Know your limits, plan your dive, dive your plan

By Scuba bill

I recently attended a DAN training that had a very good video (also posted in the links page of this website - but here it is too:  https://youtu.be/-daC10SMwjg).  The more we dive, the more confident we become in our diving.  And although confidence is good, we always have to be mindful that our self-perceived confidence doesn't exceed our actual capabilities.  There are many things that can change and make a dive site be at the outside limits (or beyond) of our capabilities - these might include a new dive site, challenging weather or sea conditions, new equipment, a different dive buddy, changes or the status of our mental, physical and emotional health, or simply not being in the water in a while. Before every dive, we need to do a self-assessment and when appropriate ask for appropriate help and guidance, revise our dive plan, or perhaps not dive that dive.