Which would you do first?

[eric1979]

I just wanted to ask you guys / gals what you thought on this subject?

After your OW course what class would you take next Nitrox or the Advanced OW?

Eric,

 

[nathan837]

I think a advanced open water course would be of more benefit. As a advanced ticket is going to open up more diving oportunities for you than the nitrox ticket, eg: Night Diving, Deep Diving, ect...

 

[Scuba St3ve]

Both... I did mine the same week.

 

[S_SIMON]

Ask your instructor, you may be able to combine the courses

 

[meekal]

combine them.... NITROX is mostly theory (depends on agency) but even if it DOES require dives, 99.9% of the time they can be combined with the AOW classes

 

[H2Andy]

i'd do both ... most people give you a combined rate that is a good deal

and then, you MUST (yes, you MUST) do Rescue. best class for the money.
you will learn self-assesment and self-rescue techniques that will make you a much more aware and safe diver.

if by the time you finish AOW and Nitrox you have around 40 dives, go ahead and take Rescue. if not, get your dives up to about 40 and take the class.

(or fewer dives if your skills are particulalrly good)

 

[redacted]

I'd suggest you get some dives under your belt before you continue with more instruction. Get comfortable, work on bouyancy and air consumption. Then decide if you want more instruction and what it should be.

 

[H2Andy]

just remember that all the way back to the 70's, a diver got certified after taking the equivalent of OW, AOW, and Rescue.

those classes were split for marketing purposes.

so, in reality, you won't receive all the training that you should until you complete
the sequence. AOW these days is a "light" class, but Rescue is a must.

after Rescue, i totally agree with awap. go out there and dive the crap out of your gear

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I'd suggest you get some dives under your belt before you continue with more instruction. Get comfortable, work on bouyancy and air consumption. Then decide if you want more instruction and what it should be.

No No No. Immediately continuing the training with a good instructor is by far the best route, do not wait to do more dives on your own. I would get the AOW first, the most important thing is to get more time in the water ASAP. The safest way is with an instructor. Getting a Nitrox certification will really not help you to learn any of the important basic skills. Once you have completed the night dive and deep dive and done some navigation, you should be much more confident and hopefully a safer diver.

The NITROX course is really just a tool to extend your dive time, the AOW will teach you to dive in a few different environments.

 

[stever2002]

A month after my OW I did Nitrox on a Thursday night in my LDS, and then did AOW the following weekend. This allowed me to dive Nitrox under the supervision of my AOW instructor. As I understand it, performing actual supervised Nitrox dives is *NOT* required to get the Nitrox C-Card, but it increased my confidence to do 4 out of my 5 AOW dives with Nitrox and have the DI double check my calculations.