Taking specialty courses during my live aboard

I am heading out for a week live aboard cruise at the end of July.

My wife is enrolled in the photography specialty course, and I am debating taking a couple of courses myself.

They are offering both the Deep and Rescue courses while this cruise in going on. I am contemplating both right now and was wondering if anyone had any feedback on taking these while on a vacation like this.

I am AOW certified with a little over 40 dives. I am comfortable underwater, and have made several 100' dives in the past with no problems. I would like to get the deep specialty because I see myself doing them occasionally, and I would like to be more aware of the problems that could arise.

I have been part of emergency teams (nuclear, fire etc.) for almost 15 years on the land, so "rescue" principles are not foreign to me. Many of the posts on this board have brought up techniques that you never learn in OW or AOW and I am a firm believer in being preparted. That is my thoughts behind the rescue course.

My questions....

Can you get "quality" courses on board liveaboards in the weeks time?

Is taking both rescue and deep a bit too much to do in such a short period?

Is 40 dives enough to feel comfortable enough to tackle a few of the higher level courses?

Thanks for the input.

about doing courses on a liveaboard but if you are going to do one of those I would go for the rescue.

Having said that the deep would be the easier to do as mostly all you are doing is diving - the rescue is a bit more involved.

Does the rescue include MFA or whatever it's called these days?

If I was to do a photography spec I would go for one of those trips with a guest professional photographer rather than an instructor who has read the manual....

Jonathan

I would not recommend doing the rescue course on a liveaboard as you will have less opportunity to enjoy the dive sites visited during your trip: you will be spending a lot of time practicing skills and not discovering the reef...

Although I think Rescue is a great and fun class, I wouldn't want to give up 2-4 days of my liveaboard vacation for it. We (PADI shop) teach it over two weekends--first day is EFR (Emergency First Response or Responder--used to be Medic First Aid) You could skip that if you have BLS and equiv. first aid training. Second day is class-room, and I usually have people practice some of the open water skills in the pool--especially the unconscious diver at the surface, as getting in the rhythm of the psychomotor skills involved takes repetition--removing your and victim's, weight belts, masks, BCs, without missing rescue breaths. Next weekend is doing all the open water skills.
If I were paying good $ for a liveaboard, I'd want to do the usual-dive, dive, dive, eat, dive, dive, dive, eat, sleep, etc. So do a class that allows mostly fun diving--eg., deep, photo. Or, if you're not Nitrox certified and they offer that, I'd go for it. Again, if I were doing 5 or 6 dives a day for 6 days, I'd want the added safety (or bottom time) of Nitrox, so here's a good opportunity to learn it and do it. It's essentially all theory, with minimal skill--reading an oxygen analyzer and paying attention to your limits, so if you read up ahead of time, you won't spend as much time in the "classroom."
Have fun and report back on your experiences.

Guys have given good responses about the rescue course. I appreciate it. I do have my MFA equivalent so thats not a problem (getting a reissue of my card is a pain though since I never thought I would need to have it). I will definately do the deep course, and will give some thought to the rescue one. Nitrox was just installed on the Rorqual, but I forgot to ask if they give the course. I imagine that they do but who knows. I really don't have to make the decision until we get on board, and this board has been very helpful.

Thanks again.

Before you take a deep diving class ask the instructor what kind of gas management they teach in the class. If they tell you to watch your gauge more often without telling you what to do with the reading, skip the class.

Hehehe,

Will do Mike. Sounds like the classic instructor quality problem.

Knavey once bubbled...
Hehehe,

Will do Mike. Sounds like the classic instructor quality problem.

Click to expand...

Actually, the course isn't designed to contain anything that I would consider as deep diving techniques.

Ahh,

But deep for one person, is VERY shallow for another. I suppose the deepest that most people would ever consider going to here, is about so shallow as to be pathetic for someone who works with DSRVs.

I am only looking to expand my horizons to the next logical step. Right now anything over 100' is "outside" outside of my meager official training.

Thats the basic reason to continue with the education. What I do with the information they give me (whether I expand on it, or let it wither and die) depends on how I continue to dive after the training.

I think I have pretty much decided to take the deep course. Even if it is a survey course in some peoples minds, it will still be better than what I have. Of course, if they DO say I need to check my gauges more often, I won't be out the door (or I would be wet) but I will forgoe the course in that case.

Appreciate the advice so far. Keep it coming if anyone has more input.