Classes to be a great well rounded diver?

[Marie13]

I know most take specialty classes as needed. But as someone that normally travels half the year and the world is closed I'm just bored. I don't live near any great diving (Monterey 150+ miles) and for the little diving close by finding a buddy can be an issue. But I can take classes just for something to do. Not trying to say don't just get out there and dive more.

What is the drive to Monterey time-wise? I consider anything three hours or less **each way** doable as a day trip. Anything more than that requires the night before in a hotel close to the dive site. Then I drive home after diving. I do this quite a bit.

Would getting to Monterey be doable once a month? Just thinking out loud.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Unfortunately a lot of "specialties" are fluff. I took a few during my initial diving years and they really did not up my game but gave me a guided tour experience. Looking back, if I was at that level I would take UTD Essentials or GUE Fundies as these classes are built on solid skill development. After that I would take science of diving.

 

[NCK]

What is the drive to Monterey time-wise? I consider anything three hours or less **each way** doable as a day trip. Anything more than that requires the night before in a hotel close to the dive site. Then I drive home after diving. I do this quite a bit.

Would getting to Monterey be doable once a month? Just thinking out loud.

I self schedule at work so it's no big deal getting time off. Finding reliable buddies is the hard part.

I actually thought about showing up to the breakwater (always packed on the weekends) with a dive buddy wanted sign and see if random strangers would invite me to dive with them.

Was also thinking of trying to start a informal dive group at the hospital I work at.

 

[Marie13]

I self schedule at work so it's no big deal getting time off. Finding reliable buddies is the hard part.

I actually thought about showing up to the breakwater (always packed on the weekends) with a dive buddy wanted sign and see if random strangers would invite me to dive with them.

Was also thinking of trying to start a informal dive group at the hospital I work at.

The dive buddy wanted sign is actually a pretty creative idea. Bet you'd have a lot of people asking you about it. The dive group at your workplace is a really good idea. You might check and see what FB groups exist for the area. There are several for my area and they are great for finding buddies, even last minute.

 

[rx7diver]

Hypothetically, If you were guna take classes to make you a good/better all around diver from OW what would you take?

Assuming your basic open water certification course was comprehensive and thorough (e.g., a 15-week, 3-hr, for-credit, university PE course that covered physical conditioning, swimming, and drown-proofing; skindiving; dive physics; dive physiology and scuba-related illnesses; scuba diving, including scuba equipment; and basic dive rescue, including CPR and basic first aid), then I would recommend following up with a lot of diving, and a good advanced open water scuba course, a good dive rescue course, a DAN Oxygen provider course, and a DAN Advanced Oxygen provider course.

rx7diver

 

[lostsheep]

I self schedule at work so it's no big deal getting time off. Finding reliable buddies is the hard part.

I’m self employed and frequently short on dive buddies. I’d be stoked to take advantage of the midweek lobos openings.

I’m in San Jose, where are you coming from?

 

[NCK]

Assuming your basic open water certification course was comprehensive and thorough (e.g., a 15-week, 3-hr, for-credit, university PE course that covered physical conditioning, swimming, and drown-proofing; skindiving; dive physics; dive physiology and scuba-related illnesses; scuba diving, including scuba equipment; and basic dive rescue, including CPR and basic first aid), then I would recommend following up with a lot of diving, and a good advanced open water scuba course, a good dive rescue course, a DAN Oxygen provider course, and a DAN Advanced Oxygen provider course.

rx7diver

My OW class was a university PE class. I think it was only 5 weeks + a weekend in Monterey.

 

[BrackaFish]

lots of good knowledge based classes out there. nitrox and science of diving being only 2 of them.

for myself personally, if i was to recommend one class above all that would improve most divers, it would be a cavern class. it was a real eye opener and ended up completely changing how i approached diving.

^^^This^^^. Once you get the Nitrox etc classes out of the way take cavern. It is a whole different way of things when you start overhead diving and it will show you just how good your buoyancy really is. Also it can be a great intro for reel work, doubles and limited visibility teamwork.

 

[NCK]

I’m self employed and frequently short on dive buddies. I’d be stoked to take advantage of the midweek lobos openings.

I’m in San Jose, where are you coming from?

Awesome, I'm North of Sacramento but have a free place to stay in Santa Cruz. I'm totally up for it in the spring (already made plans for Dec, Jan/Feb. (Hawaii and probably Colombia in Jan, a buddy will get there this week so I'm kinda waiting for him to report on current situation).

 

[lexvil]

Monterey is 170 miles for me and I go every week that the conditions allow. Diving will make you a well rounded diver more than any course but the courses can be a good place to meet buddies.

Traveling to warm water is nice but you live near cold water, tank the money you’ve saved from traveling to warm water this year and buy a drysuit and the rest of the gear rather than counting on rentals which limit your time and locations.