boat sju
Contributor
Still haven't taken it. Read all the course materials for rescue and DM though.
how many dives until...?
- Thread starter José Teles Reis
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NYCNaiad
Dive babble all day long
Long ass answer: I started with 12 or so Discover Scuba "courses". There wasn't really any training to speak of. I liked them, but didn't like them enough to get certified. Then, a close friend (& ex) decided to have his wedding in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Sounded great till I found out none of our mutual friends would be there & then a friend of mine started asking if I would feel weird about it. I didn't till they asked! So I decided I needed some fun activities away from the group just in case things got awkward. I found that Cozumel was just a ferry ride away so I took OW classes in Manhattan choosing their full course (4 sessions of 4.5 hrs each for a total of 18 hrs) since I wanted to get as much training as possible. I did 4 OW dives with the class in a PA quarry...in 43 degree (6.1C) water.
A month later, I went down to Playa del Carmen. My 1st dive there (& 5th overall) was a drift diving cert since I'd never been diving in current. I was lucky enough to get an instructor to myself. After the 2 cert dives, I still wanted to dive with someone experienced. Since I was alone, I offered to pay the shop to have someone dive with me. My instructor suggested that I take AOW saying if I'm going to pay for someone anyway, why not take AOW. I think this is generally too soon to do AOW as you can get more out of it once you're more comfortable in the water. However, this made sense in my circumstances.
While still in Mexico, I did Nitrox after AOW. Nitrox is a great course to do when you can so you have the option to use it at will. I use it more often than not now. I really enjoyed diving 1-on-1 with the instructor & gained so much out of it that I continued to pay for him to dive just with me for the remainder of the week. I ended up going to Cozumel every morning I was there (that ferry was damn early!) & doing about 4-5 dives daily (approx total 22).
A couple of months after this, I went on a liveboard trip with my LDS. There were LDS instructors onboard so I took Night Diving since I had never been diving at night before as well as Fish ID just cause it was interesting (approx total 25).
Soon thereafter, I decided I wanted to do some diving with my local club so I joined their Intro to NE diving event. It's not a certification, but does get you acclimated to diving in cold water/low vis by doing 2 dives in the cold quarry with a group led by someone experienced in NE diving. Separately, I then dove with an instructor for my 1st two cold water ocean dives.
So around the 55 dive mark, I just dove a helluva lot mostly in warm water.
In 2013, I started down the road of Rescue Diver taking Emergency First Response Primary & Secondary Care (CPR/First Aid). (This was figuring I would do Rescue Diver when it made sense timing-wise.)
Then, I dove a lot more till I was sidelined with dengue & thspen ine surgery. Once I'm back in the water, I'll have to get comfortable again. Once that happens, I'd like to do Rescue Diver as well as some interesting certs like GUE Fundamentals & PADI Zombie Diver Apocalypse. (Yes, that's a real course.)
Short answer: I think it's best to proceed to another level once you're comfortable with your current level. I would HIGHLY suggest doing a 1-on-1 AOW course with a private instructor who you know is good. It will move you light years ahead!
A month later, I went down to Playa del Carmen. My 1st dive there (& 5th overall) was a drift diving cert since I'd never been diving in current. I was lucky enough to get an instructor to myself. After the 2 cert dives, I still wanted to dive with someone experienced. Since I was alone, I offered to pay the shop to have someone dive with me. My instructor suggested that I take AOW saying if I'm going to pay for someone anyway, why not take AOW. I think this is generally too soon to do AOW as you can get more out of it once you're more comfortable in the water. However, this made sense in my circumstances.
While still in Mexico, I did Nitrox after AOW. Nitrox is a great course to do when you can so you have the option to use it at will. I use it more often than not now. I really enjoyed diving 1-on-1 with the instructor & gained so much out of it that I continued to pay for him to dive just with me for the remainder of the week. I ended up going to Cozumel every morning I was there (that ferry was damn early!) & doing about 4-5 dives daily (approx total 22).
A couple of months after this, I went on a liveboard trip with my LDS. There were LDS instructors onboard so I took Night Diving since I had never been diving at night before as well as Fish ID just cause it was interesting (approx total 25).
Soon thereafter, I decided I wanted to do some diving with my local club so I joined their Intro to NE diving event. It's not a certification, but does get you acclimated to diving in cold water/low vis by doing 2 dives in the cold quarry with a group led by someone experienced in NE diving. Separately, I then dove with an instructor for my 1st two cold water ocean dives.
So around the 55 dive mark, I just dove a helluva lot mostly in warm water.
In 2013, I started down the road of Rescue Diver taking Emergency First Response Primary & Secondary Care (CPR/First Aid). (This was figuring I would do Rescue Diver when it made sense timing-wise.)
Then, I dove a lot more till I was sidelined with dengue & thspen ine surgery. Once I'm back in the water, I'll have to get comfortable again. Once that happens, I'd like to do Rescue Diver as well as some interesting certs like GUE Fundamentals & PADI Zombie Diver Apocalypse. (Yes, that's a real course.)
Short answer: I think it's best to proceed to another level once you're comfortable with your current level. I would HIGHLY suggest doing a 1-on-1 AOW course with a private instructor who you know is good. It will move you light years ahead!
nolatom
Contributor
AOW 25, Rescue 50
Good discussion about ability versus experience. But I'm not sure it's a "versus" kind of thing. Good experience is good, and will improve your ability as you go along.
Bad experience is only "bad" if you mistakenly think it was good. If you recognize it as bad, and learn from it, then it can be a better teacher than "good" experience, and may advance your ability a whole lot more than one more "good-practices" dive.
Put another way, personally I have learned very valuable stuff (meaning what-not-to-do, or how to assist in real time) from my very few "bad" buddies that I would not have learned otherwise. No offense to you good buddies intended ;-)
Good discussion about ability versus experience. But I'm not sure it's a "versus" kind of thing. Good experience is good, and will improve your ability as you go along.
Bad experience is only "bad" if you mistakenly think it was good. If you recognize it as bad, and learn from it, then it can be a better teacher than "good" experience, and may advance your ability a whole lot more than one more "good-practices" dive.
Put another way, personally I have learned very valuable stuff (meaning what-not-to-do, or how to assist in real time) from my very few "bad" buddies that I would not have learned otherwise. No offense to you good buddies intended ;-)
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