Specialty Questions

[Steve50]

I've got a few questions about some of the PADI Specialties. I want to spend the summer working on my Dive Skills and getting the PADI Master Diver. Someday ill go for Divemaster/Instructor, but right now I just dont think I have developed my own skills enough to responsible for anyone other then mayself and my buddy.

I've Already taken the OW,AOW, and Rescue courses with NAUI, and Nitrox through PADI, and I think ive decided on the 4 Speacilites I wanna get to Finish the Master diver Requirments

1) Equipment Specialist
2) Deep Diver
3) Navigation
4) Peak Bouyancy

Im also Considering getting Night Diver as well. Most of the other Specialties dont really seam like they are worth it.

My Main Question is what are the Dive Requirments for Deep, Navigation, Peak Bouyancy, and Night Specialties? I cant seam to find that info anywhere. Thanks.

Talk to more than one instructor about what they cover on each one of the specialties you are considering. Then choose. You may find yourself utilizing more than one instructor to complete your program.

Just because others have taken a specialty class that left them yawning, doesn't mean that you need too.

 

[orionnt]

Do you mean (entry) pre-requisites, or requirements for completing each course?

Requirments for completing the course, specifically, how many checkout dives for each.


The main reason for taking the courses is to work on my own diving skills. I dont really know how good the instructors at the LDS are, The only course I have had at that shop is Nitrox, and that Instructor has since moved. I just recently moved to the area, so I cant go to my old NAUI Instructor to get the courses like I want too, since he always went above and beyond the course material.

I want to take the Deep Diving course, because alot of the good Dives here locally are in the 100-130ft range, so it seams like a wise choice.

Navigation because I dont want to get lost. Most of my diving has been in the caribbean, where there was a DM leading us, so I ahvent really used my Nav skills since my AOW course. It will be a nice refresher.

Bouyancy and Equip specialist are mainly just because. I've always been curious in how things work, and It cant hurt to learn about how to improve my bouyancy.

 

[Rhone Man]

Requirments for completing the course, specifically, how many checkout dives for each.


The main reason for taking the courses is to work on my own diving skills. I dont really know how good the instructors at the LDS are, The only course I have had at that shop is Nitrox, and that Instructor has since moved. I just recently moved to the area, so I cant go to my old NAUI Instructor to get the courses like I want too, since he always went above and beyond the course material.

I want to take the Deep Diving course, because alot of the good Dives here locally are in the 100-130ft range, so it seams like a wise choice.

Navigation because I dont want to get lost. Most of my diving has been in the caribbean, where there was a DM leading us, so I ahvent really used my Nav skills since my AOW course. It will be a nice refresher.

Bouyancy and Equip specialist are mainly just because. I've always been curious in how things work, and It cant hurt to learn about how to improve my bouyancy.

I think Deep and Nav have 4 dives each, but you usually get credited with one from your AOW, so in practice it means three. From memory, I think PPB is only 2 dives, but don't sue me if I am wrong. EqSp doesn't involve getting wet.

 

[Steve50]

I think Deep and Nav have 4 dives each, but you usually get credited with one from your AOW, so in practice it means three. From memory, I think PPB is only 2 dives, but don't sue me if I am wrong. EqSp doesn't involve getting wet.

since I'm sitting on the IM - Nav is 3 dives minimum

 

[AndyNZ]

To confirm, Deep is 4 dives, Nav is 3, PPB is 2. You will have done Deep 1 and Nav 1 on your AOW, so only 3 and 2 dives to complete.

Many people focus on the skills for each dive - but for each course there is a lot more than just the skills. For example, if you take the Deep course as it stands now the skills (ignore ascents/descents) are simply:

Dive 1 - Compare colours at depth, compare different depth gauge readings
Dive 2 - Observe pressure effected objects, navigation swim
Dive 3 - Timed task, simulated emergency deco stop
Dive 4 - Undertake an underwater tour

Note that PADI have just swapped the timed task you would have already done from Dive 1 to Dive 3.

The skills are relatively inconsequential - what is more important is the knowledge and experience you gain around those skills. For example, TSandM's experience of not being taught gas management is common - but buried in the instructor outline is a statement that students should "Calculate air consumption for certain depths", which is the basis of all gas management.

You should talk to your instructor to get an idea of what they will cover and see whether it matches your expectations. If not, pick another.

Equipment specialist is none!

