experience vs certification

[opalobsidian]

I got my open water certification in January of this year and have been having great fun obsessing on dive vacations. Up til now I've been approaching my diving with the idea that I don't really care about further certification and that I only want to gain experience by diving and by picking the brains of other divers I meet on my dive vacations....

However now I'm beginning to ponder the benefits of further PADI training; mostly because of my reading of scuba board posts. I am constanly surprised by all the things I read about that I have no clue about that seem ...duh... really important!!!! Now that I have a little experience under my belt (40 dives) it's becoming clear to me that I am pretty much just blindly following my DMs on the dives and have not much of a clue what's actually happening; nor do I have enough knowledge to make choices on my own.

Does anyone have any feedback on these thoughts?
Thanks so much!
Pamela

[Kim]

Well I don't think that 'card collecting' is really very helpful but there's nothing wrong with learning more than the basics. In your position I would read the threads that interested me on the board and try to get a feel for the type of information I thought I was lacking. Then I'd try to find the training that would cover those gaps.
A lot of people do PADI AOW which although not really an 'advanced' course does give you a view of some of the types of dives, and techniques that can be involved - think Night diving or navigation for instance. That card is also rather important to some people as it is often the card that shops/boats want to see to let you onto various dives, and you also need it to do Rescue. After that the Rescue course is a very good course which will definitely improve anyones diving IMO.
Reading the board though will soon show that different agencies tend to teach to slightly different standards and course content. This can also be at the discretion of the intructor, so to really get what you want you need to shop around and ask a lot of questions!

[Cave Diver]

The two have to go hand in hand.

To gain experience, the best way is to get proper training. Consider the certifications as a "learners permit" and treat it as such. Once your take the class, you need to do the dives and gain experience.

Often, if you don't have the proper certifications you won't be allowed to make certain dives.

Sometimes, those with more advanced certifications are not as good a diver as more experienced divers who never took the classes.

A healthy mixture of both will make the best divers.

[Halthron]

Figure out why you want to take a class before taking it and when you sign up, ensure that the class will provide what you're looking for. ASK.

PADI's AOW was the worst class I've taken. The version I took was useless other than to have a card that said I could dive to 100'. Every other class I've taken has followed the rule of "figure out why then ensure what I want will be covered" and I've been happy with all of them.

[Hoyden]

I would strongly suggest that you continue training up through Rescue Diver. This is the most important class that I think you can take as a fairly new diver. In order to take it through PADI you must have a current first aid/cpr class and have completed Advanced Open Water (an experience class). SSI Stress and Rescue (don't know their requirements) and NAUI Scuba Rescue (only requires current first aid) are non-Padi alternatives. Some of your general questions (like navigation without a divemaster) will be covered in your AOW. If you are unhappy with your original instructor, by all means, find another one. Both training and experience are important to becoming a better diver.

[Kim]

PADI's AOW was the worst class I've taken.

It doesn't teach you a lot new that's for sure. However I looked at it another way - it actually amounted to about the same cost where I took it as the same number of ordinary 'fun' boat dives would have cost anyway. For that I got a personal guide/ instructor to be my buddy while I did a few things I'd never done before, and then afterwards I was allowed to dive these new depths, conditions etc with no one freaking out! Seen like that I found it worth the money!

[joe rock]

I have taken several additional courses to learn from an instructor. I think the posts after yours are excellent. I took the AOW, NITROX and than Rescue. But as Cave Diver says, I did them all for a purpose. I will probably take the advanced NITROX class. I feel each class did something to enhance my diving knowledge, some much more than others. But I'm glad I took each class. Also, I agree very much with the "learning permit" theory. As is most education. Without practical application and experience there is only limited growth.

JR

[herman]

All of the classes have their value, sep Rescue. The other part of your education is to find GOOD buddies to dive with. You may find them on vacation but you will find a lot more good expamples of bad divers, which are also quite useful to compair against if you understand what a good diver really is....and they don't kill you. It's too much the luck of the draw on vacation and honestly not fair to your new found buddy to act as DM...he/she is also on vacation. Local buddies who you can dive with often are a much better choice. They can give you the time and feedback to help you improve. On vacation I am there to dive, not spending hours helping someone adjust his weights or explain the finer points of trim or navigation. I pretty much refuse to take instabuddies on vacation for that reason. Now meet me back home at the quarry and I am happy to spend hour after hour helping. You will learn the technical information in class but the real world skills like buoyancy and navigation only come from lots of experience and coaching from an good buddy. Do both.

[AJ Tudor]

If you want to go further, at least get to AOW, this will allow you to stop checking your depth when you get past 16 metres so you don't excede your 18

[diverdown247]

[QUOTE=Cave Diver]The two have to go hand in hand.

To gain experience, the best way is to get proper training. Consider the certifications as a "learners permit" and treat it as such. Once your take the class, you need to do the dives and gain experience.QUOTE]



I definately have to agree with that. Proper training also means having a quality instructor.

Something else I've discovered that helps with making someone a better diver. If you set a plan for your dives ahead of time (and stick to it) with your dive buddy or for a solo dive, you don't find yourself worrying about being within dive limits as often because you've set paramaters prior to the dive. The other thing I like to do is set certain dives aside as "task" dives to practice certain dive skills like navigation, boat diving, drift diving, bouyancy, etc. It's much easier to do when you're not diving with students, but then again if you are it makes a good impression for them to see other divers practicing skills.

My dives with Dwayne at Table Rock were play dives, but we did have to use some navigation for our shore dives becuase of the vis. At Beaver they were fun dives, but our final dive was a search and recovery dive.