is tech worth it? advise needed

[petrieps]

Thinking about tec
Presentation
I am at the divemaster level, this summer i am going for 2 month in the Philippines and i am thinking about getting tech certified.
I started diving nearly 20 years ago, but I only dive during the holidays because I can’t dive anywhere near where I live.
LEARN ING
After my intro diving I fell in love with diving, but after my OW course I fell in love with PADI. I don’t know if it is the same with all training agency, but I realy loved the padi education system; I always feel magically transformed after a course. U take a person and then a few days later they are a new person with distinct new skills that are deeply ingrained. It seems like a magical or alchemical transmutation. With each course I felt I was taking a quantum leap in my abilities. I know a lot of you emphasis experience over training, but from my own experience I would rater dive with a fresh RD with 25 dives than an OW with 2500 dives., because I know the RD standard, and the varied types of dives he did in AOW and not the real level of the experienced guy.

I know I needed a class to teach me things, because I didn’t have the luxury to get to that level by experience given how few opportunities I had to dive. I believe that a class, specially a hands on , well conceived one , is a huge time saver of experience.

MY STORY/ DIVE EDUCATION

Anyways that’s why, in Thailand I took in a row OW, AOW and five PADI specialities, but by the end I was feeling like I learned all there was to learn and found that just diving without learning new skill a bit boring . because of that and a lack of budget I didn’t dive for like ‘4, 5 years after that.

Then during a holiday in Bali I got hooked again and continued my education with Rescue diver, CPR and divemaster. These classes were extremely challenging and I felt I was just glimpsing at all there was to learn. I was more then in love with the PADI education system and got interested in becoming an instructor but couldn’t yet because I had less than 60 dives at the end of my DM training.

The next year I went to the red sea on a month long diving trip to fill up my dive log. Though I still found regular ” fun” dive excursions a bit boring, I worked my way around it. With each dive, I worked on my skills. by the end of the holiday, working on respiration, flotability, movement, relaxation… I had more than doubled my dive air time, and exteremly boosted up my buoyancy and my general diving level .


The year after I went back to bali to get my instructor course. That was a huge disappointment and I was realy disenchanted with padi and diving. I mean, I never intended to really teach, I mean at home I can’t even dive, let alone train other divers. I though that like every other course I got I would become a better diver. I mean the IDC is the next level in a logical progression course. Maybe my center was not clear enough in what was entailed in the course or maybe I fooled myself I don’t know.

Anyways it was the worse course I ever took, and was so boring. I also resented a lot the standardised role model bit because by then I had my own personal way of diving and doing things. I was so disgusted by the class, among other things, that I didn’t take the IE . I still had to fork for the IDC and the folders and cards and all , over $2000 of regrets if I remember correctly…

Anyways, at the end of it I was disgusted and though I would never dive again. I din’t see any learning opportuinity on the horizon, and as I said just diving to see the pretty fishes is really just not my thing. So I have stoped diving for years .


However, I am now headed for the Philippines for 2 months, and I got hooked again. Of course I will do a few regular dives as a refresher till I get back at least to my DM level.
Now what I am increasingly obsessing around is technical diving and I have a few questions about that.

]*is it worth it to go technical?

I mean I don’t really understand why there are so many courses. I mean dving is diving, just because you breath something else do u really need all those classes??

I mean I have done many “technical” type dives on air. I dived in several wrecks, in caverns, solo, and below 50 metters. I have a hard time understanding that just because you have to do a deco stop longer than a “safety” stop and breath a different mix that you need so much training. I guess I could understand that if you are diving on your own and filling your own bottles and stuff. But I know I’ll always dive in dive centers and with a professional guide, so I don’t entirely see the need apart from an intellectual pov. Can someone please explain this?

“ CLASSES
The main attraction in tech fo r me is the challenge of 80+ meters dives. For this, if I understand correctly, I need to take Nitrox+Adv Nitrox+ decompression+ extended range (not sure if this one is mandatory)+ trimix+adv trimix,

I mean that does seem a lot of courses just to go under 200 feet . I looked around the organizations and It seemed that TDI has the shortest, least expensive path to the depths, is that correct?. I saw that IANDT has a similar one but classes are more expensive.
I saw that this series of classes is over $2000 with a combined time longer than 15 days with bulk package rates. I saw such an offer in a philippines dive center in Puerto Gallera.

Ideally I wanted to do the GUE series because it is close to my diving philosophy but I saw that they need 200 and 300 loged dives to qualify to take the adv courses, which at my present rate will be when I am over seventy years old; I could just take the GUE fundamentals but I don’t have the budget for it this trip.

