Plan of action help

Good afternoon guys and gals. I have a question maybe I could get some help on. I have been open water certified for about a month, and have logged 16 dives both in fresh and salt water in the time since. I just completed and received my c-card for nitrox as of yesterday. Being that I live in Pensacola, FL I have what I believe to be a realistic goal of diving the Oriskany by this time next year. I was wondering what other courses I should pursue to be ready to do my advanced open water, then dive the Oriskany. I was thinking underwater navigation, wreck diver (an added plus, and there are a lot sunken boats in this area), and night diving. That will satisfy my requirements for the advanced open water that most charter captains require for trips out there.

Does this sound like a good strategy for me to pursue? I welcome all comments good or bad. If there is some things I should add, remove, or change I would like to hear.

Thanks, Jason

P.S. I am certified through SDI if that is needed information.

Sounds like a plan. Get the AOW. Dive LOTS. Consider Wreck course--This is only really necessary if you want to penetrate the Big O, which at this time with your experience is highly unadvisable (to be honest, I don't know if it is open to penetration anyway). Consider Deep course. I'm sure you know the top of it is at 70' and it rests at 200'. I know there are LDSs in Pensacola, but I would not hesitate to recommend Emerald Coast Scuba in Destin. I haven't dived the Oriskany--costs too much and the shell collecting probably the same as all those other wrecks in the area. Good luck.

I think that ''wreck diving'' specialty has nothing to do with penetration of the wreck. It just teaches you how to swim next to a sunken piece of metal, and probably drills into your head 286 different dangers of going in without the Technical wreck penetration course, which they offer at an undisclosed price

Just do AOW,and deep, and dive dive dive.

I dont think you learn much more by doing more difficult dives, and those dives that are not so ideal. This happened to me yesterday. I learned more in one 12 minute dive than in 29 dives combined!

I haven't done the Oriskany, but from what I understand, it's quite a way offshore, and ocean conditions can be challenging. The wreck is deep, and is done off an anchored boat. I think there can be some current there. So what skills do you need to dive it safely? Nitrox was a good move, because Nitrox gives you a lot more bottom time on such a deep dive. I would want some considerable experience with boat diving, including getting safely off and reboarding boats in swell and chop. I would want some good information on gas management (which you won't get from any standard AOW class) to allow safe dive planning. I would want currency and practice with emergency procedures, including gas sharing and the underwater deployment of an SMB (the signal to the boat, if you get blown off the wreck or upline).

I don't know what class you could find that would give you all these things. GUE fundamentals would give you a lot of it, but the closest class to you would be in Gainesville, and there are specific equipment requirements.

I just realized my LDS offers an AOW course that includes boat diving, deep diving, wreck diving, night diving, underwater navigation, and intro to search and rescue all included. So I think I may sign up for that this winter.

I know nothing equals actual dive experience, which is why I'm diving every weekend.

As for air management, I am getting about 45 minutes to 1 hour out of an al80 which I don't think is too bad for a beginner. I just need to work on buoyancy.

Gas management is far more than just "I can get 45 minutes out of an aluminum 80". What do you do, if you are at the bow of the Oriskany and you have a freeflow . . . and the boat is moored at the stern? Does your buddy have enough gas to get the two of you back up to the boat? Do you have to surface where you are, and do you know how to signal the boat that you are doing so? Please read THIS article by NW Grateful Diver, as a start to understanding this information. You can get away without understanding this on shallow reef dives, but as you get deeper and offshore, it gets really important.

45-60min at what depth? If it's a 20' shore dive you then might stretch that tank to 20min at 66', not gonna cut it. If you doing 50' dives that is better, but not great. I can get 2+ hours on an AL80 at 20'. Time will improve things

I would not give yourself a time frame to do this wreck. Diving every week is a very good way to become a better diver. By next summer if you keep diving you should be ready but impossible to say.

I like to carry a 19cf pony on deep dives, and I try and rent a steel 119 tank. Not as good as doubles, but I can hit my NDL long before I run low on gas. I see no advantages going deep other than to see stuff. That stuff can generally be seen shallower, but the Oriskany seems like a worthwhile dive.

I would take rescue, and maybe adv. Nitrox if you want to go down that path. Just make sure that when you lay down the cash you are ready. I would not dive it on an AL80 and I am a good breather.

I'd just take an AOW course right away. That's pretty much all you'll need to dive the ship. You'll be hitched up with a DM anyway. About two years ago I met up with my brother (a cave diver with around 50 cave and springs dives and a half dozen ocean dives including two on the Eagle with me) a couple years ago at Orange Beach to dive the Oriskany with a shop whose name I won't mention at the moment. I had around 150 dives in four years at the time and had recently bought the AOW cert just for that dive since they insisted on it and my bro had bought his after doing 25 springs dives. Figure that one out. I had around 30 dives on the Eagle, maybe 12 on the Speigle Grove and about the same on the Duane and Bibb all with only the OW cert and all diving single AL80's. The shop gave us 100's for the dives which I thought was over-doing it a little. Long way out to the boat but it was a sunny day and the waves weren't bad at all. Anyway, we got 'the speech' and were told that we wouldn't be able to bounce the deck which was around 150 feet at the time. Really disappointed me to no end. So we cruised around the upper part with the owner and his DM for a couple dives and ate some hot dogs between dives. We never got much below 100 feet on either dive. Hell, I had around 1500psi after each dive. When we surfaced from the second dive, after doing around ten minutes of safety stops my old computer was singing. I looked at it and it read OK. When I got on the boat the operator got nervous and looked at it. It read that I needed to stay below water for six more minutes at "ten feet". Really? So the guy had me suck on an oxygen bottle all the way back and had his buddy, an EMT, meet us at the dock. I explained to the guy that the computer was probably malfunctioning and that I had made many dives pretty much like the ones we had just done without any problems but the operator was a nervous wreck so I went along with him. The EMT had a laugh, checked out my bro and said his buddy was a nervous type and that we'd be alright but said to call him if either of us was having any problems. But the kicker was that the operator cancelled our dives for the next day. Luckily we found another shop to dive with. All in all, the dives were pretty neat. The ship was still like new and was covered with these little spiny urchins about the size of a baseball. I hadn't seen them that small being used to the biggies along the Upper Keys. There wasn't much wildlife around the zone where we were diving but you could see that it had a good start. I suspect that it's a lot better now. Beyond the problems with the nervous operator, having to find another shop for the second day's diving and the overcharges I sustained for baggage by the airlines (Got charged for two bags by the main airline and the regional both ways, *&%*#$.), it was a pretty good trip. I'll be going back sometime this fall to dive it again, with less baggage. I recommend the dive, fer shure.