ANDI to go or not to go (with)?

[Shurup]

Hi all,
I've had all my prior training done with PADI but came to the point of getting bored with rec diving.
Met a great guy, an ANDI instructor and have already taken the Cavern course. The next step for me is going to be a full cave...

I'm taking it easy as I don't have a lot of free time to dive but I have had time to think... should I continue with ANDI or should I switch to a better known agency? We have some TDI instructors here where I live and I'm also a friend with one of them, but he's not as advanced and experienced as the ANDI guy.

I've read that 6-pages long topic about whether people have issues with their c-cards being rejected... Not once ANDI was mentioned there in that topic.

I've heard many times the instructor is more important than the DC/agency, but...
Anyone is thinking I'm making it hard for myself for my future dives and training?
Here's the ANDI guy's web page. Deep Tec Thailand | ANDI TDI | Rebreather Cave Technical Diving Deep Tech Thailand
Just looking for opinions here really, what would you do?

 

[boulderjohn]

My response is more of a practical one. Your profile says you live in Canada. You don't have a lot of time to dive, but you are planning to get your cave course done in Thailand. That seems a little impractical to me. When I got my cave work done, it was in Florida, and I live in Colorado. You don't just get cave certified in a weekend. It takes a lot of time and practice. Time and travel was a real issue for me.

When I got my cave certification, I was able to do it much more quickly and with much less travel time than for most people because I was already an experienced technical diver. I had learned in more local waters how to do many of the skills required for cave training. I could do all the kicks. I could share air properly. I could do decompression. I had a lot of experience with the equipment associated with cave diving. When I took the course, the only thing my cave instructor had to teach me was cave diving skills. I had the rest of it down well enough that he did not have to spend any time teaching me that.

I suggest you do something similar. Get with your local TDI people and go through a whole lot of the course work for technical diving with them. Get all those skills down. Then you can decide where you want to go to apply that learning to the cave environment.

 

[decompression]

Strictly speaking, ANDI is a very good agency and definitely recognized. Certainly within tech circles. I chose the ANDI tech crse as it offered what I wanted. Of course, it's the instructor ultimately that maters.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kwinter]

I assume you're talking about Bruce Konefe? Great guy and I'm sure he's a great instructor. But I have to agree with John. You can do a "zero to hero" full cave course in a week, but it is not a good way to do anything except set yourself up for a bad time. Do cavern/intro first after getting some tech basics. Then get experience at that level for a year or so.Then go on to full cave.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Be aware that ANDI (maybe just ANDI Europe?) has recently been involved in some odd drama with a popular CCR manufacturer, and consequently dropped the unit from its slate of courses.

Personally, I'd avoid any agency that put personal politcs over the ability of its divers/instructors to dive the unit of their choice. If you have no interest in CCR, though, it's probably a non-issue.

 

[knotical]

Hi all,
I've had all my prior training done with PADI but came to the point of getting bored with rec diving.
Met a great guy, an ANDI instructor and have already taken the Cavern course. The next step for me is going to be a full cave...

I'm taking it easy as I don't have a lot of free time to dive but I have had time to think... should I continue with ANDI or should I switch to a better known agency? We have some TDI instructors here where I live and I'm also a friend with one of them, but he's not as advanced and experienced as the ANDI guy.

I've read that 6-pages long topic about whether people have issues with their c-cards being rejected... Not once ANDI was mentioned there in that topic.

I've heard many times the instructor is more important than the DC/agency, but...
Anyone is thinking I'm making it hard for myself for my future dives and training?
Here's the ANDI guy's web page. Deep Tec Thailand | ANDI TDI | Rebreather Cave Technical Diving Deep Tech Thailand
Just looking for opinions here really, what would you do?

I'm a little confused. You seem to be asking for help to choose between ANDI and TDI, but the instructor you're considering does both.

 

[Shurup]

My response is more of a practical one. Your profile says you live in Canada. You don't have a lot of time to dive, but you are planning to get your cave course done in Thailand. That seems a little impractical to me. When I got my cave work done, it was in Florida, and I live in Colorado. You don't just get cave certified in a weekend. It takes a lot of time and practice. Time and travel was a real issue for me.

When I got my cave certification, I was able to do it much more quickly and with much less travel time than for most people because I was already an experienced technical diver. I had learned in more local waters how to do many of the skills required for cave training. I could do all the kicks. I could share air properly. I could do decompression. I had a lot of experience with the equipment associated with cave diving. When I took the course, the only thing my cave instructor had to teach me was cave diving skills. I had the rest of it down well enough that he did not have to spend any time teaching me that.

I suggest you do something similar. Get with your local TDI people and go through a whole lot of the course work for technical diving with them. Get all those skills down. Then you can decide where you want to go to apply that learning to the cave environment.

Appreciate your advice, but my profile says Canada / Thailand. Should actually be the other way around as I'm hardly ever in Canada.
Will change so I don't confuse more people.

---------- Post added July 15th, 2014 at 09:58 PM ----------

I'm a little confused. You seem to be asking for help to choose between ANDI and TDI, but the instructor you're considering does both.

Yes you're correct, he did mention it before, I guess I wasn't paying attention, but I just confirmed and yes he can teach both. He can teach diver and instructor level ANDI courses and diver level only for TDI.
I'm not planning on becoming an instructor yet so it's good.

I'm staying and getting my training with Bruce then but I guess what I'm really asking is which agency should I go with, ANDI or TDI?
How many SB members are ANDI certified and does anyone know about any ANDI c-card not being accepted? For instance, Mexico caves, Europe anywhere else outside of US and their influence?

@Dr. Lecter - No plans for any rebreasers at the moment.

 

[DevonDiver]

Train with Bruce, regardless of agency he's a world-class instructor in tech, cave and ccr.

I've never had an issue with ANDI cards being accepted. It's an old and very well-established agency.

With regards the differences in courses/syllabus/standards between ANDI and TDI... Bruce will train you to the highest standard, agency differences become quite irrelevant.

 

[sigxbill]

I have an ANDI Tri-mix card, and never had a problem with acceptance. for what it's worth, ANDI has been around a lot longer than TDI. Personally I respect ANDI more than TDI, but I suppose it ultimately comes down to the instructor ...