Any suggestions on ones that are the most useful?
There is only one skill that is used during every second of every single dive you'll ever do. From the instant you enter the water until you're back on dry land. Accordingly this skill is a foundational part of every other skill, course, and activity you'll ever come across in diving:
BUOYANCY CONTROL
I would suggest getting your buoyancy control dialed in before doing anything else. Learning in scuba diving is all about learning a skill, mastering it, adding another skill, mastering and incorporating that skill, adding another skill, etc. Being able to effectively control your position in the water column - through buoyancy control and associated propulsion techniques, proper trim, and gear streamlining - will make adding another skill easy. If you're still "up and down and all around" adding another skill into the mix will not only be harder, but the task-loading of the additional skill will make your buoyancy control even worse. Think about this relative to any other class...
- Navigation? need to avoid randomly descending and ascending while trying to use a compass.
- Deep? Need to be able to descend and ascend carefully as things like greater pressure, thermoclines, narcosis, lack of visual references, critical nature of arresting your ascent and holding your safety stop make buoyancy control hard... but even more important.
- Wreck? Need to avoid stirring up silt and damaging delicate structures by bumping into the bottom, the top, errant fin kicks, etc
- Search and Rescue? You think buoyancy control is challenging by itself? Try doing it while shooting a bag or trying to lift and move an object around.
- Photography? Being able to hold perfectly still - in order to focus, avoid stirring up silt, and not scaring away your subject - makes getting good photos so much easier.
- Nitrox? Good buoyancy control will help ensure you don't mistakenly violate the - now shallower - maximum operating depth of the enriched gas you're breathing.
- Dry suit? Managing another bubble of air is more challenging in and of itself... much less if you're not already good at managing your buoyancy.
- Night diver? Think buoyancy control is tough now? Take away most of your visual references and give it try.
- Drift Diver? Without good buoyancy you're now out of control in TWO planes!
- Boat diver? Ever ascend to the surface unintentionally - either from depth or even a safety stop? Now try it with a boat between your head and the surface.
- Rescue Diver? Yes, even Rescue Diver, which most folks say you should take as early as possible in your diving career. In this course you will be called up to help other divers - responsive and non-responsive - manage their buoyancy in order to head off the ultimate negative dive outcome. Think how much easier that will be if you are in exquisite control of your own!
There is not a single diving activity, skill, or course that doesn't come easier if your buoyancy control is solid. Hell, even something as benign as "Fish ID" or "Coral Reef Awareness" is much easier, more enjoyable, and even safer - for both you and the aquatic environment - if you're have pin-point control of where you are in the water column at all times.
Find a great instructor and don't tell them you want to get your "Peak Performance Buoyancy" certification. Tell them you want to become a buoyancy control expert! This, to indicate to them that you don't simply want to "take the course" and "get the card" but that you actually want - and expect - them to help you master this foundational skill. Work at it in the course. Then practice, practice, practice. On every dive. With good instruction and diligence on your part it will come together in no time. Then do a little more diving. Then take Rescue. Then keep working on buoynacy throughout your entire diving life.
When you have good buoyancy control... everything else is easier, safer, and more fun!
Best regards,
Ray Purkis
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