This may be an absurdly overbroad question, but what's a good next step for someone who just got their open water certification?
Of course my instructor tried to sell us on the advanced open water course immediately. I've heard some say it makes sense to do that, since it includes a review of fundamentals and fixes any bad habits before they get too ingrained. But it seems a little reckless to me to go right from basic certification to something that will allow me to dive much deeper and take on all sorts of other challenges before I've even practiced the basics. I know if I did the night diver course, I'd want to start doing night dives right away. But, um, I only did a mask removal in the ocean once, while kneeling on the bottom, only one CESA, only planned one dive myself, etc. I didn't feel like I really got a handle on buoyancy control until the very last dive. I kind of wish I could just do the ocean dive portion of the course over again several times until it was all second nature, before I futz around with depths that might make me stupid.
What's a smart path from here? Do a bunch of dives and focus on practicing those skills on my own? Sign up for something like Peak Performance Bouyancy without it being part of an AOW certification? Hire an instructor for private lessons? Other ideas?
FWIW, I live in Southern California and probably won't be diving much around here over the next couple months because I'm a wuss, though I have a trip to Playa del Carmen coming up next month. I do have vague ambitions to go deeper and maybe try wreck diving and other fun crazy kinda dangerous stuff someday. But I work a demanding job and don't see myself devoting every weekend and vacation day to the sport, so that's going to be a long way in the future, if I get there at all.
Of course my instructor tried to sell us on the advanced open water course immediately. I've heard some say it makes sense to do that, since it includes a review of fundamentals and fixes any bad habits before they get too ingrained. But it seems a little reckless to me to go right from basic certification to something that will allow me to dive much deeper and take on all sorts of other challenges before I've even practiced the basics. I know if I did the night diver course, I'd want to start doing night dives right away. But, um, I only did a mask removal in the ocean once, while kneeling on the bottom, only one CESA, only planned one dive myself, etc. I didn't feel like I really got a handle on buoyancy control until the very last dive. I kind of wish I could just do the ocean dive portion of the course over again several times until it was all second nature, before I futz around with depths that might make me stupid.
What's a smart path from here? Do a bunch of dives and focus on practicing those skills on my own? Sign up for something like Peak Performance Bouyancy without it being part of an AOW certification? Hire an instructor for private lessons? Other ideas?
FWIW, I live in Southern California and probably won't be diving much around here over the next couple months because I'm a wuss, though I have a trip to Playa del Carmen coming up next month. I do have vague ambitions to go deeper and maybe try wreck diving and other fun crazy kinda dangerous stuff someday. But I work a demanding job and don't see myself devoting every weekend and vacation day to the sport, so that's going to be a long way in the future, if I get there at all.