What are the most useful specialty courses?

[k374]

I'm thinking of doing Nitrox, night diving and wreck diving besides the required Deep and UW Nav for AOW. I don't think I want to do dry suit right now since I don't have plans to don a dry suit at this time.

My questions are: for the PADI Nitrox course are checkout dives required? I can't seem to get a clear answer to this. Does the wreck diving course involve penetration, if so that makes it non-OW right? Are there any additional risks to doing this course?

 

[fisheater]

No dives for Nitrox.

 

[paddler3d]

Nitrox. I believe the dive is 'optional', hence confusion. Wreck may have very limited penetration in that you'll always see the outside.

 

[KeysCD]

If the question is "what specialties are the most useful?", the answer is "what are you interested in?" If you're into u/w photo, buoyancy and u/w naturalist are great courses. If you want to dive wrecks, buoyancy, wreck, deep and eanx, would be good. As with any course, the difference between a good course and a great course is with the instructor. Choose wisely.

 

[mselenaous]

I'm thinking of doing Nitrox, night diving and wreck diving besides the required Deep and UW Nav for AOW. I don't think I want to do dry suit right now since I don't have plans to don a dry suit at this time.

My questions are: for the PADI Nitrox course are checkout dives required? I can't seem to get a clear answer to this. Does the wreck diving course involve penetration, if so that makes it non-OW right? Are there any additional risks to doing this course?

Just to clarify, with AOW you will be doing one Adventure dive as an intro to those specialties. With 5 adventure dives, you will have completed AOW. Each of those adventures dives could count as the first dive towards a specialty class.

To get your specialty Deep, you will need 4 training dives same for Wreck, where each of those dives has specific training objects that build upon each other. In wreck only the final dive may include some light penetration at the instructor's discretion. Night specialty is 3 dives, Dry suit is 2 dves, etc. KeysCD made an excellent point, that in choosing which specialty certs to pursue, you should think about your diving goals in the future (like UW photo needs good bouyancy skills, etc.) I also concur about the value added by a good specialty instructor.

The Nitrox specialty certification no longer requires actual dives as it is primarily about the theory and safety. Of all the individual specialty certs, Nitrox is the most popular & the most useful. Nitrox is the one you HAVE to HAVE a cert card to use. Sometimes, some LDS will ask for a drysuit cert card to rent a drysuit.

Enjoy your AOW course!

 

[TMHeimer]

I believe you need AOW to do Wreck and Deep. I found the Deep course quite good. Nitrox is very useful especially if all others on a boat are using it-your bottom times will be similar.

 

[drrich2]

I can share some of what I'm doing. I got Nitrox so when I'm in Bonaire I can dive with more bottom time and shorter surface intervals with repetitive dives due to slower nitrogen buildup.

I plan to do the Deep Diver specialty soon since we've seen threads on ScubaBoard.com about people getting fairly abruptly overtly symptomatically 'narc.'d' at over 80 feet, sometimes with a few feet depth making a significant difference, and I'd like to dive down to 120 to 130 feet but I'd like to do it the first time with a seasoned supervisor, and with some reading up on it in advance.

Since I might like to eventually pursue Rescue Diver & Master Scuba Diver (PADI), and need additional certifications as prerequisites but am reluctant to pursue what I consider fluff courses (e.g.: Boat Diver), and the way my mind works teaching me underwater navigation would take many dives and sort of a 'patience of Job' instructor so I am not pursuing it (but if you don't have my weaknesses it might be a great use of your time - the skills should be useful).

I'd like to someday to Wreck for the knowledge (but I don't plan to penetrate wrecks, at least more than a few feet; swimming around them is fine) and Cavern Diver (I don't want to do 'Cave Diving,' but having the training to safely poke around large caverns and not go in too far could be fun).

Richard.

 

[k374]

great, thanks!

 

[Peter Guy]

TMH...wrote

I found the Deep course quite good.

Not to cause a fight but because I am honestly interested in how classes are run -- what did you find "quite good" about your Deep course?

BTW, my best regular PADI specialty was UW Photography.

 

[Bronson]

All the specialty courses that you mention are good experiences to make you a better diver and know some skills to dive safe. For me i think the most useful is Bouyancy Courses with a trained instructor who will teach you something about how to control your breathing and manage your trim. Some of the technical training instructors can teach you great skills but it takes dive time to get real comfortable with your skills. These skills will make you more aware of your boddy, reduce your air consumption, help you be stable for taking photos. All may sound boring but just a thought.