I wanna do it all

[scubadiver888]

swimmer_spe,

If you are looking at 10 years down the road, keep asking questions. If you want to get into diving beyond recreational diving, talk to dive shops and see if they offer something something. Diving beyond recreational dive limits is called Technical Diving. Have a look at https://www.dmoz.org/Recreation/Outdoors/Scuba_Diving/Organizations/Training_Agencies for a list of some agencies. Some agencies have already been mentioned here, e.g. IANTD, TDI, GUE, TecRec (PADI). There is also NAUI and SSI. Note however that a fantastic diver doesn't necessarily mean they are a good instructor. You can even find that one instructor is better than another instructor even if they are from the same agency.

Go to the online agencies. Find local shops. Drop by the shop and chat with people. The more shops you visit the more information you'll have.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Don't forget PSAI for tech (no comment on their cave training, I don't do caves).

 

[KevinNM]

I would rather learn and do incrementally that having to completely re-equip and start from scratch.

Can it be done incrementally?

Sure, anything can be done incrementally.

The most obvious equipment difference between the typical PADI diver and the GUE (etc) diver is the GUE diver is using a backplate and wing. You can buy one for $300 at DRIS today. It probably isn't the worlds most ideal rig, but I suspect it will work (with some minor changes) to get you though something like GUE fundamentals. For example, it doesn't have exactly the GUE style harness, but I would bet it isn't that hard or expensive to fix.

 

[fbk]

It's fair to say that every diver who ever ended up diving caves or deep wrecks did it incrementally. You don't just wake up one day after a few dozen open water dives and become a technical diver. You can start doing courses without having to buy or own every piece of equipment straight away. Some essentials you might have to borrow to use for the course but if you keep diving, which is what you need to do, you will start to acquire more gear suited to what you want to end up doing anyway. And no... it's not quick or cheap. You can do some "intro" courses to see how you think you will like it and go from there.

 

[Vegan Shark]

You don't have to be wealthy to go the tech diving route, but you do need to be willing to funnel your money into diving and prioritize it over other hobbies/interests. If you love something, you can always justify the cost to yourself. I make 30k a year--by no means glamorous--yet have bought $2000 in tanks, and a new drysuit in the past 3 months. I know plenty of tech divers with simple jobs and incomes, taking expensive cave classes, paying for helium fills regularly, etc. Where there's a will, there's a way.

 

[waterpirate]

This is the age old quandry. I want to do that, but my gear is all different from that.

step 1. education
Understanding why the gear is different and the value in each choice and placement.

step 2. assimilation
Slowly changeing your gear to what is needed, while diving and gaining experiances at your current cert level.

A good first step is to find a mentor or instructor who is currently doing te dives you want to do later right now. Talk to them. Buy them lunch, dinner, beer, whatever it takes to get their attention and grill them for info and advice, sans the formal training/cost for now. Buying a BPW nowand useing it for rec diving will be the platform that will see you through to the end.

Hope this helps, we all started out confused and broke. Most of us are still broke.
Eric

 

[victorzamora]

10 years down the road is an obscene distance away if you can dive even fairly often. I think you can be WELL on your way in 2-3 because I've done it.

I went from OW only to fill cave and Tech certified in a couple of years, and that was as a college kid that then graduated, got married, and bought a house. Believe me, I've not been over flowing with money by any means. The trick is NOT buying low to mid range gear. It ends up costing you far more in the long run. My trick has been getting stuff STUPID cheap (i got a canister light for $100) or scraping cash together for the best. But knowing WHAT to buy has been the biggest saver of cash. Before going too deep into gear purchasing i was realizing is want to head into the tech path and immediately diverted funds.

One thing I was warned about when i started is that there really is no cheap way. There's no way to "dabble" in Tech diving it cave diving. You have to make gear purchases incrementally (or sell your first born to afford it all).... but you have to be ready to commit completely to tech or not start at all.

 

[swimmer_spe]

but you have to be ready to commit completely to tech or not start at all.

I have many other hobbies I enjoy.

In the last 10 years, I went from something crappy that "will do for now" to better stuff. I went from having no clue to having a good idea what I am doing.

It would be nice if diving was like that too.

 

[victorzamora]

I have many other hobbies I enjoy.

In the last 10 years, I went from something crappy that "will do for now" to better stuff. I went from having no clue to having a good idea what I am doing.

It would be nice if diving was like that too.

It is, it'll just take you forever to get to where you want to be. If you don't fully commit to tech it'll cost you a lot more money in the long run.

As for other hobbies, I'm an avid shooter and my wife is taking flying lessons. Believe me, i get it. I could have a nice scooter for what I've paid for in plane rentals for her.....

 

[Rich Keller]

Seeing the various pictures on the various diving Facebook groups I belong to, I keep thinking: I wanna do that.

Dive below 130 feet, dive in caves, dive in wrecks, the list goes on.

I have my AOW. I know I can do more certifications, but, I want to know; Is there something higher than AOW that covers caves and deeper, but does not force me to wear and use the exact same things as everyone else?

I am guessing that means going Tech, but I don't dive enough.

Commercial diving school will train you far better then every sport diving certification you can get put together and you will not be using the same equipment as sport divers. But once you are done with that training you will probably not be looking at your current objectives in the same way.