An individual's Advanced certification review

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Underthesea81

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Hello all,

I liked the idea of posting my personal experience regarding my process of securing my advanced open water card. Mine came from a NAUI instructor, my open water from PADI. I REALLY enjoyed the NAUI philosophy of teaching and learning and will look at NAUI for other individual courses. I apologize for the length of this post but i wanted a thorough evaluation and experience
I had posted the need for a Advanced class that emphasized more than the standard-read this, go do a dive kinda related to it, great now your certified. I wanted to LEARN, and learn alot at that. I wanted to expand upon my experience and become a diver with good technique. I had heard two previous schools of thought regarding advanced certification-1 was get 25 or more dives under your belt then go do your advanced, the other being do it when your comfoortable whether that be at 10 or 100 dives. After 15 or so dives within 2 months of certification i decided i wanted (and needed) to learn more, much more. So that came the decision to search out that right fit for my advanced.
I had blown one safety stop on a dive i did two months ago on my deepest dive to that date, when i miscalculated the air usage and Boom held my SS for a minute then beyond my control went to the surface, i was fine but it really drilled home the need for better technique.
I was recommended to someone y another SB'er and form the moment i started knew i had picked the right person.
I combined Nitrox cert with advanced, so after going through my advanced book and answering multiple questions and scenario's he posed to me and my asnwers, progressed to nitrox and the same technical analysis. Then i did classroom AND pool sessions with him going over nitrox and advanced info as well as working on buoyancy, fin pivots and technique, and various ways entry.
I learned SO much from the classroom combined with questions and analysis. I knew if i had planned my nitrox mix for one dive and it had to change what the adjustment would be, my MOD, etc...
Then we did navigation on land, and then the next day moved to the water for it. I picked it up instantly and with his guidance realy felt so comfortable navigating underwater and all the key things that come with it.
From there, we planned the one thing I NEVER wanted to do...a night dive. I posted a previous thread regarding my experience. All i will say is .....life changing. a totally diff experience and one i thought was amazing. I plan on doing another in the coming week, making that two more night dives than i ever planned to do :)
From there we started working on wreck, buoyancy in the water, deep dives.
From learning with him, I can now HOLD MY SAFETY STOP FOREVER. we did controlled ascents from 80 feet to 50 feet for a few minutes, then 35 feet for a minute, then 15 feet for 3-5 minutes. no control issues, just hanging out and looking around. I hit 106 feet on my deep dive and for me that WAS AMAZING. I have always wanted to go deep and deeper and to do that, then hit all my ascent stops and fully ewnjoy the entire experience made me truly happy. I task loaded, by carrying the drift flag (im in fl) and doing my safety stops while fighting a strong current, alll without a hitch. I know have no fear regarding ascents and look forward to doing many more deeper dives between 80-115 feet.
I have offically finished ut my relationship with my instructor will continue, he was amazing and truly a blessing to my diving enjoyment.
I recommend no one settle, find the one that works for you and what you want, then do it.
Ive been certified almost 5 months with over 20 divers under my belt. I plan on diving at my current cert for at least another 80 perfecting to the best of my ability my trim, my weighting, then going after my tech certification.
A GREAT GREAT experience for me.
 
You found the right instructor. Congratulations! There is a ton to learn about this sport. The keys are that you have to realize that, and you have to find the right person or people to facilitate your learning.
 
I take courses all the time.

When I first started diving, I didn't understand that I didn't know everything. I was in some sense unlucky, because all my dives went well. Looking back on it, though, I wasn't paying attention, and I wasn't trying new things.

Fortunately, I started running into problems that I was able to solve. I learned that I could handle emergencies in a calm, purposeful way. I feel more confident, and at the same time I'm more careful. I prepare better, I don't cut corners, and I strive to make everything go right on every dive. Every time I make lapses (not navigating well, coming up off the anchor line, accidentally going off my plan), I think about what I can do better the next time.

The more I dive, the more humble I get.

I'm at 73 dives now. I'll probably hit 100 in the next 3 months. At least half of those dives will be as part of a course.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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