Course recommendations? Advanced recreational diver.

[Rickk]

I am experienced diver in several environments (Ice, dry suit, tropical waters, cold/hot, salt/fresh etc). All my training has been PADI.

I don't knock PADI, they are very good at what they intended to do. Some people misunderstand them and think that they are a diving organization dedicated to making safe divers. They are a commercial organization that intends to get as many people as possible certified and paying into their revenue stream, by buying books, courses, multi media content, paying for c cards etc, as possible to maximize their profits while just being safe enough to avoid being sued.


What I want to be is the best diver I can be. That is a combination of knowledge and practical skills.


I am generally happy with my skill level but would really like some advanced knowledge of diving. I can always practice my skills and just get an instructor or DM on a fun dive to critique them to help me improve.

I have read through a lot of the posts on the different agencies rating of master scuba diver, and dive master ratings.

I don't think that a DM rating is what I need or want as they focus on developing pro's to teach. All I want to do is get wet blow bubbles and look at the pretty fishes. I just want to do it safely and competently.

I know I can self study, I have no problems with any academics, but what I observed in my non-diving professional life is that many people who were self taught had a huge hole in their knowledge and/or a fundamental misunderstanding of how it all fits together.

Is there any course out there that would cover what I need to know? For obvious reasons if this was through university or community college then it would have to be offered on line or at least by distance education. I am looking for a university level course of study in recreational diving.

I don't care about getting another c card or a piece of paper to hang on my :"I love me wall". I want the knowledge.

 

[MichaelMc]

There was a guy on here, Andy Davis, DevonDiver on here, who taught in the Philippines. Sidemount Technical Wreck | Andy Davis Technical Diving Philippines. He is into sidemount which might not be your thing but reports seemed to be he knew his stuff and was a good instructor. Many of his articles and posts were useful to me as I was getting into sidemount. If I were there I'd definitely take a class from him.

The normal answers are Fundies, Cavern/Cave. I think you've got a good path of asking and looking.

Andy has said here that he is not a cave diver, or at least not a regular one. There seem to be few opportunities for that there. I say that as the normal caveat is to take advanced classes from cave instructors as the standards there are very high. I'd read up on his posts here. He also has a section of articles on his site. Worth a shot if he is near you.

Some here may have gotten tired of him always saying training should be better.

 

[Rickk]

He appears to be in Subic which is north of Manila, I am traveling around the country looking for a place to settle, currently a few hundred kms south of Manila.

Most of his courses are tech diving which is not what I am looking for but he does offer a performance skills course that could be very helpful as part of what I am looking for. At $US 150 and 240 minutes under water or at least 4 dives that is not much more than just guided fun dives in that area.

I was looking for something more on the academic side.

 

[MichaelMc]

- I'd buy the NAUI Master Scuba Diver manual on line, assuming it is for sale. It is good.
- Also the NOAA dive manual should be good from what I have seen.
- DAN has on line materials for their FirstAid/O2/AED/Dive injury class. "First aid for professional divers." Decent stuff. You could buy the manual for 'first responder level 1' 'or Emergency care of the sick and injured' or your local equivalent.

If you do not get into deco/rebreathers there is sort of a limit on the academics. Unless you want a medical level understanding of the physiology. But that limit is a bit past the OW/AOW class level.

Much of the 'doing things really well' falls under tech/overhead. It need not mean you will do that in future.

One version of a university level class in 'rec' diving is AAUS scientific diving. 100 contact hours over a semester. It is the certification to be allowed to work underwater as a scientist, as an alternative to a commercial license. Our program uses the NAUI Master Scuba Diver materials, the NAUI rescue, and DAN First Aid for pro divers. AAUS is a USA thing, but other nations have similar programs.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Most of his courses are tech diving which is not what I am looking for

I will always point people at a basic Tech course - in the PADI world called Tech 40. Before you switch off - I think its an invaluable course, I wish it was a pre requisite before people could progress to DM or Instructor.

Even if you have no intention of making Deco dive (Tech 40 max 40m and 10mins deco) you'll learn lots of additional knowledge and get skills improvement / refinement (with a good instructor) which are absolutely applicable to recreational diving.

 

[GJC]

Read these:

Download the USN Diving Manual from here for free
Naval Sea Systems Command > Home > SUPSALV > 00C3 Diving > Diving Publications

Textbook, Master Scuba Diver
You may be beyond this course but the book is a good reference for the science of scuba

You might like the skills taught in:
SDI Solo Diver
Any Cavern course. Even if you are not interested in caves, the cavern course has a lot of skills applicable to all diving

 

[MichaelMc]

he does offer a performance skills course

That looks good. An advantage of a shallow class for basics is you can spend more time at it.

 

[dalpe933]

if you want theory side buy "Deco For Divers" from Mark Powell it is an amazing read, it goes into a lot of details but at the same time ease you into it.
5 stars and 2 thumbs up !

 

[KenGordon]

I will always point people at a basic Tech course - in the PADI world called Tech 40. Before you switch off - I think its an invaluable course, I wish it was a pre requisite before people could progress to DM or Instructor.

Even if you have no intention of making Deco dive (Tech 40 max 40m and 10mins deco) you'll learn lots of additional knowledge and get skills improvement / refinement (with a good instructor) which are absolutely applicable to recreational diving.

This ^

Unless you do something like the more advanced BSAC courses Dive Leader then doing a technical course is likely to be the best idea. There is a requirement for proper skills in the water since popping up to the surface may lead to injury and decent planning skills so as not to end up out of gas, going to the surface and being hurt. Even TDI Intro To Tech ought to start pushing a diver towards doing stuff in a less lax fashion.

I don’t think the BSAC courses are available in the Philippines. Andy might be able to teach them but I doubt it would be financially viable. You can’t really run a practical rescue management course with just one student. In a club Dive Leader usually takes a year or two.

 

[Skulmoski]

GUE Fundamentals might appeal to you:

GUE Fundamentals

Wishing you success with your future training.