Got my AOW this weekend, now its time to dive and do some specialty courses

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cmrangel

Contributor
Messages
159
Reaction score
110
Location
So. California, USA
# of dives
100 - 199
Whoo Hoo,
Got my AOW this weekend. Maybe get another 25 or so dives in and then think about the Rescue course. May want to go and take some of the specialty courses too. Any suggestions on ones that are the most useful?
 
Congrats.. As far as Specialties go, look at all that are available and choose what interests you. I always recommend PPB since it focuses on continuing to develop and refine your buoyancy, trim, weighting, breathing and finning, which helps you on every dive you do.
 
CONGRATS! Here in So Cal, Peek Performance Buoyancy is a useful specialty as is Navigation since Divemasters don't lead you on boat dives around here, you have to make sure you find your way back. :wink:

Oh, and Nitrox. I love Nitrox LOL
 
rescue diver then buoyancy. To me rescue should be part of OW and congrats.
 
Nav is a good one as is PPB.

Most important....just go dive...a lot!

And have fun :)
 
oh and when we meet under water give me a kiss, I will be the one without a fin on my back lol but if you are OOA grab that big yellow thing around my neck and breath deep
 
rescue diver then buoyancy. To me rescue should be part of OW and congrats.

Rescue diver is a great course, its all about helping others and working out their problems. Which is great, but.. make sure you have all your problems sorted out first, that way when the times comes for the in-water scenarios, your not the one struggling, only the victim is. I recommend any specialty that focuses on improving the foundation you built in the OW course so basically PPB and Navigation would be at the top.

Good luck, and congratulations on AOW!
 
Rescue is certainly worth doing. Out of the specialities, deep and nitrox are the only ones I think are worth bothering with, as one gives you an extension to your certification depth and the other enables you to obtain nitrox.

The skills you gain from most specialities can be gained by just diving regularly. I don't see the point in PPB; to me it is just chucking money at PADI to learn something you should have been taught on Open Water. Nobody expects amazing buoyancy at the start, but skills like the hover and fin pivot show you what you are aiming for. You should also be taught how to do a weight check too. Perfect buoyancy should come with practice.
 
I would say deep, wreck and nitrox but if your not confident in your buoyancy PPB would be better to do before these however I think there is no speciality that substitutes for just diving as much as you can and always working on your buoyancy
 
I'll toss in my 2 psi ...

Rescue ... to my concern, this is the most important continuing education class you can take. Yes, the focus of the class is generally on assisting others with problems, but the class is also about helping you understand and learn how to keep yourself out of being that person who needs assistance. For that reason alone I think it should be taken as soon after OW class as possible.

Peak Performance Buoyancy ... the value of this class depends entirely on the quality of the instructor teaching it. It can be a terrific class that focuses on helping you get your bouyancy, trim and weighting adjusted properly and helps you better understand the concepts of good buoyancy control ... or it can be just another "checklist" class where you go through the motions of the exercises without really understanding what you're doing or why. It all depends on how well the class is presented to you by the instructor. My suggestion would be to seek out an instructor who has sufficient control and experience to teach the class properly. One clue ... watch the instructor dive. If the instructor is swimming in a feet-down position, or if they either go to their knees or allow you to for any reason, they will not give you sufficient value in this class for the effort and money you'll be putting into it.

Navigation ... once again, it depends on how it's taught. If the class only trains you how to read a compass and count fin kicks, it's useless. If it focuses on the mental aspects of monitoring your time, depth, direction, and awareness of your surroundings as you dive, then you're looking at a class that's worth taking. As someone mentioned, where you dive people don't follow dive guides ... you'll be expected to find your own way back to boat or shore. On some dives, current can radically affect your navigation ... and that needs to be factored into the class. Once again, the value you get from this class will be entirely dependent on whether you get an instructor who just "follows the book" or one who will put real effort into teaching you the little things that will help you put what the book teaches into real-world practice.

Nitrox ... this is a useful class only if you find yourself pushing the limits of your no-decompression limits on your dives. Most new divers ... particularly those using AL80's (aka "oversized beer cans) ... will be limited by their air supply, not their NDL. In this case, nitrox won't offer you a lot of benefit. On the other hand, if you're using larger tanks and doing dives that force you to end the dive with large reserves, or head to shallower depths before you really want to because you're pushing your no-deco limit, then a nitrox class will have value.

Another suggestion would be to look into one of the entry-level offerings by either GUE or UTD. These are more geared toward people who want to dive a specific way and with specific equipment, but the entry-level classes offer some methods for buoyancy control and air management that can be applied to pretty much any style of diving. They have, for many, proved to be rather eye-opening in terms of what your OW instructor didn't tell you about scuba diving.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
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