Which specialties are worth the money?

[Randy43068]

Wreck
Ice
U/W Photographer
U/W Navigator
DPV
Night
Equipment specialist
Shark diver (SSI only)
Solo diver (SDI only)


Done all of the above without any certification.

Now some of them (Wreck and Ice in particular) I did have a mentor, I just do not have a piece of plastic to show for it.

will you take the shark diver class with me? I'll need someone to cut so I can swim away.

 

[JeffG]

will you take the shark diver class with me? I'll need someone to cut so I can swim away.

I would be honored.

 

[mike_s]

Quick poll, just for fun, which specialty course are actually worth the money (in your opinion). .

this is a "loaded question".


Why? because any course you take could be "really good" or "really suck" depending on the shop and instructor you take it from.

 

[Kevua]

Just to make a correction to your poll, SSI I believe has a solo diver cert also. But as far as your poll, I think it would be the ones you are interested in. If you are interested in caves then that one would be worth the money, wrecks so on. As for the ones that I think are the most important, you don't have one of them on the list which is stress/rescue.

 

[Rhone Man]

Has anyone on the thread done a solo diver course? I thought about doing one only because they say if you dive with young kids you should regard yourself as solo diving as no one is able to assist you. But on the other hand, what do they teach you other than dive within your limits and carry lots of redundancy?

 

[Blackwood]

I haven't taken one, but I'd talked to an instructor about his solo program (note, this is one fairly meticulous instructor who generally only teaches tech-oriented courses, so take it with a grain of salt).

Equipment-wise it's very much about full redundancy (doubles or stages, etc.). Other than that, he stresses dive planning (particularly from a gas standpoint) and overall awareness. Like many cave courses, during debrief he'll ask questions like "how deep were you at minute 35 of the runtime, and how much gas had you consumed?"

 

[Tomeck]

Ice diving (IMO) is the most dangerous "recreational" scuba diving out there.

Anyone who would just "jump in" is an idiot.

I am not convinced that ice diving is the most dangerous recreational scuba. Every year, we go to the Alpes for ice diving. I think the wreck penetration is more dangerous, because the wrecks are not stable.

 

[JeffG]

I am not convinced that ice diving is the most dangerous recreational scuba. Every year, we go to the Alpes for ice diving. I think the wreck penetration is more dangerous, because the wrecks are not stable.

Then we will have to agree to disagree.

Ice diving has all the overhead issues of caves/wrecks, plus has all the equipment issues dealing with extremely cold water.

Not a good mix.

Almost killed me.
Almost got my brother killed.
A dive partner in Ontario died ice diving.

YMMV

 

[Pearldiver07]

Does it count as "ice diving" when it only involves good scotch with ice cubes in a glass?

Cause that's as close to "ice diving" as I expect I'll ever get.

 

[JeffG]

Does it count as "ice diving" when it only involves good scotch with ice cubes in a glass?

Cause that's as close to "ice diving" as I expect I'll ever get.

Sorry no.

LOL..but it is different. A lot of people take the PADI "Dope on a Rope" Ice diving class. They do it once and then never ice dive again, but they do get a new unique dive experience.