Great video and I was glad to see that most of what I'm considering was in the "must have" category - cavern, wreck, nitrox. He left rescue out completely, but I'd say that's probably in that category as well. I'd like to get some more dives under my belt and then do rescue and nitrox, then move on to cavern and finally wreck.
James is missing the point, and missing some critical information. At the very minimum, he needs to add one more question to his 3, namely,
#4: Is this a topic that I know nothing about but which might greatly enhance my enjoyment of the dive?
The point he is missing is that people dive for different reasons, with different backgrounds. For example, he doesn't even deign to talk about why he dislikes Boat Diving, and I'm guessing he is talking about the old, original version of the specialty, anyway. The current version came out in 2008 and greatly improved the class. It may come as a surprise, but there
are new divers who have never been on a boat, so do not know the language (port, starboard, transom, head. etc), do not know the protocols (keep your gear off the middle of the deck and stowed away, don't bring a giant rolling cart on board with your gear in it, etc), have never done a backroll, have no sense of when to put their fins on when exiting or entering the boat, and have no sense of emergency equipment on a boat or emergency procedures. Boat Diver is designed for these people so they don't have to learn by trial and error, and minimizes the disruption of movement on a boat that can happen when a new diver has his/her gear all spread out on the deck. And the classes enhances the safety and enjoyment of the diver.
Similarly, he brushes off Peak Performance Buoyancy as something you should have learned in your OW class. Easy to say, but you have to deal with the student in front of you, not the student you wish were in front of you.
He blows off navigation, but doesn't say why. Does he assume you will never need to navigate? I assume he has placed it in his BS category because he can't see paying for it, that it can be learned on one's own, perhaps with a little mentoring. Perhaps he has never met the student who has never used a compass, that has no idea of how to manage the task-loading of compass and depth, that is unable to swim a straight line because of truly awful finning.
He blows off Photo/Video because he is a terrible instructor for those subjects. Fine, don't teach them. He also is quite misleading about even becoming a specialty instructor, that all you have to do is check a box and say you have some experience. Not quite, but if he doesn't invoke this lie, then his argument falls apart.
He blows off Underwater Hunter...which has not existed as a PADI specialty, nor is Computer Diver.
He feels Ecosystem/Fish ID is B.S.; I've posted on that elsewhere. He really does need the new Question Number four I mention above.
I've spent time looking at his three categories. My conclusion is that to end up in Category #1 (BS) you must answer No to all three of his questions:
- Do I need to show the card?
- Is it a prereq for something else?
- Do I need to pay for it, or can i learn it on my own?
However, if you add my question 4:
4. Is this a topic that I know nothing about but which might greatly enhance my enjoyment of the dive and of diving?
then you find that The B.S category has nothing in it as a general statement. OK, if a dude comes long with perfect buoyancy than PPB is not needed....he has a personal BS category. No problem.
Category #2 (Useful add-ons) I don't understand. Take Altitude, for example. You never need to show the card, it is not a prereq for anything, and it is almost trivial to learn on your own. In contrast, he has Drift in the BS category, but I would argue it is more difficult than Altitude to learn on your own. If Altitude is a useful add-on, so is Drift. And Navigation. And Beach/Shore, which by the way is like Boat....if you've never entered the water from a beach with waves crashing on it, a little instructon is very helpful, if not keeping you out of harm's way.
In summary, he asks three good questions, but misses a critical fourth question that is about enjoyment. He misses that people come in all sizes, shapes, and backgrounds. He misses (example) that PPB may be extremely important to a specific diver, of course not to everyone.
