Advanced open water question

[Bennno]

See if you can skip AOW and go straight into Intro to Tec

Why though? I think it's not a bad idea to do some diving before you do intro to tec. The AOW is fine IMHO.
I diagree with all this 'starting tec early stuff'. For most dives you don't need a twin set and you really don't need a twin set when you just started diving and thinking about doing your AOW.

 

[BoltSnap]

Welcome

Get in touch with Steve, talk to him about taking Intro to Tech. It will be money much better spent than on AOW and for what it sounds like you want to do, he's the guy.

In the context of the OP, this is the silliest most uneducated advice I have read in a very long time here. AOW is a totally different course than any Tech course and teaches/trains a different set of skills and knowledge. Nothing has to do with the other. If you don't know what you are talking about (it appears that you aren't an instructor), leave it to the professionals until such time that you may actually know what you are talking about.

You are letting your ego and your prejudices get in the way of giving proper advice within the context and actual needs of who is seeking advice here, the OP.

If your recommendation were to take a different agency's AOW (NAUI vs. PADI or anyone else's course), I'd have accepted that, BUT, "Intro to Tech"??? This is just bad advice in addition to being totally WRONG!!

 

[uncfnp]

Hi Slym. AOW is very worthwhile for a newish diver, especially if you can find an exceptional instructor. Take your time. Dive and enjoy yourself. AOW can open the door to more advanced dives for you.

Also consider Rescue. Then if you are still interested, go for the more truely advanced courses, wreck, tech, etc. By then you will be ready and know if its what you really want before you start spending the big bucks that Tech requires.

 

[tursiops]

OP, tbone is being grumpy tonight; take his advice with a grain of salt!
At your level a GOOD AOW course is a good idea.....that means a good instructor and a good selection of classes. Each class is the first dive of a full specialty....so you do one deep dive for AOW, but you need three more to do the specialty. Wreck is one dive for AOW, 3 more for the specialty (which may include a minor penetration on the fourth dive). After AOW, do Rescue. Get lots of dives in. Take the full specialty of anything that interests you. Tech is way off downstream, not to worry about it right now.

 

[tbone1004]

The TDI Intro to Tech Course is an introductory course that expands on recreational training by improving dive planning methods, in-water skills, and streamlining existing gear configurations in a controlled and fun learning environment.

All it is there for is to make you a better diver.... that's all. What do I know? The owner of your LDS is one of the best, get his advice

 

[diver 86]

1: I really wanted some adventure, and since travelling to the Antarctic and exploring the Amazon conflict with my day job


I love diving, but also highly recommend exploring the Amazon.

 

[elgoog]

I think you should do both, I'd recommend AOW first and then some diving outside of a dive cert class before you go for intro-to-tech (ITT) type class.
As mentioned above already, at the very least, AOW will let you get on trips locally and, more importantly, when you're on dive vacations. AOW gets bashed a lot (and sometimes rightfully so) but it's extremely convenient to have and, for me, was worth what I paid for it.
Your profile doesn't say how many dives you have but from a different thread you had, it looked like <10. ITT will be extremely difficult and frustrating at this time and I doubt you'll get much benefit from it. It's a hard class as it is and you really need to be comfortable in the water with SCUBA gear before you pursue it. Having said that, definitely do it after you've gained a little experience - it's one of the best courses you can take regardless of whether you ever intend to pursue technical or any other advanced type of diving.

 

[CuzzA]

I'll echo some of what others have said. I knocked out OW, AOW and Nitrox pretty quickly (this should be one course, IMO), but now it's time to perfect my skills before I move on to the deep diver specialty and advanced rec. trimix. I believe from there I'll have a good foundation with a couple hundred dives under my belt to begin tackling technical wreck diving and likely ccr. Take your time. Nothing good happens fast in diving.

 

[Slym]

Thanks all! Some very sound advice all around, answered my original question and then some haha, I'll sticking to the plan of doing an AOW just so I can start going deeper and getting more dive experience. I like what you said CazzA

I knocked out OW, AOW and Nitrox pretty quickly (this should be one course, IMO)

I wouldn't mind paying a bit more, reading a bit more, and learning a bit longer if they did that. As long as the pace of content is relatively easy to follow that is.

I am going to Allegro Cozumel with dans dive shop in April and be doing my OW check out dives down there. Still struggling with whether to either do a nitrox course, or the dive shop trip planner said I could follow up with an AOW course for pretty cheap too like $170 cad., or just to finish the check out dives and enjoy my vaycay.... it'll become more clear as the time gets closer.

 

[decompression]

With regards to Nitrox, if you're considering the basic PADI/SDI nitrox course it's money well spent somewhere else for now. If you are diving locally then air capacity is more of a factor than NDLs. Certainly read about nitrox, lots of good books ( old course manuals....) around. Lots on the interwebs as well. A good mentor can help.
However, if you are going to be doing warm water dives then it helps to have "the card". Excluding the instructor, TDI nitrox has better info that transfers well into Advanced nitrox and technical diving.

If you can find a good buddy or group, you can easily do similar dives progressively that mimic the AOW course. At that point you might have a better idea of what path or what courses you're interested in.