PADI specialties: how to choose

[TMHeimer]

Good Choice. Here comes some advice for what to do next.

As you dive, you will get a sense of where you would like to go with your diving. You can learn some of that on your own, but you might want to take some classes for some of that learning. As you progress from that, your goals may change, and you will want to make different choices. It is precisely like taking a trip in a car. The first thing you want to do is decide where you want to go. Then you look at where you are now and plot your path.

When I got certified many years ago, I was going to do recreational dives on a vacation to a tropical location every other year. That was my total plan. Things changed. Before long I became a PADI DM because as a career educator, I thought I would enjoy assisting classes. I did, and that led to becoming an instructor. I have since gone down many different paths, and I have taken many different classes from many different instructors, and every class I took was to enable me to reach a specific goal.

My original plan was just to seriously enhance my shell collecting hobby. My reasons for becoming a DM were exactly the same as yours, being a retired teacher. So those courses were taken. With that period of my life over, it's back to shell collecting and spearing flounders. Even that's not very exciting now at the same old sites, so my new objective is to hit 1,000 dives (2023?). You have to have motivation to keep slugging the dive outfit on & off regularly. Possibly taking that Self Reliant course could be motivation at some point.
I really make little use of the 7 specialties I completed, but at the time learning these things-- and card collecting-- was motivation. And, the money was there for taking those courses.

 

[wheeledgoat]

I agree with maybe half of what he says.....but I disagree that it takes 16 minutes of watching him wave his hands around to say it
One short page of explanation and conclusion is all he needs, otherwise he is wasting your time. That is rude.

You said it. Whenever I watch his videos, I immediately and automatically skip to timestamp 1:30

 

[Sbiriguda]

I'm surprised no one has said GUE fundies (GUE Fundamentals). Will save you time and money, but you will work for it. No box ticking there. Or find an instructor that teaches at that kind of level (some are on this thread).

I have always been very interested in the GUE method. As far as I know there is also UTD that should have a similar approach. Are there (legal) materials about GUE fundamentals you would suggest to download and read/watch? Is it possible to see the table of contents of the manuals they use during the GUE fundamentals just to get a first idea?

 

[Manatee Diver]

I have always been very interested in the GUE method. As far as I know there is also UTD that should have a similar approach. Are there (legal) materials about GUE fundamentals you would suggest to download and read/watch? Is it possible to see the table of contents of the manuals they use during the GUE fundamentals just to get a first idea?

Doing It Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving - PDF

 

[Blackcrusader]

These are PADI specialties..
I am struggling to narrow the number of courses I have to take myself... I already got Nitrox, Deep and will finish soon the Drysuit

I am planning to take the Search and Discovery and I would like to choose at least another one. Right now I am undecided between Peak Buoyancy and Night Dive

Peak Buoyancy you can learn yourself from practicing on dives. I've never need a course as it was taught in my BSAC Novice training. Most of the courses offered are just money making. Do I need a padi cert to take a photo or video underwater? Really?

Done hundreds of night dives never needed a certificate for that. It's just another dive.

 

[tursiops]

Done hundreds of night dives never needed a certificate for that. It's just another dive.

Good example, a night dive.
Knowing how to signal with lights, knowing how to spot your buddy (by his/her fins, not his/her face), keeping the light intensity low if you are looking for small critters, pros/cons of tight beams versus floods in various water conditions, pros/cons of different batteries, how to carry a light, do you turn it on before you go in the water, what to do if the light goes out, maybe a hundred other little things......I guess you just learn all those by trial-and-error, or maybe don't even learn them at all?
The point is not the certificate; the point is the knowledge, and getting it efficiently. You are a very accomplished diver, if one can believe all your posts.....but no one is that accomplished at the beginning. It is the other half of Dunning-Kruger: people quote the part about you don't know how incompetent you are if you are incompetent. The missing part is, if you are really competent, you forget how hard is is to become that competent.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Good example, a night dive.
Knowing how to signal with lights, knowing how to spot your buddy (by his/her fins, not his/her face), keeping the light intensity low if you are looking for small critters, pros/cons of tight beams versus floods in various water conditions, pros/cons of different batteries, how to carry a light, do you turn it on before you go in the water, what to do if the light goes out, maybe a hundred other little things......I guess you just learn all those by trial-and-error, or maybe don't even learn them at all?
The point is not the certificate; the point is the knowledge, and getting it efficiently. You are a very accomplished diver, if one can believe all your posts.....but no one is that accomplished at the beginning. It is the other half of Dunning-Kruger: people quote the part about you don't know how incompetent you are if you are incompetent. The missing part is, if you are really competent, you forget how hard is is to become that competent.

