Learning path after AOWC (SSI)

[Berry Ke]

Hi there,

As some might know by now I'm a novice diver who's busy getting my AOWC from SSI, the specialties I do are Deep Diving, Underwater Navigation, Peak Buoyancy Control and Nitrox. Besides the courses I've been diving every weekend since I got my Padi Open Water. I like diving but I like learning to and having the feeling of developing and improving my skills so I'm already trying to figure out what learning path I'm willing to take.

About mid November I'm heading to South East Asia to dive. I'm starting in Indonesia but also wanna visit some nearby countries to dive (don't know exact which ones).

After my AOWC I wanna do some other specialties too, but there're so much specialties I'm interested in I find it rather hard to decide in which order I wanna do them. Some nice specialties: Drift, Night, Search and Recovery, Wreck, Cave and some others I like a little bit less than the one said: Boat, Digital UW Imaging, Self Reliant Diver. But I also find the Stress & Resque -> Master Diver path apealing.

Are there some specialties or courses you guys really like or think that's something a fairly novice diver should do first or maybe the opposite like this and that specialty is something you might want to wait a little bit with till you're a little bit more experienced?
Lets say for instance doing the boat, night, search&resque specialties before heading to the Stress & Resque / Master Diver path is something that sounds pretty nice to me right now. But maybe you guys say like don't do theat because everything in the Search & resque course is also treated in the Stress & Resque course.. Or maybe there're some other specialties that are also being covered in other courses.?

Also is it good to stay with the SSI path or is switching back to PADI a good option later down the road? It's a little blury with all the organisations and crossing paths between them..

Btw I plan to do these specialties on the side, like planning some days for learning/courses in between the fun diving I'm planning to do.. It's not like I'm planning to do 2months of courses/classes

Thx in advance

 

[Marie13]

Just dive! I just finished SDI Advanced two weeks ago (has separate specialities like SSI). I've got 55 dives. I'm doing Rescue in two months. Have a few more specialties I'm going to do.

 

[Berry Ke]

Just dive! I just finished SDI Advanced two weeks ago (has separate specialities like SSI). I've got 55 dives. I'm doing Rescue in two months. Have a few more specialties I'm going to do.

Really? I'm trying to not be rude but did you read any of my writing?.... Nice that you have 55 dives, that you're doing Rescue in two months and that you're going to do 'a few more specialties' but is this the contribution you wanna make? You don't even elaborate on what specialties you're going to do.
To be clear, as I said I'm going trying to get informed on what path to take, what specialties/courses to do first or what to do last. Maybe I wasn't clear, sorry if that is the case, but I'm just trying to get informed. 'Just dive' isn't going to help me in anyway.

Again, I've been diving every weekend since I got my OW and I'm also planning on continuing to do so untill I leave for a diving trip of at least 2 months. In between diving for fun I'm planning on doing some specialties/courses which help me advance in diving besides 'just dive'.

I'm looking for advice like "This course is great for a beginner" or "No this course you'll pick up better or you'll comprehend better after doing this or that course" or "Don't take this specialty because this specialty is also part of that course" or "Take this course from PADI because it's more complete than the SSI course" or "if you do this course you can afterwards crossover to PADI to do that course because that way you'll save money" etc, etc.

Sorry for the tone of my comment, I just really resent the likes of "I won't tell you anything useful, just dive."....

 

[HantsDiver]

Also is it good to stay with the SSI path or is switching back to PADI a good option later down the road? It's a little blury with all the organisations and crossing paths between them..

Btw I plan to do these specialties on the side, like planning some days for learning/courses in between the fun diving I'm planning to do.. It's not like I'm planning to do 2months of courses/classes

Thx in advance

I'm going to be truthful. I'm a PADI instructor. Whichever agency you do courses with doesn't matter within reason as long as the instructor is good.

Both padi and SSI are good. As are sdi/tdi and other agency you will hear about on here.

Rather than doing lots of specialities you could consider core training like PADI tech 40 or TDI AN/DP. Specialities are okay - but they are not comparable to full core courses imo.

 

[Marie13]

Geez, dude, untwist your knickers.

I did buoyancy, night, deep, nav. Wreck coming up soon and ice if we have ice this winter.

There seems to be a habit of a lot of new divers to just go out and train, train, train, but do few fun dives. How do you (general you) expect to improve/practice what you've learned if there are no dives to practice, just more training?

What are your interests? Wreck was a no-brainer for me since I've been reading about Great Lakes shipwrecks for 25 years and I'm a history buff. In fact, they're one of the reasons I got into diving.

I'm curious about your mention of cave. Cavern is a pre-req for cave.

I have no clue about PADI.

 

[Berry Ke]

Well, there you go, you posted something imformative. With this I can do something. Well, it makes sense you exercise what you learned before learning new stuff. As mentioned I don't plan on doing course after course after course, I'm planning to do some specialties in between (fun)diving.

One of the instructors at my diving school told me there are some specialties that are very basic and should be known by (almost) all divers. Like if you plan on diving (lots) off a boat it would be nice to know the rules and habits of boatdiving. So taking the boat specialty would be a good idea _before_ you start diving (a lot).That's one specialty I know off that's perfectly good to take as a novice diver.

I mentioned cave because I didn't know Cavern is a pre-req for cave. (Remember I started this topic to get some information on specialties/courses )

 

[EricTheDood]

I'm with @Marie13. There are plenty of things you can learn that don't require an instructor.

OW teaches you how not to die, not how to dive.

 

[USMC CPL.]

It is up to you and what interests you. My ow and aow instructors told me that you can learn from other Divers and not have to pay for a c card. I am bypassing any extra specialty dives and going for padi tec program. Best of luck to you.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

After 48 years of diving and repeatedly diving at the Poor Knights islands, New Zealand the past four years I became a bit bored with diving. This despite the fact that the Pk's are one of the best dive locations in the world (rated in the top ten). Just another stingray, moray eel, fur seal... ho hum.

Taking the odd course helps me keep up the interest in diving. I also love "hunting and gathering". Both help maintain/learn skills and keep up the interest as well as providing exercise.

 

[Marie13]

Well, there you go, you posted something imformative. With this I can do something. Well, it makes sense you exercise what you learned before learning new stuff. As mentioned I don't plan on doing course after course after course, I'm planning to do some specialties in between (fun)diving.

One of the instructors at my diving school told me there are some specialties that are very basic and should be known by (almost) all divers. Like if you plan on diving (lots) off a boat it would be nice to know the rules and habits of boatdiving. So taking the boat specialty would be a good idea _before_ you start diving (a lot).That's one specialty I know off that's perfectly good to take as a novice diver.

I mentioned cave because I didn't know Cavern is a pre-req for cave. (Remember I started this topic to get some information on specialties/courses )

Why would you pay for a boat diving class? Just go out on a boat with some more experienced divers and dive off the boat! That's what I did. If you can find someone to serve as a mentor, they can help you work with nav, buoyancy, whatever you need to practice, teach you to frog kick, etc.. I work on something nearly every dive.