instructors whose methods I didn't like. Where the students were scared sh#@&less and the instructor was angry........it's supposed to be enjoyable.

I wish I had gone to the primo dive sites in the world before now regardless of the cost. Also wish I had a video record of every single dive. I have nearly 1000 dives now and as a DM return to many dive sites many many times. Yet I always see something new and interesting EVERY single dive......even when vis drops to near zero. Wish I had a video of it all.

[alcina]

That even as slow as I was going, it wasn't slow enough There's no way to go too slow on a dive...always something to see and observe if you just take the time.

I would have switched to RAW shooting much sooner than I did, too.