 

[CoralSeaMan]

As someone already mentioned the basic philosophy behind many of these courses is to get additional supervised dives as well as some practical experience with the subject. Those are inherently useful things. The "deep" specialty has the most substantive information. "Navigation" had the most practical experience with the subject. Otherwise, think of these dives as "experiences." I mostly considered them an excuse to dive with more skilled divers.
Some courses, however, were worth it just for the confidence it instilled. The "equipment" specialty was useful for me even though it was very general because it helped me become familiar with how equipment worked. I am not very mechanically inclined, so it gave me the confidence to handle equipment issues. I did not suddenly become a repair technician, but I am not afraid to work with my equipment. It was useful for me. It might not be useful for someone else.
The best way to become a better diver is to dive. The courses are a reason to dive.

 

[scubadiver888]

I've got a few questions about some of the PADI Specialties. I want to spend the summer working on my Dive Skills and getting the PADI Master Diver. Someday ill go for Divemaster/Instructor, but right now I just dont think I have developed my own skills enough to responsible for anyone other then mayself and my buddy.

I've Already taken the OW,AOW, and Rescue courses with NAUI, and Nitrox through PADI, and I think ive decided on the 4 Speacilites I wanna get to Finish the Master diver Requirments

1) Equipment Specialist
2) Deep Diver
3) Navigation
4) Peak Bouyancy

Im also Considering getting Night Diver as well. Most of the other Specialties dont really seam like they are worth it.

My Main Question is what are the Dive Requirments for Deep, Navigation, Peak Bouyancy, and Night Specialties? I cant seam to find that info anywhere. Thanks.

As others have stated, if you have Open Water you are ready for all these specialties.

What you might want to do is talk to a few shops in your area to see what they recommend. Ask them why and let them sell you on it. You'll probably find most the shops have similar recommendations.

For example, in my area they would recommend wreck diver. Some might recommend drift diver as well. I, personally, like search and recovery. You learn to shot a bag plus you learn to find stuff. I know a few guys who use this and have successfully recovered gear lost by other divers. A reel, a snorkel, a mask, etc.

You might want to learn drysuit diving. I don't know what diving is like in your area but for me, fish identification is ABSOLUTELY useless. Night diving is not great. The local shops will know what will be useful for your area.

I think the four you have picked so far are good choices.

Take your time. Talk to people as you get each specialty. You can learn as you go. You might not know what you want as your fifth specialty right now but after these four specialties you probably will. The key is to talk to people. Diving is a social event (or it should be).

 

[Pearldiver07]

If you have already done AOW, you must know what the quality of the courses your instructor/s is/are offering. It was my experience, with my shop, that the specialties didn't have much to them, and were designed more to give somebody a little more supervised dive time than anything else. In particular, the deep specialty left out a TON of stuff I think ought to be included in a class on deep diving -- in particular, there was NO gas planning information.

The one class I thought was well worthwhile was the navigation specialty. Navigation is something we all have to use, and doing the set courses and exercises really was helpful.

Peak performance buoyancy has the potential to be an excellent class, but rarely is.

All in all, you might be better off hooking up with a good mentor and just doing a bunch of diving this summer, and doing a lot of reading.

A lot of truth to this. One specialty I haven't seen commented on yet is the Enriched Air (Nitrox) course. It starts you on a lot more understanding of what role the oxygen and nitrogen are playing during the dive.

I agree that Deep diver leaves much to be desired as PADI has it. But concerning Navigation, be VERY careful about who will teach it, and how. Most instructors have never touched a compass outside of their own training (in terms of true navigation, not just knowing which way is north), much less any meaningful training in navigation. I was blessed with a rich military training in navigation, tuned well by very determined instructor I had once, and then really honed by a retired special forces colonel. Had it not been for this, I too would be teaching as much bad technique as many instructors. I would not pass an instructor in Nav training unless I felt that he/she truly understood where they were going behind a compass.

Concerning buoyancy, I have always thought that teaching a new diver buoyancy would be best repeated when they have 60-100 dives under their belt. My instructor was a helicopter IP and made me do just about the same 3-dimensional skills that he made his pilots do. The best student I ever had was a synchronized swimmer (competitive type) before diving. She was so very aware of body position and relied totally on footwork (fin work?) and breath control to position herself. If your buoyancy instructor doesn't spend (at least) two FULL dives working different skills with you, you've been shorted. You'll regularly find me doing my 3 minute safety stop playing with buoyancy. And the same with many of my old students. Buoyancy class teaches you what you need to know to START learning.

As to previous comments about a mentor - not a bad idea. But make sure (and this applies to instructors too) that the person can get the information over to you also. Good at doing doesn't mean good at teaching (and vice-versa, sadly).

Well, that's my 2psi to put in. Whether you take classes or hook up with another more experienced diver, the key is TO KEEP DIVING - A LOT !!!!!