LA County Advanced Diver Program

[mccabejc]

The LA County ADP is almost here!! Less than 1 month away, and the first class is July 8th. Here's a schedule for this year's program:ADP 2006 Schedule.

This is arguably the best advanced diving program around, and exceeds the requirements of a NAUI Master Diver class. You can also get a NAUI Rescue certification and first aid/CPR/AED. And the course covers so much more. And all of this for a cost that is a fraction of what you might expect (looks like this year it's $450, plus some other expenses). Here's a link to the ADP website:

ADP Website

Here are some highlights from our class last year:

• 165 ft dive in a hyperbaric chamber
• Lecture on dive medicine at UC Santa Barbara
• Altitude dive and campout at Castaic Lake
• A day with Long Beach Harbor Patrol learning about search & rescue
• Lecture on commercial diving, and a tank dive using commercial dive gear
• Using underwater pneumatic tools, and calculating and performing UW lifts
• Lectures on UW photography, marine biology, dive physics, and much more

I'm sure there will be some changes to the curriculum this year, but it's guaranteed to be a wonderful experience. I'll try to post a summary of our 2005 class on my website (HERE) in the next day or two, with some more info on the great time we had.

The program requires a commitment of at least 10 weekends, and is very challenging, but IMO the best recreational scuba learning experience you can find.

 

[David P]

tempting....tempting.... I SO want to do this, but man is it hard to free up 10 weekends from two jobs, a house, a wife, 2 dogs, a ferret, and a bunch of fish (well the ferret stays in the cage and the fish dont mind too much if Im gone). I am also seriously considering their UICC in Jan.

 

[scubatomwetzel]

I will be at the SCUBA SHOW in Long Beach. I can discuss this further there.
There will other graduates from ADP and UICC there.

 

[radinator]

Thanks for starting this topic, Jim!

I'll be at the scuba show as well (Saturday 10-2) and will be able to talk about it. I was a student with Jim in ADP 2005 and went on to UICC 53 (2006), and will help to teach this years ADP. Going full circle will be interesting.

It's a lot of fun. In fact, some previous years ADP students come to help out, and to experience again some of the rare treats that LA County gets access to. For example, you usually can't dive Lake Castaic, but since it's a county program they have access.

See the schedule for how it's organized. Something not reflected in the schedule is that the ocean sessions usually ended by 1:00 - 2:00 or so and was followed by a BBQ with the class. You get a good chance to know your classmates, and lots of experience with SoCal diving...especially shore diving. I'd been diving SoCal for a while (9 years, 180 dives) and in this class visited quite a few places I hadn't been to before.

It's also a great way to get prepared for UICC if you're going that route. There's a scholarship to UICC that is awarded at the graduation banquet. You can see the pool tryout for the scholarship on the last day of the schedule, but academic and other considerations weigh in as well.

 

[AlanR]

I have been looking to take this course for the last several years and there has always been something that has prevented me from making the commitment. I am primarily interested in being a better and safer diver. If someone familiar with the program could answer the following questions, it would be most appreciated.

1. Looking at the class schedule I see I already have a conflict with the lake altitude dive. I know this dive is by special arrangement. How do the make up sessions work in general? Would this conflict keep you from signing up?

2. How long do the lectures generally last?

Thanks in advance for any input you might have.

 

[radinator]

I'll take the second one first, since it is the easiest.

Each lecture can be from 30 minutes to, say, 2 hours. A lecture day may have 2-3 lectures scueduled.

Now for the first one. Usually making up a dive wasn't too bad as the instructors were accomodating. Keep in mind though that the instructors are all volunteer - so if you have to make up a dive you are asking them to take even more time out of their lives to help out. So consider that and try if at all possible not to miss sessions.

I'm not sure what is done about missing Castaic, since it is by special arrangement. I thought it was the most fun weekend of the program (there was camping overnight and a cooking contest) so it would be a shame to miss it. I don't think anyone missed it in my class, though, so I don't know what the makeup arrangements were. I'l have to check.

 

[AlanR]

radinator thanks for responding. Jim thanks for the post and the great summary of the class on your website.