Best specialties to start with

[Christopher Caldwell]

So right now I'm finishing up the last weeks of Divemaster with 6 specialties. I'm posing a question to all you folks with more or less experience than I do, as to what you think the most marketable specialties are.
So far I have:
1. Nitrox
2. Drift
3. UW Nav
4. UW photography
5. Emergency oxygen provider
6. PPB

the most popular ones are still out there with wreck, deep and maybe dpv. However I'm wondering about the lesser ones. Such as boat diver or any other PADI specialty. Which ones do you all think are the best to go with?

 

[Scott]

I would at least take deep, with an instructor that has experience diving deeper than 130 feet.
Other than that I would say go make a number of drift dives, an number of UW nav dives, all while using nitrox and taking UW photos so you can practice your PPB skills and hopefully not need an oxygen provider.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

Nitrox and deep are good ones for divers who want to safely go a little deeper and longer. Consider that many are location dependent. For example, here in Illinois, we do quite a few drysuit specialties where in your location you may just teach them here and there.

Take a close look at what your divers are wanting to do and structure your marketing accordingly.

 

[hroark2112]

Forget about all the pretty cards and just become an awesome diver. Be the kind of diver that total strangers will want to emulate, both in & out of the water.

And have fun.

 

[tursiops]

OP, can you clarify your question?
Are you going for instructor, and you want to know which specialties you can most profitably teach?
Or are you talking about specialties for yourself, to make you a better diver?

 

[decompression]

See what's popular locally and through the shop......those will be the money makers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dirty-Dog]

According to your profile, you have less than 100 dives. I would think THAT would be the biggest problem with marketing yourself.

 

[danvolker]

Find an instructor that can teach you how to kick properly....very few instructors do this correctly themselves ( so FIND a good one) , and this is one of the most important things you could learn...
If you learn to kick optimally,

• YOU will use far less air up per dive
• You are DRASTICALLY SAFER because you should be able to reach the surface easily without the aid of a BC ( in the event of a failure)
• you will find everything is easier on dives, if it is always easy for you to get wherever you want to go
• You can be a better buddy because if your buddy needs help, you can get to them in a hurry
• you will start to see which high drag gear is a big mistake for a diver to wear on them, because you will feel the effects of the high drag---divers that have poor propulsion, are not in touch with the drag of their gear, and often swim so slowly they can't tell anyway.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Welcome aboard.

 

[jayaspock]

I dont know about marketable, but if you want to help begining divers, peak performance buoyancy. After more than 50 dives, many below 100 feet, in drifts, in cold water, in kelp, I got my advanced card. Had an awesome instructor that had my wife and I in the shallows, full gear end of dive, 7-10 feet, in the swell, dont touch the bottom, dont break the surface. Let me tell you, awesome challenge in a 7+ mill wetsuit end of dive. You can do that, you know buoyancy. Thank you chris for making me a better diver.