Sure but night diving is also taught in the AOW. So are things like learning light signals, shining the dive torch into the SPG to make it glow in the dark and not into the face of another diver. However I did not need an extra course for night dives, you also use torch signals on day dives in low visibility. This was covered in my training at novice levels.

As for the OP "I already got Nitrox, Deep and will finish soon the Drysuit" So is not a novice diver and deep dives can get dark. I always bring my dive torches on dives. My backups are my Big Blue VL4200p video lights on my camera rig which have a hand mount if you want to use them without the camera.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Not knowing where you were was one issue, but more importantly I was looking at specialties that would advance your diving skill rather than increase the number of cards in your pocket. One of the things I have done is pick up second hand dive manuals for specialties, DM, the encyclopedia of diving, and so on. Even though you don't take a class for a card you can gain the knowledge without the class. You never can tell when something you read comes in handy.

You can learn from other divers, you have to learn to separate good from not so good, but in the long run you may find a mentor that will assist you on your journey in scuba.

Good luck Bob

This.

I would do more diving before doing more courses unless they are necessary such as the dry suit course.

 

[Blackcrusader]

I'll echo most respondents in saying that you should focus on the courses that interest you and fit with your diving goals. Skip the rest.

The self-reliant course can open up a whole new world for you. The formal training course is much safer than just setting out to dive solo, and the class is also a great peek into the technical-diving realm. It's one of the few really useful specialty courses I've taken.

Self Reliant is the one I will do next. Not because I want to be a solo diver per se, but to learn from the course. I was going to do it earlier this year but the Wuhan China virus ruined all my planned dive vacations for this year and the next. I dive in Taiwan but it's not very exciting as other parts of Asia.

 

[Edward3c]

Done hundreds of night dives never needed a certificate for that. It's just another dive.

Good example, a night dive.
Knowing how to signal with lights, knowing how to spot your buddy (by his/her fins, not his/her face), keeping the light intensity low if you are looking for small critters, pros/cons of tight beams versus floods in various water conditions, pros/cons of different batteries, how to carry a light, do you turn it on before you go in the water, what to do if the light goes out, maybe a hundred other little things......I guess you just learn all those by trial-and-error, or maybe don't even learn them at all?
The point is not the certificate; the point is the knowledge, and getting it efficiently. You are a very accomplished diver, if one can believe all your posts.....but no one is that accomplished at the beginning. It is the other half of Dunning-Kruger: people quote the part about you don't know how incompetent you are if you are incompetent. The missing part is, if you are really competent, you forget how hard is is to become that competent.

What @BLACKCRUSADER didn’t make clear was the courses being talked about are income streams for commercial agencies, like PADI. In BSAC’s training these skills are part of the core syllabus. For example, when doing a night dive, which is one of the experience dive options (see below).

• Shore dive – a dive beginning and ending on the shore
• Small boat dive – a dive from a boat of less than 9m overall length, using a backward roll entry, and where exit requires removal of equipment in the water
• Large boat dive – a dive from a boat of greater than 9m overall length, and where exit does not require removal of equipment in the water
• Boat dive with mechanical lift – a dive from a boat equipped with diver lift
• Nitrox dive – a dive where the nitrox mix is greater than 23%
• Dive using shot line – a dive using a shot line as the only visual reference for descent and ascent
• Wall dive – a dive along a vertical or near vertical wall with no solid bottom a minimum of 4m below the divers
• Dive in protective clothing – a dive wearing either a wetsuit or drysuit
• Low-visibility dive – a dive in visibility ranging between 2m and 4m
• Drift dive – a dive in water moving at between 0.5 knots and 1 knot. Students must have successfully completed modules ST1, ST3 and SO
• Night dive – a dive during the hours of darkness
• Cold water dive – a dive in water where the overall temperature is below 10°C

And to finish, most BSAC trainees do all their open water training in drysuits. By default we issue them a drysuit cert in case they ever want to hire a drysuit.