Help me pick another specialty

I am taking my Nitrox and AOW as soon as I get back from Iraq but can't decide on the 3rd specialty. Deep and Navigation being mandatory as you most likely know, I want to do Wreck and Night in addition to those. What do you guys recommend for the 3rd one? I was thinking maybe photography. My instructor's site says Underwater Naturalist is pretty good as well.

Greetings Sonic04GT it is great to hear of your upcoming training!
I found personally the Peak Performance Buoyancy to be the most helpful for me.
It was the proper weighting / buoyancy practice and principals that really improved my diving skills.
Nitrox is really awesome, Dry Suit was great as well but being in your location DS might be a little much! If you head north to cave country it would be a good idea.
I would like to thank you for your service and will be praying for your safe return!
Diving is a incredible experience it can and will change our lives. It has become my solace and I live between dives! No joke! The hardest time of year is when local waters freeze over and prevent diving! Normal diving that is! Ice diving rocks to just need to have good ice!
Good luck and speedy safe return my friend!
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

Dude if you're a trooper just hook up with a good mentor. Why pay all that money when you don't need to? The only cards you absolutely need are OW, AOW, and nitrox for any charter boat. Nobody is ever going to ask to see your underwater naturalist card. Spend your money to go diving in challenging places instead of doing all your dives under instruction.

CamG:

Greetings Sonic04GT it is great to hear of your upcoming training!
I found personally the Peak Performance Buoyancy to be the most helpful for me.
It was the proper weighting / buoyancy practice and principals that really improved my diving skills.
Nitrox is really awesome, Dry Suit was great as well but being in your location DS might be a little much! If you head north to cave country it would be a good idea.
I would like to thank you for your service and will be praying for your safe return!
Diving is a incredible experience it can and will change our lives. It has become my solace and I live between dives! No joke! The hardest time of year is when local waters freeze over and prevent diving! Normal diving that is! Ice diving rocks to just need to have good ice!
Good luck and speedy safe return my friend!
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

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CamG,

Thanks alot for the reply. I was actually thinking about that also and now that you mention it, I'll probably end up doing the PPB. I can't wait to get back home so I can pick up my 2 tanks to complete my kit and finally get diving again. Bringing everything back with me to Fort Hood, TX and probably do some lake diving there with an occasional trip to the Gulf.

Slonda,

I am not taking the actual full specialty courses. In order to get my AOW, it includes 5 dives, 2 of them are Deep and Nav, and then I pick 3 other "preview" specialty dives to do, so technically all I'm doing is AOW and Nitrox.


Chris

Peak performance bouyancy would be for me

Learned more from that dive than from any other

Sonic04GT:

CamG,

Thanks alot for the reply. I was actually thinking about that also and now that you mention it, I'll probably end up doing the PPB. I can't wait to get back home so I can pick up my 2 tanks to complete my kit and finally get diving again. Bringing everything back with me to Fort Hood, TX and probably do some lake diving there with an occasional trip to the Gulf.

Slonda,

I am not taking the actual full specialty courses. In order to get my AOW, it includes 5 dives, 2 of them are Deep and Nav, and then I pick 3 other "preview" specialty dives to do, so technically all I'm doing is AOW and Nitrox.


Chris

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Since that is the case, I would definitely opt for wreck, deep, nav, search and recovery, and night diving. I know those are the standard five, but some of the stuff I learned in SAR and night actually helped me learn to dive black water. It's just my opinion, but buoyancy comes with experience. Flashlight signals, using a jump line, keeping the wreck on your left, jackstay searches, and how to navigate a square are skills that you have to typically learn from an instructor or friend. Plus, you can make money on the side unfouling boaters if you want.

Depending on the shop/instructor, you may not get a choice. Around here it is Deep, Navigation, PPB, Boat and Search and Recovery. When my wife and son-in-law took the course a month ago, the Navigation and Search/Recovery were done from the beach on Saturday. Deep, PPB and Boat were done from a boat on Sunday.

Even though no choice was offered, these are the selections I would have made anyway.

Check with your potential shop/instructor and see what is actually offered.

Richard

Hi Sonic04GT,

You might consider doing DPV. I did it as part of AOW and then did the 2nd dive for the cert. I've been asked for the card on several occasions for rental or to participate in an advanced guided DPV dive. I've had a blast with scooters in a number of locations and definitiely got my money's worth from this training.

PPB was also a great dive for me and I picked up a number of useful hints. I think this course is very dependent on the instructor. I've met several divers who did not get much out of this dive.

I would skip night dive as part of AOW as the value of an instuctor is not as great as a skill dive like the above two. You could become comfortable quickly night diving by going with an experienced buddy or by going on one or more guided night dives until you gain confidence.

I did a fantastic "Dive with the Nauralist" with Jerry Ligon at Bonaire Dive & Adventure last November. I learned an incredible amount that I was able to apply to the rest of my week diving off Bonaire. I would recommend this activity to anyone with the opportunity and inclination. This type of dive is probably also very dependent on the instuctor and the location and I can only vouch for this one.

The only cert cards I've ever been asked for are highest level of training, nitrox, and DPV. Good luck in your dive training and future diving. I wish you a safe return home, thank you.

Good diving, Craig

Slonda828:

The only cards you absolutely need are OW, AOW, and nitrox for any charter boat.

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I've never been turned away from any boat, and I don't have an AOW card.

I'll pile on and recommend PPB. Polishing buoyancy control and trim will add SO much to your enjoyment of all of your diving.