I know that I could just take a few of those classes and fun dive, but the only classe that really interested me is the adv trimix one.
If I do that series, the $2000 price tag will hinder my budget and I certainly won’t be able to spare money for any additional dives or courses during the rest of my trip.

Is there any alternatives?

Is it possible, in order to lower costs to download the manuals and just to get the cert card for the highest of the courses or do u need to be and official ean, adv, deco, trimix before getting the adv trimix cert.?

Once again is it worth it, I mean I am burning to try at least once these types of dives, but due to my low budget I will probably not do many tech dives in the future, and will most likely revert to air.

Also one of my worries is that after getting to adv trimix I won’t have much opportunity to learn new things, I mean there is specilities such as cave and tech and CC rebreathers and that’t it….

Do you have any suggestions, remarks, idea….?

Anyways, sorry for the long message, but I thought you should get the whole picture before advising me. Sorry for any spelling mistake and awkwardness, I am not a native speaker. Thanks in advance.

You think diving is boring, yet you took the instructor course, and want to go tech. This does not compute. You dive for the wrong reasons.
Take up a sport you like!

 

[Rhone Man]

I always think there are three types of people who want to take tec classes:

• People who want to go deeper/further/beyond the places most people go
  
• People who just want to keep learning and have run out of recreational classes
• Macho men / egotists

Broadly, tec training works well for all three. If you are not in any of those three categories, tec diver training may have limited appeal or benefit for you.

You sound like a category 2 to me. I was very much the same; I learned a lot doing tec classes (including learning things that I "didn't know that I didn't know"). I do relatively few tec dives today, but no regrets at all.

 

[Kevrumbo]

In Puerto Galera Philippines, go to directly to Asia Divers/Techasia Dive-Ops and ask all your questions about tech training to Dave Ross or Sam Collett; they also have GUE Instructor Anders Kristensen in residence as well. . .

Technical Diving Courses - Puerto Galera - Philippines

I've used them many times over the years for specialized wreck charters & tech logistics on historical WWII ships in such remote locations as Chuuk Micronesia, Coron Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sunda Strait Indonesia and the South China Sea.

 

[Teller]

If you have to ask then its probably not worth it for you. It was worth it for me and I learned alot more then gas switches.

 

[MrsBBC]

I tried again, and I cannot cannot figure out how to reply to this post

Nic

 

[spectrum]

Hi, HollyDayver! Welcome to ScubaBoard!! :wavey:

I'm a little concerned about this: ". . . but by the end I was feeling like I learned all there was to learn and found that just diving without learning new skill a bit boring"

It sounds like you are more in love with training than with actual diving. If you do not find diving exciting enough, maybe diversify to other sports?

As others said, contact DevonDiver. I think that, one-on-one, you'll get a better outlook on tech diving and any further advanced diving.

I share a concern. Diving only to learn and the 4-5 year hiatus sounds like certification collecting, not dive mastery. Mastery of each skill level through repeated real life execution should be considered a gate to more advanced dive skills. Ending DM with less than 60 dives makes my point. Your lack of interest in non training dives is in stark contrast to the underpinnings of the dive education systems.

You are adding an elevated risk to a sport that can present considerable danger. I you seek thrills you are on a good path.

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

I would say tech diving is NOT for you.

 

[red_barbarian]

Positives in taking up tech diving from your description would be a lot of new education and skills to learn, might find more interesting environments for you to dive in. The negatives I'd say would be cost, time in keeping up the skills, and you will be disappointed at 80M to find out that although the reef diving environment is somewhat different down there quite often it's nicer shallower. If you have a strong intrest in Wrecks go learn in Subic, i think for your introduction though you might find Malapascua is pretty nice. Matt Reed runs Evolution over there and I would not hesitate to recommend him.

 

[Centrals]

In Puerto Galera Philippines, go to directly to Asia Divers/Techasia Dive-Ops and ask all your questions about tech training to Dave Ross or Sam Collett; they also have GUE Instructor Anders Kristensen in residence as well. . .

Hi Hollydayver,
If you had made it to PG then you should visit Captain Gregg as well. Talk to Chuck and ask about diving beyond 200m.
"Daddy" Paul Neilsen is another highly regarded technical instructor and he is also around PG.

 

[MrsBBC]

Matt Reed runs Evolution over there and I would not hesitate to recommend him.

But Matt might hesitate to train him

Nic